Should carnival add a new tier?

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I have been Diamond for a lot of years now. That Tier is getting very crowded. On many cruises they have two different times for the party. I think Carnival should add another tier with added incentives. Maybe, Specialty Dining on every cruise not just the first one after reaching Diamond. Drinks included for two. Wash and PRESS included. What else should they include? Suggestion. Call it EBONY requiring 500 points, maybe higher. MSC calls theirs BLACK. Lots of perks from them. Discount percentages on cruises no matter what your price is another percentage off. That would be nice.

[Jdfireman]

3 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I have been Diamond for a lot of years now. That Tier is getting very crowded. On many cruises they have two different times for the party. I think Carnival should add another tier with added incentives. Maybe, Specialty Dining on every cruise not just the first one after reaching Diamond. Drinks included for two. Wash and PRESS included. What else should they include? Suggestion. Call it EBONY requiring 500 points, maybe higher. MSC calls theirs BLACK. Lots of perks from them. Discount percentages on cruises no matter what your price is another percentage off. That would be nice.

This has been under review according to JH for years now. I would have thought during covid pause maybe they would have adjusted to program.  I guess one day 

[firefly333]

500 sounds too high to me. It's taken forever to reach 200. ..well ok 197 pts. But I dont feel motivated to reach diamond. The perks arent worth it as other than boarding no interest. One pay dinner forever at diamond.. a joke. I dont go on cruises ro get my laundry done, maybe moms like it. 

 

People are loyal to royal for the free booze. Used to be a diamond lounge which says temporarily going away .. who knows.. instead giving us daily drink vouchers. 4/5/6. Can use any time of the day to spread us out. Free wine delivered in your cabin. At diamond plus one pay dinner one free. Solo use 2 nights... and my personal favorite at 340 pts, 50% solo supplement. Oh and the balcony discount which increases as your level goes higher.

 

Rcl has perks that keep people loyal to royal, carnival has always said we dont care about keeping you imo with those perks.

 

500 would be unattainable for most .. maybe 300?

[ProgRockCruiser]

Maybe this might sound like an odd question, but what incentive does Carnival have for offering more rewards for someone already at that top tier?

 

Carnival has always said VIFP is not about the perks to keep your loyalty, the overall cruise experience is supposed to do that.

 

If anything, offer up an intermediate tier between gold and platinum (where we are at right now), but even then, I don't think one extra shiny trinket or free laundry is going to make or break my decision on which line to cruise with.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

As for laundry. Many that do back to back or long cruises like 14 days or longer that do not want to carry a lot of clothes would be a nice perk. We take two small suit cases. I do not want to be bagged down by big ones. I see so many rolling big 2 each plus back packs and even more.  Not for us. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

It is nice to be recognized for the loyalty to Carnival. We like the perks that we get. Doing a Diamond tier match with MSC only gets you GOLD. One from the top. Their top tier perks are really nice. Even with GOLD they give you $100.00 each OBC on a 7 day cruise. 10% and 5% off of your lowest price. We are full up for this year and 5 for next. Only one so far for 2023 which is a Carnival cruise. We will do MSC in 2023. Since they have built newer ships and from I read are super nice. We are buffet people and according to what I read. Their buffet is awesome. So we shall see what they have to offer. We did one an MSC cruise many, many years ago. Really do not remember the cruise. We must have not liked it, we never did another.

[2Shoes2Go]

We do appreciate the nice extras. Don’t expect anything will change. Carnival is looking for more revenue than most Diamonds bring. We especially enjoy the Captain’s Diamond Party and time to catch up with officers and other Diamonds. It’s still pretty intimate. I suppose that’s why we choose Royal less now. The big Dia/Dia +/ Pin gatherings are crazy huge. 

[ninjacat123]

I was happy to become Platinum so we didn't need to purchase FTTF.  I hope by our Jan 2022 cruise those perks will be in effect.

[ProgRockCruiser]

What is a typical charge for a bag of laundry washed and folded?  The Carnival site mentions prices vary across the fleet.  Like $20?  Or $40?

 

I see prices for individual wash and press or even dry cleaning on some ships?

[firefly333]

26 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

As for laundry. Many that do back to back or long cruises like 14 days or longer that do not want to carry a lot of clothes would be a nice perk. We take two small suit cases. I do not want to be bagged down by big ones. I see so many rolling big 2 each plus back packs and even more.  Not for us. 

Bookings of more than 14 days arent carnivals targeted market. Just my opinion in.

 

They dont try and appeal to the cruiser who cruises a lot or they would do some booze or pay dinners or bogo so they still make a profit on those items.

Edited June 22, 2021 by firefly333

[firefly333]

27 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Carnival is not interested in the higher level cruisers.  They mostly care about the Blues.  They want the first timers that are ignorant and spend money.

Exactly my impression. ..the more I cruise with carnival the more I feel like I'm not wanted ..their target is new cruisers. 

 

Seriously I dont get why people post give us more laundry perks. ..uggh. 

[Joebucks]

I mean I guess it would add more of a "premium" aura to Carnival if there was a tier higher than diamond. Perhaps that would keep even a small amount of Diamonds interested.

 

I do wonder how much, if any, of a reset there has been for not sailing in almost a year a half. No one advanced in tier since then. If anything, the amount of higher VIFP tiers decreased.

 

More than anything, I believe the program needs to be overhauled. Royal has a much better program. The free diamond vouchers are vastly superior to Carnival's offer. At least to me.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Joebucks

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

51 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Exactly my impression. ..the more I cruise with carnival the more I feel like I'm not wanted ..their target is new cruisers. 

 

Seriously I dont get why people post give us more laundry perks. ..uggh. 

I answered that. Guess you did not read it. Look at #6

[Earthworm Jim]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

How about the overabundance of Platinum cruisers?  If they do something, it has to be a Platinum Plus category similar to Royal.

 

If it happens, it won't result in an upgrade of benefits to the new "Platinum Plus" type tier. It will be a downgrade and loss of benefits for regular platinum cruisers.

[IntrepidFromDC]

If you like your clothes, don't trust Carnival free laundry.  I don't know what they're doing wrong, but whites come out very greyed and cotton anything is shrunk to baby size.  I had them wash some brand new t-shirts I bought on the ship and when they came back they wouldn't even fit my daughter.  Terrible.  I'm fine with the other platinum perks but unlike many of you, I've never sailed on a competitor to compare/contrast.

Edited June 22, 2021 by IntrepidFromDC

[AtSeaWithChris]

4 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

If it happens, it won't result in an upgrade of benefits to the new "Platinum Plus" type tier. It will be a downgrade and loss of benefits for regular platinum cruisers.

That's the way it happened when they came out with this blue gold system. We were gold then red then gold again. We are now platinum whenever we get on a ship again and I hope we get to keep it longer than we kept gold before we lost it and then got it back.

[DGP1111]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I have been Diamond for a lot of years now. That Tier is getting very crowded. On many cruises they have two different times for the party. 

 

Please help me out with a better understanding of what you mean by "many".  Thanks.

 

I know that the occasional Journeys voyages tend to have a much larger number of high-loyalty passengers, but on all of my cruises I've never had one of the Diamond events actually come close to filling the room space. Perhaps I'm just lucky there.  

 

.

[xDisconnections]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

It is nice to be recognized for the loyalty to Carnival. We like the perks that we get. Doing a Diamond tier match with MSC only gets you GOLD. One from the top. 

Matching Elite from Princess, you'll get MSC Black. As Elite has a lower night requirement than Diamond, based on your above post, one passenger is higher yielding than the other and considered more valuable to the organization.

 

The loyalty programs are simply a marketing scheme. Carnival already has your loyalty and knows you'll keep coming back to their product. Their business model also focuses on the entry level cruiser as they are more profitable while providing a basic hard product. Sure, the Diamond passenger may cruise a lot more over the years but they know how to get the lower rates, how to take advantage of promos/offers/advisors to get higher onboard credits, they will book independent excursions moreso than newer passengers, already purchased the souvenirs, etc.

 

Carnival is better off trying to find creative ways to push them to higher end brands such as Princess and Holland America. They have made it very clear over the years that loyalty to Carnival Cruise Line doesn't mean much to them whereas other brands within Carnival Corporation truly go above and beyond at recognizing.

Edited June 22, 2021 by xDisconnections

[BlerkOne]

Carnival's target market has always been novice cruisers. Repeat business is nice, but it doesn't grow the business or pay for new ships. Carnival knows they can always fill a ship with gamblers but I think made a mistake with letting them collect sea days on discounted cruises. Or maybe it was their plan. If anything, Carnival might beef up the lower tiers for those who butter their bread.

[TNcruising02]

Carnival has a special mid cruise for $15 per bag.  It's a small bag, but if you roll the clothes you can fit more.  We travel with only carry-ons and casual clothes, so we have used their self service laundry on every ship that had it.  On the Panorama, we ended up using their $15 special a couple of times.  I will appreciate being platinum and having free laundry.  We've never had a problem with any clothes we have sent in, but then again, we don't send in anything really nice.  

I am glad that I will never have to purchase FTTF again.  We like to board early and have our cabin available to drop off our carry-ons.  Since we aren't priority on any other lines, our expectations as far as priority benefits are low.

[SNJCruisers]

16 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

If you like your clothes, don't trust Carnival free laundry.  I don't know what they're doing wrong, but whites come out very greyed and cotton anything is shrunk to baby size.  I had them wash some brand new t-shirts I bought on the ship and when they came back they wouldn't even fit my daughter.  Terrible.  I'm fine with the other platinum perks but unlike many of you, I've never sailed on a competitor to compare/contrast.

They do all of the wash in hot water together, the whites can become somewhat grayish and t shirts that should be done in cold shrink, especially if 100% cotton.  I used the perk many years ago when first becoming Platinum, but after having one shirt ruined and finding out how they do the wash, it's just another worthless perk to me.

[BlerkOne]

3 minutes ago, xDisconnections said:

 They have made it very clear over the years that loyalty to Carnival Cruise Line doesn't mean much to them whereas other brands within Carnival Corporation truly go above and beyond at recognizing.

What I see clearly is that Carnival wants cruisers who like the brand and not cruisers who cruise for perks. The same can be said for Princess.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I answered that. Guess you did not read it. Look at #6

Lol and I answered it above. I said I dont think that many on carnival are booking 14 days and longer. I dont think this is a big enough group to concentrate on. We dont agree doesnt mean I didnt read and answer what you said. I read every single post.

 

If I dont like the perks for diamond ... to me no incentive to get to diamond, giving me more of what I dont care about is no incentive. I think solo is different than a couple or a family as i have double closet space and dont do laundry, not even on a b2b, 14 days total, and personally I dont cruise longer.

 

I still believe some booze or food perk is needed per cruise if they want to keep those who cruise more, people need a incentive to book one cruiseline over another ..

 

Ccl and rcl stock were the same price 15 years ago, but rcl has soared, ccl has not. Rcl concentrated on keeping people loyal. The stock price reflects that ccl does not. They are losing people like me. If I lived in florida with more choices tbh I'd be hardly booking carnival. 

 

 

[firefly333]

53 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

They do all of the wash in hot water together, the whites can become somewhat grayish and t shirts that should be done in cold shrink, especially if 100% cotton.  I used the perk many years ago when first becoming Platinum, but after having one shirt ruined and finding out how they do the wash, it's just another worthless perk to me.

I find it odd that all people post they want is more laundry free. 

 

I guess I'm in the minority that find rcl perks suit me better.

 

I also liked princess ncl etc, just dont want to fly to cruise. Once I move to florida, I'll do even less carnival. Laundry perks worth 0 to me. All the rage with cc posters. Seems I'm not suited to carnival more and more. 

[SNJCruisers]

11 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I find it odd that all people post they want is more laundry free. 

 

I guess I'm in the minority that find rcl perks suit me better.

 

I also liked princess ncl etc, just dont want to fly to cruise. Once I move to florida, I'll do even less carnival. Laundry perks worth 0 to me. All the rage with cc posters. Seems I'm not suited to carnival more and more. 

I think that many want more laundry done so that they can get away with carryons only and can save on having to pay for luggage.  The average Carnival cruiser is frugal, from wanting laundry done to avoid paying for luggage to driving to the port to not buying passports to carrying on soda, all methods to save a few bucks.