Carnival Rewards is live, and casino play now ties into status

Just saw a pretty interesting one for the loyalty nerds here. Travel Weekly and Cruise Industry News both reported that Carnival Rewards officially launched on September 1, and one detail that jumped out at me was casino play feeding the loyalty side more directly than before. Travel Weekly said guests earn one star for every earned casino point, alongside stars and points from regular Carnival spend. My read: this does not mean better offers automatically, and I would not assume it changes anyone’s casino mailers overnight. But it does make me wonder whether Carnival players should think a little differently about where they concentrate play if they also care about overall cruise status. Anybody here already sailed under the new setup? I’m curious whether table players vs slot players think this changes anything in practice, or if it’s mostly a branding refresh with the same old math underneath.

Replies

That’s the part I’m watching too. Back in the old days every line kept casino and loyalty in pretty separate buckets, and you learned not to mix up a host offer with a tier perk. Sounds like Carnival is at least letting the buckets talk to each other now. For slot folks it’s easy math on paper. For table players, the real question is how cleanly their rating converts on board. That’s where these programs always get a little fuzzy after midnight. If anybody has actually sailed since Sept. 1, I’d love to hear whether the casino desk could explain the stars side without reading from a cue card.

I haven’t sailed under the new setup yet, but for table folks I’d keep my expectations somewhere between a beignet and a broccoli salad. Looks good on the flyer, may or may not fill you up in real life. What I’m curious about is whether Carnival starts showing the casino-earned stars clearly in the app or on the folio, or if you’ve got to ask three different people and still leave scratching your head. Denise always says the dangerous part of these changes is folks assuming one number means the same thing everywhere. If anybody’s been on since Sept. 1, did your table rating seem any more transparent than before?