by Scott Laird
Last updated: 3:18 PM ET, Wed October 23, 2019
Princess Cruises, in an industry first, announced Wednesday that it will extend eligibility for its Captain's Club loyalty program to every cruiser, regardless of age. Benefits in the program were previously only available to Princess cruisers aged 18 and older.
"We know travel enriches our guests by inspiring them to connect with new people in far off destinations while immersing themselves in new cultures," said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises president. "By extending the benefits of our Captain's Circle Loyalty Program to our youth guests, they will remain more connected than ever to their friends and family and continue to share their joy of cruising with the world."
Princess passengers attain Captain's Circle membership after their first cruise with Princess, and attain different tiers determined by the number of sailings or cruise days they've accumulated with Princess since joining. Higher tiers, which are indicated to onboard staff by the color of the passenger's cruise card or programmed into their OceanMedallion on equipped ships, come with additional benefits both onboard and at the time of booking. Benefits range from reduced deposits to complimentary WiFi allotments, laundry, minibar setups, priority embarkation and disembarkation and exclusive onboard events.
Some benefits such as minibar setups will be restricted to non-alcoholic beverages for members who have not reached the legal drinking age onboard (21 on most Princess sailings; some geographic exceptions apply outside North America), but virtually all other member benefits will be available to youthful cruisers.
Of particular note is the WiFi allotment for Platinum Members (achieved after the 6th Princess cruise or 51 cruise days)-because the allotment is per member, youth members who are frequent Princess cruisers will receive a dedicated block of internet minutes for use onboard that were previously not awarded. Platinum and Elite members receive WiFi allotments based on the length of the cruise-up to 500 minutes on longer sailings.
A Princess Cruises spokesperson confirmed that Princess cruisers under the age of 18 will soon receive their own Captain's Club membership number and account reflecting cruises already taken before the program expansion. Updated keycard colors are currently in the process of being rolled out across the ships in the fleet not already equipped with OceanMedallion.
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