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Past Guest Programs
By Dave | July 24, 2008
One of the things I like best about cruising is the past guest programs. I started talking about this yesterday in my final review post when I mentioned our VIP privileges. Today I will continue further, talking about other cruise lines’ past guest programs. Yesterday I pretty much covered Carnival’s past guest program (for Platinum at least), so for those unfamiliar to the concept, you should have a basic understanding of what I’m talking about.
Almost every cruise line has a past guest program. These are basically little rewards given to past guests as an incentive to cruise on that line again. The basic foundation is the same for all past guest programs. The program is broken up into levels, and the more you cruise, the more you get. That’s essentially where the common features end. Each past guest program is different from every other, with unique levels, rewards, and more. Let’s look at a couple examples to make things clearer.
As I mentioned, all past guest programs are broken up by level. So what are these levels? These levels are based on how many cruises (or cruise days) you’ve sailed. On Carnival, there is a Gold level and a Platinum level. You earn Gold on only your second cruise. But you earn Platinum on your tenth cruise. Other cruise lines follow the same concept, but expand on it. Royal Caribbean, for example, starts with a Gold level as well, also after only one cruise. Their Platinum level, however, starts after only 5 cruises. After 10 cruises, you are moved to Diamond status. And after 24 cruises, you are moved to Diamond Plus.
Of course, not all cruise lines use the same naming method for their levels. Celebrity uses Classic, Select, and Elite as their levels. In addition, some cruise lines also base their levels off number of days cruised, as opposed to number of cruises. To understand why they do this, think about this example. There are two couples; one lives in Florida and the other in Colorado. Once a month, the Florida couple takes one day off from work and takes a three-day weekend cruise. Why not? They only live 15 minutes from the pier, and there’s no flying involved. They book inside cabins and can travel at dirt-cheap prices. The Colorado couple, on the other hand, can only travel once a year, since they have to take so much time off as well as the added expenses of flying and hotels. So to make the most of their vacations, they usually book 12 to 14-day cruises.
Using that example, let’s see how fair the number-of-cruises method is. The Florida couple travels once a month, so if the cruise on the same line, by the end of just one year they’ll have 10 cruises with that line. That’s pretty high up for any line. The Colorado couple can only travel once a year. So using the number-of-cruises method, they’ll only have one cruise. Now let’s use the number-of-days method. At the end of the year, the Florida couple, despite going on so many cruises, only has 36 days built up. The Colorado couple, even though they only went on one cruise, have 14 days built up. See how much less the separation is? That’s the fairness of the number-of-days method. Lines like Cunard and Princess use this method, often in addition to the other method. So if the level requires either 5 cruises or 30 days, you will be upgraded to that level after you reach either one first. This makes it fair for both the Florida and the Colorado couples.
So what’s the big deal with getting further up in the ranks? Well, you get benefits for gaining more cruises (or cruise days). Some of the typical rewards include discounts, upgrades, priority wait lists (spa, excursions, etc.), members-only events, (even more) free food, coupons, free internet time, VIP check-in, shorter lines, free gifts, etc. This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s available. The point I’m trying to make is that there is so much available to past guests. This is one of the reasons why cruising is so great.