Introduction — Status Matters – A New Cruising with MJ Series
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Carnival
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Disney
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with NCL
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Princess
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Holland America
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Celebrity
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Royal Caribbean
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status Reciprocity with Affiliate Brands
Cruising with MJ – Elite Status Summary
Carnival, the biggest cruise company, likes to use the tagline “fun ships” and their loyalty program plays along. Known as the VIFP Club, you aren’t just a very important person, but a Very Important Fun Person. Unlike the majority of cruise line loyalty programs, you can join Carnival’s VIFP Club even if you haven’t cruised with them before. If you are new to Carnival, you will join the VIFP Club at the Blue level which includes members-only offers and a newsletter. The VIFP Club includes five levels of status with varying point requirements to obtain. After Blue there is Red, which you obtain on your second sailing and will remain at through 24 points. Note that one cruise day = one point. Now you’ll begin to feel more at home with the program level names as you elevate to Gold status at 25 points, Platinum at 75 points, and Diamond at 200+ points.
The benefits of Red and Blue are pretty basic, but begin to improve once you achieve Gold status, when you will get an invite to a cocktail party on 5-night or longer sailings. In other words, free drinks and apps for an hour or so. At the Platinum level, the perks become more attractive with things like priority boarding, priority tendering, and some complimentary laundry services. If you attain 200 cruise days with Carnival, you will achieve Diamond status. You receive the perks of Platinum plus additional things including unlimited complimentary wash and fold laundry (that’s actually not a small deal in my opinion), guaranteed dining reservations in the main dining room and specialty restaurants, and a dedicated phone line for sales and service. You can review all the benefits of each status level here.
In summary, the benefits of Carnival’s VIFP Club are basic, but things like priority boarding, disembarkation, and reservations for specialty dining are always appreciated. I especially like the unlimited complimentary wash & fold laundry for Diamond members. Notably missing from the list of benefits is a complimentary internet allowance, a big deal for me and a weakness in the program. You can join the Carnival VIFP Club here.
-MJ, May 14, 2013
Housekeeping Note: This is the first in my series on elite status programs with cruise lines. If there is something missing that you were hoping to see, please comment, and we’ll improve the quality of the series together.
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[…] Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Carnival […]
[…] Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Carnival […]
[…] Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Carnival […]
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Is there anyway to accelerate getting status with any of these programs? For example would there be any benefit of getting a cobranded credit card? I know the cruise line credit cards are not generally that good, since they basically only earn about one penny of credit for every dollar charged, but I’m wondering if there might be some other benefits that I don’t know about. (I’m not trying to turn this into yet another discussion about travel cards!)
@Pawtim,
The cruise line programs do not work like the airline and hotel programs. I’ve found no evidence of poaching customers via status matches, etc. None of the cruise line card programs I’ve looked at offer any benefits of elite status.
I was listening to a travel podcast today (cruise radio ) and a guy mentioned his son got free arcade tokens as part of his platinum status perks on Carnival.
[…] Cruising with MJ – Elite Status with Carnival […]
Can’t wait for the RC one. I think I’m an Emerald? Been forever since I’ve been cruising
Do cruise lines match status like some hotels do?
@Amanda,
While things could have evolved since I last snooped around on the status matching question, the answer has historically been no. They will often match across co-owned brands, i.e. RCL and Celebrity, as a benefit.
I’m anxiously waiting for your post on Royal Caribbean elite status!
I’ve been Carnival platinum for quite some time and find the priority tender, disembarkation and embarkation services to be the best, as you never have to worry about lines. Priority concierge service onboard is great too. As a platinum, you do receive one bag of wash and fold per week. This is very useful on a week or longer cruise. Priority reservations at the specialty restaurant are useful, and we have always received our preferred table and dining time for standard dinner. Benefits do seem to be somewhat inconsistent between short (3-5 days) and long (7+) cruises, as the benefits… Read more »
We went to our first VIFP cocktail party on our last cruise. The fruity drinks they brought around on trays were gross….we only have a couple of drinks on cruises, we are just not drinkers but I don’t like koolaide with or without alchohol. As we were leaving, shortly after arriving, I saw a couple of people getting a bloody mary instead……did the party include other drink choices upon request or were they purchasing those with their s&s cards? If paying for them I will just skip the party and order my drink elsewhere because that was the most boring… Read more »
Can’t speak for Carnival, but I’ve never been turned down when ordering something special that wasn’t on the serving tray at a VIP party with RCL or Celebrity.