UnionPay International Partners with Royal Caribbean to Optimize Cruise Payment Service

UnionPay International announced today that it will launch a new service together with Royal Caribbean International to enable UnionPay cardholders to bind their UnionPay cards with a cruise card online before boarding. After boarding, customers are able to pay easily and smoothly with the cruise card. At present, UnionPay cards are accepted on over 90% of the outbound cruises departing from mainland China.

In recent years, more and more Chinese tourists like to take cruises. According to the data released by Tongcheng Tourism Group, as of 2017, the market scope of cruise travel in China has maintained rapid growth for 10 consecutive years. In line with this trend, UnionPay International continues to improve its cruise payment services to cover the entire cruise travel. These services include online ticket purchase, card bind on-board, cruise card top up, on-board POS terminal consumption and cash withdrawal. When paying with UnionPay cards issued in mainland China on international cruise ships, the spending will be deducted from the bank account in RMB without currency conversion fees.

Royal Caribbean is an international cruise brand, with which UnionPay International has carried out comprehensive collaboration to optimize UnionPay cardholders’ payment experience. At present, its official website in Chinese has accepted UnionPay cards for ticket purchase. And all ATMs on its cruise ships accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal. UnionPay cards are also accepted on the majority of its cruise ships.

This time, the two parties further deepen their collaboration to enable customers to bind their UnionPay credit cards with the cruise cards of Royal Caribbean’s three major cruises, namely Voyager of the Sea, Quantum of the Sea and Ovation of the Sea. Before boarding, UnionPay cardholders are able to bind their UnionPay credit cards with the cruise cards on the Chinese official website and WeChat account of Royal Caribbean. Then, they can make easy payments with the cruise card on-board. Next, the two parties will explore collaboration in innovative payment products such as the UnionPay app to better meet the diverse payment needs of passengers.

UnionPay International has also launched a series of special offers for UnionPay cardholders with Royal Caribbean, including whole-year promotions and seasonal discounts. These cover high-speed wifi, medical center, onshore sightseeing, photo studios, and duty-free shops, etc.