Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean is offering a discount on cruise add-ons, such as drink packages, shore excursions and more, with its new sale.

The Soak up the Savings Sale runs between August 17 - 26, 2021 and is valid on sailings from  August 21, 2021 – August 31, 2022.

It is good for all ships except Spectrum of the Seas and charter sailings.

Here is what is included during the sale:

BEVERAGE: Up to 40% off

• Classic Soda Beverage Package: 30% off onboard prices.
• Classic Soda Beverage Package + VOOM Surf & Stream 1 Device: Discount varies by ship.
• Dasani Water Cans: 40% off onboard prices.
• Deluxe Beverage Package: Discount varies by ship
• Deluxe Beverage Package + VOOM Surf & Stream 1 Device: Discount varies by ship.
• Refreshment Package: 30% off onboard prices.

DINING: Up to 55% off

• Unlimited Dining Package on 3N – 9N sailings: Discount varies by ship.

INTERNET: Up to 50% off

• The Key: Discount varies by ship.
• VOOM Surf + Stream Voyage Package 1, 2, 3, 4 Device(s): Discount varies by ship.
• VOOM Surf Voyage Package 1, 2, 3, 4 Device(s): Discount varies by ship.

SHORE EXCURSIONS: Up to 25% off

• Shore Excursions: Discount varies by ship

PHOTO PACKAGES: Up to 70% off

• Anniversary Decorations with Champagne
• Happy Birthday Decorations with Chocolate Cake & Strawberries
• Happy Birthday Decorations with Vanilla Cake & Strawberries
• Inky Beach Set
• Inky Beach Towel (TicTacToe)
• Inky Travel Set
• Red Wine and Cheese
• Strawberries with Champagne
• White Wine and Cheese

Gifts & Gear: Up to 20% Off

• Photo Packages: From 5 - 100 Print and/or Digital Options: Discount varies by ship.
• Photo Package: Private Photo Session: Discount varies by ship.

ACTIVITIES: Up to 20% off

• All Access Ship Tour (Excludes GR)
• Royal Caribbean Beach Towel
• Photo Package: Picture This Private Studio: Discount varies by ship.

To check if your sailing has this new offer available, log into the Cruise Planner on Royal Caribbean's web site look for any available offers. Keep in mind that not all sailings may see the sale applicable, nor are all offers significantly cheaper than previously posted.

If you spot a better discount on something you already pre-purchased, you should be able to cancel the purchase and then re-purchase the same item under this promotion.

More helpful information

• Should you buy pre-cruise purchases now or wait to buy it onboard?
• 45 ways to save money on a Royal Caribbean cruise
• How much should I budget for a cruise?

Everything is easier if you know where to look, and that includes Royal Caribbean's website.

Being self-sufficient is always a nice way to speed up things, and there are a few very handy links on Royal Caribbean's website that every cruise fan should know about to save time now and onboard the ship.

In looking around Royal Caribbean's website, I found seven pages that I think most people will need one time or another to help them ensure their upcoming cruise has no issues. There certainly are other pages that have helpful information, but these seven jumped out at me as the most commonly useful ones to bookmark.

Whether you have cruised before or this is your first sailing, here are the top web pages on Royal Caribbean's website you should know about.

Cruise Planner

Link: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruiseplanner/

Perhaps the single most important part of Royal Caribbean's website is the Cruise Planner.

This is the place you go to manage your reservation, and purchase wifi, drink, or dining packages before your cruise.  You can also reserve time at the spa, book individual specialty restaurants, shore excursions, and other activities onboard.

Whether you booked your cruise through a travel agent or not, you can access the Cruise Planner for any sailing you have coming up, and there is usually a good assortment of options to look over at any given time.

Moreover, this is how you save money on your cruise.  When Royal Caribbean has a sale on pre-cruise purchases, they can all be booked via the Cruise Planner site.

Travel agency transfer form

Link: https://rccl.secure.force.com/directtransfers/DTTRoyal

Did you know that if you booked your cruise directly with Royal Caribbean over the phone or on their website, that you can transfer it to a travel agent later?

Royal Caribbean gives guests a grace period when they can still transfer their reservation to a travel agent to take advantage of all the services a good travel agent provides.

According to the cruise line, you can use this form up until 30 days from creation if the request is made outside of Final Payment period and the booking is not paid in full.

You should contact your new travel agent first before filling out the form so you are both on the same page about the transfer.

Read more: Top things you didn't know travel agents can do for your cruise vacation

A list of the health protocols for your sailing

Link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise

Health protocols for your sailing can change at a moment's notice, so you will likely want to know what to expect onboard before you arrive.

Royal Caribbean keeps a singular location for all of its published health protocols, based on where your ship is sailing from.

You can easily see a list of health protocols for your sailing, as well as get additional information about which venues will be open, proper documentation to bring, and much more.

Keep in mind these protocols are for the departure port and month specified, so if you have a cruise coming up in the future, check back later when health protocols are announced for your sailing.

Future Cruise Credit redemption

Link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/reservation/future-cruise-credit

If you booked a cruise on your own, you can very easily redeem a future cruise credit to apply to your reservation.

So many cruisers have accrued a FCC from a canceled cruise over the last year and a half, and it is very likely you have more than one.  

Royal Caribbean added an easy to use form to apply the FCC to an existing booking.

Once you go to that link, a self-service page provides another way to redeem the credits.

If you booked with a travel agent, your travel agent can apply the credit for you, which is just one of many helpful services a good travel agent provides.

Make a payment

Link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/make-a-payment

Another self-service tool for someone that booked the cruise directly is how to make a payment

While travel agents can handle this for you if you booked through them, someone that booked directly with Royal Caribbean can use this form to make final payment, or just an interstitial payment.

Shareholder discount

Link: https://rclshareholderbenefit.questionpro.com/

Did you know if you have at least 100 shares of Royal Caribbean Group ($RCL) stock, you can qualify for extra onboard credit on your cruise?

The exact amount of your discount will depend on the length of your sailing:

• $250 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 14 or more nights.
• $100 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 6 to 13 nights.
• $50 Onboard Credit per Stateroom on Sailings of 5 nights or less.

All shareholder onboard credit requests must be received approximately 2 -3 weeks prior to sail date. 

Guest Special Needs form

Link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs

Whether you have a food allergy, need wheelchair assistance, need a sharps container, or have a CPAP machine, there is one form you should fill out before your cruise to have it all taken care of.

Royal Caribbean's Special Needs form covers a variety of special needs guests may have, and many of these are commonly requested.  By filling out the form, you can be assured when you get onboard, the crew is prepared and ready to ensure you are properly accommodated.

Be sure to submit the Guest Special Needs Form at time of booking but no later than 30 days prior to sailing. Sign language interpreting requests must be submitted 60 days prior to sailing. 

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley is proud of his company's restart plans, and did not hold back in recognizing Royal Caribbean's victories, as well as challenges that still exist.

In a new social media post, Mr. Bayley posted an update on Royal Caribbean's restart plans, which read like a mile marker on the company's journey back to full operations.

While the process has had, "ups and downs and twists and turns", he was undeniably proud that by the end of August 13 cruise ships will be back in service, which represents half the fleet.

"All of our ships starting operating with reduced capacity either by government mandate," he shared on Facebook. 

Mr. Bayley added that all Royal Caribbean ships have limited capacity that range between 30 to 50 percent, and the company will increase capacity ship by ship over the course of each month.

Mr. Bayley also talked about the realities of cruising again, and that while there have been Covid-19 cases onboard the ship, they have been limited.

"As all guests are required to be tested before boarding regardless of vaccination status, we typically have 2 to 10 guests a week (out of thousands of guests boarding 12 ships) who do not board because they test positive."

"Do we have Covid positive guests onboard," Mr. Bayley shared. "Yes! How many guests are positive? Typically 1 or 2 of a thousand plus guests a week per ship."

Mr. Bayley attributes the the cases that do get caught onboard as a result of an incubation period for the virus, "Testing captures status at a point of time and if the guest is incubating infection then the test will miss it."

"Yes, vaccinated guests test positive for Covid and typically are asymptomatic."

If a case is found onboard, Mr. Bayley says those guests are quarantined and the crew members test immediate travel party, contact tracing and testing of all contacts and quarantine if positive.

"Repatriation home via private jet in the majority of cases."

Read more: Royal Caribbean is flying passengers home on a private jet if they have Covid-19

Mr. Bayley also said the crew members are fully vaccinated, and all crew members are tested now being tested every week, instead of every two weeks, due to the Delta variant.

He said there are sometimes positive Covid cases among the crew, primarily during quarantine as they join the ship and are vaccinated and tested or during regular testing.

A few other thoughts from Mr. Bayley:

• Guest satisfaction is "super high"
• Total onboard vaccinated community ranging from 90 to 97 percent.
• Mixed vaccines: "we continue to work with multiple authorities to find safe solutions."

Mr. Bayley ended by saying, "Please remember, we as a company, are trying our absolute best to protect our guests, employees and the communities we visit!"

After 15 months of no cruise ships sailing, Royal Caribbean has slowly restarted operations with dining onboard being one of the most visible changes to the experience.

Not only has there been tweaks to how food is served, such as crew members serving passengers at the Windjammer buffet, but Royal Caribbean has rolled out other changes to its ships that are in many cases the result of months of work behind the scenes.

While cruise ships may have been shutdown for most of 2020, Royal Caribbean's food and beverage team was not idle. Royal Caribbean Vice President Food & Beverage, Linken D'Souza, took the time while ships were out of service to work on a number of initiatives that guests are now seeing onboard.

At the onset of the shutdown, Royal Caribbean was primarily focused on getting crew members home and to ensure all the equipment and venues were locked down. But then, the food and beverage team started thinking about the projects they always wanted to do, but were simply too busy to tackle in addition to the day-to-day operations onboard.

"I said, this is an opportune moment. Let's go back and really think about the business and what needs to get better," Mr. D'Souza explained as he laid out his team's plans during the shutdown.

A lot of energy initially went into re-evaluating their supply chains, looking at ways to improve the Windjammer or dining rooms.

"We spent a lot of time looking at all the menus and all of the recipes and a lot of simplification. The most challenging part of our business is managing 26 ships spread across the world and figuring out how to build consistency."

One of the early changes to come out of this refocus was the Windjammer, where Mr. D'Souza says new dishware and a focus on quality of presentation was added.

"I think historically it was about mass volumes of food everywhere. This is really about making sure everything that's out there is well prepared, tastes exceptionally good, and makes folks want to come back."

Over in the main dining room, Royal Caribbean refocused their efforts on plating, entrees, and fine-tuned a lot of those experiences.

Another change was to re-vamp the fleetwide drink menu, which now includes cocktails, mocktails, and low/no alcohol drinks.

"The beverage team focused in on rebuilding the beverage menu, and we focused on the 'Taste of the Caribbean', which is really going to some of our favorite places that our ships sailed to and identifying drinks that are really signature drinks to those islands and bringing them on board the ship."

The hope for Mr. D'Souza was to infuse a piece of these quintessential Caribbean ports in the drink menu, "It's like bringing a port of call to your experience onboard the ship. And maybe you have the cocktail on board and you get off from the island and you say, hey, I got to get one of those here to see how close they are."

Some of the major changes Royal Caribbean has made to the dining experience to ensure a healthy experience for all includes:

• No self-service buffet option, including drink stations, ice cream stations and other locations
• Restaurant menus shown in the Royal Caribbean app
• Reservations recommended for meals at specialty restaurants, Main Dining Room, or Windjammer
• Scanning guest SeaPass cards upon entry and exit to Windjammer to ensure venue is not too crowded
• Designated areas for everyone in main dining room, including parents and unvaccinated children, and areas for vaccinated parties only. 
• Most bars and lounges are open to everyone, while some are designated for vaccinated guests.

Healthy return to service

Cruise ships restarting was much more than simply pulling into port and allowing passengers onboard. Royal Caribbean spent a great deal of time and energy on new protocols, and that includes dining.

Mr. D'Souza said a big part of his team's planning was focused on the return to service, "There was a lot of protocols, a lot of time spent focused on how do we come back to healthy, safe return service."

"We looked at the table designs in the dining room, how many guests could fit in every dining ship by ship."

"And so making sure that we had all the systems and protocols in place and a lot of my team stepped into roles that were not traditionally their roles. And I think that happened across our company."

D'Souza characterized this time as "very challenging" for everyone involved, but he felt there was a focused effort on doing what was needed for the business to return.

Another Royal Caribbean cruise ship has restarted sailings, and this one is sailing from Barcelona, Spain.

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas resumed operations on Sunday, and is offering 7-night Western Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona, Spain.

While not the first Royal Caribbean cruise ship to restart in Europe, she is the biggest ship to restart in Europe, following on the successful restarts of Anthem of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas.

From August to October, Harmony of the Seas will offer visits to ports in Palma De Mallorca, Florence, Rome, and Naples.

All passengers and crew members onboard Harmony of the Seas 18 years of age and older must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Children younger than the eligible age can sail with a negative test result and must follow other health and safety protocols. 

Royal Caribbean's mask policy for sailings from Barcelona on Harmony indicate all guests 6 years and older must wear a mask in all indoor and outdoor public spaces, unless seated and actively eating or drinking or sitting beside the pool. Masks are not required in staterooms if you are with your own travel party. Masks are not permitted in the pool or for any activity where they could become wet.

Other protocols onboard include the ships’ robust ventilation systems, enhanced cleaning and sanitization, and cruising at reduced occupancy as ships initially return to sailing.

Health and safety measures will be evaluated as public health circumstances evolve, and guests and travel partners will be notified of updates.

At the ports Harmony of the Seas will visit, shore excursion options depend on the country's rules.

• Spain
  • Fully vaccinated parties have the choice of booking a shore excursion or visiting freely.
  • Parties that wish to go ashore and include any unvaccinated guests, must book a shore excursion through Royal Caribbean
• Italy
  • All travel parties that wish to go ashore must purchase a local tour through Royal Caribbean. 

Ben Bouldin, vice president for EMEA, Royal Caribbean International commented “We are delighted to welcome back another ship to our European lineup this summer with the return of the award-winning Harmony of the Seas. Harmony is an incredibly popular ship and one of the most revolutionary in our fleet, so families are in for a summer of adventure.”

Construction on Royal Caribbean's new cruise terminal in Galveston was celebrated with an official kickoff ceremony over the weekend.

On Saturday, Royal Caribbean and the Port of Galveston celebrated the start of construction of the Terminal 3 cruise terminal.

Attending the groundbreaking was U.S. Congressman Randy Weber, Texas Rep. Mayes Middleton, City of Galveston Mayor Dr. Craig Brown, and City Councilmember Marie Robb. Representatives from Royal Caribbean and the Port of Galveston were also in attendance.

Work on the new facility began two months ago, but the official groundbreaking ceremony was held to coincide with Independence of the Seas departing Galveston, becoming the first Royal Caribbean cruise ship to sail from Galveston since March 2020.

After completing her test cruise earlier this month, Independence of the Seas received her Conditional Sailing Certificate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Terminal 3 will be built at Pier 10 for exclusive use by Royal Caribbean on a 10 acre parcel of land, which will eventually be the new homeport for Allure of the Seas.

The cruise terminal is estimated to cost $110 million and encompass 150,000 square feet of space.

The facility will feature state-of-the-art technology, including mobile check-in and facial recognition to expedite guest arrival. The terminal will be designed and developed sustainably to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental) certification standards.

Construction of the terminal should be completed by November 2022.

Once construction is complete, Allure of the Seas is scheduled to arrive on November 13, 2022.

Welcome to this week's edition of the Royal Caribbean post round-up, where we summarize all of the Royal Caribbean news and information from this week into one handy-dandy post! There is plenty of great content to enjoy, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's round-up!

The cruise industry took notice this week when a United States District Judge sided with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) against the State of Florida in the question of can a company ask for proof of a Covid-19 vaccination.

NCLH was granted a preliminary injunction which would allow a cruise line to require passengers to prove they are vaccinated against Covid-19 if sailing from Florida.

Judge Kathleen M. Williams said in the docket that the combination of trying to restore consumer confidence and the Delta variant contributed to NCLH's win.

Royal Caribbean News

• CDC rule prohibits cruise ships based outside of United States from returning for 14 days
• Norwegian Cruise wins lawsuit against Florida over Covid-19 vaccine passport ban
• Royal Caribbean gets CDC approval for Independence of the Seas to sail
• Royal Caribbean now accepts CDC-approved at-home COVID-19 tests
• How to have the best experience for cheap on Royal Caribbean
• Royal Caribbean brings back WOW Sale with up to $300 onboard credit
• Spotted: Royal Caribbean cruise expected check-in date added to app

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 418th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where Matt looks at new rules Royal Caribbean recently announced.

There has been plenty of rule changes lately, but this week, Matt breaks down the three biggest changes announced over the last few weeks.

Please subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! 

Video: 10 Truths of going on a Royal Caribbean cruise right now

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video: 10 Truths of going on a Royal Caribbean cruise right now

What it's like on the Mariner of the Seas test cruise

What happens on a test cruise? 

Mariner of the Seas is the latest cruise ship to sail on a test cruise, and these simulated voyages are an opportunity to demonstrate new protocols to federal regulators, as well as give the crew a chance to prepare for the real thing.

Matt just sailed on Mariner of the Seas for her 2-night test cruise, and shared everything he did onboard.

Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas restarts cruises today after being shutdown due to the global health crisis.

Symphony may not be the first cruise ship to restart, but she is the largest cruise ship in the world, which is a significant milestone for the cruise industry.

Royal Caribbean has been slowly and methodically restarting its ships with a wealth of new health protocols and policies in place to protect guests, crew members, and the communities each of its ships visits.

All of the crew members will be fully vaccinated on Symphony of the Seas, and any unvaccinated guests (mainly children, according to the cruise line) will be subject to additional testing requirements and specific health protocols. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the ship to restart operations following a simulated voyage earlier this month, when the crew demonstrated the new protocols meet the agency's needs.

All passengers onboard, vaccinated or not, will need to take a Covid test before the cruise, and wear face masks in public areas onboard unless in a designated vaccinated-only zone.

While Symphony has a capacity of over 5,400 passengers, the ship will sail with significantly less guests while Royal Caribbean gets more ships back into service and evaluates its health protocols. While the exact number of passengers for the first sailing is not yet know, other Royal Caribbean ships have been sailing with just around 1,000 passengers at the most onboard.

Symphony of the Seas will depart today from PortMiami and embark on a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise that visits Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan.

Symphony is not the first Oasis Class cruise ship to restart. Sister ship Allure of the Seas was able to start up first earlier this month.  The two other Oasis Class ships will resume operations shortly as well.

Harmony of the Seas will depart Barcelona on Sunday, while Oasis of the Seas will resume operations from Cape Liberty in early September.

Some of the protocols for unvaccinated guests include being limited from accessing certain venues onboard, as well as being required to get travel insurance for sailings beginning in August.

Guests will have to wait a bit longer before Royal Caribbean can offer certain culinary classes on its ships again.

Royal Caribbean sent an email to guests who had select culinary events and classes reserved that these are now canceled.

According to the cruise line, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance does not allow the cruise line to offer certain group culinary events.

"As part of the guidance received from the Centers of Disease Control, we've had to adjust some of our special culinary events and classes," the cruise line said in an email sent to guests.

"We're sorry for the impact and inconvenience this may have on your time with us."

These group events allow guests to try their hand at making certain foods in a fun environment, with a crew member leading the guests in the techniques to create (and then eat) their creations.

This includes cancelling:

• Sprinkle Time Cupcake
• Sushi classes
• Guacamole classes

Guests who had these classes booked will receive a refund to the original form of payment within 30 days.

It is not clear when these classes will be offered again onboard.

The cruise line confirmed that Taste of Royal and Sushi and Saki Pairing will still be offered to guests.

Royal Caribbean has successfully received permission for Independence of the Seas to sail from the U.S. government.

After completing her test cruise earlier this month, Royal Caribbean announced the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has approved the ship for service with paying passengers.

Independence received her Conditional Sailing Certificate from the CDC, which means the ship is ready to sail with passengers on August 15.

Just last week, Royal Caribbean received a Conditional Sailing Certificate for Allure of the Seas.

This certificate is the final phase of the CDC's phased approach, known as the Conditional Sail Order (CSO), to allowing cruise ships to resume operations from the United States, and is yet another ship in the fleet to get approval by the U.S. government to sail.

Independence of the Seas completed her test cruise from Galveston on August 1st.

This is now the fifth ship to get approval from the CDC to restart cruises, following Freedom, Serenade, Ovation, and Odyssey of the Seas.

Independence will offer 7-night Western Caribbean sailings from Galveston, Texas.

Read more: 8 things to love about Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas

For cruises departing Galveston, Texas in August 2021 onboard Independence of the Seas, Royal Caribbean guests age 12 and older must present proof of Covid-19 vaccination with the final dose of their vaccine administered at least 14 days before sailing.

Update: Mariner of the Seas has completed its simulated cruise. And Independence of the Seas received its CDC Conditional Sailing Certificate in time for the first @RoyalCaribbean cruise from @PortofGalveston on Sunday, Aug. 15. ⚓️ | For media: https://t.co/YGwG1roz1P pic.twitter.com/jRsRKm7E1C

— Royal Caribbean PR (@RoyalCaribPR) August 13, 2021

All crew onboard Independence of the Seas will be fully vaccinated.

All unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 must undergo 2 more COVID-19 tests at the cruise terminal and prior to disembarking.

Guests under 2 years of age will not be tested.

Royal Caribbean has also outlined the mask rules for guests onboard Independence of the Seas in August that are age 2 and up:

Masks are NOT required to be worn:

• In open-air areas of the ship, unless you are in a crowded setting.
• In the pool or any activity where they may become wet.
• At venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants and shows.
• In your stateroom when you are with your traveling party.
• While visiting our private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay, unless you are in a crowded setting.
• By any guest under the age of 2.

Masks ARE required to be worn:

• While indoors onboard the ship, unless seated and actively eating or drinking.
• While visiting public ports of call, where local regulations may require them.

Dining & Lounges
In the Main Dining Room, which spans multiple decks, we will designate areas for everyone, including parents and unvaccinated children, and areas for vaccinated parties only. My Time Dining will not be available to parties that include unvaccinated guests.

Most specialty restaurants will be open to everyone, while a few will be for vaccinated parties only. If you prefer a buffet, Windjammer will be open to everyone for breakfast and lunch, and the food will be served by our crew.

Grab-and-go cafes will also be available for everyone.

Entertainment
Theaters and activity venues will offer spaced seating with options for everyone and for vaccinated guests only.