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Will Carnival and Princess loyalty programs ever merge?

Cruznjuly

By Cruznjuly,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
Posted
We've racked up quite a few days with Carnival, but are considering cruising Princess.

Any chance those Princess/Carnival days will ever merge?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It would certainly be nice. The reciprocal past guest benefits are one of the things I really like about RCI/Celebrity.

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Doug910

Doug910

Posted
Posted
Any chance those Princess/Carnival days will ever merge?

 

 

 

...We are certainly hoping so! We gave Royal Caribbean a thought, but have way too many cruising friends tell us how much they dislike the food and how the service is hit and miss. So, now we are considering Celebrity or Princess. Kind of a toss up. But, if we were able to keep our Platinum (or something similar) status, we could be easily swayed to Princess. Keeping our fingers crossed.

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DaytonCruiser

DaytonCruiser

Posted
Posted (edited)

If it ever happens, I could see Hal and Princess offering reciprocity. If that worked they might add Carnival. Personally, I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

 

Are there really tons of Princess cruises that are anxious to sail on Carnival?

 

I can see the upside for Carnival cruisers,but what's the big benefit for Princess high tiered pax?

 

If you want to gauge the responses, try starting a thread like this over on the Princess board.

Edited by DaytonCruiser
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kicia

kicia

Posted
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The problem is that people on Princess have a lot more days than Carnival cruisers. Even though we're Diamond on Carnival, we only have one Princess cruise. If the programs are combined, we'd probably only be in the middle or so lose the benefits we do have.

 

There was talk about it happening and then the person in charge of the loyalty program went to Royal and now nothing is happening. I think it's a problem of watch what you wish for because you may get it and it won't be as good as you think - unless you're already at the highest levels of both.

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kelkel2

kelkel2

Posted
Posted

It would be nice. My mom won't sail Carnival, so when I cruise with her, I cruise Princess. She's one of those people who believes everything she hears about Carnival, even if her own daughter tries to tell her otherwise she's not going to believe it. So I certainly would benefit from them merging the plans. But I agree with someone else who stated this, I don't know if the Princess cruisers would really benefit from it. Maybe if CCL merged all of their brands, then they would. Like one giant rewards program? That way if Princess cruisers didn't want to use their benefits on Carnival they still could on HAL? I think the HAL members would still benefit with being about to use their benefits on Princess.

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Budget Queen

Budget Queen

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Posted

Well think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of Platinum's and Diamonds, on Carnival. So you think you should just automatically go to the top tier on Carnival associate lines? And just what do you think this would be like with so many people "qualifying"? First- I'll speculate rates would go up to pay for these "perks"- they aren't - free- someone is paying for them, factored into budgets and cruise fares.

 

IF any merger were to happen- it would really have to involve increasing the days, so to maintain the "bell curve" that is necessary for this to "work". It is unrealistic to think 3/4 of the cruise passengers should qualify.

 

SO I am a firm supporter of keeping the perks separate, and earn them the old fashion way- sail the lines. The more you sail the higher your numbers/levels are. Simple.

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antique sailor

antique sailor

Posted
Posted

Ahoy shipmates,

 

this would be extremely difficult to do. Probably worse that the korean peace talks. Most of the cruisers involved would be looking for a freebee and that wouldn't happen in any appreciable amount, but would let some people try other cruise lines and still feel like a veteran rather than a newbee.

I have over 1200 days on hal and 100 on carnival so it would be great for me but i don't foresee it happening anytime soon

 

sea ya

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love my grandkids

love my grandkids

Posted
Posted
Well think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of Platinum's and Diamonds, on Carnival. So you think you should just automatically go to the top tier on Carnival associate lines? And just what do you think this would be like with so many people "qualifying"? First- I'll speculate rates would go up to pay for these "perks"- they aren't - free- someone is paying for them, factored into budgets and cruise fares.

 

IF any merger were to happen- it would really have to involve increasing the days, so to maintain the "bell curve" that is necessary for this to "work". It is unrealistic to think 3/4 of the cruise passengers should qualify.

 

SO I am a firm supporter of keeping the perks separate, and earn them the old fashion way- sail the lines. The more you sail the higher your numbers/levels are. Simple.

 

I doubt that the Elites on Princess will be coming to Carnival in droves more likely the other way around.

 

No idea if this will happen but would still like to see it. We are Diamond on Carnival just starting with Princess and would be nice to have a few perks on Princess.

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love my grandkids

love my grandkids

Posted
Posted
The problem is that people on Princess have a lot more days than Carnival cruisers. Even though we're Diamond on Carnival, we only have one Princess cruise. If the programs are combined, we'd probably only be in the middle or so lose the benefits we do have.

 

There was talk about it happening and then the person in charge of the loyalty program went to Royal and now nothing is happening. I think it's a problem of watch what you wish for because you may get it and it won't be as good as you think - unless you're already at the highest levels of both.

 

Kind of happy that the guy who screwed up loyalty program on Carnival last time is gone. Changes made to Carnival platinum were not exactly Brilliant.

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danacline

danacline

Posted
Posted

I had not heard RCL and Celebrity merged their programs, but if so, great! Having split my cruises among a number of the Carnival brands (and the RCL and NCL brands), I would love to be able to have one central account, even if they then do have to raise the bar to the different levels.

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po1oky234

po1oky234

Posted
Posted
We've racked up quite a few days with Carnival, but are considering cruising Princess.

Any chance those Princess/Carnival days will ever merge?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I think none. As much as some complain about Faster to the Fun, I would think Princess cruisers would really howl at their perks being diluted.

 

Because the Princess loyalty program is still based on number or cruises or days, it is still easy to achieve status on Princess.

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Retired_to_Cruise

Retired_to_Cruise

Posted
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IF any merger were to happen- it would really have to involve increasing the days, so to maintain the "bell curve" that is necessary for this to "work". It is unrealistic to think 3/4 of the cruise passengers should qualify.

 

So which one of the lines has more than 3/4 of their passengers at the higher levels? I know that Carnival does not have 3/4 of their passengers at the higher levels. So I guess you are the one that is "unrealistic" when you make this statement.

 

Airlines have done this only when they completely merge an acquisition. Carnival Corporation has bought other cruise lines but has NOT merged them into one cruise line. Think of the cost of merging the loyalty programs of a bunch of differently branded and differently run cruise lines. All of the data and passenger data would have to be merged on one system to be able to recognize status increases and rewards from all the different cruise lines. Be careful what you ask for.

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love my grandkids

love my grandkids

Posted
Posted
So which one of the lines has more than 3/4 of their passengers at the higher levels? I know that Carnival does not have 3/4 of their passengers at the higher levels. So I guess you are the one that is "unrealistic" when you make this statement.

 

Airlines have done this only when they completely merge an acquisition. Carnival Corporation has bought other cruise lines but has NOT merged them into one cruise line. Think of the cost of merging the loyalty programs of a bunch of differently branded and differently run cruise lines. All of the data and passenger data would have to be merged on one system to be able to recognize status increases and rewards from all the different cruise lines. Be careful what you ask for.

 

Hear what you say but have to think there are some synergies that could be achieved by combining loyalty programs.

 

Every once in a while they do make changes in their computer systems and would think it could be done at same time.

 

Dont really expect it to happen but could be a good thing for us.

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jimbo5544 "Live from...." Rare

jimbo5544

Posted
Posted
Hear what you say but have to think there are some synergies that could be achieved by combining loyalty programs.

 

 

 

Every once in a while they do make changes in their computer systems and would think it could be done at same time.

 

 

 

Dont really expect it to happen but could be a good thing for us.

 

 

I agree. There are many ways where they could establish some forms of reciprocity beyond where they are today. It does not necessarily mean a one for one on every part of the plan.

 

On another point, their are not hundreds of thousands of Diamonds cruisers on Carnival. Not even close, not that it has anything to do with the subject. I also disagree about any of it watering down the other lines loyalty program. JMHO

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AdrenalineRush

AdrenalineRush

Posted
Posted
I had not heard RCL and Celebrity merged their programs, but if so, great! Having split my cruises among a number of the Carnival brands (and the RCL and NCL brands), I would love to be able to have one central account, even if they then do have to raise the bar to the different levels.

 

This is how it works with Royal/Celebrity/Azamara

They don't merge..you would get a separate past guest number with each cruise line.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=971&faqSubjectId=340

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