Doing what it takes to get grandfathered for Platinum

I realize that this question is purely subjective; however I just wanted to gauge the crowd. I need 2 more cruises booked to be grandfathered for Platinum. Opinions. Is it really gonna be worth it?

I realize that this question is purely subjective; however I just wanted to gauge the crowd. I need 2 more cruises booked to be grandfathered for Platinum. Opinions. Is it really gonna be worth it?

I think it is "too each his/her own". We are cruising in a cpl weeks and then a B2B in the summer to make Platinum..for us it is worth it. I think it is personal preference.

To get to the 'short' line...?? At a large cost..?? Probably NOT!..:o

Carnival isn't big on Platinum benefits.. Unless I've missed something lately..:rolleyes:;)

we've got 3 more this year so that dh can make platinum.

If you want to cruise, go for it. I always want more cruises. .. but I sure would not do it for the perks. Someone else posted, they can buy themselves a tervis tumbler on ebay a lot cheaper than paying for another cruise.

I dont pick any cruiseline for the perks and cruise them all. I like the perks on RCL a lot, free booze, but I would never pay for a cruise just to get it. .. on Carnival, no way would I pay to cruise to get to platinum just to get onboard faster or whichever perk it is you want. You can pay $50 per cabin now to get faster to the fun.

We used to have a guaranteed dining time .. now it says priority which aint worth the paper its printed on. Several of us had no luck once onboard changing to the time we wanted.. and I have over 20 cruises. maitre d' when I said I used to have a guaranteed dining time .. well you dont now. (now you have to get to diamond, 200 days, to get back the perks they took away from platinum).

I always want to cruise .. but on Carnival are you kidding me .. pay for cruises you dont want to go on to get to platinum .. never. Cruise only because you want to.

Just take me and I will gladly spend the 5 bucks to do your laundry. Now free drinks like RCL and discounts that's worth it. But I cruise because its cheap and easy. Perks are an added bonus that I rarely use but the booze!

Some of the items are nice, but to book cruises to get to it sooner and grandfather I don't think its worth it. Fast forward and its a couple cruises past you becoming "Platinum" and you decide you've outgrown or bored with Carnivals product and its time to try other lines. Then the other lines offer more with there loyalty program and cruises and product start to appeal to you more. You could have started sooner with them. You move up the ranks faster with theirs and benefit more.

I'm Platinum, 14 cruises and am in that very position. Will I cruise Carnival more? Sure one day. Will I cruise them now more or ensure I only cruise Carnival only because I'm Platinum? Nope.

Don't get me wrong, getting on the ship fairly quickly and those and to my room right away with ships that offer FTTF was very nice. The new past guest party was nice, full size drinks. The gifts? Eh. The snack. Eh. Laundry on longer cruises. Handy.

Check the perks on other lines, you may be surprised how quickly you can move up compared to Carnivals. Once you make it to Platinum under the old plan, its a long haul to get to the next step compared to other lines loyalty programs.

Of course all this is just my opinion. :D

Happy cruising!

I realize that this question is purely subjective; however I just wanted to gauge the crowd. I need 2 more cruises booked to be grandfathered for Platinum. Opinions. Is it really gonna be worth it?

HEck no.

Just my opinion though. Carnival perks are weaksauce.

Whats that :confused: Platinum you say, being worth it ? No, not worth the cost in the long run. And I'm truly sorry about that .

Last September we finally made Platinum on Princess... and then what did we do ??? Booked an Alaska cruise with the 123 offer with Celebrity, and then the Miracle to Hawaii from Vancouver .. ohh and then threw in a b2b on Carnival Century from Florida. Yes and then from Florida back through the Panama canal back home to this side of the world.We looked at Princess but the prices for these cruises were so much cheaper ... so much for our status lol..finally up there with the mucky mucks and not a Princess ship in sight.

I actually decided to book a short B2B this summer instead of a regular 7 day cruise in order to get to platinum. I've done a bunch of 3 and 4 day cruises, and really like them, but right now I'm at 7 cruises but only 39 days of sailing. I had already booked another short one for December 2013, and when my friend and I decided to cruise this summer we went with the 3/4 night B2B.

Without being grandfathered it would take me YEARS to be platinum, and I'm looking forward to being first on board and getting my laundry done before I go home!

Funny how tempting that "Platinum" carrot is to those of us who are not there. it just hangs there waiting for us to book, book, book to get it! I know how the OP feels. I feel the same way, even though I realize the benefits are not that great. The rational side adds up the benefits... Tervis Tumber ($20ish on Ebay), Laundry (I could do it for less than $20), Early Boarding (we pretty much just walked on our last cruise), BOGO tournament fee, ($20, but it will cost you $20.) If I'm forgetting anything it is because it just isn't important to me.

We booked cruise number 8 last Saturday. Family vacation - not to reach platinum. Our total days will be 63 after trip, so we'll just be 2 cruises or 12 days away. Since most of our cruises are at least 7 days, We'll reach the 75 anyways by 10 cruises. Still that carrot hangs. Wanting to speed up the process. LOL!

It all depends on your personal preferences. We were two cruises short and did a B2B instead of one longer cruise, to hit Platinum. The VIP embarkation and debarkation plus free laundry make it worthwhile for us. I don't really care about any of the other perks, but I absolutely HATE waiting, doubly so on vacation.

I'm doing it. I am at 6 right now with 4 more booked before the end of 2013.

I love to cruise anyways. So to me it was Just another reason to be on the ocean somewhere.

I think its worth it, but its up to you. I like the perks-of course they could always be better and maybe they will. I'm grandfathering up to diamond and can't wait:D

I wouldn't, especially today with the PLATINUM perks being what they are. But, that's just me. Everybody is different; cruise for a different reason; The early boarding and laundry is nice for me, but certainly not worth taking a cruise I didn't care for just to get it (that's probably not true either:rolleyes:)

We re doing a B2B in June and then 1 at Christmas to become Platinum. We would have done 1 in the summer and 1 at Christmas anyway. We are fortunate enough to have enough points on our Fun Points Master Card in order to get the 2nd week of the B2B free. so the stars aligned for us!

Don't know that we would have been able to spend the extra money otherwise though.

It is a good excuse to cruise more though!

Go for it!...

I'm gonna do it too. I cruise in a couple weeks and then only need two more probably would have taken two more anyway but now I will just make sure its Carnival. Figure that I am 42 YO and will at least have that 'perk' forever. Then I will get back to some other lines...only need 3 more for Celebrity Elite. Maybe I will make a game out of it.

I was tempted to try it, being only 2 cruises, but 45 days short after my 8th next week, but the perks just aren't there. I have never been on a Carnival cruise more than 4 days long and all of the longer ones that I am looking to do would be on another line. Other than the laundry, nothing really entices me to try.

I realize that this question is purely subjective; however I just wanted to gauge the crowd. I need 2 more cruises booked to be grandfathered for Platinum. Opinions. Is it really gonna be worth it?

I say go for it, you get you Platinum Sail & Sign card and have a few cool benefits like the fold & wash etc.

It's great to have those extra perks, but as others have said, Carnival is now selling the best of it for $50.00.

If you were close, I would go for it, only because "select cruises" thus far are being offered the FTTF program.

One park that I don't see posted much is that you can go to the pursers desk and not have to wait 30 deep when it's busy there. Not sure if they are going to offer that to the FTTF program participants, but I would suspect they will.

I do appreciate the signature gifts they offer too, but I'm one of those people who get a kick out of that kind of stuff.

Happy cruising to you!!

I was planning to take two more this year anyway when my PVP told me I only need 3 more to be grandfathered in so I changed one of the two already planeed to a B2B.

I'm not currently platinum, so I have yet to experience the perks, but as others have said, it's a personal opinion sort of thing. Would I like to be platinum? Sure I would--even though the perks aren't as good as on other lines from what I hear. By the end of this year, I'll have 8 cruises. If I lived in Florida, I'm sure I'd already be platinum as I would probably go on some short weekend get away cruises. But as it sits now, I wouldn't do a cruise that I would be less than thrilled with just to get platinum perks. But I think I'm in a different place than you are (mental thinking wise, not geographically). Right now, there are only three more Caribbean cruises that Carnival does that interest me. One of those is the one I booked for next February. My point is, once I reach platinum, I don't know how many more cruises I'll book on Carnival unless they diversify their ports.

I would say it depends where you live. If you can get to a cruise port relatively inexpensive, then go for it. If it is going to be expensive for you to get to the cruise port no.