Royal Caribbean Group made a massive change to how each cruise line it operates recognizes the loyalty program status of passengers earned on sister lines. The company owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea.
All three cruise lines have their own distinct loyalty programs. Royal Caribbean (RCL) has the Crown & Anchor Society, Celebrity Cruises has its Captain's Club, and Silversea passengers are members of the Venetian Society.
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Each program is separate from the other, but Royal Caribbean has started matching status to the highest levels across all three brands.
"Royal Caribbean Group loyalty members from its three wholly-owned brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea – will attain equivalent tier status on any one of its brands. This shared status adds to members’ existing benefits," the cruise line shared in a press release.
It's a generous offer as the previous matching program only matched to the lowest of what would be considered the top tiers on each cruise line. That meant that someone who has qualified for the highest level on any of the three cruise lines, where the perks become quite significant, used to not to be able to carry that level between the three cruise lines.
That may have been enough to stop Royal Caribbean Pinnacle, Celebrity Cruises Zenith, and Silversea 500 VS Days from trying the other lines. Now, that's no longer the case, but the changes have come with some confusion.
Image source: Daniel Kline/Come Cruise With Me
Royal Caribbean's status match is not a perk match
Each of the three loyalty programs offers different perks at each level. When you sail a different line, your status matches, but you get that cruise line's perks, not the ones from the line where you earned the status.
"Members of Crown & Anchor Society, Captain’s Club, and Venetian Society are now eligible to receive one-for-one status match across all three brands after enrolling in each program," according to the cruise line. "...When sailing on each sister brand, guests can enjoy the onboard benefits offered by each brand for their equivalent tier status."
That has proven to be a little confusing for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises customers as the two cruise lines offer very different benefits. On Royal Caribbean, for example, Diamond and higher members get 4, 5, or 6 drink vouchers each day. Celebrity Cruises Elite and higher members don't get that perk. Instead, the cruise line offers a limited menu happy hour in most, but not all of its onboard bars.
There are other differences like Celebrity offering a breakfast venue for Elite and higher Captain's Club members while Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor members who reach Diamond or higher get access to a dedicated 24/7 Crown Lounge.
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Royal Caribbean Group sends a confusing email
Celebrity Cruises sent an email to Captain's Club members on Sept. 5 touting the new program. That email contained a link asking people to enroll in the other loyalty programs.
Many were confused by the wording because they thought enrollment was automatic, based on language in the original email.
"Guests already enrolled in multiple loyalty programs will be automatically matched across brands within 7 days to ensure guests receive their appropriate loyalty status," it said.
That automatic match only happened for people who already had a number in the loyalty program for the matched cruise line. So a Royal Caribbean Diamond member who had sailed Celebrity Cruises would have a Captain's Club member and be matched.
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If that same person had never sailed with Silversea, they need to enroll to get the match.
Royal Caribbean confirmed that getting people to sign up for programs they were not enrolled in was the intention of the second email.
In addition, it's important to remember that you earn points with each cruise line separately. Sailing on Silversea or Celebrity will not help you add points to your Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor total.
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