Frequent cruisers, at least some of them, like to complain about how loyalty programs have taken away perks that used to be offered. That's a chorus that has gotten louder with Royal Caribbean customers for a very specific reason.
During the return-to-cruise period after the Covid pandemic, Royal Caribbean offered "double points" sailings. These were meant to entice wary passengers to come back to its cruise ships by doubling the Crown & Anchor (C&A) points they earned on cruises for a period that lasted a few months.
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On a normal sailing, you earn 1 C&A point for every night in a regular cabin. You get 2 points per night if stay solo or in a suite. Passengers can earn 3 points per night by staying solo in a suite. So, during the double points period, someone could earn 28 points sailing solo or in a suite on a weeklong cruise or a whopping 36 points for a solo suite stay on that same length cruise.
This allowed some passengers to move up the status ranks quickly and that has led to the familiar refrain that "there are too many Diamond, Diamond Plus, and Pinnacle" members. That has led to some sailings where access to the Crown Lounge — a dedicated space on Royal Caribbean ships for Diamond or higher members — has been restricted.
In addition, there have been occasions where Pinnacle members, the top-tier of the C&A program which requires 700 points, have seen only a certain number of members with the highest level of points getting certain benefits. In both cases, these are very rare occurrences that usually take place on special event cruises (like a President's Cruise) or on a transatlantic — sailings likely to have a much higher number of high-level C&A members onboard.
Image source: Royal Caribbean.
C&A has the Crown Lounge
Every Royal Caribbean ship offers a Crown Lounge for Diamond and higher-level C&A members. On older ships, it's often a spectacular indoor/outdoor space on one of the higher levels while on the newer Oasis and Icon-class ships, it's generally (but not always) a less dramatic room on the fourth deck.
The Crown Lounge offers a continental breakfast in the morning and a 24/7 fancy coffeemaker that will make lattes, cappuccinos, or basic cups of coffee. It also offers a happy hour where appetizers and light desserts are served.
In addition, the Crown Lounge offers a concierge who can help you get restaurant and show reservations or solve problems.
The big draw, however, has traditionally been the happy hour offered from 5-7 p.m. where, in addition to the food, there is full bar service. Those drinks used to be all-you-can-drink, but that system has been replaced by a voucher system.
Whether you use a voucher, a drink package, or pay-as-you-go, the Happy Hour serves as a way to meet other loyal Royal Caribbean passengers. It's often a place where you see old friends, or meet other people who also love to cruise.
Carnival VIFP loyalty program members do not get any sort of similar space. Celebrity Cruises, a Royal Caribbean sister brand, offers its comparable-tier members a dedicated light breakfast venue and has been testing an early evening gathering space for Elite and higher members of its Captain's Club program, but does not offer a permanent loyalty lounge.
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Royal Caribbean offers free drinks
Celebrity Cruises has a nightly happy hour where Elite or higher members can order from a limited menu in select bars from 5-7 p.m. It's all you can drink, but the lack of a specific gathering space takes away the meeting fellow loyal passengers part of the equation or at least makes it harder.
Carnival, even for its highest VIFP tiers, offers at most two free drinks per cruise (and even with that there are some restrictions). It does offer more logoed item giveaways, and priority boarding to higher-level members, but its overall perks 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 at the cruise line's private islands for any drink up to $14.
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The drink vouchers are shareable (you can give them to anyone you want) and, for some passengers, are a generous enough benefit to make it so they can not buy the Deluxe Beverage Package. That's a potential savings of around $100 per day.
Royal Caribbean also has a full benefits match across its fleet. That means that Celebrity and Silversea cruisers get the benefits of the equivalent level of loyalty they have earned when sailing with Royal Caribbean.
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