Royal Caribbean Diamond Benefits 2024: Free Drinks & More For Loyal Guests!

Royal Caribbean has updated the benefits that guests receive as part of their Crown & Anchor loyalty program – and the Diamond ranking in particular is now very attractive.

In this guide, I’ll explain what you need to do to get to Diamond status, and what the perks are for reaching this tier for all your future Royal Caribbean cruises.

Diamond Status explained

Diamond is the fourth (of seven) tiers in the Crown & Anchor loyalty programme with Royal Caribbean. You need 80 points to reach this tier – you get one point for every night on-board in a regular stateroom, and two points for nights in a suite.

For most guests who stick to Interior, Oceanview or Balcony Staterooms, this means you’ll need to have cruised with Royal Caribbean for 80 nights before you reach the Diamond tier. If you book one 7-night cruise every year, it means you’ll reach the tier in 12 years.

Suite guests get there a lot faster because they earn double points. If you were lucky enough to book two 7-night cruises a year in a suite, you’d be at Diamond status within three years.

You’re automatically enrolled onto the Crown & Anchor programme when you start cruising with Royal Caribbean, and will accrue your points automatically.

It’s worth noting that you only move up a tier at the end of a cruise – so if you reach 80 points mid-way through a cruise, you’ll remain Emerald until the end of that sailing, and then move to Diamond in your next sailing.

List of Diamond benefits

Here’s a look at all the benefits you get as a Diamond-tier member of the Crown & Anchor Society.

1. Free drinks

One of the best new perks you get with the Crown & Anchor Society is free drinks for Diamond members and above. Diamond-tier guests can enjoy four complimentary drinks per day worth up to $14 each ($13 on cruises from Singapore). Starbucks and the Bionic Bar aren’t included in this offer.

This can add up – if you and your partner both are at Diamond Tier and you enjoy all of the free drinks every day, that could be $112 of free drinks daily between you – and as this video shows, that can really add up over the course of your cruise.

Diamond status also gets you a complimentary non-alcoholic speciality coffee with every speciality restaurant dinner that you book – again, excluding Starbucks.

2. Drinks discounts

As well as the daily free drinks, guests at the Diamond tier can enjoy the following:

• 50% off any glass of wine, beer or soda – two coupons per sailing
• 20% off any glass of wine, beer or soda at all other times
• 50% off a Johnny Rockets milkshake – two coupons per sailing

Of course, if guests choose to book a beverage package instead then they won’t benefit from the discount on wine, beers and soda – the discounts on beverage packages only kick in at the next tier up.

The 50% off coupons are given to all Crown & Anchor members, regardless of their tier. The wider discount is only 10% for guests in lower tiers – Diamond is the only tier where that discount is 20% (higher tiers get a bigger discount).

3. Priority Main Dining Room seating

A simple benefit, but a useful one – Diamond members are able to get priority access to the dining times of their choice for the Main Dining Room.

If you’re booking My Time Dining then this benefit is irrelevant but if you like dining at the same time each evening, being a Diamond member pretty much guarantees you’ll get the time you want.

4. Private departure lounge access

All Crown & Anchor guests (regardless of their tier) can enjoy access to a private departure lounge before sailing, which includes a continental breakfast.

Of course, many guests on a Royal Caribbean cruise will have sailed with the line before and so this lounge isn’t exactly very exclusive. But the option to get a free breakfast on your sailing day shouldn’t be passed up.

5. Free internet access (for 1 day)

Guests on the Diamond tier get one free Surf+Stream Voom internet package for one device, valid for one free day.

If you don’t plan on using the internet all that much, this is handy – you can use it for one day to check emails, upload photos and check in with family, before you switch off again. Or just get the benefit of having one of your paid internet days being free.

6. Exclusive onboard events

There are various events held on a Royal Caribbean cruise for Diamond members.

These include:

• Exclusive Top Tier event (for Platinum members and above)
• Priority waitlist for shore excursions and spa treatments
• Access to the Crown Lounge onboard
• Nightly happy hour

A couple of important points – you might seen the Crown Lounge referred to as the Diamond Lounge, but Royal Caribbean renamed it in late 2023.

Also, because there are more and more people reaching Diamond Plus and Pinnacle status, there’s a chance that Diamond guests may be refused access to the Crown Lounge for happy hour on your cruise – it all depends on the numbers. If there are too many Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members on your sailing, Diamond members lose this privilege.

7. Free bingo and casino credits

If you enjoy games of chance, being a Diamond member does come with a couple of fun perks. You’ll get $6 in freeplay credits for the casino on the ship, and you’ll get 6 free jackpot cards when you buy a bingo package.

8. Laundry & dry-cleaning discounts

Diamond members get discounted laundry services during their cruise. Guests will get $5 off any dry-clean or press service worth $25, and they’ll get a $10 discount on a $34.99 bag of laundry on cruises lasting five nights or more.

9. Stateroom touches

There are a couple of nice stateroom touches for Diamond members on a Royal Caribbean cruise. You’ll get a robe to wear during the cruise (you can’t keep it – sorry!) and two bottles of water in your stateroom as a welcome gift.

If you need to make any phone calls from your stateroom phone, you can do so at the discounted rate of just $2 per minute as well.

10. Photo discounts

Diamond-level members and above get 30% off any single photo (print or digital), photo package or photobook bought from the photographer onboard. This perk was updated in December 2023 – previously, you had to pay for something full price, and then you’d get 50% off your second purchase.

11. Spa discounts

If you want to book a spa treatment for your cruise, you can do so with a 20% discount when you’re a Diamond-tier member on Royal Caribbean.

All Crown & Anchor Society members get a discount, but it’s 10% or 15% on lower tiers – only Diamond-tier and above get 20% off.

12. Royal Caribbean merch discounts

The shops onboard your Royal Caribbean ship sell a wide range of goods, including luxury items and snacks. But they also sell Royal Caribbean branded merchandise.

And if you’re a Diamond member, you get 15% off all purchases of Royal Caribbean logo items when you spend $25 or more.

13. Lapel pin

When you reach Diamond status, you’ll be sent a lapel pin which signifies your status. You can wear this with pride to show off your membership tier to other guests.

You’ll receive the pin onboard, but only on your cruise after you’ve reached the tier. So if you move from Emerald to Diamond mid-way through a sailing, your next cruise as a Diamond member will be where you get your new pin. You’ll have to wear the Emerald one for a little while longer!

14. Crystal block

The Crystal block is a special gift given to passengers when they reach certain milestones. It’s the only perk that isn’t directly tied to a membership tier – you unlock it when you reach 140 points as a Crown & Anchor Society member, which is part-way through the Diamond tier.

You’ll get a new crystal block every time you earn another 70 points after that as well, but by then you will be in a higher membership tier.

The crystal blocks have been recently updated. They used to be monotone:

Now though, you can expect a full colour crystal block.

15. Exclusive cruise rates

Royal Caribbean advertises that there are special rates available for Crown & Anchor Society members. These rates are open to all members down to the Gold tier, so being a Diamond member doesn’t get you special discounts compared to lower tiers. But it is still nice to pay less for your cruise than someone new to Royal.

There are further discounts on Balcony Staterooms and Suites for guests at Platinum and above, so this also includes Diamond members too.

16. Loyalty status matching with Celebrity Cruises

One cool perk – if you aren’t someone who is a diehard Royal Caribbean fan – is the option of enjoying a Celebrity Cruises or Silversea sailing and still enjoying membership perks, only it will be with their respective loyalty schemes.

As a Royal Caribbean Diamond member, you’d be at the Elite tier with Celebrity Cruises, and on Silversea you’d be on the third tier of the Venetian Society.

This means you get to cruise across all three cruise lines and still build points, while also enjoying extra rewards.

Suggested read: Who Owns Celebrity Cruises?

Although a completely separate company, MSC Cruises also offers status matching. Diamond on Royal Caribbean equals Gold on MSC Cruises. Check out the MSC Cruises Status Match Chart for more info.

Youth Member Benefits

All guests who sail with Royal Caribbean become members of the Crown & Anchor Society – including kids. While a lot of the perks above are aimed at adult guests, there are a handful that are designed for younger cruisers too.

1. Half-price ice cream

Kids and teens can enjoy 50% off any ice cream purchase while on their Royal Caribbean cruise.

2. Internet access

Young guests will get the same free day of internet as their parents – or the same discount as their parents get on their own tier. 

3. Buy-one-get-one-free movie rentals

Young guests are able to enjoy two movie rentals in their stateroom for the price of one.

4. Money back on arcade spends

Whenever young guests spend money on arcade credits, they can earn money back to their onboard account. For every $15 in arcade credits purchased, $5 will be added back to the onboard account at the end of the sailing. For every $50 in arcade credits, $25 is added back to the onboard account.

5. Free drinks

Diamond-tier young members get the same number of free daily drinks as their parents – four per day for the Diamond level. Of course, younger passengers can’t get alcoholic drinks, but they can use it towards mocktails or any sodas they want to enjoy.

Suggested read: These 9 Drinks Are Free on Royal Caribbean Cruises

Here’s what you get when you reach the next tier!

Diamond Plus is the next tier above Diamond, and it’s a lot harder to reach. You need 175 points to get to this tier – that’s more than double the amount you need for Diamond status.

If you’re someone who cruises Royal Caribbean for life then you can definitely achieve it, but it will take some dedication.

As a quick guide, here are all the tiers and their points requirements:

Focussing just on Diamond Plus, here are the perks you’ll get if you manage to climb to the level above the Diamond tier:

• 25% discount on drinks
• Five free daily drinks worth up to $14
• Buy-one-get-one-free on speciality dining on nights 1 and 2 of your cruise
• 30% off Deluxe Beverage Packages
• 2 free internet days
• Priority seating at the theatre, ice skating arena and AquaTheater
• One free bag of laundry on cruises of 5 nights or more
• A personalised gift (one per household)
• Complimentary add-on spa treatments

And once you reach 340 points, there are a couple of extra perks too:

• A drinks event with a ship’s officer
• Upgraded bathroom amenities in your stateroom
• Single supplements for cruises reduced from 200% to 150%

Getting to Diamond status isn’t easy, and probably won’t happen if you like to cruise with a lot of different cruise lines.

But if you’re someone who sails with Royal Caribbean exclusively (or with Celebrity Cruises as well) then it’s achievable – and the new perks for the tier do make your cruise a lot more special.

Before you get to Diamond status, you can enjoy the Emerald level perks, which are a little easier to achieve. So let’s take a closer look at those…

Emerald Status is one of the mid-range tiers in Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society. It unlocks a lot of perks for you to use when booking a cruise and when you’re on a Royal Caribbean ship, all of which enhance your experience in different ways – some very minor, but others more noticeable.

How Many Points You Need For Emerald

To qualify for Emerald status on Royal Caribbean, you need 55 cruise points. You get 1 point for every night you spend on a ship in a regular Interior, Ocean View or Balcony stateroom, and 2 points if you book a suite.

This means that, if you were to only book 7-night cruises, you’d need 8 of them to qualify for the Emerald tier if you stayed in a standard stateroom. In a suite, you would be able to get to Emerald in just 28 nights, or 4 cruises.

Of course, many cruises are fewer than 7 nights. It’s all based on nights, rather than number of cruises – so if you were to book cruises lasting a fortnight, you’d reach Emerald status much sooner.

Royal Caribbean Emerald Benefits

Take a look at the full list of perks you get as a Royal Caribbean Emerald member:

1. Drinks Discounts

You’ll be given four drinks coupons to use on every Royal Caribbean cruise as an Emerald-tier member. Two are for any glass of soda, beer or wine onboard, while the other two can be used for milkshakes at Johnny Rockets.

Each coupon gives you 50% off that drink, which is a pretty useful saving, though if you already have a drinks package, then only the milkshake coupons are worth using.

Once you’ve used those coupons, you’ll also get 10% off one more drink purchase for either wine, beer or soda – after that you’ll be paying full price.

Plus, Emerald members get 50% off any coffees they buy on board. This doesn’t apply to Starbucks drinks, which are never discounted as part of the Crown & Anchor Society.

And for one final drink benefit, you’ll get a free coffee drink whenever you book a speciality restaurant dinner. Again, this excludes Starbucks.

2. Private Departure Lounge Access

At most embarkation ports that Royal Caribbean uses, they’re able to provide a private departure lounge for guests of Emerald level. This lets you arrive and then relax with a pastry and a coffee or some fresh juice while you wait to board the ship.

Only, it’s not just for Emerald-tier guests, it’s for all Crown & Anchor Society members, which includes Gold-level – AKA, anyone who has cruised with Royal Caribbean at least once before. So it’s hardly likely to be a quiet, exclusive space.

Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean doesn’t specify which ports this is available in, and it can vary. So you’ll only know if it’s offered to you when you get your boarding details sent to you.

3. WiFi Package Discounts

Anyone who chooses to wait to buy their WiFi package on the ship can get 15% off if they’re an Emerald member of the Crown and Anchor Society – the same discount as you get if you’re a Platinum member.

It’s important to note that you can’t combine this with other offers or discounts, and it’s sometimes sold with a bigger discount in the weeks leading up to your cruise. Keep tabs on the Cruise Planner app, and book it if you get a better deal than 15% off.

Read more: Royal Caribbean Internet Packages: Cost & How to Buy

4. Top Tier Event Invite

Anyone in the Emerald level and cruising for at least 5 nights will get an invite to a special event onboard. 

It’s not quite as exciting as it sounds, really – you’ll get an hour with senior members of the crew (sometimes the Captain, the Hotel Director, or the Cruise Director – and sometimes all three) where they’ll run through the numbers of guests onboard in each tier of the loyalty programme, and thank the highest-ranking members specially.

You do get a welcome glass of Champagne, usually, and there’ll be some music from the band. It’s the kind of event that’s worth doing once but then decide how you feel for future cruises.

5. Casino and Bingo Perks

You get some small gambling perks as an Emerald member. Firstly in the casino, you get $6 of FreePlay credit to use on the slots. Obviously $6 isn’t a lot, depending on how much you wager, and you might spend it all in just a couple of minutes. But who knows – maybe you’ll win big.

You aren’t able to cash it out until you’ve used $6, but any winnings are yours to keep. Good luck!

And when you play bingo, you get extra Jackpot cards whenever you buy a package. Emerald-tier guests get six bonus cards with their package – twice as many as Platinum guests.

6. In-Stateroom Perk – Robes & Water

There are a couple of smaller perks that you get in your stateroom when you’re an Emerald-tier guest. The first of these is bathrobes, that you can use during the cruise. You can’t keep them, though – so don’t take them home with you.

The second perk is two bottles of water per adult waiting in your stateroom for you. Not a huge gift, but it’ll save you a few bucks, and it’s nice to have water to hand at night.

7. Laundry Discounts

Cruising for at least 5 nights? You might want to pack a few less items in your suitcase, since you’ll be given a $5 discount on a bag of wash-and-fold laundry, bringing the cost down to $29.99. It’s up to you – you might just prefer to bring different outfits for each day.

You also get $5 off a $25 dry-clean or press service, which is handy if you want to take part in formal night but your outfit got a little messed up in your bags.

8. Photo Offers

Emerald-level members get 25% off any single photo (print or digital), photo package or photobook bought from the photographer onboard. This perk was updated in December 2023 – previously, you had to pay for something full price, and then you’d get 50% off your second purchase.

9. Discounts on Royal Caribbean Products

Each Royal Caribbean ship has a selection of stores onboard, and while most sell designer goods, there’ll also be some branded Royal Caribbean merch you can buy. Spend $25 or more, and you’ll save 10% as an Emerald-tier member.

10. Spa Discounts

Emerald-tier members of the Crown & Anchor Society get 15% off any spa treatments they book on the ship, except for Medi-Spa services – those are never discounted.

11. Lapel Pin

Hardly a huge perk, but it’s nice to have – once you reach Emerald-tier status, you’ll get a lapel pin to show off your loyalty. It’s delivered to you on your next cruise once you reach the status.

12. Member Newsletter

As soon as you’re a member of the Crown & Anchor Society, you’ll get a newsletter emailed to you regularly, which includes special offers and details on new ships and itineraries. It’s the same newsletter you’d already be receiving for being a Gold or Platinum member.

13. Access to Exclusive Rates

All guests in the Crown & Anchor Society get access to exclusive rates for booking their next cruise. They’re not amazing – they couldn’t be, since they’re open to anyone who has cruised with Royal Caribbean before. The cruise line has to make money, after all!

And you’ll continue to get those discounted rates on Balcony and Suite rooms, just as you did when you reached Platinum level.

14. Loyalty Match

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea are sister brands, owned by the same company. Once you reach Platinum status with Royal Caribbean – and continuing into Emerald status – you can match those statuses on the other cruise lines. With Celebrity Cruises you’d be a Select-tier guest, and on Silversea you’d be on the second tier of the Venetian Society.

This means you get to cruise across all three cruise lines and still build points, while also enjoying extra rewards.

Read more: Celebrity Cruises Captain’s Club: The Ultimate Guide

Youth Member Benefits

I’m quite impressed with how Royal Caribbean treats children who are members of the Crown & Anchor Society. It’s a very fair system.

Basically, all guests get their own membership, including little ones, and once they start cruising they’ll build up their own points.

But if you were cruising with Royal Caribbean before your kids were born, you’d be a higher tier than them – and so Royal will match their status to yours until they’re 18. If you’re Emerald, they’ll get Emerald-level benefits, and if you progress to Diamond then so will they… Until they turn 18.

Once they hit 18, they’ll revert to the tier they’ve earned with the points built up in the background. So they might drop down a tier or two, but it’s fairer than making them cruise with parents who get better perks.

1. Ice Cream Discount

Under-18s in the Crown and Anchor Society get 50% off all ice cream bought at the ice cream parlour. So if they’re bored of the free flavours elsewhere on the ship, they can save a bit of cash on the fancy flavours instead.

2. WiFi Package Discounts

Kids get the same WiFi package discounts as their parents do – so they’ll also save 15% on any VOOM package you buy for them.

3. Buy-One-Get-One-Free Movie Rentals

When kids rent a movie in their stateroom, they get a second movie for half-price if they’re a member of the Crown & Anchor Society – it’s the same perk at all tier levels.

4. Arcade Cashback

Another perk that remains constant for kids is the cashback system for arcades. If they top up $15 of arcade credit, you’ll get $5 back on your cruise account.

If they love the arcades, let them top up $50 at a time, and you’ll get $25 back – essentially rendering the arcade games as half-price.

What Does Royal Caribbean Emerald Choice Mean?

Emerald Choice is an amalgamation of two different loyalty programmes with Royal Caribbean. The ‘Emerald’ component is the regular Crown & Anchor Society tier, which includes perks for all aspects of a cruise. The ‘Choice’ component refers to the Club Royale programme which is specifically for the casino.

Club Royale rewards players who enjoy casino games on Royal Caribbean ships, although to unlock the seriously good perks you need to spend a lot of money gambling. ‘Choice’ is the entry level for that scheme.

What Level is After Emerald on Royal Caribbean?

The next tier up in the Crown & Anchor Society with Royal Caribbean, after Emerald, is Diamond. To reach this, you need to get 80 cruise points, 25 more than the entry requirement for Emerald status.

After Diamond is Diamond Plus, although it takes guests a while to get the 175 points needed to enter that tier. Then, the final tier is Pinnacle Club, which requires a massive 700 points to qualify.

Royal Caribbean Emerald Vs Platinum

The differences between Emerald and Platinum statuses in Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society are minimal – most of the perks are identical. You’ll barely notice the difference when you move up to Emerald tier, though it’s worth sticking with it as things improve considerably if you reach Diamond status.

Here are the Emerald perks that aren’t included in the Platinum tier you’ll just have been promoted from:

That’s it – otherwise, all other perks are exactly the same.

Royal Caribbean Emerald to Diamond

To move from Emerald status to Diamond status with the Crown & Anchor Society, you need to reach 80 cruise points – which means cruising for 80 nights in a standard stateroom, or 40 nights in a suite.

It’s only a difference of 25 points compared to Emerald status though, so you can do it with 25 nights in an Interior, Ocean View or Balcony stateroom, or just 13 nights in a suite.

Moving up to the Diamond tier unlocks a lot of extra perks:

Final Word

Moving from the Platinum tier to the Emerald tier in the Crown and Anchor Society can feel a little deflating, if you didn’t already know about the perks list. They’re barely an improvement to what you were already receiving.

But if you think of it as being a step closer to Diamond, and the great perks that unlocks, it won’t be too disheartening.

And remember, these are all just nice bonuses anyway – you’re still getting a great cruise regardless!

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• 56 Amazing Examples of Royal Caribbean Customer Service