The Ultimate Guide to Scoring Black Friday & Cyber Monday Cruise Deals

If you’re a longtime cruiser, you probably know there are plenty of convenient tips and tricks you can use to help boost your savings on an epic vacation. If you’re new to the world of cruise deals, the wealth of information out there can be overwhelming. But don’t worry — we’ve put together a helpful guide that explains key offers and how you can get the most bang for your buck the next time you book a cruise vacation. Royal Caribbean runs great deals all year long, but there are some seasonal specials that are well worth waiting for — like Black Friday and Cyber Monday cruise deals. Offered every November around Thanksgiving, these huge sales often include a range of unbeatable discounts, like reduced cruise fare for your second guest, kids sail free, instant savings, and onboard credits you can use toward shore excursions, drink packages, and more.

Keep reading to learn about Thanksgiving season specials, and what to expect from all the savings each cruise offer includes.

Understand What the Cruise Offer Includes

The first step to really taking advantage of specials like Black Friday travel deals is understanding the benefits each promotion includes. One of the most popular cruise deals is BOGO offers (Buy One, Get One). This means that when you book a stateroom onboard one of the line’s cruise ships, you’ll enjoy a reduced price on the fare of your second guest. That frees up more of your vacation budget for things like drink packages, shore excursions, spa treatments, specialty dining packages, stateroom upgrades, and more. BOGO deals often go hand in hand with another popular cruise offer — Kids Sail Free. When you see ‘Kids Sail Free’ advertised as part of your special, it means you won’t have to pay cruise fare for guests age 12 and under on select itineraries. Just keep in mind taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and apply to all guests.

In addition to BOGO deals and Kids Sail Free specials, deals like instant savings and onboard credit are often available. Instant savings are deducted directly from your total vacation cost the moment you book. For example, if you see “Up to $200 in instant savings” advertised as part of a cruise offer, that means you’ll enjoy up to $200 off the total cost of your booking. The amount of instant savings you receive usually depends on the stateroom category you book — higher stateroom categories, like suites, enjoy the most savings. On the other hand, if you see “onboard credit” advertised as part of a cruise offer, that means you’ll enjoy money to use onboard the cruise ship or ahead of your cruise on things like shore excursions, drink and dining packages, and more. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals may include either onboard credit or instant savings, so it’s important to determine which kind of cruise offer appeals most to you.

Finally, keep an eye out for resident-only cruise specials. These deals usually apply to folks who live near a departure port, such as Florida, and often include instant savings in the form of a percentage off your cruise fare.

Make sure you review the specifics of the deal you’re interested in because they may change every year, and the terms and conditions may also change over time.

Sign Up and be the First to Know About Cruise Deals

You’ll always find the best cruise deals listed on the website, but if you don’t want to be glued to your computer around the Thanksgiving holiday, you can just sign up with the cruise line’s newsletter to receive updates on sales and specials. The rich cruise offers that make up these huge deals often change several times over the course of a few days and can even be extended past their original deadlines, so it definitely pays to stay up to date. By signing up, you’ll also receive notice when certain itineraries go on sale, whether it’s discounts on Caribbean cruises, Alaska cruises, Europe cruises, and beyond. The cruise ship and itinerary length you choose can also determine how much you save. These email updates will help you stay in the travel deals loop without having to hit refresh on your browser every ten minutes

Join Loyalty Programs

While the bulk of your cruise discount and added-value perks will definitely be contained within your Black Friday travel deals, you can supplement your savings by joining a loyalty program. These programs sometimes offer deals on things like drink and dining packages or stateroom category upgrades, and sometimes include freebies like complimentary happy hour in a members-only lounge, vouchers to attend exclusive onboard activities, and other sweet perks you and your family can enjoy during your sailing. Our loyalty program is called Crown & Anchor® Society, and joining is easy. All you have to do is complete a sailing onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and you’ll automatically become a member. The more you cruise, the higher your membership tier and the more offers and perks you’ll get to enjoy.

Take Advantage of Additional Offers Onboard and via Cruise Planner

Once you’ve booked your cruise getaway using a Black Friday travel deal, you can keep the savings going strong by booking packages and taking advantage of cruise offers onboard and online via Cruise Planner. Purchasing a drink package or dining package is a great way to save on cocktails and delicious food onboard, as it’s usually cheaper than purchasing cocktails and specialty dining reservations a la carte. And by booking things like shore excursions and spa treatments online via Cruise Planner ahead of your vacation, you can often score discounts like instant savings.

Hopefully by now, you’re feeling a little more confident about navigating the big, wide world of cruise offers and sales — especially when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Week. No matter which offer you end up using to book, rest assured you’ll be maximizing your value both onboard and ahead of your vacation.