Carnival Cruise Line promises to listen about loyalty changes
The cruise line isn't implementing the new program for a full year and plans to listen to its customers.
Yes, Carnival Cruise Line’s announcement about its new Carnival Rewards loyalty program was, without a doubt, an epic fail.
Although the cruise line needed to evolve its approach to loyalty, turning it on its head was clearly a bad call.
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Longtime Carnival cruisers take great pride in their long-earned status with the cruise line. It’s understandable that they would feel betrayed by their favorite cruise line as it moves to revoke their lifetime elite cruiser status with the new spend-based program.
Although it doesn’t make that change any easier to swallow, Carnival does have a valid reason for eliminating lifetime status in its loyalty program. The number of passengers who have reached the highest levels in the VIFP Club, Platinum and Diamond, has grown to an unmanageable size over the last few years.
Now, Carnival is struggling to be able to offer the special recognition and perks on board that these passengers have come to expect.
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A cruise loyalty program based solely on frequency doesn’t work long-term
Carnival reports that on the average sailing today, a quarter to a third of passengers are Platinum and Diamond VIFPs. On longer Carnival Journeys cruises, Carnival says that basically all of the passengers on board are at these top levels of the program. This makes it impossible to offer top-tier perks like priority boarding and early stateroom access on these sailings.
Considering this, it makes sense that the current model wouldn’t be sustainable long-term. But coming up with a solution that appeases passengers who thought they had elite status for life is a major challenge.
Obviously, though, Carnival knew that the new program would be tough for guests to swallow, and its brand ambassador has already hinted that the program details may not be final.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line unveils controversial new loyalty program
As he’s discussed the new program on his popular Facebook page, Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald has reiterated that for multiple reasons, there’s intentionally a whole year between the loyalty program announcement and its launch date.
Besides giving passengers plenty of time to learn about and adjust to the changes, Carnival planned ample time to gather constructive feedback and potentially even to tweak the program, if necessary.
Carnival will likely fine-tune the new loyalty program
“Look, we announced this new program, the rewards program, a year before it comes into place. [There's a] reason we did this, and it's really important that you understand this,” Heald emphasized in a Facebook video posted on June 19. “The reason we did this is so that it has a time to settle.”
And as the new program settles, Carnival intends to collect feedback on what passengers like and don’t like about it.
“The reason that we've announced it now is that we have a year to look at it, possibly, maybe fine-tune it and change some things around. I don't know. But I do know that that is what I was told today by somebody at the very highest level, who, I promise, cares about all of you, every single one of you, whether you're a Blue card or a Diamond card, very deeply, as do I,” Heald stressed.
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Heald has also noted that he’s advocating for continuation of popular Carnival cruise perks that loyal passengers value, such as complimentary laundry service for Platinum and Diamond guests.
“The biggest perk may be memories, but the second-biggest perk is clearly laundry. You’re gonna want that free bag of laundry when your ATV excursion muddies up your favorite shorts,” Brad Kimberly wrote to Heald about the loyalty program benefits.
“Thank you, I am trying to do something with the laundry. I can’t say anything else at the moment, but I’m waving that flag for certain because I’m in the same boat as you, pardon the pun,” Heald replied.
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