Your Royal Caribbean loyalty status is about to get a lot more valuable

30.05.2024 - 18:09 / thepointsguy.com / Jason Liberty

Royal Caribbean loyalists will soon be able to status match their way to perks with luxury line Silversea Cruises — and vice versa.

The same will be true for Celebrity Cruises loyalists.

Royal Caribbean Group, which owns all three brands, will announce Thursday that customers with loyalty program status at any one of the three lines will get equivalent status at the other two.

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For example, Diamond-level members of Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program will now be able to get instant recognition in Silversea's Venetian Society loyalty program at the 250 Venetian Society Days milestone award level — even if they've never sailed with Silversea.

Similarly, Elite-level members of Celebrity's Captain's Club loyalty program will now be able to get recognition in the Silversea program at the 250 Venetian Society Days milestone award level without ever having sailed with the brand.

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity elite members at higher status levels will match into even higher tiers of the Silversea program.

"When that customer is making that decision on their next [cruise] experience, you want them to feel loyal to stay within your family of brands," Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean Group CEO, said in an exclusive interview with TPG to discuss the new program.

Speaking by video from his Miami office, Liberty noted that the company's cruising customers sometimes shifted between cruise brands as their circumstances changed — when they entered a new stage of life with or without kids or grandkids, for instance. They also sometimes shifted between brands to experience a new destination that wasn't on their favored line's schedule, he said.

He suggested that in such cases, Royal Caribbean Group doesn't want them to choose cruise brands owned by other companies.

"We don't want a Royal Caribbean customer to find their way onto a competitor's ship. We would rather them find their way onto one of our ships," he said. "And loyalty, as you know, is one of the strongest ways to make sure that happens."

The new program will make Royal Caribbean Group the only major cruise company to offer loyalty program status matching across all its wholly owned brands.

Until now, Royal Caribbean Group has offered status matching between the loyalty programs of its Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises brands but not its Silversea brand.

The company also used to offer a status match with the loyalty program for Azamara Cruises, which it once owned.

The new program may have the greatest impact on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity regulars who want to give Silversea a try.

Diamond members in Royal Caribbean's program and Elite members in Celebrity's