Disney and Carnival’s New Updates

There’s been a couple of updates in the cruise world this past week.

Disney Cruise Line

First off, Disney Cruise Line (DCL) has reduced their deposit requirement from 20% of the voyage fare to 10% for new bookings, starting June 18th. This allows for a little more wiggle room to plan that next family vacation (or, if you’re like me, just a vacation with other adults who love Disney and cruising).

This also means there’s a slight change in their cancellation policy. If the reservation was made on or after June 18, 2025, and cancelled during the deposit cancellation fee period, the cancellation fee will be 10% of the voyage. If you booked before June 18, 2025, the cancellation fee will be 20% of the voyage.

If you’ve previously booked with DCL and are outside the cancellation fee period, you can take advantage of the new 10% policy by cancelling and rebooking your reservation. Keep in mind any perks that you may have had from your original reservation might not carry over to the new one.

10% deposits on Disney Cruises!

See it Disney Cruise Line’s website.

Onboard Placeholders are affected as well. If you’ve booked a placeholder reservation with DCL, the required deposit will change to only 5% of the voyage if the sailing you choose is 7 nights or longer. They also advised there will no longer be a three-day hold to convert Onboard Placeholder offers. The deposit will be due at the time you convert the placeholder into a reservation.

That’s Disney Cruise Line’s update. Now onto what got a few people in the cruise world a little…surprised to say the least.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival recently announced that they will be changing their loyalty program to Carnival Rewards. This change will be implemented in June 2026, so you have a year to wrap your head around it.

Carnival’s current program as of June 2025 allows you to build up your status over time; the more cruises you take, the more status you build since you get your points based on how many days you sail. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since your last Carnival cruise.

However, in June 2026, this is changing a bit.

The new program will be points (or star)-based. You earn stars when you book items through the cruise line like cruises, excursions, drink packages, specialty dining, spa packages, etc., and even for onboard activities like playing in the casino. If you have a Carnival credit card, you can earn stars on that as well – once June 2026 comes, of course.

Status Benefits

You earn 3 stars for every $1 spent on eligible Carnival purchases. This means you’d need to spend the following during the two years from when the program starts (and every two years after) to maintain a certain status:

$0= Sign up = Red (no more Blue status)

Onboard Perks include:

• One complimentary 1.5L bottle of water

$3,333.33 =10,000 stars = Gold

Onboard Perks include:

• One complimentary 1.5L bottle of water
• One complimentary beverage on cruises 5 days or longer

$16,666.67 = 50,000 stars = Platinum

Onboard Perks include:

• One complimentary 1.5L bottle of water
• Two complimentary beverages on cruises 5 days or longer
• Priority Main Dining and Specialty Dining reservations
• Complimentary laundry (1 to 4 bags based on cruise length)
• Priority access

$33,333.33 = 100,000 stars = Diamond

Onboard Perks include:

• One complimentary 1.5L bottle of water
• Two complimentary beverages on cruises 5 days or longer
• Priority Main Dining and Specialty Dining reservations
• Complimentary laundry (2 to 5 bags based on cruise length)
• Priority access
• Special event with the Captain
• Retail concierge services

Please visit Carnival’s reward site for more information on each tier. The perks seem to be the same when comparing the current and new program.

Using the New Program

Loyal Carnival cruisers will just have to be strategic about how they redeem their points to avoid losing their status.

Whatever your status is with Carnival on May 31, 2026, is what you’ll start out with on the new program. Your status will remain for two years and after that, however many stars you’ve accumulated/kept will determine your status moving forward.

This is what’s getting a lot of avid Carnival cruisers a little upset. From what I’ve seen in cruise groups, they think this is taking away their current status but after looking through the program again, that’s not quite the case.

Once you’ve earned your stars, you can redeem them on different items – like a drink, excursion, or even a cruise – however, once you redeem them, you may lose the status you gained. Example: If you have 60,000 stars – meaning you’re in Platinum status – if you used 50,000 stars to redeem something(s), your status will drop to Gold.

Loyal Carnival cruisers will just have to be strategic about how they redeem their points to avoid losing their status. You can test out how many potential points you could earn within the two years with Carnival’s status qualifier.

If you’re not sure if you’ll be able to maintain your current status after the two years, you can always status match with other cruise lines like Virgin Voyages and MSC before it changes.

What are your thoughts on these updates? Are you happy about the 10% deposit decrease for Disney? Do you think Carnival made the right move changing their loyalty program? Let me know in the comments!

If you’re interested in more cruise posts, check them out here.