Is Carnival Backtracking on their Rewards Program Update

 Carnival is now stating that the reason they released it now is so that they can get feedback before it goes live in June of 2026.  No one believes that.  If it were true, they would have said something to that with the announcement.  Or better yet, put it out not as coming soon but as a poll asking for feedback.  If Carnival would have just asked for input before, they would have realized MANY of their mistakes before they became the "hold my beer" to Southwest now charging for bags.

Will they backtrack.  I think yes and no.  They will make tweaks, but this made to far up the food chain in the corporation for them to admit full defeat.  Look for something "honoring loyalty" as an olive branch, but I do not see them doing much more than that unless they realize the Carnival customer base is not that of the Cunard line or even Princess.  

The definition of "discretionary spending" is the non essential wants for a household, not the needs.  Estimates from Chat GPT is that the average household income of a Carnival cruiser is about $100,000.  This is only about $20k above the median US household income.  So unless they are trying no longer be the "Fun Ships" with the cost conscious in mind, the current numbers as of their press release email on the new Rewards program is ludicrous unless they want to decrease Platinum and Diamond by 95%. (personal estimate).   Everyone is breaking down the Platinum numbers. I am no exception, doing it on a few of my recent posts here.  16k (for 2 adults assuming kids will not be part of the new program) per year is 20% of the Gross median income, and 16% of the Average Carnival cruiser (assuming Chat GPT is right or even close).    Thats gross, not net, so take home is going to be lower then that by at least the 16k.   Carnival is a want, not a need, and there are to many "want" fillers out there to replace Carnival in vacation options (land and sea) for them to think their current numbers are not going to alienate those that make more than the average.

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