Carnival Rewards is live, and casino play now counts toward status
Just saw that Carnival’s new Carnival Rewards program officially went live on September 1. I read the launch coverage in Travel Weekly and Cruise News, and the part that jumped out for this crowd is that casino play now feeds into loyalty status too, not just cruise spend.
From what’s being reported, you earn status stars from onboard spend, and also one star per casino point earned during the cruise. That doesn’t automatically tell us anything about future casino offers, obviously, but it does make the casino piece more visible inside the main loyalty program than before.
My spreadsheet brain says this is worth watching for anyone who plays enough onboard to move the needle on status anyway. Curious what the Carnival regulars here are seeing so far: better tracking, same old offers, or just more confusion with a new label on it?
Replies
I’m watching this one with interest. On paper it sounds nice because at least casino play isn’t totally off in its own little corner anymore. But I’d still treat it as a bookkeeping change until we see a few sailings shake out. Gene and I have learned Carnival can track something more clearly without that meaning offers change much at all. What I do like is status stars are easier for regular folks to understand than some of the old casino mystery math. Has anybody actually sailed since Sept 1 and seen the casino points convert cleanly in the app or account?