Our First Platinum Experience

[NavyCruiser]

Our family of Four, mid 40's couple, 19 y.o. son & 15 yr old daughter, has just completed our very first Platinum Experience on Carnival Destiny. We all just loved it!

Although we're well below the 70 days/points required, this is our 10th cruise so we made Platinum.

Here's our experience as first time Platinum members, compared to before. Only us 2 adults are Platinum, our 2 kids are still gold, but we all got the perks.

 

First, arriving Miami terminal Sat morning at 11:45, there was a very long line for TSA security, which snaked outside the terminal into the hot humid weather, maybe 25 - 30 minutes long. We had "VIP" printed on our ticket, so after 10 minutes in the hot sun, we saw The VIP security section, as we entered the main terminal. That saved us about 20 minutes in line.

In the terminal, we were escorted to the VIP check-in room, similar to Casinos' VIP check-in rooms (although not as luxurious), checked-in in 2 minutes. The regular lines were maybe 5 minutes wait.

Arriving in the cabins, we got 2 Platinum pins, & 2 gold pins. All received one free voucher for mixed drinks each, but only good for drinks for breakfasts or lunch in the main dinning room. It was almost worthless for us, since we didn't use it until the last day. Anyways, who wants liquor/drinks in the morning? We got slushies for other kids at the table.

 

There's a separate Platinum line at the Guest Service desk.

 

The best perk we think is the priority boarding for tenders. We showed up at Service desk & were escorted directly to the tender. The Theater looked packed with people waiting to be called. Not sure how long the wait was for tenders, but we loved this perk.

 

We used 3 bags of wash & fold laundry service. Told our steward before dinner, he left 4 bags (2 each) in our cabin after dinner. We left 3 bags in our stateroom when we left for port the next morning at 10am. Our clothes came back fine, not soft & fluffy as at home, but clean & fresh, in 6 loose bags, by 5pm when we got back from shore. Also got a nice plate of "Chocolate Delites" & 2 Carnival binoculars.

 

 

 

Last perk was priority debarkation. We got blue tags #1 for our luggage, which means we can leave at/around 7:30am with the first group. Since we're staying in Miami afterwards for a few days, we didn't need to use it, but stayed leasurely onboard til 9:20am.

 

We didn't use casino perks or attend the party.

 

Overall, we were extremely pleased with our first cruise as Carnival Platinum members!!!

[lulamc]

Thanks for the info! I'm on Destiny in December. And I plan to do my 10th cruise in Feb. so I can get my platnimum status. Glad it worked out so well for you!

[smarks]

I love the platinum perks also especially priority embarkation and debarkation. Happy Sailing.

[NavyCruiser]

Yes, priority embarkation is superb!

But bypassing the TSA security (esp even after the half hour TSA security at the airport) was even better...

[wrigley80]

That's good to know because we will become platinum on the second half of our upcoming back-to-back cruises.

I am looking forward to the priority embarkation more than anything else :p

[MSRussell]

That's good to know because we will become platinum on the second half of our upcoming back-to-back cruises.

I am looking forward to the priority embarkation more than anything else :p

Congratulations to all the new Platinum cruisers. I turned Platinum on the last leg of my B2B2B, even though I reminded Guest Services, when I came back on the ship (I had gone to WalMart), my name wasn't on the Platinum list. The woman who re checked me in, gave me a gold card. I had to remind her...lol. They must have had the info deep in their system, as I received the cooler.

To me the best part is not having to wait in line the first day.

Melanie

 

[dallas52]

taking our 8th next week and will take one this fall and maybe next spring for our 10th. i hope. congrats to all of you.

[Elmo31]

Great to hear everything was great with your platinum status. We will be turning platinum on our first leg of our back to back on the destiny in October. I cant wait to experience these perks. I only wish we were getting the little backpacks instead of binoculars.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your report, Navycruiser.

[bobsfamily]

We will be Platinum on our Dream cruise in Nov. Looking forward to the perks... we are also doing a Casino cruise and are supposed to get some perks with that. We will see!

Congrats BTW

[Sparky2]

That's good to know because we will become platinum on the second half of our upcoming back-to-back cruises.

I am looking forward to the priority embarkation more than anything else :p

 

You are getting VIP for your 9th cruise since you're doing B2B, right?

 

We're doing #9 & #10 as a B2B in January, and I've already printed out our luggage tags for #9 which has VIP on them.