Royal Caribbean’s New Loyalty Program Changes Are a ‘Huge Deal,’ According to Fans
- Royal Caribbean Group is launching a new loyalty program called Points Choice in early 2026, allowing travelers to earn nights on any of its three brands and choose which loyalty program to credit, regardless of the brand they are sailing with.
Royal Caribbean Groupis about to make it a lot easier to stay loyal to one cruise company without being loyal to just one cruise line.
Starting in early 2026, a new program called Points Choicewill let travelers earn nights on any of Royal Caribbean Group's three brands— Royal Caribbean , Celebrity Cruises and Silversea—and choose which loyalty program gets the credit for that sailing.
"Building on the success of status match, I'm excited to announce Points Choice, the next evolution, and how guests earn and apply loyalty points across our family of brands beginning in early 2026," Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty told investors earlier this fall . "Guests will be able to apply loyalty points to the Royal Caribbean Group brand they prefer, regardless of which brand they are sailing with."
In plain English: If you usually sail Royal Caribbean but decide to try a Celebrity cruise , you'll be able to send those points to either Crown & Anchor or Captain's Club (or to Silversea's Venetian Society), instead of being forced to split your loyalty progress across three separate programs.
For many cruisers, that's huge. One Reddit user reacted simply: "This is awesome." Another called it "very smart," adding that it lets people pick the line that fits each trip—Royal for multigenerational family cruises, Celebrity for more relaxing, grown-up sailings, Silversea for splurge-y bucket-list routes —without feeling like they're "wasting" loyalty credit when they switch brands.
Fans who are in the middle of a status climb are especially excited. One cruiser explained that they're just a couple of trips away from Diamond on Royal but love Celebrity; until now, trying Celebrity meant slowing down their Royal progress.
Related: This is the Royal Caribbean Alaska Cruise to Book, Say Travel Advisors
With Points Choice, they can keep pushing toward Royal milestones while still mixing in Celebrity or Silversea when the itinerary is better. Another Celebrity loyalist said it makes them more likely to finally try Royal's Iconor Oasisclass ships.
There are important limits, though. The fine print clarifies that past cruises won't be merged—Points Choice only applies to sailings after the new system goes live.
You also can't combine existing points across brands to instantly jump tiers, which some cruisers had hoped for. And as several commenters pointed out, everyone's watching to see whether Royal eventually tweaks elite perks if too many people hit the top tiers.
Still, compared to recent loyalty " enhancements
" elsewhere in travel, this one actually gives cruisers more choice, not less. As one pleasantly surprised commenter put it:
"Oh wow, a change that might actually benefit the consumer. I'm surprised."
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This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
