Royal Caribbean Just Made It WAY Easier to Switch Between Cruise Lines—And Your Loyalty Points Can Finally Go With You

Starting January 30, Royal Caribbean Group is rolling out something cruisers have wanted for years: the ability to earn loyalty points on one cruise line and transfer them to another.

It’s called Points Choice, and it connects the loyalty programs of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea into one flexible system. According to Royal Caribbean Blog, this means you can sail on any of the three brands and decide after your cruise where you want those points to land.

How Points Choice Actually Works

Here’s the breakdown. After each sailing ends, you’ll have 14 days to submit a Points Choice request through the Royal Caribbean app or website. If you want to move your earned points from one loyalty program to another, you submit the form. If you don’t do anything within that window, the points automatically stay with the brand you sailed.

But there’s a catch: you must already be enrolled in the loyalty program you’re transferring to. And the decision is permanent—once you submit that transfer request, there’s no reversing it.

Points convert using brand-specific exchange rates that Royal Caribbean will review and publish annually. For example, a solo traveler earning 14 Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor points could convert those to 42 Celebrity Cruises Captain’s Club points. The exchange rates reflect different point values across the three brands.

What This Means for Your Cruise Planning

This is huge for anyone who’s been stuck choosing between cruise lines because they didn’t want to “waste” loyalty points. Maybe you’ve been loyal to Royal Caribbean but want to try Celebrity’s premium experience, or you’re curious about Silversea’s ultra-luxury sailings but don’t want to start from zero in a new loyalty program.

Points Choice removes that friction. You can explore different brands within the Royal Caribbean Group family while still working toward elite status in your preferred program.

The program also complements the existing status-matching benefit Royal Caribbean Group already offers, which gives you one-for-one tier matching across all three brands. Combined, these two programs create a loyalty ecosystem that actually rewards exploration instead of punishing it.

The Fine Print You Need to Know

A few important limitations to keep in mind:

You can only transfer points once between brands per sailing You need to submit a separate form for each cruise Processing takes up to 30 days after you submit your request Solo traveler bonuses vary by brand (Celebrity gives double points, Royal Caribbean gives one extra point per night, and Silversea offers no solo bonus) The Points Choice program applies to sailings departing on or after January 30, 2026. If you’ve got a cruise booked before that date, you’ll earn points the old-fashioned way—they stay with the brand you sailed.

Why Royal Caribbean Made This Move

For years, cruise lines have kept their loyalty programs walled off, even when they’re owned by the same parent company. Royal Caribbean Group is breaking that mold by treating its three brands as a connected family rather than separate silos.

It’s a smart move. Cruisers who feel locked into one brand because of loyalty points are less likely to try new experiences. By removing that barrier, Royal Caribbean is betting that more flexibility will lead to more bookings across all three brands—and they’re probably right.

If you’ve been on the fence about trying Celebrity or Silversea because you didn’t want to abandon your Crown & Anchor status, you’ve now got a lot less reason to hesitate.

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Source: Royal Caribbean Group announces Points Choice: New loyalty option, start date, and key details – Royal Caribbean Blog