Royal Caribbean plans to connect its loyalty program with Sandals

Royal Caribbean has already begun thinking through loyalty opportunities as part of its new partnership with Sandals Resorts.

Almost immediately, cruise fans speculated if this deal could lead to new loyalty possibilities. Based on the first comments from leadership, it appears Royal Caribbean plans a major loyalty tie-in with Sandals Resorts.

Royal Caribbean Group announced plans to acquire a 50% stake in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately $3 billion, with the transaction expected to close in early 2027.

Although the partnership may seem unexpected, it opens the door to expand where and how you can vacation within the Royal Caribbean Group ecosphere.

As part of the partnership, Royal Caribbean is exploring ways to connect its loyalty program with Sandals' programs.

"It will require developing some technology, but the plan is that when a Sandals customer is on one of our ships, we want them to be recognized for their status, and vice versa," Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Jason Liberty told Travel Weekly.

Sandals Executive Chairman Adam Stewart added that both companies want to leverage their "collective ecosystem," acknowledging Sandals guests may also enjoy cruise vacations, while cruise customers may occasionally prefer an all-inclusive resort getaway.

Liberty said the goal isn't to simply sell cruisers a day pass to Sandals Resorts. Rather, it's to provide mutual incentives to both customer bases instead of limiting them to one type of vacation.

He added that guests will benefit from connected loyalty and recognition programs while exploring, as Liberty put it, "great experiences across different businesses."

"We're entering all-inclusives for the same reason we entered river cruising... Whether we do it on water or land, we want to provide a lifetime of vacations, and that provides collective value for all stakeholders: customers, employees, the communities that support us and investors," Liberty remarked.

Royal Caribbean is a leader in delivering valuable guest loyalty programs

Many travelers consider Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society one of the best cruise loyalty programs at sea. Within this past year, the company has worked to make it even better, too.

In 2024, Royal Caribbean Group launched the industry's first tri-brand status match program across its three cruise brands: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises.

Now, travelers can enjoy reciprocal loyalty status across all tiers when sailing across the three brands, whether bouncing from Royal Caribbean to Celebrity, Celebrity to Silversea, or Silversea to Royal Caribbean.

Since then, they've also launched Points Choice. This lets cruisers apply their points toward any loyalty program, regardless of the cruise line sailed on.

So, for example, passengers can take a Celebrity cruise but opt to have the cruise points go toward their Crown & Anchor status, and vice versa.

What could the Sandals partnership mean for future Royal Beach Clubs?

Royal Caribbean has been investing in its private destination lineup for a while, starting in 2019 with the overhaul of Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas.

Since then, the cruise line has opened two exclusive beach clubs in The Bahamas and Greece, with plans to open another one in Cozumel, Mexico.

Sandals owns a lot of real estate across the Caribbean, including land surrounding its resort properties. As such, many have wondered whether Royal Caribbean plans to develop this land into exclusive beach clubs.

Although Royal Caribbean's new partnership with Sandals could potentially open the door to additional beach club locations in the Caribbean, Liberty confirmed that it isn't their top priority.

"How can we add more keys? How do we add more experiences? And only then, how can we utilize existing available land, or other opportunities, for us to deepen our collective roots in these incredible nations that support us?" he said.