Want to get Carnival lifetime Diamond status? Here’s what it will cost you

• Carnival has changed its loyalty program, and everyone except Diamond level members will be removed from their loyalty tier.
• The deadline for this is on May 31, 2026.
• Want to reach Diamond before then and keep your status for your life? Here’s what it will cost you.

Last week, many Carnival Cruise faithful were disappointed to receive confirmation that they’d soon be removed from their loyalty status.

Carnival has transitioned to a new loyalty program system, where points can now only be accrued in two-year windows, which reset at the end of each two-year period and will incur significant spending in the tens and thousands for guests to be able to reach the higher tiers.

However, the cruise line did announce that those who have Diamond status by May 31, 2026, will get to keep their Diamond status for life. Diamond is given after 200 days of sailing.

This creates an interesting situation for many cruisers, especially those who are currently on platinum status, which is those who have sailed between 75 and 199 nights on Carnival ships.

These cruisers face the strange reality of most likely having to reach 200 days of sailing by May 31 next year, or potentially never seeing loyalty perks on Carnival ships ever again.

Therefore, there are probably some cruisers out there who are crunching the numbers and seeing if it’s worth squeezing in an extra cruise or two before the deadline and trying to get up to Diamond status.

At the time of writing, there are 248 days until May 31, the deadline imposed by Carnival. In theory, you could obtain Diamond status only in this time period and then have it for life; however, that is obviously not very realistic for the majority of sailors. 

For cruisers who have maybe 40 or less days of sailing until they reach Diamond status, the situation becomes a little more interesting: would it be worth a wild rush of cruisers to try and get to Diamond Status in time? 

Given that Carnival has four ships sailing here and nearly all sailings still have cabins available, it’s definitely very possible, but depending on how many more days you have to sail to achieve the loyalty status, it could be quite an investment.

So, how much will it cost you to get your lifetime Diamond status?

What’s the price tag on a last-minute Diamond lifetime status?

The first thing we need to calculate is the average for a night of Carnival sailing. Now, if you do want to get lifetime status, you’ll probably have to string together a few back-to-back cruises, which means booking cruises out of the same port and same ship one after the other.

This means you’ll probably be on a range of different itineraries, from shorter three-night sailings to nowhere, up to longer sailings out to the South Pacific.

Currently, the average starting price for a Carnival three-day sailing is about $399, for a four-day it’s about $514, for a seven-day that comes up to $954 and for a 10-day sailing, they start from $1019. To give us an approximate average of how much it costs per night to sail with Carnival, we can add these together and divide by the total number of nights, which gives us $120 per night.

It’s important to note that most cruisers who want higher cabin categories will also spend more money onboard a cruise and on shore excursions, but this figure is simply the lowest price you could pay per night to sail around on Carnival Cruises out of Australia.

With this $120 figure, we just simply need to multiply it by the amount of nights you have left to claim Diamond status. The prices are per person for at least two people in a cabin.

• If you need five nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $600
• If you need 10 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $1200
• If you need 20 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $2400
• If you need 40 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $4800
• If you need 50 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $6000
• If you need 75 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $9000
• If you need 100 nights more of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $12,000
• If you need the full 200 nights of sailing to get Diamond status, this would cost you $24,000

Now the only thing left to ponder for Carnival sailors who are trying to plot out their futures, is what price tag would they put on lifetime Diamond perks on Carnival sailings. For example, if you have around 160 nights of sailings done, would $4800 of cruises be worth it to you to get that lifetime loyalty status in time? 

If you think that it would be, then it might be worth moving up your holidays or taking some extra leave and trying to knock out those sailing days before the deadline.

What perks would you get?

Something worth noting about the new Carnival loyalty program is that the Diamond perks are good, but they might not be completely what you’d expect from the top tier of a cruise line loyalty program.

The benefits are as follows 

• Two complimentary beverages
• 1.5 litres of water
• Guaranteed main dining time
• Preferred specialty dining time
• Complimentary wash and fold (from two to five bags depending on cruise duration)
• Early online check-in
• Embarkation priority 
• Onboard priority for retail, casino, spa and guest services
• Debarkation priority 

There are definitely some neat perks in there, but it’s best to be clear on what you’d actually be getting before deciding to break the bank. 

It is worth noting that Carnival’s loyalty program has been chopping and changing, and even brand ambassador John Heald has appeared to suggest that more changes could be on their way.

See more here.