Loyalty can go a long way in the cruising industry. The more you choose to travel with the same cruise line, the more you will be rewarded for doing so.
Cruise lines have loyalty programs to encourage travelers to continue traveling with the same brand or company. Repeat customers are an important component of a cruise line’s clientele. As such, many cruisers find themselves continuing to travel with the same cruise line to reap the benefits of loyalty programs.
Perks of having loyalty status with a cruise line can include a wide variety of benefits, including discounted or complimentary internet, alcohol, laundry, specialty dining, and more. Even better, loyalty programs are free to join, and you accrue points over your lifetime.
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One of the most popular loyalty programs in the industry is Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society. Additionally, members of the Crown and Anchor Society can receive a reciprocity status match with sister brands Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises.
With this status match, you can utilize your already-earned loyalty status with one brand to earn similar amenities and perks when cruising with the other two brands. Even if you only have status with one cruise line under the Royal Caribbean Group umbrella, you’ll receive some level of loyalty perks on all three brands.
However, each cruise line still has its own loyalty program, and you only earn points when sailing with each respective cruise line. For a while, the status matching across the brands was arguably unequivocal. If you had a top-tier status with one cruise line, you wouldn’t receive the highest status with the other brands. Most of the time, your status with one cruise line would match a tier below the one you had earned.
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For example, Diamond Plus status on Royal Caribbean (the second highest status) only matched to Elite status with Celebrity Cruises’ Captain’s Club (the third highest status). Similarly, if you had the top-tier Zenith status on Celebrity Cruises, you could only receive Diamond Plus status when sailing with Royal Caribbean instead of top-tier Pinnacle status.
Although the three cruise lines had this long-standing loyalty status program, Royal Caribbean Group announced enhanced status matching last month. With the program revamp, loyalty members now receive equivocal status matching across the three brands. Now, top-tier members can receive the same status level across the Royal Caribbean Group brands.
On my recent Celebrity Apex cruise, I was able to take full advantage of the new status match program. The new program went into effect just a few days before my cruise to the fjords of Norway, providing the perfect opportunity to try out my new loyalty status! Although I still prefer my Royal Caribbean benefits, I still saved so much money with the new program. Here’s what my experience was like.
As a loyal Royal Caribbean cruiser throughout my life, I have one of the highest loyalty statuses in the cruise line’s Crown and Anchor program
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With my Diamond Plus status - the second-highest tier for the cruise line - I’ve enjoyed many loyalty benefits over the years.
This includes free internet, daily free drinks, access to exclusive lounges, free laundry, balcony discounts, and more. These loyalty perks are quite lucrative and keep me coming back time and time again to the cruise line. Moreover, my husband inherited my loyalty status after we were married, so he receives the same perks as I do while cruising.
While I’m obviously a big fan of Royal Caribbean, my cruising preferences have changed over the years. Growing up, Royal Caribbean’s mega-ships, packed with onboard attractions, were once a huge draw for my family. Now, we are more destination-focused and see the appeal of a more upscale cruise line.
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Staying in the Royal Caribbean family, we’ve started to cruise more frequently with sister-brand Celebrity Cruises. The premium cruise line places a heavy emphasis on the adult experience and offers more exotic itineraries on innovative cruise ships. Waterslides and zip lines are replaced with craft bars and boutique lounges on Celebrity Cruises.
Another draw for Celebrity Cruises is the status match program with Royal Caribbean. A few years back, we booked our first Celebrity cruise and enrolled in the Captain’s Club loyalty program. With a simple phone call, our Diamond Plus status with Royal Caribbean turned into Elite status with Celebrity’s Captain’s Club. Although the perks were not entirely equal, they were substantial enough for us to jump ship (not figuratively).
With the new loyalty program announced by Royal Caribbean, my husband and I received an automatic status bump to Elite Plus. To put that into perspective, my husband has only taken nine cruises with Royal Caribbean, but because of my status, he has received the second highest status with both Royal Caribbean and now Celebrity Cruises - without stepping foot on a Celebrity cruise ship! This goes to show how lucrative cruise line status can be.
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We were eager to see what our new Elite Plus benefits would entail on our Celebrity Apex cruise. As one of the cruise line’s newest ships with so much to do onboard, the perks would certainly be put to good use.
The new status bump was already showing in our Celebrity Cruise profile before we boarded our cruise. In addition, our cruise cards also reflected the Elite Plus status, much to my relief. The seamless transition was appreciated! We also received a printout that included the Elite Plus benefits and perks we could receive during our cruise.
To start, the discounted internet perk saved us $144
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I always purchase internet when cruising, as I need to stay connected for work. I look forward to the day internet is free on a cruise ship! Until then, I’ll keep purchasing internet packages.
Elite Plus cruisers receive a 35% discount on internet purchases. For longer itineraries, these savings can really add up. On the contrary, Royal Caribbean only provides two free days of internet for Diamond Plus members. We paid $268 for the premium internet package, which included two devices. With the discount, we saved $144 on this purchase.
Considering I was already planning to purchase internet, saving $144 with the status program was a great way to start our cruise. Comparatively, I prefer to receive a percentage discount with Celebrity Cruises rather than a static $50 with Royal Caribbean. Most of the time, I’m taking longer cruises anyway, so the 35% discount is often worth more than $50.
The drink benefit, which is still unequivocal to Royal Caribbean, left us disappointed
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When cruising with Royal Caribbean, my husband and I each receive five daily drink vouchers with our loyalty status. These can be used on any drink up to $14 at almost every bar aboard - meaning there are few limitations to the benefit.
The vouchers can be used on virtually any drink you want onboard, making it basically like a free drink package. This perk has saved us thousands of dollars over the years, and it’s one of the biggest reasons we cruise with Royal Caribbean.
On the other hand, Celebrity’s drink benefit for loyalty members is much more restricted. Instead of drink vouchers, the cruise line has daily Captain’s Club Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm. This does not include embarkation day, for a seemingly unknown reason.
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You can only order from a limited menu, featuring a selection of beer, wine, and basic co*cktails. The one upside is that you can order as much as you want during the two hours, and most bars onboard participate.
However, the drinks on the menu are certainly not what I would typically order. With Royal Caribbean, I’m actually indulging in the co*cktails that I want to have. On Celebrity Cruises, I order the co*cktails that are free of charge even if they’re not my favorite. It reminds me of being a college student again - drinks always taste better when they’re free!
Although my husband and I attended the nightly happy hours, we missed the flexibility of Royal Caribbean’s drink vouchers. I also don’t understand why embarkation day is not included with Celebrity’s drink perk, as you receive your full loyalty voucher allotment on embarkation day with Royal Caribbean.
Read more: I'm a budget traveler who overspent on my European cruise. Here's where my money went
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The dissonance between the programs’ drink perks is one area where improvements for continuity could still be made, in my opinion. Even though the menu might not be my favorite, I still appreciate having complimentary drinks provided with the status match program.
One of the most surprising benefits was complimentary specialty coffee!
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My husband and I love starting our mornings with a latte or cappuccino. Although drip coffee is provided for free on a cruise, we normally like to indulge in specialty coffee while cruising. It’s not uncommon for us to each spend $5 to $7 on specialty coffee in the morning on a cruise. We simply consider this as part of our cruising budget.
While reviewing our new Elite Plus benefits onboard Celebrity Apex, I was shocked to see that specialty coffees were included with our status. This was not a perk included with my previous Elite status. I even researched online to confirm the perk wasn’t too good to be true.
On the first morning of our cruise, we made our way to the signature Cafe Al Bacio to try out our new perks. Sure enough, we could order any non-alcoholic specialty coffee that we wanted from the coffee shops onboard! It was such a treat.
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Throughout our cruise, this was a perk that we enjoyed each morning. Along with a delicious pastry from Cafe Al Bacio, we started our mornings with specialty lattes. Assuming we would have spent around $15 per day on coffee, we saved around $100 thanks to our new status.
While this is a minor benefit, we were already planning to spend money on specialty coffees during our cruise. As you can imagine, this was a favorite perk of ours - who doesn’t want to save money they were planning to spend?
My husband was also excited about the free laundry benefit
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The thought of laundry isn’t very exciting, especially when you’re on vacation! To help his future self, my husband prefers to do laundry on a cruise, so he has less to do when we return home from vacation.
On Royal Caribbean, we each receive one free bag of laundry on every cruise with five or more nights. This perk is worth $34.99, and it’s one my husband always takes advantage of. He argues, “Why do laundry at home when I can get it done for free on the cruise?”
On our Celebrity Apex cruise, my husband was excited to see that we each received two free bags of laundry with Elite Plus status. He took full advantage of this perk and used both of his two free laundry bags during our cruise.
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Each bag of laundry was worth $50 supposedly, so this perk was worth $100 to us. Now, would my husband pay out of pocket to have his laundry done on a cruise? That is questionable, although we might consider the splurge on a longer itinerary. I’m personally stingy, so I’d likely do laundry in the cabin sink instead (which I have done many times)!
Regardless, receiving the laundry perk was a nice amenity with our status that my husband took advantage of during the cruise. And he had less laundry to do than I did when we arrived back home!
Read more: I spent $4,200 on a deluxe porthole balcony cabin on Celebrity Apex
Another loyalty perk that we utilized was the 15% specialty dining discount
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When we cruise on Royal Caribbean, my husband and I each receive a buy-one-get-one-free specialty dining voucher with our loyalty status. Ultimately, this is a 50% discount for two specialty restaurant experiences! With this discount, we typically dine twice during our cruises at specialty restaurants for a change of pace and a more upscale experience.
Celebrity’s specialty dining perk for loyalty members varies by status. Elite Plus members receive 15% off specialty dining purchases throughout their cruise. This can be used for lunch or dinner purchases and applies to the applicable charges at each restaurant. You can use the discount as many times as you wish during your cruise, so the savings can potentially add up if you dine frequently in specialty restaurants.
Although we did not plan to book any specialty restaurants during our cruise, we splurged twice. First, we dined at Rooftop Garden Grill, which is an outdoor venue on Celebrity Apex. This is one of the cheaper specialty restaurants on Celebrity Apex, so we only saved about $16.20 with the discount. The total for our entire meal was $91.80.
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We also tried Raw on 5, which is an Asian fusion restaurant. Although this wasn’t my top pick, my husband wanted to try the sushi and oysters here. While he did enjoy the meal, he argued that he wouldn’t return and actually prefers Royal Caribbean’s sushi restaurant, Izumi. With the specialty dining loyalty discount, we saved only $5.40.
Overall, we saved around $20 with the loyalty discount. We were on the fence about specialty dining, but the discount we received helped incentivize us to indulge.
Read more: I sailed on my first Celebrity cruise. I didn't like the entertainment, but it's my new favorite cruise line
Overall, we were impressed with the loyalty perks and how much money we saved
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As frequent cruisers, loyalty perks can truly elevate our onboard experience. Whenever I venture to other cruise lines, I always miss these loyalty benefits. For this reason, cruising with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises continues to be my first choice. Moreover, it warms my heart to feel appreciated by a cruise line, and I feel like a valued customer.
During this cruise, we saved hundreds of dollars with our Elite Plus status match. The most money we saved probably came from the nightly happy hour, in which my husband and I both had a few drinks each evening. The internet discount, complimentary laundry, and specialty dining discounts also saved us money during our cruise.
Receiving more equivalent status between the two cruise lines was a win for loyal customers. Top-tier statuses are now receiving more perks than before, leading to more savings and benefits while cruising. Considering the cost of cruising has elevated over the years, I’m always happy to save money.
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However, some might argue that the cruise lines should take this a step further and create one loyalty program across all three brands. Points earned on any of the cruise lines would contribute to one overall status and point value. This would allow the cruise lines to provide identical benefits for consistency as well.
Regardless, the new loyalty status match program was a welcomed change from Royal Caribbean. In fact, I’d argue that almost all loyalty members under the Royal Caribbean Group umbrella were pleased with the changes, as they directly benefited customers.
