Carnival’s new Milestones loyalty program leaves cruisers baffled and confused

• Carnival has released details of its updated Milestones program.
• It’s separate from the main loyalty program, based on sailing days.
• But it’s left Carnival cruisers confused about how it works.

After causing controversy with the revamping of their VIFP loyalty program into Carnival Rewards, Carnival has now made updates to its milestones program. It was already known that the program would be changed, but Carnival has just officially released the details of the new program.

Carnival’s milestones program runs alongside its loyalty program, offering guests gifts and bonuses for time spent on board ships. Previously the program was based on how many cruises you had taken, and it will now be based on total sailing days. 

The initial reaction to the new Milestones program hasn’t been one of praise or disappointment, but rather one of confusion. Given that the new Carnival Rewards system has already been baffling customers, adding the changed milestones system on top has left some cruisers scratching their heads.

Carnival is still set to release more information on the program and a complete Q&A, which will help clear up some doubts. However, until now, to aid the confusion, here’s what we know about the new and the old milestones systems, and what we don’t know yet that’s leaving some cruisers confused.

How the previous program worked 

• The previous Carnival Milestone Rewards program offered guests a gift for their 25th cruise, their 50th cruise, their 75th and their 100th cruise with Carnival. 
• Each of these gifts would be in the form of onboard credit. You would get the percentage of your cruise fare in onboard credit, corresponding to which milestone you were celebrating. For example, for your 25th cruise you got 25% of your fare in onboard credit, for your 50th cruise you got 50% of your fare in onboard credit, for your 75th cruise got 75% of your fare in onboard, and for your 100th cruise, guests would qualify for a free cruise of eight days or less. 

How the new system will work 

• The new system will integrate with Carnival Rewards, the new loyalty program, and be based on total sailing days, rather than total number of cruises. 
• The new system will give guests Carnival Rewards points, which can be redeemed for various items, such as Wi Fi, shore excursions, specialty dining, spa treatments and more. 
• Under the new system, guests will receive 5000 Carnival Rewards points after 50 days of sailing, and then after 100 days, guests will receive 10,000 rewards points and onboard credit. From there on, guests get another 10,000 rewards points and onboard credit each 100 days.
• Other perks include a special sail and sign card, a commemorative coin and a special keepsake and gift after 500 days. 

How much are rewards points worth?

• Given that the new system will now give guests Carnival Rewards points instead of onboard credit like the previous system, it’s worth knowing how much points are worth.
• Essentially, there aren’t locked-in costs in rewards points for each onboard activity, but Carnival offers estimates on their website.
• For example, a pixels photo package is worth about 5500 points, a manicure is worth 2400, a Swedish massage is worth 13,499 points, a dinner at Cucina del Capitano dinner is worth about 2400 points, a frozen piña colada is worth 1357 points, a reef and snorkel tour is worth 5500 points and so on.
• Therefore, 50 days of sailing would earn you approximately one shore excursion, and 100 days would earn you the equivalent of about six to seven frozen cocktails. There’s no clear scale on how much your points will be worth. 

So why is everyone so confused? 

• The most confusing thing about the new system is that the rewards aren’t completely defined. It isn’t stated how much onboard credit will be offered every 100 days, and whether that amount stays the same, or grows with each 100 days of sailing. 
• While Carnival has suggested that days will carry over, it’s not totally clear what this means. For example, if guests who already have days accumulated will still get a reward after 50 days, or if they’ll skip that and only get the rewards each 100 days.  
• It’s also difficult to compare the program with the previous one, just because it’s still not quite clear what Carnival Rewards points are worth. In the examples taken earlier from Carnival’s website, for instance, it doesn’t make sense that a shore excursion is the same price as about three-and-a-half cocktails, when in reality there would be a much larger price difference. 
• Furthermore, the system changing from the total number of cruises to the number of sailing days will be advantageous and disadvantageous to different people. For example, if you’re someone who generally takes shorter cruises, that system would suit you more, if you take longer cruises, then the total sailing days could be better. 
• Other questions posed by cruisers include whether they’ll be able to use milestones that they have previously saved up and if milestones will be honoured retroactively.
• There’s also general confusion just because cruisers appear confused by the two programs being separate. Most other cruise lines packaged together loyalty perks and milestone perks into one big program. 

Which program is better? 

• Due to the big differences in the program, it’s hard to say which is necessarily better. They can’t be truly evaluated until we know all the details.
• For example, after 50 cruises in the previous program, which would be about 300 days of sailing, you would get 50% of your fare as onboard credit, about $800 for a one week cruise. 
• Under the new system after 300 days of sailing, you will have amassed 35,000 rewards points. If this were to be used on six shore excursions, then that’s better value than the previous program, however, if it were on 25 cocktails, that’d be less value than the previous system. So it really depends on how many points you’d have to put towards getting the items that you want. 
• Furthermore, we don’t know how much onboard credit is given at each tier yet, so that could also influence whether the new program is an improvement or not.
• Definitely guests will be sad to lose the free cruise after 100 cruises, but the truth is, few cruisers would manage to reach that number anyway.

Carnival Rewards

• Of course part of the confusion is that this is happening right as Carnival’s VIFP loyalty program disappears and makes way for Carnival Rewards this September.
• The new system will be a two-year rolling window, where you accumulate points only for those two years, that then expire after that time. Points can be accumulated through cruise fares, pre-cruise spend and onboard spend.
• Three points will be earned for each dollar spent, and they can be redeemed, as explained above, while also moving you through loyalty tiers at the same time. Points are used to redeem items and stars to move through loyalty tiers. They are earned at the same rate.
• Some cruisers will keep their current loyalty status and others will start from zero.