Royal Caribbean offers some of the best loyalty program benefits in the industry, so how do you move up the levels faster?
The Crown and Anchor Society offers rewards, discounts, and special events to its members, and it's all based on which tier you're at.
Similar to hotel or airline offerings, Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society loyalty program has different tiers based on how many points you have, with points earned based on travel.
Unlike other forms of travel customer loyalty programs, Royal Caribbean's points never expire. And that means you can move up to a higher level even if you haven't cruised in a few years.
When you reach Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Pinnacle Club, Royal Caribbean will give you free drinks every day of your cruise, free internet access, laundry services, and even a free cruise.
If you want to get more points to get to a higher Crown and Anchor level faster, there are a few strategies you can employ.
Read more: How to reach Diamond level quickly
Stay in a suite
Perhaps the easiest way to get more Crown and Anchor points is to book a suite.
Royal Caribbean will give you an extra point per night if you book a suite instead of a standard cabin:
- 1 point per night in an inside, oceanview, or balcony cabin
- 2 points per night in a Junior suite or higher
Booking a Junior Suite is often an affordable way to get that extra point, as Junior Suites are not nearly as expensive as the suites that come with full suite benefits.
It's worth noting that Royal Caribbean has begun adding some Junior Suites on their newest ships that have full suite benefits, such as the Sky Junior Suite on Icon of the Seas.
Not only will a suite double the points you will get for every night of the cruise, but they also come with some great benefits to enjoy along the way. I find staying in a suite when you're at a lower Crown and Anchor level is advantageous since there is some overlap between the benefits.
Book a longer cruise
It's simple math: the more you cruise, the more points you earn. So if you want to accumulate points quicker, book a longer cruise.
Royal Caribbean offers short weekend cruises, week-long sailings, and even cruises that are about two weeks. Whenever possible, opt for a longer cruise to get more nights in.
Transatlantic cruises are some of the best cruises to rack up Crown and Anchor points because they're usually between 10-14 nights in duration, and priced quite well. There's less demand for a transatlantic cruise because of the length, number of sea days, and the flight logistics.
If you book a transatlantic cruise and stay in a suite, you could really get a lot of points quickly out of one trip.
The other strategy is to make your cruise longer by not leaving.
Book a back to back cruise, where you book the same ship two times or more in a row. This allows you to sail longer at one time without having to find an exotic itinerary that has the same amount of nights.
Ideally, you'll book a back to back cruise where each sailing has a different itinerary so that you can enjoy different ports on each sailing. However, there's nothing wrong with doing the same itinerary twice.
This is especially easy with short cruises. Royal Caribbean's brand new Utopia of the Seas offers 3- and 4-night cruises to The Bahamas. If you book two sailings in a row, you'll cruise for a week.
Booking a back to back cruise gets you more time on the ship to enjoy what that ship has to offer, and it also stretches your flight value out because you'll be away for more days.
Cruise solo
Besides staying in a suite, if you book a standard cabin by yourself, you'll get an extra point per night too.
Just like staying in a suite, booking a solo cruise gets you more points for every night of your cruise.
The catch is not to book a studio cabin because you won't get an extra point. Select Royal Caribbean ships have cabins designed for solo cruisers, and these would not earn you more Crown and Anchor points faster.
And yes, you can combine the strategies in this post and book a suite by yourself and get 3 points per night.
Booking a suite alone is hands down the fastest path to earning the most Crown and Anchor points. It might seem egregious, but more people do it than you might think.
You cannot buy points
Unlike some other loyalty programs, Royal Caribbean does not allow you to buy points.
There is no mechanism to purchase points without traveling, no matter how few points you need to get to the next tier.
Quite often I'll see posts on the Royal Caribbean message boards asking if they can use a credit card or call the cruise line and buy a point or two.
The only way to earn points in Royal Caribbean's customer loyalty program is to sail on a cruise ship.
Avoid bidding for a stateroom upgrade
Be forewarned, if you bid for a stateroom upgrade from a lower category cabin to a suite, you will not get that extra point per night.
Points are based on the cabin you originally booked, so Royal Up will not get you any extra points.
If you had a balcony or lower category, and then successfully bid to a suite, you would only receive 1 point per night.
Read more: 6 reasons to refuse to upgrade your cabin
Pro tip: Stay in a cabin alone while family is in another cabin
In all my years of cruising, I picked up on a strategy people that cruise a lot to employ in order to get to the highest Crown and Anchor levels.
They'll book one person in a cabin alone to get the extra point, and put the rest of their family in another cabin.
This strategy works best once you hit 340 points so that you'll a “single supplement discount”. With the single supplement discount, instead of paying 200% fare, you’re only charged 150% extra.
Marcy Miyar employed this strategy by booking Junior Suites alone in order to get to Pinnacle Club status faster.
It's not necessarily a great money saving idea, but the faster you get to the higher tiers, the sooner you get to enjoy their benefits. Once you have the benefits, it opens up a lot of possibilities for maximizing the loyalty program value.
I never advocated for cruising for the sake of status, but it's hard to deny how lucrative it is being a Pinnacle Club member now and that it's added tremendous value to my cruises.
