What you'll want to know about getting free cruises in the casino

Not trying to be mean here, but there is a lot of incorrect info this this video. For example. Royal does make it very clear on how much $$ is 1 point(on slots and video poker). Your wins and losses do NOT matter for this. Also if your a UK citizen booking a UK cruise taxes and port fees are included in the free cruise by law.

New topic! RCL airport transfers and arriving one day early to avoid missing the cruise due to flight delays, don’t work together. If you fly internationally for an RCL cruise and arrive a day early AND stay right at the airport, RCL Air2Sea will not allow you to book the needed transfers. The alternative is a private transfer that would likely cost hundreds of dollars more.

I'm obviously missing something. On the Icon inaugural, I spent about $700+ in the casino on slots. Didn't get any offers. I cruise about 4+ times per year, and the amount I spend varies. I met Chris Wong on Icon, I should've asked him!

Just to check - can any points we earn be put towards the Club Royale level and free play/on board spend, or is it one or the other?

Had 6 free cruises in the last 14 months. We have 2 more cruises this year. ALSO, you can combine free cruises to upgrade the room, the wife and I received a Jr Suite for a Norway Fjord cruise this may... we are getting $1000 in free play, the room was $10k and that was free. We also got $100 OBC. Our taxes and port fees were all of about $212! To combine cruises both people have to be offered the same cruise, but not the same room. So 1 balcony and 1 interior gets you a Jr Suite, 2 interiors gets you a Oceanview!

Biggest issue, the casino is still smoking.

Wife and I are both Prime. We combine our offers to upgrade our interior room to either an ocean view or balcony cabin. We only play slot machines and we seek out the low volatility games.

THIS is the video I've been waiting for Matt! Only thing that could've made it better is if you got a shot of the video poker pay tables for me! 🤣🤣 As a Vegas resident...... I gamble, but not outside my means now. An AMAZING hack would be to cash in points through RCI's partnership with MGM via their MyVegas games for a free cruise OR two to gain Prime Status for a fraction of actually booking the needed cruises themselves! I have a lot saved up for this idea, as I stated, I gamble, but I digress. As an avid video poker player, $25k coin in AT THE WORST (this absolutely can not happen as it would mean NEVER winning a single hand, which by law is illegal by the way) is very doable in a single cruise let alone two if you know basic video poker theory while sustaining minimal loses or perhaps even breaking even or being slightly if you hit a few nice payouts. As you stated getting to Signature let alone Masters would require SUBSTANTIAL disposable income, so I feel Prime is the sweet spot for most people like you mentioned. Looking forward to testing my theory someday soon hopefully! 😉

Question for yall: if I book a non-refundable cruise and see before the final payment that the same exact fare is cheaper can I ask that Royal gives me on board credit or refund the difference?

Spent $2000-$3000 on my last cruise, got a offer for 4 dates for Icon. Took the october one. I think what I spent in the casino is cheaper than a ticket on icon alone! Now time to save to stuff. Casino is the best way imo to get a free cruise. If you're going to spend that money on a cruise anyway, why not have fun spending it too?

What does it take!? Spent several hours per night playing craps on my last cruise (Allure)… Plus roulette, blackjack, and slots. Got no offer. RC sends me no emails. I get constant offers from Carnival, Virgin, Celebrity, and others. MGM, Caesars, and others send me weekly Vegas comps.

I don't gamble at all.

The thumbnail is chef's kiss

Great video. I cruised back in December on Symphony. I'm not typically a gambler but my cousin was so we spent a good amount of time in the casino. I had no clue about the point system and we just there to have a good time. Low and behold, we both had a free cruise certificate presented to us on the last day. Since then, I've gotten multiple offers and have so many options I can't take them all because I don't have enough PTO to take them. Currently have 4 FREE cruises booked this year, all balconies and I only had to pay the taxes and fees. Best of all, I actually left the last one up $300 so WIN/WIN for me.

Last cruise me and boyfriend tried out the casino. I spent in total about 800, got an instant certificate, and I frequently get buy 1 get 1 offers. My boyfriend spent about 4000 and made prime and he is now always getting good balcony offers for him and a guest. He played mostly table games and probably would’ve earned the same amount of points for much less if he only played slots

Well now I understand why the sailing facebook groups get bombarded with group slot pull invites. The organizers get a free cruise, free drinks, and many other perks regardless of any winnings at the machines. They grow their tier status abundantly with little to no effort on their part. Such a cringy scam.

2500 points at $5 per point is $12500 dollars gambled. Not pocket change lol

My husband and I are Prime status in Casino Royale and have been for years. We like to gamble and go on 3 to 4 cruises a year. We haven't paid full price on a cruise I ages. For example - we went on Harmony or the Seas last year, in Jan and paid a total (includes taxes & port fees) $395 for a Central Park balcony cabin. I. Sept again on Harmony in the same type cabin a total of $525. That included my grand daughter's fare. They even extended the offer/discount to my son, daughter -in-law and grandson. Paid total $1275 in the same cabin category. That was for 7 days rach. Just went this January on Symphony of the Seas for 6 days and paid a total $275 in a Central Park balcony cabin. Now we are booked on Allure of the Seas in Sept we elected to upgrade to a Jr. Suite and are paying a total of $920 and getting 2 day passes to the thrill water park on Coco Cay. It definitely works. We gamble within our means and assume we will not win. But I have on a couple occasions. Nothing life changing, just nice win money.

I get about 1 free cruise offer weekly in the mail. I wish I could go on more. But I still work full time.

I now have a sign that I put on our cabin door that says - I have no cruise control, they just keep booking themselves. LOL.

Royal Loyals. Keep cruising 🛳️❤️🍹

I have never come close to prime. That being said, right after cruises started back up in 2021, I got a couple emails that I could pick a free cruise from a list of dates. Figured it was spam and didn’t respond. Then I got a postcard with the same offer. I called and got my free cruise. Ended up getting these offers monthly for about a year. We ended up going on 3 free cruises. Wish I could have used more of the offers, but having to fly to Florida from Illinois, get a hotel room and all the other things you have to pay to travel. Working full time and trying to juggle the free ones along with our cruises we had booked took some planning, but it was great! I figured they were trying to entice people to cruise with all the Covid restrictions. I’m sure they figured we’d spend money on the ship and in the casino….we did!

So it's basically a Vegas comp rewards program at sea.

Hi Matt, since my first cruise in 2019, i reached prime level in casino royale. I have taken 3 free balcony room cruises since, and have reserved Utopia balcony room for September. For people who love slots, its a win win . You just have to budget whatever the price of the cruise would have been to play. Ive been lucky enough to win back money in each cruise so far.

I enjoy gambling, and save my fun for Cruise Ships. I am by no means a big-time gambler, but I have not paid for a Cruise in two years.

I have taken 3 free cruises from the Casino Royals program, get free drinks in the casino and have 5 free drinks compliments of my crown and anchor tier. No drink package for me!

You earn less on table games because they have better odds for the player than slots.

I'm trying to figure out the math, as people say they only spent $300 -800 and got free cruises. But according to my math, $5 for every point and 2500 points to get a free cruise, it would cost $12,500. What am I missing? 😵‍💫

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Unless I’m missing something, on Royal, you have to get your request for a win/loss statement notarized. What a pain that is. Other cruise lines just ask for an email.

Question, do the free cruises contribute to your Crown and Anchor points?

Hey Matt you said in the video about using the points for free play or on board credit how does this work because I am on board the rhapsody of the seas and they are telling me here they have never heard about this. Would appreciate if you can like guide me to who I need to speak to about this ! Thanks

It's worth doing the maths first, I put $1300 (room charge) through the slots and got to 600 points but decided to cash out my winnings and pay off my onboard expense account (over 2k after drinks) this meant my final onboard bill was less than $200. The casino loyalty has it's merits but I decided to put the cash back in my pocket.

Could someone explain how you go from choice to prime in one seven night cruise and get offered ocean view or balcony room? If you don't want the free cruise, you can apply $1,000 to any cruise and also get whatever promotions are running at the time? The list for free cruise goes from April 2024 to March 2025, which includes all the newest ships, including Utopia and Icon? I didn't play that much or that long. There's also a promotion. If you bought a book later certificate, you would get $500 free play on that cruise.

A WHOLE new topic I wasn't even aware of!!! Thanks for introducing this "perk" to others like me. If we hit the casino, it's good to know about the (possibility) of earning a comp cruise, thanks to the points earned.

Wait so I'm trying to get my head around this here; you need 2500 points to get to prime status and get a free cruise...$5 on the pokies will give you 1 point so you would need to spend $12,500 to get to that tier?

Hi Matt, last year I made it to the Prime level and the free cruise offers come almost every week in the mail, albeit the same itineraries. I’ve booked three “free” cruises this year, two balconies and one ocean view. Getting to Prime, I broke-even money wise, starting with about $600. The slots both give and take, so I would be up $1700, then down to $100 and back up again. Basically, a lot of time in the casino on three previous cruises, but “cycled” enough money to get to Prime. As you mentioned, it’s not “free”. Port charges, drink & dining packages, excursions, still cost extra.

We go on two or three a year, and I spend a few thousand in the casino. Problem is I really only play craps and that doesn’t get rated well at all. I’m prime but I feel like for as much as I put through I should be signature easily.

This works, no scam I have family that use this and talk about getting thier c&a status up fast.

You said "Points earned for dollars spent is variable". For slots, it is not. $5 spun = 1 point. Now you may win and lose some, resulting in you getting more points. But if you put $20 in and lose every spin you will still get 4 points. The tables are where it is a bit of a guessing game/variable.

How long do I need to sit at the blackjack table to earn a free cruise. Just wondering if it’s worth the divorce. Also any estimate on how points are awarded at a blackjack table.

I see that “exclusive rates for family and friends” is a perk of Prime status. Has anyone used it and what did it save?

How much is the discount for the Internet with the prime tier? And does that discount work for only 1 device or for multiple devices?

slot tournaments do not earn points either. 1500 points for the cruise you are on to get the free cruise from that play is $7500 in slot play. it takes 2500 points to get to prime for the year, that's $12,500 in slot play.

do the casino points expire?

How do you find out what your current points are?

Just one comment. You can get some benefits on the Carnival Casino Club based on your status at Caesars Entertainment and MGM. I have Diamond status with Caesar's and Carnival gave me a free cruise based on that status despite the fact that I have never gambled on their ships. That works out to a $1200 benefit when you consider cruise fare and free play. It has been my experience interviewing cruise gamblers who play on the ship and in land casino is that while the odds are better on land, benefits and comps are a lot better on ships. The key to getting better comps is to introduce yourself to the casino hosts and let them know how much you are planning to play and what you are looking for. Personally, I prefer MANY small inside cabins on older ships comped over having ONE luxury suite.

Thank you for the information, can I use cash in the casino instead of my card?

My friend claims to have won ten cruises on one cruise. How is that possible? My understanding is you can only win one cruise a year. Thank you

Simply lose $12,500 gambling and receive a free $1600 cruise

Any info on RC sailings from the UK 🇬🇧 does the casino loyalty program exist on ships leaving Southampton?

How can you cruise a lot even without the casino comps?