If you’ve ever taken a cruise, then chances are that you’re a member of the cruise line’s loyalty program… possibly without even knowing it!
These programs are created to incentivize passengers to stick with one cruise line. In return for your business, you earn points toward higher status. And the higher your status, the more perks you can enjoy, from discounts on onboard items all the way to free cruises.
But if you’re a first-time cruiser or just simply not that sure what all the fuss is about your status on the line, we’ve got all the basics laid out for you.
An Overview of How Loyalty Programs Work
When it comes to the mechanics of these loyalty programs, it doesn’t get any simpler.
First, to sign up you have to do… nothing. Passengers are automatically enrolled to the loyalty programs when they book a cruise. There’s nothing you have to fill out or account you have to create. It’s all done for you.
Then, for every day you cruise with the line, you earn points. With the more points you earn, the higher status you receive on the cruise line. For example, someone with 10 nights sailing on Royal Caribbean has 10 points, which gives them “Gold” status. Someone that’s sailed 100 nights has 100 points, giving them “Diamond” status.
As you move up in status, you earn more perks for your loyalty. Starting out, these perks are pretty small. Sometimes it’s as simple as a discount on a drink or two. But as you move up, the perks increase as well. The top members can even score free cruises.
How You Earn Points Toward Status (Don’t Forget Bonuses!)
Earning points is simple. You cruise.
Traditionally, you earn one point for each night that you cruise. So on a 7-day cruise, you earn seven points. This goes for everyone in the cabin, so a couple sailing a week each earn seven points toward their accounts. It doesn’t matter who paid for the cruise or whose name the reservation was made under.
The only thing that can get a little more complex is that there are sometimes bonus ways to earn points.
Some cruise lines offer double points if sailing solo and paying a single supplement (rooms are sold based on double occupancy, so often you have to pay the cost of two people even if sailing alone).
Others offer two points per night if staying in a suite. So a person sailing in a suite for a week earns 14 points instead of seven.
Still other cruise lines sometimes have special cruises that are offered with double points as an incentive to book.
For the vast majority of people, however, it’s just one point per day cruised.
Where to Check Your Current Loyalty Status
Not sure how many points you have? Or maybe you want to make sure that you have credit for a past cruise you took.
If so, you can login to the cruise line’s website. If you haven’t created an account before, you should be able to enter your information, create a username/password, and then see your status.
It should list all your cruises going back years and years, along with the number of points earned and your current status level.
Can’t find it? You can also call the cruise line and they can help you track down your status.
No, Points Don’t Drop Off Your Account
We’ve all been part of programs where your rewards — or loyalty status — seem to lapse if you don’t add to them regularly. The good news is that (at least for now) cruise lines don’t do this.
Since not everyone cruises all the time or even every year, they are good about not requiring you to keep cruising to keep your status. Those points from a cruise 20 years ago will still count, even if you haven’t sailed for a while.
What can change occasionally are the status tiers and the number of points required. So if you have 20 points on a line, that might have been a higher status in the past than it is today.
What Sort of Perks You Can Receive
Of course, your perks will vary based on your status level. When you start out in the first tier or two, the rewards aren’t usually that big of a deal but are nice to have anyway.
For instance, with NCL’s Latitudes Rewards, the second tier is “Silver.” The perks include a small discount on shore excursions, photos, and shore excursions.
Carnival’s VIFP Club gives their second tier “Red” members a complimentary bottle of water. Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society gives their “Platinum” members 50% off a coffee and two coupons for 50% off wine, beer, or soda.
There are other perks with this status, but that should give you an idea of what’s available.
Higher tiers can see significantly more benefits. Depending on the cruise line, this can mean free drinks, dinners, special boarding privileges, priority reservations, and yes, even free cruises.
There’s no question that the higher tiers offer much more exciting rewards.
How to Redeem Your Rewards on the Cruise
The programs list a ton of rewards for your status level but not all of them are things you are going to use or even know they are a perk you receive.
For instance, Carnival lists $5 in arcade credits for its higher-tier members and priority Guest Services by phone. We don’t know too many high-tier cruisers that get excited about the ship’s arcade.
Meanwhile, the perks you do receive may be discounts onboard that should be applied automatically but may not always be clear that they are.
That’s why to redeem your rewards — and ensure you’re getting everything you’re entitled to — it’s a smart idea to be your own advocate. Every cruise line lists a table of rewards on their website. You can browse through to see what you’ve earned and make sure you know what’s coming to you.
Some will simply apply automatically. Others you may need to go to a specific venue and ask for the perk or else you don’t get it. For example, Carnival’s “Welcome Treat” for high-tier passengers requires you to call room service and request it on the first two nights of the cruise or else you won’t get it.
While Casual Cruisers Shouldn’t Care About Loyalty
It’s always fun to get something for free, and it’s nice to feel a little important when you have status on a cruise line.
But if we’re honest, we think most cruisers shouldn’t care that much about loyalty programs. We’ve studied the rewards across lines. Honestly, there isn’t much to get too excited about until you reach the upper levels of these programs.
For instance, with Royal Caribbean — which actually has some decent discounts for lower-tier passengers — it’s not until you reach Diamond level that you can get a free drink (and then you get four free drinks on your cruise!). That requires 80 points, or 80 nights sailed for most people.
Carnival offers one complimentary drink on 5+ day cruises if you are Gold status, which starts at 25 points. So you have to sail 25 nights to get a free $12 cocktail. Perks are significant at Platinum status, starting at 75 points. There you get priority reservations and check-in, a free drink on any cruise, welcome treats, and more.
Looking through the various plans, it seems that the perks don’t really get that great until you reach around 75-80 points, depending on the line.
If you are someone that cruises regularly, such as a couple of weeks a year every single year, then you can reach that level quickly.
But for people that take a cruise here and there? It will take literally a decade or more to start being rewarded nicely for being loyal. In that case, we’d much prefer to have the ship, itinerary, or price dictate where we sail instead of a loyalty program.
Trying a New Line? See About Loyalty Matches
If you want to try a new cruise line but don’t want to give up your loyalty status perks, you might be in luck. Many cruise lines are actually owned by the same parent company. A few let you transfer your loyalty status from one to another.
The best example right now is Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. These are actually sister cruise lines, with Celebrity being aimed at a more upscale clientele.
Depending on your status on Royal Caribbean, you can apply to have it transferred over to a similar status in Celebrity’s program. This way, you can sail Celebrity — even for the first time — and enjoy perks like someone that’s been a dedicated cruiser for years.
You can typically see any information about status matching on the cruise line’s website.
