Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Unveil “Groups Your Way”

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises have unveiled Groups Your Way, a new policy designed to offer travel professionals a choice of two different ways to book groups based on the number of staterooms they wish to hold. Agents will be able to take advantage of the new “Groups Your Way” policy for new and most pre-existing groups in September.

“Groups Your Way” will enable travel agents to hold –with no initial upfront deposits- up to 16 staterooms on Royal Caribbean sailings and up to 24 staterooms on Celebrity sailings, with up to 180 days to sell the staterooms.

For affinity group bookings requiring more than 16 staterooms on Royal Caribbean or more than 24 staterooms on Celebrity, travel agents will be able to hold space as long as they have sufficient staterooms sold, up to 180, 120 or 90 days prior to sailing, with scheduled review dates along the way.

A deposit of $25 per guest will be due 30 days from creation of the group booking. For travel partners who require more than 50 staterooms, a cruise line group partner advocate will help to custom tailor a mutually agreed upon sales timeline that meets the travel agent’s needs.

The two cruise lines encourage travel agents to continue to book groups as they normally do between now and when the program officially kicks off, noting that August and September are typically the biggest months for booking group space.