The cruise industry giants Royal Caribbean have launched a new hotel booking platform for passengers to take advantage of when booking their cruises. Powered by the travel comparison website Priceline, the new engine will make cruise travel even simpler for cruise goers in the future – just in time for what looks set to be a bumper year of cruise travel following the CDC’s reclassification of the risk level of cruise trips.
From preferential rates on hotels for users of the platforms to highly-customizable search options to allow travelers to book exactly what they are looking for, the new booking engine looks bound to be a hit for those traveling on a Royal Caribbean cruise in the future. Here’s a closer look at what we know about the new platform, a look at its features plus a recap of other stories that have come out of the cruise industry recently.
Royal Caribbean Hotels – What Travelers Should Know
Whilst boarding the ship is the main even, travelers will often book-end their trips with a stay in a hotel near to the departure port both at the start and at the end of their trips. With such stays essential in hoping the vacation gets off to a good start and finishes in the best possible way, travelers should pick their choice of hotels carefully – and this is where Royal Caribbean’s new hotel booking platform comes in handy.
Called Royal Caribbean Hotels, the new service offered by the cruise industry giants allows travelers to book stays in hotels at arrival and departure ports served by the cruise line. The platform will offer passengers exclusive rates across the world, including ports in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific, as well as North, South and Central America – with some offering large discounts of up to 50% off.
Like other hotel comparison services, Royal Caribbean Hotels allows cruise travelers to search through thousands of hotels around the world, allowing them to further filter their search based on a number of criteria, such as the amenities offered by the hotel and what star rating it has. However, it does also have several key features that set it apart from other hotel booking platforms.
Travelers using the Royal Caribbean Hotels can benefit from the cruise line covering the cost of their hotel cancellation fees in the event of the cruise being cancelled or modified. On top of this, the cruise line is also offering 24/7 support to guests who have booked a hotel stay through the platform, ensuring passengers are in control and on top of the booking experience.
The platform is currently only available to travelers within the US, Canada and Mexico, with a wider roll out of the service expected to come at a later date. It is the latest of several exciting announcements by the cruise line so far this year, which have previously included the easing of its face mask requirements and its recent launching of the world’s largest ship.
However, Royal Caribbean isn’t the only cruise line taking steps towards making travel easier for its guests. Cruise rivals Carnival recently rolled out the use of the VeriFLY app for all cruises departing from its US homeports, making the boarding experience much easier and faster for its guests. The move came following a successful trial period earlier in the year.
