One Loyalty Program Wasn't Enough—So Royal Caribbean Created a Way to Use All Three
Royal Caribbean Group announces Points Choice, a groundbreaking loyalty feature that lets cruisers earn and transfer points across Crown & Anchor Society, Captain's Club, and Venetian Society starting January 30, 2026.
If you’ve ever found yourself torn between booking a Royal Caribbean cruise to maintain your Crown & Anchor status or trying Celebrity to experience something new, Royal Caribbean Group just solved your dilemma. On January 15, 2026, the cruise giant announced Points Choice, a groundbreaking loyalty program feature that lets you earn cruise points on any of their brands and apply them wherever you want—Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, or even ultra-luxury Silversea.
Starting January 30, 2026, cruisers can direct their hard-earned loyalty points across brand lines within the Royal Caribbean Group family, fundamentally changing how cruise loyalty programs work in an industry that has historically kept each brand’s rewards siloed.
How Points Choice Actually Works
The concept is simpler than it sounds. After you complete an eligible cruise on any Royal Caribbean Group brand, you have a 14-day window to decide where you want those points to land. You can keep them with the brand you sailed, or transfer them to one of the other two participating loyalty programs through the Royal Caribbean app or website.
The three programs connected under Points Choice are Crown & Anchor Society (Royal Caribbean International), Captain’s Club (Celebrity Cruises), and Venetian Society (Silversea). If you don’t submit a transfer request within those 14 days, your points automatically stay with the cruise line you sailed—no action required if you’re happy with the default.
According to Royal Caribbean Blog, CEO Jason Liberty emphasized the program’s core value: “Points Choice gives every guest the power to direct their loyalty points within our family of brands where they will have the biggest impact.”
There are some important rules. You must already be enrolled in the destination loyalty program before transferring points. Points can only transfer once between brands—no take-backs. And processing takes up to 30 days, so don’t expect instant gratification.
The Exchange Rate Reality
Here’s where it gets interesting. Points don’t transfer one-to-one across brands. Royal Caribbean Group uses brand-specific exchange rates that reflect the different earning structures of each program, and these rates are reviewed annually.
The conversion multipliers vary significantly. For example, if you sail in a premium suite category on Royal Caribbean, you might earn 2 points in Crown & Anchor, but that same sailing could convert to 8 points in Celebrity’s Captain’s Club or just 1 point in Silversea’s Venetian Society. The exact exchange depends on your cabin category, sailing length, and destination program.
Solo travelers face different multipliers depending on which program they’re targeting. Celebrity Cruises awards double points for solo travelers, Royal Caribbean adds one point per night, and Silversea offers no solo bonus at all. This means strategic cruisers will need to do math before deciding where to send their points.
Why This Matters for Cruisers
Loyalty programs in the cruise industry have traditionally operated like medieval fiefdoms—each brand jealously guarding its own rewards ecosystem. Even when cruise lines are owned by the same parent company, points have rarely crossed brand boundaries.
Royal Caribbean Group took a first step toward integration in 2023 with status matching, allowing loyal guests to receive comparable tier status when trying a sister brand. But status matching only gets you perks like priority boarding or drink discounts. It doesn’t help you climb the loyalty ladder or earn a free cruise.
Points Choice changes that calculus entirely. Now you can sail Celebrity’s modern luxury ships in the Mediterranean one year, book a Royal Caribbean mega-ship to the Caribbean the next, and still be working toward the same loyalty goal. For cruisers who want variety without sacrificing progress toward elite status and its substantial benefits, this is a game-changer.
Consider the practical implications. Maybe you’re one cruise away from Diamond status in Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society, which comes with perks like free drinks, priority check-in, and exclusive events. But Celebrity just announced an itinerary you’ve been dreaming about. Previously, booking that Celebrity cruise meant delaying your Diamond status. Now you can sail Celebrity and still move the needle toward Royal Caribbean Diamond by transferring those points.
The Strategic Play Behind the Program
Royal Caribbean Group isn’t doing this out of pure generosity. This is a calculated business strategy designed to increase brand loyalty across their entire portfolio while reducing customer defection to competitors.
When a loyal Royal Caribbean cruiser considers trying a different cruise experience, they’re more likely to choose Celebrity or Silversea if they know those cruises will count toward their existing loyalty progress. That keeps revenue within the Royal Caribbean Group family instead of flowing to competitors like Carnival, Norwegian, or MSC.
The program also creates a stickiness factor. The more brands you’ve cruised within the Royal Caribbean Group ecosystem, and the more points you’ve accumulated, the harder it becomes to justify starting from scratch with a completely different cruise line. It’s the same psychological lock-in that keeps people using the same airline alliance or hotel chain.
By offering this flexibility, Royal Caribbean Group positions itself as the only cruise company where you can experience everything from contemporary mega-ships with water slides and rock climbing walls, to premium modern luxury with Celebrity, to ultra-luxury small-ship experiences with Silversea—all while building toward the same loyalty rewards.
What This Means for the Industry
Royal Caribbean Group’s Points Choice program sets a new standard that will pressure other cruise conglomerates to respond. Carnival Corporation owns nine cruise brands including Carnival, Princess, Holland America, and Cunard. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings operates Norwegian, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas. Both competitors now face a strategic decision about whether to integrate their own loyalty programs.
The cruise industry has been moving toward greater personalization and flexibility in recent years, from dynamic pricing to unbundled amenities. Points Choice fits squarely into that trend, treating customers as individuals with evolving preferences rather than forcing them into rigid brand categories.
For cruise enthusiasts who love trying new experiences but hate starting loyalty programs from zero, this announcement represents the most significant shift in cruise rewards since tiered loyalty programs were first introduced decades ago. The question now is whether Royal Caribbean Group’s competitors will match this flexibility or stick with their isolated brand silos.
Starting January 30, the power to direct your cruise loyalty across three distinct brands is in your hands. The only question left is where you’ll send your points.