Carnival Cruise Line has issued an advisory to its Diamond and Platinum stage friends crusing on Carnival Splendor on August 24, 2024. The changes are in response to the unusually excessive variety of VIFP (Very Essential Enjoyable Particular person) friends booked on the voyage.
The cruise line will be unable to supply precedence embarkation or debarkation for the 16-night cruise from Singapore to Sydney, together with at any ports of name, which embody Jakarta and Lombok, Indonesia, and Darwin, Airlie Seashore, and Moreton, Australia.
The cruise line has additionally indicated that Diamond friends might not have assured entry to essential eating room seating.
Moreover, staterooms won’t be obtainable till after 1:30 p.m. on the day of embarkation. As soon as onboard, friends are inspired to drop off any carry-on baggage of their staterooms earlier than continuing to lunch.
“The operational adjustments are in keeping with different Carnival Journeys cruises the place we now have had a lot of Diamond and Platinum friends,” stated Colleen Oliverio, vp of visitor companies at Carnival Cruises. “We apologize for any disappointment and thanks on your understanding.”
This not the primary time VIFP advantages have been altered. A transatlantic crossing on Carnival Freedom and Carnival Venezia’s Journeys’ voyage within the Caribbean, every in September 2023, had comparable loyalty advantages suspended.
Unique Perks for high-tiered VIFPs
Carnival Cruise Line’s VIFP Membership, which launched in 2012, is designed to reward loyal friends with a variety of perks and privileges. Among the many most prestigious tiers are the Diamond and Platinum ranges, reserved for Carnival’s most frequent cruisers.
Platinum members who’ve sailed on 75 or extra nights with Carnival usually obtain perks resembling precedence check-in and boarding, complimentary beverage vouchers, and entry to an unique onboard celebration. Additionally they profit for precedence spa reservations and assured essential eating room seating.
Diamond members, the best tier, are those that have sailed on 200 days or extra with Carnival. Along with all the advantages supplied to Platinum members, Diamond members obtain much more enhanced perks.
These embody limitless complimentary laundry service, a devoted Diamond member telephone line, a one-time complimentary meal at a specialty restaurant, an invite to an unique cocktail reception with the captain, and assured reservations for sold-out shore excursions.
Learn Additionally: Loyalty Applications – Ought to You Keep Loyal to One Cruise Line?
Carnival Journeys, usually 9 to 16 days in size, are a group of longer cruises designed to offer an immersive and distinctive trip expertise. As longer voyages, these are notably interesting to members of the VIFP program to take care of their standing, making it troublesome for the cruise line to accommodate all advantages.
Regardless of the changes, Diamond and Platinum members aboard Carnival Splendor will nonetheless retain a number of of their core advantages, together with precedence spa reservations, Chocolate Delight delivered by way of room service, VIFP swag, and a complimentary beverage.
The beverage, a “thanks” to VIFP members, was just lately adjusted in July 2024, and the cruise line has hinted for months that an overhaul to the VIFP program is forthcoming. Some adjustments have already been applied, together with the removing of a $25 FunPlay ship credit score within the on line casino and a donation to St. Judes Youngsters’s Analysis Hospital.
