Despite pointed pushback from passengers, Carnival has officially rolled out its new loyalty program today.
The new program, which now puts most of its emphasis on how much you spend with the cruise line instead of how many nights you sail, has been in the works for over a year. Today, that old system is retired and passengers now earn loyalty through the new system that consists of “points” and “stars” earned through spending with the cruise line.
“Cruise loyalty has traditionally been built around how often guests sail, and Carnival Rewards was designed to go beyond that,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “The new program recognizes the many ways our guests engage with Carnival, and with both rewards and status, we’re giving guests more flexibility and more value to enjoy the experiences that matter most to them. Simply put: Your cruise, Your rewards. Your way.”
A Dramatic New Way for Loyalty on Carnival
Previously, Carnival rewarded loyalty by nights sailed. For every night you sail on a cruise, you earned a point. So a week-long cruise earned a passenger seven points. And as you sailed more and earned more points, your status would also rise, going from blue for your first sailing to red, gold, platinum and then diamond.
Carnival passengers are known to be some of the most loyal, and achieving higher status — and the perks that come with it — is a goal of many of them. High status such has traditionally shown that you’ve spent years or decades sailing the cruise line.
Meanwhile, the points never expired, and a passenger’s status never fell. The cruise you took 20 years ago counted toward higher status just like one that you took last month.
The new Carnival Rewards is very different and not nearly as straightforward. Essentially, passengers earn “Carnival Rewards Points” and “Status Qualifying Stars” for every dollar spent.
For every $1 spent on Carnival purchases, ranging from everything from the cruise fare to shore excursions to onboard drinks, passengers will earn 3 points and 3 stars. So if you paid $1,200 for a cruise for two, then you’ve earned 3,600 points and 3,600 stars. However, those points are divided equally between the two travelers, so each person gets 1,800 points and 1,800 stars. (Minors see their points go to the responsible party on the cruise booking.)
Points and Stars Now Are the Big Drivers
Points and stars do different things. Points turn into a cruise line currency, similar to credit card points. You can redeem those points for everything from drinks on the ship to specialty restaurants, shore excursions, and even cruises themselves. These points don’t expire as long as there is activity every three years.
The stars count toward your onboard status. Think of them as a replacement for nights sailed. New members start at red. Those earning at least 10,000 stars during a two-year earning period will earn gold status. Passengers earning 50,000 stars see platinum level. And those earning at least 100,000 stars earn diamond level status. Status is good from whenever earned through the next two-year earning window. But if you don’t keep up your spending, then your status will eventually reset.
If all this sounds a bit confusing to you, you aren’t alone. And due to the changes, the response from social media has been harsh since the announcement, as we’ve previously discussed.
In fact, a Facebook post on Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald’s page about the new program’s rollout shows a message that says that he has “limited who can comment on this post.”
Could the New Program Be Better for Some?
While we think there is little argument that the new program is more confusing than the old one, there is reason to think at least some passengers could be better off.
Frankly, cruise line loyalty programs — including Carnival’s — have required a large number of nights sailed before the perks amounted to much. For instance, if you wanted more than a bottle of water and a free cocktail under the old program, then you needed to have platinum status. That took 75 nights of cruises to achieve.
With this new program, you earn points for everything you buy on the ship, including the cruise itself. And since those points can be used for seemingly anything Carnival, even passengers with lower status are going to have points they could put toward anything from drinks to shore excursions and more. In that way, passengers could get more in return from the new program than they ever did from the old one, especially if their status is lower.
We plan to continue following the rollout of the new Carnival Rewards and the passenger reaction.
There are signs as well that the rollout may not be going as smoothly as hoped. When we went to Carnival’s website to check our status in the new program, we were greeted with a message that there are issues “impacting load times and account login/information access.”
We were able to login to our account, but when navigating to check our status, the page says it could not be found.
