If you’ve recently booked a Royal Caribbean cruise, you will likely become familiar with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner. The Cruise Planner is the site where you can make flexible dining and show reservations, as well as pre-purchase a number of items before your cruise – including beverage packages, internet, specialty dining, and more.
Before you dive in with all of your pre-cruise excitement, there are some helpful tips that can make your planning (and purchasing) process more effective. In this post, I’ll share with you my helpful tips for mastering the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner.
I use the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner to pre-book and pre-pay for everything I can because I HATE returning to a large credit card bill. I also hate to stress about incremental charges throughout the cruise when I could be relaxing. Oh, and one more thing, I want to save a little money!
Anyone who has been on a cruise knows that as soon as you board, there are information tables where you can purchase a drink package, a dining package….a spa package, and more! However, on almost all occasions, the onboard prices are higher than if purchased pre-cruise.
Accessing the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner
You will first want to create an account at royalcaribbean.com and add your cruise reservation. For future cruises, they will likely populate for you. To add a reservation, simply select “Add a cruise” and enter your name, date of birth, and reservation number.
Once you are logged in, and your cruise has been added, you select “Plan my cruise”.
Planning your Cruise on the Cruise Planner
Take a few minutes to explore all of the areas of the cruise planner. You can review shore excursion options, dining and beverage packages, internet and photo packages, entertainment, and much more.
Related Post: When to Book Excursions through Your Cruise Line
Pre-Cruise Sales in the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner!
You will likely be inundated with sales emails from Royal Caribbean prior to your sailing, so it’s unlikely that you will miss a sale. However, occasionally, they do sneak in a price change or two – so I like to check pricing regularly.
Although I recommend purchasing early, I understand the need to space out purchases. It can really add up! Start with the most expensive item (usually the drink package or a cabana) and then move on to dining, internet, etc. Or, you can prioritize the purchase that is most likely to sell out or have a gradual increase in price such as excursions in Alaska or early times at specialty dining venues.
Related: Should you purchase the Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage package?
#1 Important Tip: The Royal Caribbean cruise planner participates in dynamic pricing. The price adjusts based on supply and demand. While the sale percentages are flashy, take note of the cost per person/per day. Quite often, the percentage will be higher, but so will the noted base price. They increase the price and then raise the sales percentage to catch your attention. Don’t be fooled!
Do You Have Onboard Credit (OBC)?
Booking “OBC” – Onboard credit is available on some early bookings or by booking as part of a group or special promotion and will immediately be accessible in your cruise planner account. Another way to get onboard credit when booking is to take advantage of the Next Cruise desk while onboard.
Royal Caribbean (or Celebrity) Visa – Bank of America offers a Royal Caribbean (and Celebrity) branded visa card. By applying for and using this Visa you can earn points that may redeemed toward branded merchandise, onboard credits or cruise discounts. To redeem earned points, you will log-in to your Bank of America credit card account and follow the process to redeem for onboard credit to a specific upcoming sailing. A short time later (usually within a week) the onboard credit will be available in your planner to use.
Tip: Make sure you add your onboard credit during your checkout. It will be displayed, but the amount is not automatically calculated in the amount you owe at checkout.
Do you own Royal Caribbean Stock?
If you own 100 shares or more of Royal Caribbean Group stock (NYSE: RCL) you are eligible for $50 on cruises of 5 nights. You are eligible for $100 onboard credit for every 6-13 night cruise! The redemption is even higher for 14-night cruises. You will need to confirm your shareholder ownership to receive the credit using this redemption form.
You can find more details on this program here.
Do You Have a Special Need or Request?
If you have a special need during your cruise. If you have a health issue or severe allergy, send a note to Royal Caribbean. For example, if you utilize a breathing machine and let Royal Caribbean know, they will provide you with an extension cord and distilled water at no charge.
Email special_needs@rccl.com – include your reservation number, cabin number, ship name sailing dates, and, of course, your need. You will receive an automated response and then a complete response within 2 days (in my experience). If your special need is in regards to a food allergy, be sure to discuss it again with the dining staff in person as well on embarkation day.
Once you’ve finished planning, you can view My Calendar. This is a great way to double-check the plans you made in the Cruise Planner. You can modify your selections in My Calendar. Your port times are also listed here, which I think is very handy. This is also a great time to download the Royal Caribbean App. While you can make some reservations and purchases within the app, it will be especially important to have during your cruise.
Bonus: Download a Free Cruise Planner Tracker
Conclusion: My Top Tips for Mastering the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner
- Restating because it’s critical, note the actual price not the sale percentage of your purchase.
- If you selected my-time dining, you will want to select your preferred time early in your planning process as the most popular times book up fast.
- Join a Facebook group for your sailing – Search for your ship and date on Facebook. This is a great place to get notified when important things happen, such as cruise planner sales, entertainment becoming available to book, etc. It can be a valuable heads-up!
- For anything that you would like to purchase, such as specialty dining and the deluxe beverage package, I recommend purchasing it as soon as you are able. Prices generally increase as the sailing gets closer.
One final heads up – You will need to “check out” and pay for these purchases. Making purchases in the Cruise Planner does not go onto your onboard account for you to pay at the end of your cruise. You will get an email confirmation of your purchase. You can print that email and take it with you or print out your purchase history and take it with you…just in case. You can also review your “order history” in your account.
Have a question about the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner?
Comment below or join our community on your favorite social. I would love to help. Be sure to check out my other cruise-related posts here.
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