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Royal Caribbean to offer 30% early booking discount for 2018 cruises

Early booking discounts of 30% will be available when Royal Caribbean International puts its 2018 UK and Europe cruises on sale tomorrow (Thursday).

More than £300 in on-board spending money will also be offered in a bid to entice sales for 2017/18 itineraries by May 1.

A total of eight ships will be deployed in Europe next year, including the line’s new mega ship Symphony of the Seas running fly-cruises from Barcelona.

Independence of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas are returning to run UK departures from Southampton in summer 2018.

Two and three-night sailings at the end of the school summer holidays are being added by Independence of the Seas as the company looks to attract more families. The ship will also return to Ireland for the fist time in six years on a five-night cruise calling at Dublin and Cork in the May school half-term holiday.

Vision of the Seas will run departures from Barcelona alongside Symphony of the Seas.

Brilliance of the Seas is being deployed to Amsterdam to run 12-night Baltics and British Isles itineraries including Holyhead in the Isle of Anglesey in Wales as a new port of call.

Serenade of the Seas will operate Norwegian fjords pus Scandinavia and Russia cruises from Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Jewel of the Seas is to sail Greek islands and western Mediterranean itineraries from Civitavecchia (the port of Rome) while Rhapsody of the Seas will cover the Greek islands, Greece and Croatia from Venice.

UK and Ireland managing director, Ben Bouldin, said: “Guests are increasingly booking trips further in advance so that they have even longer to enjoy that pre-holiday buzz and our agents play a crucial role in facilitating this, not only for regular travellers but especially for those new to cruise.

“We’re proud to sail 24 of the world’s most innovative cruise ships to over 250 destinations worldwide and excited to announce our extraordinary 2018 UK and European deployment itineraries.”

The company released findings of a poll of 2,000 UK adults to coincide with the on-sale date, showing that booking a holiday is what makes people the most excited (65%) above spending time with friends and family (40%) and carrying out a random act of kindness (32%).

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