We discovered the perks of the RCL Loyalty Program back when we did our first Transatlantic Cruise in 2014. It was a shock when we learned that over half the ship were drinking for free. We quickly learned that unlike other cruise lines loyalty programs, this one had real value built into it. At that time we had only taken one RCL Cruise and had spent our time mostly on Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Lines. These lines allowed us to squeeze three children in a room with us at the lowest price. We loved to cruise and our kids, so we didn’t mind living in close quarters for a week at a time. However, there loyalty programs are nothing link RCL’s

Since 2014 (I am kind of embarrassed to say), we have done 75 cruises on RCL alone. So we have a little experience with the C&A Program. The “sweet spot” is obtaining “Diamond” Status which takes a total of 80 points. With “Diamond” you get a number of perks but the big one is the 4 free drink coupons daily. They are valued up to $14 per drink…$56 per person per day. For a seven day cruise for two, that amounts to $784 in drink value! Quite a perk, you also get a free internet day, a free picture, cruise discounts, access to a private lounge and quite a number of other benefits. Its a great program and if you sail often, its can really reduce your expenses.

Like I mentioned, to get to “Diamond” Status you need 80 points. You earn a point for every night on the ship unless you are in a single cabin or in a suite. In those cases you get two points a night. That is a lot of nights, but if you do a cruise (or two) a year the points add up pretty quickly and they never expire. Your points are easily tracked on the RCL webpage or in the App.

This point structure replaced a per cruise system that RCL had, until 21 January 2011. Up until then, you just needed to complete 10 cruises to obtain “Diamond” status. When RCL did the conversion, every 7 day (or less) cruise taken before January 2011, was converted into 7 points . So if you had completed a 3 and a 4 day cruise, you would have obtained 14 points.

Here is the point! When RCL did these conversions many were done incorrectly.

I stumbled onto this when I was helping my Sister-in-Law (Debbie) understand why her points didn’t seem correct. She had taken two cruises before 2011 and the system was showing that they were only credited 1 point for each cruise. In actuality, she should have been credited 14 points. It only took one visit to the on-ship Loyalty Ambassador to fix the problem and give her (and my Brother-in-Law (Dan)) an additional 14 points letting them obtain their Diamond status.

That got me thinking about our RCL points. I took a look and sure enough, we had taken one three day cruise in 1998. The system credited us with 3 points instead of 7. Again, the Loyalty Ambassador, was able to get it corrected and the four points were added to our account. In our case, those 4 points would have given us a higher status earlier.

Now, unlike in 2011, RCL has put your cruise information on-line, and made it easy to validate your point total. If you have cruised with RCL prior to 2011, it may be worth your time to check to see if your account is correct. It may help you reach the higher C&A levels quicker! You can find a listing of all your cruises taken and points credited by logging onto their webpage. Its well worth taking a look!

Waddle on ducks!