Royal Caribbean Debuts Two New Credit Cards: Are They Worth It?

Here at OMAAT, I usually cover airline and hotel credit cards, since that’s what interests me most. However, it’s also interesting to look at other cards being launched in the travel space. Along those lines, Royal Caribbean and Bank of America have just partnered to launch two credit cards, which will likely interest some cruisers.

While I’d consider them to be rather niche, I imagine some Royal Caribbean loyalists will find them to be interesting, so let’s cover the details.

Royal Caribbean & Bank of America credit card basics

Royal Caribbean and Bank of America are partnering to launch two credit cards — the no annual fee Royal ONE™ Visa Signature® credit card, and the $99 annual fee Royal ONE Plus™ Visa Signature® credit card. As you’d expect, the premium card offers the bigger benefits, so let’s cover the details.

Royal ONE Visa Signature credit card details

The Royal ONE Visa Signature credit card has no annual fee, and here are the basics:

• The card has a welcome bonus of 45,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 within the first 90 days
• The card offers 3x points on eligible Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea purchases, 2x points on eligible grocery, gas, and EV charging station purchases, and 1x points on all other purchases, with no foreign transaction fees
• The card offers a $100 cruise discount after spending $10,000 on purchases within the prior anniversary year
• The card offers priority boarding through the Royal ONE Rewards designated access line on boarding day, where available
• Points can be redeemed for cruise discounts or onboard credit with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea, at the rate of one cent per point (meaning the welcome bonus will get you $450 in value)

Royal ONE Plus Visa Signature credit card details

The Royal ONE Plus Visa Signature credit card has a $99 annual fee, and here are the basics:

• The card has a welcome bonus of 70,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first 90 days
• The card offers 4x points on eligible Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea purchases, 2x points on eligible airline, hotel, dining, grocery, gas, and EV charging station purchases, and 1x points on all other purchases, with no foreign transaction fees
• The card offers a $200 cruise discount after spending $20,000 on purchases within the prior anniversary year
• The card offers priority suite boarding and priority luggage
• The card offers up to a $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every four years
• Points can be redeemed for cruise discounts or onboard credit with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea, at the rate of one cent per point (meaning the welcome bonus will get you $450 in value)

Are these new Royal Caribbean credit cards worth it?

As is common with co-branded credit cards, they’re often designed as niche products for those who are specifically loyal to a brand, rather than offering the absolute best value you’ll get in the credit card industry. A Starbucks customer is more likely to get a Starbucks credit card, an Apple customer is more likely to get an Apple credit card, etc. I think the same principle applies here.

If you’re looking for a single credit card that’s going to maximize your rewards, this is unlikely to be it. That being said, if you’re a customer of Royal Caribbean brands (and that includes other cruise lines as well, like Celebrity and Silversea), I’d say there’s potentially value to picking up these cards:

• The no annual fee Royal ONE Visa Signature credit card costs you nothing to hold onto (and there’s generally value to having cards in terms of maintaining a great credit score), and it gets you some onboard privileges, and an argument could be made for spending $10,000 on the card to unlock the $100 credit, since that’s equivalent to an incremental 1% return
• The $99 annual fee Royal ONE Plus Visa Signature credit card offers more privileges that cruisers might value, and if you’re going to have the card, spending $20,000 could be worth it

Personally, I think they could’ve done a little more to make these cards compelling, in terms of creating a greater incentive to spend, and adding more perks for booking cruises. Because you are pretty limited with these cards in terms of the ways the rewards can be redeemed.

So I’m not too excited about these cards, personally, though I’m sure some Royal Caribbean loyalists will be interested in picking these up. Still, a simple no annual fee 2% cashback card would probably be a better value for most people, in the long run.