Key Aspects:
- Carnival Conquest embarked on the first of four adults-only cruises that are targeting avid casino players on August 22, 2025.
- Because of the high number of elite Diamond and Platinum guests onboard for this unique sailing, many of the usual perks offered to these guests are unavailable.
- In this case, priority embarkation and disembarkation, early stateroom access, priority luggage delivery, and priority assistance from guest services will not be available.
Carnival Cruise Line is trying something new to celebrate its most VIP guests, but the special experience will not include some key loyalty perks for the voyage that just embarked on August 22, 2025.
Originally, Carnival Conquest was supposed to be undergoing refurbishments in dry dock from August 22 to September 20, 2025.
This has now been rescheduled twice, first to January 2026 and then to February 2026.
But rather than letting the Conquest-class flagship sit idle for a month, the cruise line added some new and very unique sailings.
Indeed, Carnival is experimenting with adults-only cruises that are targeted at top-tier Carnival Players Club guests who are very active in the onboard casinos.
While the Carnival Players Club is separate from the Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) program, there is understandably a lot of crossover here.
This means that many of the perks elite Diamond and Platinum VIFP members are accustomed to will not be available on the current 9-night Southern Caribbean cruise, which is sailing round trip out of Miami, Florida.
“Due to the high number of Diamond and Platinum guests joining us on this voyage, we will not be able to provide the following benefits,” the cruise line wrote in a letter.
The benefits that won’t be available include priority embarkation and disembarkation (including at ports of call), early stateroom access, priority luggage delivery, and priority line and phone assistance from the onboard guest services team.
Additionally, main dining room seating requests for Diamond level guests also cannot be guaranteed.
Carnival Conquest is operating three more of these unique sailings on August 31, September 12, and September 21, and it’s possible that these voyages may also miss out on some perks given the status of the passengers.
Similarly, Carnival Magic will be embarking on its own adults-only cruises on October 18, October 25, and November 1.
Supporting Carnival’s New Loyalty Program
Although it has been met with a lot of criticism, this is an example of why Carnival is doing away with the current VIFP system.
Especially for the longer Carnival Journeys sailings, there have been multiple cases where there are too many elite loyalty members onboard – making it so that nobody can take advantage of the perks.
“These operational changes are consistent with other voyages where we have a very large number of Diamond and Platinum guests. We apologize for any disappointment and thank you for your understanding,” Carnival wrote.
Read Also: Which Cruise Lines Match Loyalty Programs?
The VIFP program will officially be replaced by Carnival Rewards on June 1, 2026, so guests still have just over a year to prepare for the change.
Under the new plan, guests will earn stars based on not only how often they cruise, but also how much money they spend onboard, casino play, and even non-cruise purchases made with the Carnival Rewards Mastercard.
The amount of “stars” earned will determine guests’ loyalty tiers, which will remain in place for two years. The “lifetime” status that guests earn under the current VIFP program is being eliminated.
“I really just want to reassure people that it is not our intention at all for people not to maintain their status, just lifetime status is not feasible given the number of people and the growth in the highest tiers,” Carnival President Christine Duffy clarified soon after Carnival Rewards was announced.
The “lifetime” status will phase out slowly, with all current VIFP members maintaining their status until May 31, 2028.
Top-tier Diamond members get an even longer buffer and will maintain their status until May 31, 2032.
