RCCL Brands Switch to Electronic Cruise Documents

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Brands -Azamara Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International- are introducing new electronic cruise documents and luggage tags.

Guests will use a personalized, interactive web-based format to get information they need before their cruise, including travel agency contact details, information on shore excursion choices, onboard offerings, travel and documentation instructions, and more. Once the booking has been finalized, eDocs will be issued as early as 49 days prior to sailing.

All Azamara, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean bookings made on or after Dec. 13 will generate eDocs as the default format for guest travel documents. eDocs also will be the default format for any bookings made before Dec. 13 that didn’t include a selection of a hard-copy guest travel documents preference.

Guests will access their eDocs via each cruise line’s consumer website. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean will offer guests the option of ordering printed cruise documents for a fee of $35 per document. The up-market, smaller-ship brand Azamara, however, will waive this fee for its guests who order printed cruise documents.

The eDocs give guests and agents around-the-clock access to pre-cruise information, with hyperlinks to pre-cruise activity reservation opportunities. Additionally, eDocs offer a table of contents with hyperlinks that take the guest to the page they’re interested in, the ability to email a copy to friends and family, and the option to print specific pages.

As an added bonus, the companies say the eDocs will be visually stunning, colorful and easy to read. It is also possible for agents and guests to self-print eDocs at no charge using a printer-friendly format; however, this version will lack the interactive qualities of the online eDocs.

For all bookings made through travel agents, the eDocs will be customized to display the travel agency name and phone number. Travel agents can access eDocs through the three lines’ travel agent portal, http://www.cruisingpower.com/. Agents also have options on how their clients receive their eDocs.