Priority access isn’t new, the “skip the line” access started at theme parks many years ago and now a cruise version – The Key on Royal Caribbean – has entered the market as a pay for access and convenience product.  Over the years, the Disney priority access model has evolved to a paid model that requires a PhD in all things Disney (and Universal now too).   For those cruise passengers who don’t have cruise line status with perks, you can now add them on with The Key for a per person/per day price. So you will need to decide what’s important to you and your family (and budget) when considering The Key.  It’s also important to note that The Key is limited to x number per sailing so could sell out early. For my cruise Hawaii to Vancouver on Ovation of the Seas, The Key was available so I decided to see what it was all about and if worth it to me on the nine day sailing with three days in port and six days at sea.

Royal Caribbean “The Key Benefits”

What are The Key perks and will you use them to find value in the additional cost? How to assign a value to the time saved, the stress relief and the overall sense of calm? There are lots of questions to answer when evaluating the ROI for The Key for you and/or your family. A limited number of priority passes are sold for each cruise.  As I was traveling solo, it seemed like something I should try.  Since everyone in your cabin has to buy it, it can get quite expensive pretty quickly.

Here are the key benefits on Royal Caribbean:

• Priority Boarding with The Key has a separate check in area and early access boarding times starting as early as 11am. We had a late departure from Honolulu so you could check in, enjoy the welcome lunch, get settled in your cabin and leave the ship to further explore Honolulu.
• Welcome Lunch in the Main Dining Room with the CHOPS Steakhouse (abridged) menu. The lunch is offered from 11:30am – 1:30 pm and the email recommends checking in prior by 11:30 am to have enough time to enjoy your lunch.  Most of the folks at my shared table ordered the filet mignon entree.  (CHOPS lunch is generally $30 value)

• Carry-on luggage delivery to your cabin. This is a weird one in my opinion but something folks like as you can literally drop all your carryon bags at the main dining room, prior to lunch, and the bags are delivered to your cabin. No need to find your cabin, drop bags and return to the lunch to be seated.  And no need to do so after lunch, you are free to wander the ship unencumbered. As the cabins were not ready until nearly 3 p.m. I had a good amount of time to wander.  I wandered all the way to the spa for a massage while I waited.
• Priority seating at the nightly shows, reservation is still required on some ships. This was not applicable on my sailing as seats were easy to come by. I would expect larger more popular ships and shows to find value in this perk.
• Priority access for activities – special times are set aside exclusively for Key holders, at activities like I Fly, Observation Deck, bumper cars and Flow rider surfing pavilion. The Key welcome letter I received when checking into lunch highlighted reserved times and for I Fly and the North Star you needed to make reservations before sail away.  For the North Star observation experience, I’d recommend not doing on a sea day but rather in port when you have a great view of the destination in addition to the ship view.

• Internet for one device – this is straightforward. The internet service for me is rarely speedy so this is a nice to have to keep in touch but if it wasn’t included in The Key Package, I would have been ok to be truly disconnected at sea. (Internet for my sailing started at $18.99 per day)
• Priority access for the tender ports. This is a big deal if you’ve ever tried to disembark at a tender port and found yourself waiting for your tender number to be called.  Tender tickets are distributed on the day depending on the ship. So you’ll likely have a wait for your time to be called.  Priority is given to tour groups, suite guests and elite members.  With The Key, you can be one of the first off the ship and depending on the port, this priority tender access alone might be worth getting The Key. For example:
  • In Maui, priority tender access gives you a jump on the other passengers to get to the car rental shop and start your Road to Hana drive before the crowds. You might need to meet a private tour guide at a set time so knowing you don’t need to wait on the tender ticket lottery is helpful.
  • In European ports that require tendering such as Santorini where any time advantage is helpful given the cable car lines.
• Disembarkment breakfast in the Main Dining Room. When you cruise, you’ll see the most people on the first and last day in the Windjammer buffet and The Key allows you to avoid those crowds and enjoy a leisurely breakfast menu in the main dining room.  While both main dining rooms were open for breakfast making this benefit a bit moot, the Key members had their own dining room.  I liked being able to know not only was there no wait for breakfast but less stress as I didn’t have to deal with the buffet crowds and trying to find a table.  I had a leisurely experience to disembark at my own pace.

What’s the cost of The Key on Royal Caribbean?

The price of The Key varies by ship and length of sailing.  Royal Caribbean cruise math is always fun as they offer so many “sales” and “discounts” prior to your sailing.  Download the Royal Caribbean app and begin stalking it for deals or join a Facebook group for your sailing as folks will share when discounts/sales are happening.

For my recent cruise on Ovation of the Seas from Hawaii to Vancouver which had two ports (Maui Lahaina and Kona) over three days and five sea days, the price was discounted to $18.99 per day.  I was waiting and watching (aka stalking the app) for sales. For comparison to see if it was a deal, I looked at the Wi-Fi only cost and that was discounted to $17.99 per day so The Key cost one dollar additional per day ($9 extra for the cruise).  Nine dollars seemed a good value for the priority boarding and lunch on their own but the tender priority for Hawaii where both Maui and Kona are tendered ports was the real hidden gem of The Key.

Is The Key on Royal Caribbean Worth It?

There are folks that either love The Key (always buy it) or hate The Key (will never buy it and pay more), I’ve not found folks in the middle like me yet. I was able to research costs (minimal) and benefits (tender priority and stress-free boarding with lunch) and decide.  I do not have elite status with Royal so anything The Key provided was extra benefit for me. There are definite pros/cons to The Key especially if you are sailing solo (like me) or with your family.

To consider in your pro/con list:

• Are you buying WiFi for each family member device?
• Does your family enjoy stress-free early boarding access to enjoy the pool/amenities earlier?
• Is the Windjammer buffet ok for your welcome lunch or do you prefer a steakhouse lunch menu?
• Do you like exclusive times for the kids to ride and play on the sports/entertainment deck? Do the times work for your dining and play schedule?
• Is priority seating at entertainment matters important?
• Will the ship visit ports that require tendering and tender tickets?

So, it comes down to researching what you value on your cruise, what you will use and how often and if the price is right.

 

How Royal Caribbean’s The Key could be better

Of course, as a first-time user of The Key with Royal Caribbean, I have a few suggestions on how to make it better.

Note, I’ve not visited “Perfect Day at CocoCay” so I’m sure there are a plethora of benefits The Key could offer there.

• Priority to board tenders back to the ship.  The wait in Kona for the tender stretched down the length of the street and was nearly an hour wait.  I decided to eat at a local café waiting for the line to shorten.  Sadly, after enjoying my meal with a water view the lines didn’t subside much but at least I was no longer hangry.  I waited about 45 minutes in the sun to board a tender back to the ship.  A priority line for elite status, suite passengers and The Key seems like an easy idea to implement and give folks more reason to earn status or pay for The Key.
• Discount for Specialty Restaurants – If I had incentive to dine at a specialty restaurant with The Key, I would have entertained the idea of the additional cost. I did book a specialty lunch at CHOPS Steakhouse when it was on a slight discount online but once onboard there are no discounted specialty options.
• Discount for Royal Caribbean merchandise – Who doesn’t love a navy pullover with Royal Caribbean logo?  Maybe this is for the people like me who get cold and didn’t pack a fleece jacket.  Again, a discount gets me in the door and people rarely purchase one item when shopping. Seems like a revenue winner to me.
• Bespoke benefits by ship– with the newest Royal ship, Icon of the Seas, ready to sail, I’m sure there will be perks of the The Key that could be added specific to that ship given it’s size and offerings.  Conversely for smaller and/or older ships, The Key’s value may lie in pool lounge access, discounted services (spa anyone?) and/or unique to the ship experiences.

Overall Thoughts of Royal Caribbean “The Key” Access on Ovation of the Seas

Royal Caribbean sells priority access on its cruises called “The Key” which offers early boarding, exclusive entertainment access times and priority access to tenders. My first time using Royal Caribbean The Key VIP offering was positive and I’ll consider it for future sailings based on the cost and benefits I will use for that itinerary/ship.  I’m sure The Key by Royal Caribbean will continue to evolve as they work through how to standardize the offerings while also adding uniqueness to it. I’ve seen pricing vary wildly in discussion forums so be aware that my pricing was discounted and specific to my sailing.  To be honest, I got a fantastic deal so it was a no brainer to try The Key by Royal Caribbean.