Royal Intel Insight

Did free play drop in May 2026?

Per-tier free play is unchanged from April 2026. The release moved in volume and mix, not in the actual free-play amounts attached to shared tiers. That is the main point to keep in view when comparing month over month. The current ladder is straightforward: - 1500 points: $50 FreePlay - 2000 points: $100 FreePlay - 3000 points: $150 FreePlay - 4000 points: $300 FreePlay - 6500 points: $500 FreePlay - 9000 points: $750 FreePlay - 15000 points: $1,000 FreePlay - 25000 points: $1,500 FreePlay - 40000 points: $2,500 FreePlay The lower tiers 800 and 1200 do not carry free play in the historical comparison data, so they are not part of the free-play ladder here. The release has 10,748 sailings, up 552 from April 2026. That larger pool changes the weighted average free play per sailing, but not the tier amounts themselves. In other words, the average moved because more sailings landed in tiers with different free-play levels, not because Royal Caribbean raised or cut the tier values. That is the right way to read this month. The mix shifted, especially in the middle of the ladder. 3000 points gained 226 sailings, 6500 gained 198, 2000 gained 181, and 9000 gained 142. By contrast, 1200 lost 94 sailings and 800 lost 114. So the average free-play-per-sailing can look softer or stronger depending on where the added inventory sits, even when the per-tier amounts are flat. The release is still dominated by Caribbean sailings, which makes the middle tiers especially important. Caribbean accounts for 7,514 sailings, with Mexico at 1,530 and Asia at 585. That broad base is why the 2000 through 9000 tiers matter most for readers comparing practical value. At the low end, 1500 is the first tier with a clear free-play amount, but it is still a modest $50 FreePlay. The step up to 2000 is more meaningful because it doubles to $100 and starts to bring balcony inventory into the picture. From there, the ladder becomes more useful in clean increments: $150 at 3000, $300 at 4000, and $500 at 6500. The strongest free-play value in the release is still at the top end. 40000 points carries $2,500 FreePlay, but that tier is also the most specialized and the least accessible. For most readers, the practical comparison is between 4000, 6500, and 9000, where the free-play step-ups are large enough to matter and the sailing mix is still broad enough to shop. Nothing in 2605D suggests a free-play cut or a free-play raise at the tier level. The month is a mix shift. If you are comparing offers, focus on the tier you actually play, not the weighted average. The tier amount is unchanged; the sailing mix is what moved.