Carnival Cruise Line followers are a loyal bunch. So loyal, maybe, that the road hasn’t felt the necessity to supply up crazy-lucrative loyalty program perks to maintain them coming again.
Not like rival Royal Caribbean, Carnival’s VIFP Membership loyalty program doesn’t supply its members a free cruise after reaching the highest tier. There are not any 20% reductions on some sailings, as Windstar Cruises gives to its loyalty program members.
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However Carnival’s VIFP Membership, as the road calls its loyalty program, does carry some priceless perks at its higher-level tiers, together with precedence entry to many onboard venues and providers.
The Carnival VIFP Membership loyalty program is also one the place it’s comparatively straightforward to achieve a high-level tier.
In case you’re questioning, VIFP stands for “crucial enjoyable particular person” — a playful nod to Carnival’s nickname because the “enjoyable ship” line.
Methods to earn factors
The Carnival VIFP Membership point-earning system is easy. You earn one level for each day you cruise on a Carnival ship.
When you take a three-night cruise, you’ll get three factors. When you take a seven-night cruise, you’ll get seven factors. You don’t have to fret about totally different incomes ranges for various cabin classes or several types of bookings, as is the case with some traces.
Be aware that sure constitution sailings and nonrevenue fares don’t get you any factors.
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Insider tip: After crusing on one in every of Carnival’s ships in Australia, you gained’t robotically get factors for the journey deposited in your account. You’ll have to log into your account on-line, click on on “Lacking a Cruise?” and request the VIFP factors be awarded for the times you earned on that voyage.
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Program tiers and advantages
There are 5 tiers to the VIFP Membership program:
- Blue (your first crusing).
- Crimson (second crusing to 24 factors).
- Gold (25 to 74 factors).
- Platinum (75 to 199 factors).
- Diamond (200 or extra factors).
One of many good little surprises of Carnival’s loyalty program is that you simply hit the primary tier stage, Blue, the second you stroll on board your first cruise with the model. Not like many traces, you don’t have to finish a cruise to get to the primary stage. In reality, you may get to the Blue tier even earlier than taking a cruise. All you must do is enroll prematurely.
That mentioned, the Blue tier of this system brings nearly no perks. There are solely two: You might be eligible for members-only cruise gives and also you’ll obtain a members-only digital publication.
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The following two tiers in this system are nearly as stingy relating to perks. The second tier, Crimson, gives the identical two perks because the Blue tier with only one extra one: a complimentary, 1.5-liter bottle of water redeemable at any bar, restaurant or in your cabin. (Don’t go consuming it .)
The Gold tier provides a single free drink that solely could be ordered on the final evening of a cruise (and solely on cruises of 5 nights or longer). To limit the free drink to the final evening of a cruise, in our eyes, looks as if an inordinate effort on the a part of Carnival to discourage prospects from utilizing what already is a reasonably paltry perk. Gold stage members additionally get a Gold VIFP pin on each crusing.
It isn’t till the fourth tier of this system, Platinum, that issues begin to get attention-grabbing (extra on that in a second).
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It’ll take you only one cruise to achieve the Crimson tier. When you at all times e book seven-night sailings, you’ll attain the Gold tier after three cruises. That’s proper, whereas the Gold tier requires 25 factors, you possibly can attain it after crusing three seven-night cruises.
This is because of one of many quirks of the VIFP Membership program that we actually like: When you’re going to hit a tier cut-off throughout a voyage, you’ll obtain the advantages of that tier from the start of that cruise. So you’ll be Gold from the beginning of your fourth seven-night crusing, despite the fact that you solely had 21 factors.
The elite stage that makes a distinction
The Platinum stage of the VIFP Membership is the place your loyalty to Carnival lastly begins paying off.
Lots of the perks that kick in at this stage embrace precedence entry of some sort, together with:
- Precedence check-in and boarding.
- Precedence spa reservations.
- Precedence water shuttle boarding (ship-to-shore solely).
- Precedence line at onboard Visitor Companies desk and precedence help by cellphone.
- Precedence debarkation.
- Precedence reservations on the Foremost Eating Room and specialty eating places.
Briefly, when you’re on the Platinum stage, you’ll out of the blue end up bumped to the entrance of the road from the second you arrive at a ship till the second you allow. That is no small factor. Precedence boarding signifies that you’ll get on board the ship extra rapidly than different passengers, providing you with extra time in your first day to get pleasure from its choices. Precedence entry to restaurant reservations means you’ll get the very best desk instances.
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Different perks that include Platinum stage embrace:
- An invite to an unique Platinum and Diamond VIFP Social gathering with free drinks and appetizers on sailings of 5 days or longer.
- A free drink on the Seaday Brunch.
- A “Chocolate Delight” strawberry plate delivered to your cabin on a five-day or longer cruise.
- A buy-one, get-one-free match entry within the on line casino (blackjack or slot solely).
- $5 price of complimentary arcade credit (this one is just for passengers below 18).
- A Carnival brand present on each crusing.
- Complimentary wash-and-fold laundry service (two luggage on three- to six-day cruises; three luggage on seven- to 13-day cruises; 5 luggage on a cruise 14 days or longer).
Attending to the Platinum tier takes 10 cruises, assuming you at all times sail seven-night voyages. When you do shorter journeys, it’ll take longer.
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Greatest elite perk
Even on the highest Diamond stage of its VIFP Membership program, Carnival nonetheless is somewhat stingy with the perks. Not like Royal Caribbean and another traces, as an example, it doesn’t give members a free cruise upon reaching this pinnacle of loyalty standing. That mentioned, Diamond standing does carry a couple of good privileges.
We positively admire the free cabin improve (or third-and-fourth passengers sail free supply) that comes with first reaching Diamond standing, though we’re disenchanted it is a one-time-only profit. One other good, however one-time-only perk of Diamond standing is a complimentary meal for 2 at a specialty restaurant of your selection.
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However the very best elite perk of the VIFP Membership program in our eyes is the limitless wash-and-fold laundry service that comes with Diamond standing. Not like the above two perks, you’ll get this each time you sail when you attain Diamond stage.
Different Diamond stage advantages embrace:
- Assured seating time requested in Foremost Eating Room, for dinner solely.
- Precedence reservations at specialty eating places.
- Particular occasion invitation from the captain on every crusing.
- One-time donation to St. Jude Youngsters’s Analysis Hospital.
- VIFP Membership baggage tag set.
- Devoted toll-free quantity for gross sales and repair.
Be aware that, as is often the case with cruise line loyalty applications, Carnival prospects wouldn’t have to requalify for standing every year. VIFP Membership members maintain their factors on the finish of every yr and proceed to accrue factors indefinitely. That signifies that somebody who hits Diamond standing will stay at that high tier stage perpetually (or till Carnival makes a change to this system).
Such “perpetually standing” is likely one of the nice allures of cruise line frequent cruiser applications. Most airline frequent flyer applications, in contrast, require loyalty members to requalify for standing every year.
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Backside line
Relating to perks, Carnival’s loyalty program isn’t as sturdy because the applications at some rival traces. At its highest tier, it doesn’t carry something near the free cruise that another traces supply to top-tier prospects, or onboard perks like free drinks each day in a non-public lounge. It gained’t get you across-the-board reductions on cruises, shore excursions and beverage packages, as some traces supply higher-tier members. However it does carry some worthwhile perks at increased ranges, and it’s comparatively straightforward to rise by means of the tiers of this system.
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