Carnival Cruise Line officially launched its new Carnival Rewards program on September 1, 2026, retiring the longtime Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) Club that loyalists had known for years. The biggest shift: lifetime status is gone. Going forward, cruisers must requalify based on their spending during each qualification period — a structure similar to most airline and hotel programs. Guests grandfathered into Diamond tier have until December 31, 2028, before they'll need to requalify as well.
Carnival President Christine Duffy acknowledged the change would be unpopular but called it unavoidable. During a Q&A panel aboard Carnival Vista, she explained that with the cruise line's fleet growth and the sheer number of guests reaching top tiers, delivering lifetime status benefits simply "can't be done in the right way" anymore. The new dual-earning structure lets guests accumulate both Carnival Rewards points and Status Qualifying Stars, giving more flexibility in how rewards and status are earned — but tying both more directly to onboard and related spending.
Royal Caribbean, for its part, is watching from a deliberate distance. Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley has said plainly that Carnival's direction is "exactly what we're trying to avoid." The Crown & Anchor Society continues to reward guests based on the number of nights sailed rather than dollars spent, and status never expires — meaning a cruiser who takes a few years off won't return to square one.
Royal Caribbean Group has actually been moving in the opposite direction, deepening its loyalty ecosystem rather than tightening it. The group now allows cruisers to combine points across Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises, crediting nights from any of the three brands toward a single preferred loyalty account. An industry-first status match program also lets loyal members carry their tier recognition across all three lines without starting over. Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty emphasized during the company's 2025 Q2 earnings call that recognizing guests for their entire history — not just recent spending — is core to the strategy.
For Florida-based cruisers who split their sailings between lines or take extended breaks between trips, the contrast between the two programs is now sharper than ever. This story was reported by Royal Caribbean Blog.
