Royal Caribbean to Charge for Room Service Starting March 27

Royal Caribbean has announced a new plan to start charging for room service.

According to an announcement on the cruise line’s blog, Royal Caribbean will charge guests a fee of $7.95 per order for ordering room service from the All Day Menu and the American Section of the breakfast menu.

Continental breakfast options will still be complimentary. Additionally, room service will remain complimentary for guests staying in a Grand Suite stateroom or above. The $7.95 fee will be assessed for each room service order.

The change will go into effect on sailings after March 27, 2017, along with a newly updated room service menu.

The move is a latest in a series of onboard policy changes for Royal Caribbean. The cruise line recently updated stateroom and suite categories across its entire fleet, removing the term “family” from higher occupancy staterooms and replacing it with terms that emphasize size, like “spacious” or “ultra spacious.”

Royal Caribbean has also changed its tour conductor credit calculation for all groups sailing on or after January 1, 2018, to use the average cruise fare of the total stateroom category booked within a group. In an interview with Travel Agent’s cruise editor, Susan J. Young, the line said that agents had been asking for the change. Previously, the line had calculated the credit based on the stateroom category where the group has booked the most space, meaning that agents earned less from upselling.

In terms of onboard safety, Royal Caribbean also recently added certified lifeguards at all pools across its fleet. Under new guidelines implemented in February lifeguards are now on duty at all pools during opening hours. The new guidelines also added swim vests for children four to 12 years old, a water safety presentation in the Adventure Ocean kids program and a teen 411 session on water safety.

Stay tuned to our Royal Caribbean cruise news page for the latest updates for travel agents from the line.