Should You Get Royal Caribbean's New Credit Card?

A Travel Advisor's Honest Guide

If you've cruised with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea more than once, you've probably heard whispers about the cruise line's credit card. Here's what's changed recently, what it actually offers, and how to squeeze every dollar of value out of it if you decide to apply.

Royal ONE™ Visa Card | Cruise Rewards & Bonus Points

Terms & Conditions: Product Disclosure

First, a Quick Update: The Card Got a New Name

If you already hold the old "Royal Caribbean Visa Signature" or "Celebrity Cruises Visa Signature" card, don't panic if a new card shows up in your mailbox. Royal Caribbean and Bank of America have rebranded and relaunched the program under a new name: Royal ONE™. Existing cardholders are being automatically converted, with new cards mailing out starting June 2026. Your old card keeps working until the new one arrives, and nothing changes about your fees, APR (17.49% - 27.49 %), or credit line in the process.

There are now two versions of the card:

	Royal ONE™ Visa Signature®	Royal ONE Plus™ Visa Signature®
Annual fee	$0	$99
Welcome bonus	45,000 points after $2,000 spend in 90 days	70,000 points after $3,000 spend in 90 days
Bonus value	~$450 in onboard credit/discounts	~$700 in onboard credit/discounts
Cruise spend earn rate	3x points	4x points
Other bonus categories	2x grocery, gas, EV charging	2x airline, hotel, dining
Anniversary cruise discount	$100 after $10,000 spent/year	$200 after $20,000 spent/year
Other perks	Priority boarding line	Priority boarding, priority luggage, TSA PreCheck/Global Entry credit, Visa Signature Concierge

One important heads-up: existing cardholders converting to Royal ONE do not qualify for the new welcome bonus — that's reserved for brand-new applicants.

How to Apply

Applying is straightforward and handled entirely through Bank of America, the card's issuer:

1. Head to the Royal Caribbean (or Celebrity/Silversea) website and look for the Royal ONE card page, or apply directly through Bank of America.

2. Fill out the online application — most applicants get an instant decision in under a minute.

3. If approved, the physical card arrives by mail within about a week.

4. Activate the card and you're earning points from your very first purchase.

   
   

The card is currently only available to U.S. residents and residents of U.S. territories.

Hitting That $3,000 Spending Requirement (Royal ONE Plus)

Since the welcome bonus is the single biggest source of value on this card, the goal in your first 90 days is simple: hit the spending threshold without changing your normal spending habits or carrying a balance. A few practical ways clients do this:

• Shift recurring bills onto the card — streaming subscriptions, phone bill, insurance premiums, utilities.

• Prepay for upcoming cruise extras — book your specialty dining package, beverage package, Wi-Fi, or shore excursions through the cruise line's website on the new card. This double-dips: it counts toward your $3,000, and it earns 4x points since it's a cruise-line purchase.

• Time a planned big purchase to land right after you open the card, rather than before.

• Avoid artificially overspending. The bonus isn't worth paying interest over — pay the statement in full each month.

• Promotional offers do not work for existing card holders like if you have the standard and you want to upgrade to the Plus card.

Applying the Onboard Credit Once You've Earned It

This is the part clients ask me about most, so here's the step-by-step:

1. Hit your spend threshold and wait for points to post. Once you've cleared $3,000 in purchases within the 90-day window, your bonus points land in your Royal ONE Rewards account.

2. Decide what to redeem for. Points are worth 1 cent each, and can go toward onboard credit, cruise discounts, or stateroom upgrades — but they cannot cover taxes, fees, gratuities, or deposits. There's also a minimum redemption of 5,000 points.

3. Have your reservation details ready — booking number, ship, and sail date. This matters because redemptions are applied based on when you're sailing, not when you redeem.

4. Know who needs to make the call. This is the part that trips people up: the redemption is handled based on the cruise line. A travel advisor cannot call on the client's behalf. The client themselves must personally call in to verify the account before the discount or credit can be applied to the reservation. OR you can do this by logging into your guest account through the available website or mobile app for the Royal Caribbean Group® cruise line.

   • Royal Caribbean®: (888) 305-4626

   • Celebrity Cruises®: (800) 760-0654

   • Silversea®: (888) 978-4077

5. Be patient with the timeline. Onboard credit typically takes 1–2 billing cycles to actually post to the reservation — plan accordingly if you're redeeming close to your sail date.

6. Double-check the booking before you confirm. Once a reward is applied to a reservation, it cannot be transferred to a different one — so if a client has more than one cruise booked, make sure the points land on the right trip.

7. Onboard, the credit shows up automatically on the guest's SeaPass account (usually within the first 2–3 days of the sailing) and gets applied like cash against the final folio — it isn't earmarked for one specific purchase, so it can cover anything from a shore excursion to a bar tab to gratuities. You can't use it for the casino.

A helpful note for clients with multiple sources of OBC: card-redeemed credit, booking-incentive credit, and any shareholder or promotional credit can all stack on the same SeaPass account, even though they come from different programs with different rules.

Maximizing the Card Long-Term

Once the welcome bonus is banked, here's how to keep getting value out of the card year after year:

• Route all cruise-line purchases through the card. Excursions, drink packages, Wi-Fi, gratuities prepayment, specialty dining — anything bought directly through Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea earns the elevated 3x (or 4x) rate, not just the cruise fare itself.

• Use onboard purchases on the card too. Spa treatments, casino room charges, photography, and specialty dining surcharges paid with the card during the cruise still earn points.

• Aim for the anniversary discount deliberately. $10,000/year (Royal ONE) or $20,000/year (Royal ONE Plus) isn't an accident — it usually requires routing everyday spending through the card. If a client is going to use the card as their primary card anyway, this is essentially "free" once they're already at or near the threshold.

• Use the discount before it expires. The anniversary cruise discount has to be applied to a new booking made directly with the cruise line (not through a travel advisor or OTA) before the next anniversary date — so it's worth flagging on the calendar.

• Don't forget the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit (Royal ONE Plus). This one gets overlooked, but it's real money: up to $120 in statement credits every four years toward a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application. Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck, so it's the better option for most travelers, and it effectively makes the $99 annual fee a wash in the year you use it. If a client travels internationally even occasionally, this alone can justify the upgraded card.

• Lean on the other premium travel perks too. Royal ONE Plus also includes priority suite boarding, priority luggage handling, and Visa Signature benefits like travel accident insurance and 24/7 concierge service — worth mentioning to clients who assume the card is "just" about onboard credit.

• Let points accumulate if a big trip is coming. Points don't expire and there's no earning cap, so it can make sense to bank points across a year or two toward a bigger redemption rather than cashing out small amounts.

• Be honest about fit. If a client cruises with Royal Caribbean Group brands once a year or less, the no-fee Royal ONE card is the safer choice — there's no downside to holding it. The $99-fee Royal ONE Plus only pays for itself with meaningful cruise-related spending or frequent sailings.

• One pool, no brand bias. The card doesn't favor one brand over another — earn rates, point values, and redemption rules are identical whether a client books Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Silversea. The only practical difference is that a fixed-dollar discount or OBC amount stretches further on a lower-fare Royal Caribbean or Celebrity sailing than on a higher-fare Silversea voyage — worth setting that expectation with luxury-leaning clients so they don't overestimate the impact.

The Bottom Line

For loyal Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea cruisers, the Royal ONE cards are a low-effort way to turn everyday spending into real onboard savings — especially in that first 90 days, when the welcome bonus alone can cover a beverage package or a couple of shore excursions. They won't outperform a flexible travel rewards card for someone who splits their loyalty across cruise lines, but for a guest who's already committed to this brand, it's worth a look.

If you're a client wondering whether this card makes sense for your upcoming sailing, or you'd like help timing a redemption to land on a specific reservation, reach out — I'm happy to walk through the numbers with you.

Disclosure: Card terms, bonus offers, and benefits are subject to change without notice. Always confirm current terms directly with Bank of America before applying.