How to Fill Out and Submit Royal Caribbean’s Guest Special Needs Form

Royal Caribbean’s Guest Special Needs Form is the online request you use to arrange disability-related accommodations before your sailing. You fill it out at royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs, complete only the sections that apply to you, and submit it at least 30 days before your sail date. Some requests carry earlier deadlines: 60 days for a sign language interpreter, 45 days for food allergies and special diets on standard itineraries, and 90 days for kosher Passover meals or dietary requests on European and South American itineraries.¹

Deadlines to Watch Before You Start

Check the calendar before anything else. Different requests have different cut-offs, and the earliest one that applies to you is your real deadline.

90 days before sailing: kosher meals for Passover, and dietary requests on European or South American itineraries.²
60 days before sailing: sign language interpreting (ASL or tactile), which is offered only on cruises departing from or returning to the U.S. and Canada, subject to interpreter availability.³
45 days before sailing: food allergy and special diet requests for standard itineraries.²
30 days before sailing: everything else on the form, including mobility equipment, stateroom modifications, oxygen and dialysis coordination, and service dog relief areas.¹
10 business days before sailing: accessible shore excursion requests.⁴

If you booked less than 30 days out, submit the form immediately. Royal Caribbean says it will make “reasonable efforts” to accommodate late requests, but nothing is guaranteed.³

What the Form Asks For

The form is broken into sections by category. You only complete the ones that apply to your situation. Fields marked with an asterisk are required.¹

About you: first name, last name, email, country of residence, phone number, ship name, sail date, and reservation number.
Accommodations needed: checkboxes for wheelchair pier assistance, assistive listening devices, wheelchair-accessible transfer vehicles, portable hearing room kits, service dogs, TTY devices, large-print materials, and sign language interpreting.
Stateroom setup: whether you need an accessible stateroom with a roll-in shower, plus optional items like a raised toilet seat, shower stool, commode chair, mini-refrigerator, or sharps container.
Your equipment: whether you’re bringing a manual wheelchair, power wheelchair, power scooter, or CPAP/BiPAP machine, with dimensions, weight, folding status, and battery type.
Oxygen and dialysis: whether you or a vendor will bring oxygen or peritoneal dialysis supplies, plus the vendor’s name and phone number.
Dietary requests: medically related items like soy milk, lactose-free milk, or Vanilla Ensure, with quantity.
Accessible shore excursions: whether you’d like to book them, can do minimal walking, travel with a companion, and can transfer from a wheelchair to a seat.
Other needs: a free-text field for anything the checkboxes don’t cover.

Gather the details before you open the page. Reservation number, exact ship name, sail date, and any vendor contact information should be in front of you.

Wheelchair and Scooter Measurements

If you’re bringing a mobility device, the form asks for width, length, height, and weight of the device, plus the combined height and weight of you and the equipment together. It also asks whether the device folds and which battery it uses: gel cell, dry cell, or wet cell.¹

Measure before you start typing. Standard stateroom doors are a minimum of 23 inches wide; accessible stateroom doors are 32 inches wide.¹ If your power wheelchair or scooter is wider than 23 inches, check “Yes” for an accessible stateroom. Those rooms run 159 to 298 square feet with a five-foot turning radius in the sleeping area, bathroom, and sitting area, and they include ramped bathroom thresholds, grab bars, a roll-in shower with a fold-down bench, a lowered sink and vanity, hand-held showerheads, and lowered closet rods.⁵ Accessible suites have roll-in showers rather than bathtubs.

Oxygen, CPAP, and Dialysis Requests

Royal Caribbean does not supply oxygen onboard. If you need oxygen therapy, you bring your own supply or arrange for a vendor to deliver it to the ship.⁶ On the form, select whether you or a vendor will handle delivery. If a vendor is delivering, enter the vendor’s name and phone number so the Access Department can coordinate pier logistics. Planning to take an oxygen concentrator or cylinder ashore on an excursion means sending the device dimensions separately to shorexaccess@rccl.com.

For a CPAP or BiPAP machine, check the box on the form. Royal Caribbean will place distilled water and an extension cord in your stateroom on sailing day at no extra charge, but only if you request them through the form ahead of time. Carry the machine in your carry-on rather than checking it with the porters. Cabin outlet configurations vary by ship, so the extension cord is worth asking for.

Peritoneal dialysis supplies follow the same option as oxygen: bring them yourself or arrange vendor delivery, and enter the vendor’s contact information on the form.

Dietary Requests: What Belongs on the Form, What Doesn’t

The form’s dietary section is narrow. It covers medically necessary items like soy milk, lactose-free milk, and Vanilla Ensure, with a quantity field.¹

Broader dietary needs — food allergies, gluten-free, kosher, low-fat, or low-sodium meals — go through a separate channel. Email special_needs@rccl.com with your name, booking number, ship, and sail date, or add the request to the “update personal information” section of your online reservation, at least 45 days before sailing (90 days for European and South American itineraries, and 90 days for Passover kosher meals regardless of itinerary).² Requests received less than 45 days out depend on whatever the ship already has aboard. Vegetarian options appear on Main Dining Room and Windjammer menus daily without any advance request, and vegan menus are available at the Main Dining Room on request.

Service Dogs

If you’re traveling with a service dog, check the service dog box in the accommodations section, and if you’ll need a relief area onboard, notify the Access Department through the form no later than 30 days before sailing. The ship provides four-by-four-foot relief areas with cypress mulch, shared among all service dogs onboard. Central Park on Oasis-class ships is not a designated relief area, and failure to use the designated spots can result in the dog being removed from the ship at your expense.⁷

Royal Caribbean defines a service dog as any dog individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability. Emotional support dogs and pets are not accepted. Documentation like ID cards, harnesses, tags, or written verification is helpful but not required to board. What is required is that you separately obtain the permits and health certificates each port of call and your final destination require for the dog to go ashore.⁷ Those permits are handled outside the Guest Special Needs Form.

Accessible Shore Excursions

The form has a section asking whether you want accessible shore excursions, but the actual booking runs through a separate process. Complete the Accessible Shore Excursions request form (a separate PDF) or email shorexaccess@rccl.com with your mobility device type, dimensions, and weight, at least 10 business days before departure. Accessible tours have limited capacity, so earlier is better. Groups of 10 or more passengers with a disability require 72 hours of advance notice.⁴

Submitting the Form and Confirming It Went Through

Go to royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs, complete the applicable sections directly on the page, and click Submit. There’s nothing to download or print.¹

An automated confirmation email should arrive within 24 hours, followed by a personal response from the Access Department within 48 hours. If neither shows up, email special_needs@rccl.com or call (866) 592-7225 to confirm your request was received.¹ Save whatever confirmation you get, whether that’s the automated email, a screenshot of the confirmation page, or the reply from the Access Department, and bring it with your other travel documents on embarkation day.

If a Request Isn’t Honored

Before sailing, reach the Access Department at special_needs@rccl.com or (866) 592-7225 to resolve a denied or unfulfilled request.⁸ Every Royal Caribbean ship and every U.S. departure port has a Complaint Resolution Official (CRO), a staff member trained in U.S. Department of Transportation disability rules and the cruise line’s own accessibility policies. If an accommodation you were promised doesn’t materialize onboard, ask Guest Services to connect you with the CRO.⁹

1
Royal Caribbean Cruises. Guest Special Needs Form
2
Royal Caribbean Cruises. What Options Are Available for Dietary Restrictions
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Royal Caribbean Cruises. Hearing and Visual
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Royal Caribbean. Accessible Shore Excursions
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Royal Caribbean Cruises. Accessible Staterooms
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Royal Caribbean Cruises. Does Royal Caribbean Supply Oxygen Onboard the Ship
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Royal Caribbean International. Service Animals on Cruises
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Royal Caribbean Cruises. Accessible Cruising
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Royal Caribbean International. Who Can I Contact With Disability Related Concerns