If you want to experience a vacation at sea, it is a good choice to carry your UnionPay cards and travel with Royal Caribbean Cruises. On June 22, UnionPay International announced its cooperation with Royal Caribbean Cruises, with which “Voyager of the Seas”, “Quantum of the Seas”, “Ovation of the Seas” and “Mariner of the Seas” of the Cruises would provide exclusive privileges for UnionPay card (card number starting with 62) to Oct. 12, 2016.
In recent years, traveling by cruise becomes a new travel option favored by an increasing number of the Chinese, especially the middle-aged and elderly people as well as family tourists. Public data show that the 10 major domestic ports received 1.24 million cruise tourists in 2015, and domestic travel agencies anticipate that cruise tourists will exceed 2 million this year. Conforming to such tendency, over 90% of outbound cruises accept UnionPay cards, offering secure and convenient payment services for customers on the cruises.
Royal Caribbean Cruises, taking over 40% of the international cruises market share in China, is a leading cruise companies. Its “Voyager of the Seas”, “Quantum of the Seas”, “Ovation of the Seas” and “Mariner of the Seas” are four most popular cruise brands among the Chinese customers. Now, customers can use UnionPay cards to pay at the duty free shops and restaurants on these four cruises, and can also withdraw US dollars at the ATMs on these cruises. Moreover, cardholders can bind their UnionPay credit cards with their cruise boarding cards, or use UnionPay cards to pay the deposit in advance and recharge their boarding cards, so as to complete all the spending on board with the boarding card. The costs will be settled upon disembarkment without any currency exchange fees.
To embrace the upcoming outbound traveling peak, UnionPay International and Royal Caribbean Cruises deepen their cooperation, providing special offers on popular voyages. These voyages include “Voyager of the Seas” from Hong Kong home port between June 16 and October 7, “Ovation of the Seas” from Tianjin home port between July 8 and October 12, “Quantum of the Seas” from Shanghai home port between July 1 and August 29, and “Mariner of the Seas” from Shanghai home port between August 2 and October 2. A discount coupon is granted to each guest room if passengers bind their UnionPay cards with boarding cards, or use UnionPay debit cards to pay the deposit in advance.
This special offer has three features: first, the duration is long, covering the upcoming summer vacation and the National Day; second, it is the first special offer benefiting cardholders of overseas-issued UnionPay cards, especially Hong Kong cardholders; third, the offers are rich as different voyages can enjoy various discounts: a twenty-USD coupon for a family photo, a five-USD coupon for WIFI package, a five-USD coupon for deck parachute, and a 12%-off discount coupon for Royal iCLINIC.
