UnionPay International has partnered with cruise line brand Royal Caribbean International to launch a new payment service for its cardholders.
The service allows UnionPay members to link their cards with a cruise card online prior to boarding. Customers will be able to use the cruise card to carry out easy transactions while on-board.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Cruise card offerings
The linking is available for Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Sea, Quantum of the Sea and Ovation of the Sea cruise cards through its Chinese website and WeChat account.
Royal Caribbean Chinese website already accepts UnionPay cards for ticket purchase. In addition, the cardholders can withdraw cash at all ATMs on the brand’s cruise ships.
Furthermore, UnionPay has rolled out a set of offers for its cardholders with Royal Caribbean. These include year-long promotions and seasonal discounts.
The partners are planning to further work together on innovative payment products such as UnionPay app, to provide more payment options for travellers.
A survey by Tongcheng Tourism Group showed that as of last year, the market scope of cruise travel in China has experienced significant growth for ten consecutive years.
In line with this trend, UnionPay aims to enhance its cruise payment services such as online ticket purchase. In addition, cruise card top-up, card bind on-board, on-board POS terminal and cash withdrawal are also being improved.
UnionPay cards are accepted on more than 90% of the cruises departing from mainland China.
