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Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises recently decided to fully match rating levels across the two brands and Silversea Cruises. All three of these brands are owned by Royal Caribbean and previously only offered limited level matching.
It’s a major perk for any top-tier members of the three cruise lines’ loyalty programs.
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The Loyalty Status Matching Program gives you the best benefits at sea. Members can now receive one-for-one status matching across all three Royal Caribbean Group companies. (RCL) Brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea.
It’s a very smart move on the cruise line’s part because it encourages customers to keep it family-friendly, so to speak. A family that typically travels on a Royal Caribbean ship may include parents who prefer a more mature environment on a Celebrity ship or a true luxury experience on a Silversea ship.
If they choose to do so, they will be recognized at the same level as any of the three top-ranked cruise lines. You will be recognized at the same level, albeit under a different name, but the perks are not the same.
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How does Royal Caribbean Group Status Matching work?
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises still maintain separate loyalty programs. If you sail on a Royal Caribbean ship, you’ll earn Crown & Anchor Society (C&A) points while you’ll earn Captain’s Club (CC) points on any Celebrity cruise.
Your points are not combined. Instead, the two cruise companies give you an equal status level. This means that if you are at the next level of Captain’s Club, you also have a Crown & Anchor Society level and vice versa.
Crown & Anchor Gold is equal to Captain’s Club Platinum while C&A Platinum and Emerald are equal to CC. He chooses. The C&A Diamond Card, where the most important benefits are available, is also compatible with the CC Elite, Diamond Plus and Elite Plus cards.
The program now includes matching Crown & Anchor Society Pinnacle members and Captain’s Club Zenith members. Previously, matches were held in Diamon and Elite.
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Celebrity Cruises offers various perks.
If you’re sailing on Celebrity Cruises and hold Diamond status with Royal Caribbean, you’ll get Elite privileges. These are different from the privileges Royal Caribbean offers Diamond members.
For example, Elite members are treated to a daily café-style breakfast served in one of the ship’s restaurants. Diamond members get 24/7 access (in most cases) to the Crown Lounge, a dedicated space on board with a premium coffee machine, concierge service, snacks, hot meals, and bar service from 5 to 7 p.m.
Diamond and higher members also receive 4-6 beverage vouchers per day (one additional voucher for each level you move up). These vouchers can be used anywhere on board, except at Starbucks branded locations and at Perfect Day at CocoCay Private Island.
Celebrity Cruises does not offer vouchers. Instead, the company offers a happy hour where you can drink as much as you want at several bars on the ship every night from 5 to 7 p.m. Many Elite and higher-tier Captain’s Club members would like to see celebrities embrace the voucher system.
This is because the coupons (which are digital, not physical, printed coupons) can be used to purchase any drink up to $14. They can also be used at any time of the day, which is more flexible than a limited happy hour.
During the recent Cruise Critic program ask me anything At one session, several people asked Celebrity CEO Laura Hodges Bethge whether her cruise line might adopt Royal Caribbean’s voucher system.
“At this point, we do not plan to change our beverage feature to match Royal. Crown & Anchor Society is more focused on beverages while we focus more on cocktail hour and the member meeting experience,” she said.
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The Celebrity CEO noted that the match was not an attempt to make the shows look alike.
“The matching program gives you the same level of tiering across our sister brands so you can enjoy the benefits they offer when you sail with them. We haven’t changed the benefits to be the same across brands. Each program is tailored specifically to the individual brand,” she added.
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