Why Royal Caribbean Has a Better Loyalty Program Than Carnival

Regular cruisers, at least some of them, like to complain about how loyalty programs have taken away perks that used to be offered. It’s a refrain that’s become increasingly loud among Royal Caribbean customers for a very specific reason.

During the post-Covid cruise recovery period, Royal Caribbean offered “double points” cruises. These were intended to entice wary passengers back onto its cruise ships by doubling the Crown & Anchor (C&A) points they had earned on cruises over a period of a few months.

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On a regular cruise, you earn 1 C&A point for each night spent in a standard stateroom. You earn 2 points per night if you stay alone or in a suite. Guests can earn 3 points per night for staying alone in a suite. So, during the double points period, a person could earn 28 points for sailing alone or in a suite on a week-long cruise or 36 points for staying in a suite alone on the same cruise.

This has allowed some passengers to move up the ranks quickly and has given rise to the familiar refrain that “there are too many Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members.” It has led to some cruises where access to the Crown Lounge – a dedicated space on Royal Caribbean ships for Diamond members and above – has been restricted.

Additionally, there have been instances where Pinnacle members, the highest level of the C&A program that requires 700 points, have only had a select number of members with the highest points receive certain benefits. In both cases, these are very rare occurrences that typically occur on special event cruises (such as a presidential cruise) or on a transatlantic crossing, cruises that are likely to have a much higher number of high-level C&A members.

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Newer Royal Caribbean ships place the Crown Lounge in less desirable spaces.

Image source: Royal Caribbean.

C&A owns the Crown Lounge

Every Royal Caribbean ship offers a Crown Lounge for Diamond and higher-tier C&A members. On older ships, this is often a spectacular indoor/outdoor space located on one of the upper levels, while on newer Oasis and Icon-class ships, it is usually (but not always) a less spectacular room located on the fourth deck.

The Crown Lounge offers a continental breakfast in the morning and a 24/7 premium coffee maker that will allow you to prepare lattes, cappuccinos or basic cups of coffee. It also offers a happy hour where appetizers and light desserts are served.

Additionally, the Crown Lounge offers a concierge who can help you secure restaurant and show reservations or resolve issues.

But the main attraction remains traditionally the happy hour offered from 5pm to 7pm where, in addition to food, there is a full bar service. These drinks used to be unlimited, but this system has been replaced by a voucher system.

Whether you use a voucher, a beverage package or an a la carte package, Happy Hour is a way to meet other loyal Royal Caribbean guests. It’s often a place where you can catch up with old friends or meet others who also enjoy cruising.

Members of Carnival’s VIFP loyalty program don’t have a similar space. Celebrity Cruises, a sister brand of Royal Caribbean, offers its comparable members a dedicated light breakfast area and has tested an early evening gathering space for its Captain’s Club Elite and above members, but it doesn’t offer a permanent loyalty lounge.

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Royal Caribbean offers free drinks

Celebrity Cruises offers a nightly happy hour where Elite members or above can order from a limited menu at select bars from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. You can drink as much as you want, but the lack of a dedicated gathering space takes the chance of meeting other loyal passengers out of the equation, or at least makes it more difficult.

Carnival, even at its highest VIFP tiers, offers a maximum of two free drinks per cruise (and even then, there are some restrictions). It offers more logoed item giveaways and priority boarding to higher-tier members, but its overall benefits are much weaker.

Royal Caribbean has replaced its all-you-can-drink happy hour with a drink voucher system. For each day of the cruise, Diamond C&A members get 4 drinks, while Diamond Plus gets 5 and Pinnacle gets 6. These are digital vouchers that can be used at any bar on the ship or on the cruise line’s private islands for any drink up to $14.

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Drink vouchers are shareable (you can give them to anyone you want) and, for some passengers, they are a generous enough perk that they may not be able to purchase the Deluxe Drink Package. That’s a potential savings of about $100 per day.

Royal Caribbean also offers a loyalty program across its fleet. This means that Celebrity and Silversea cruisers enjoy the benefits of a loyalty level equivalent to that earned during their Royal Caribbean voyages.

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