I earned a ‚free‘ cruise in a ship casino — here’s what it cost, plus tips for getting comped

This can be a story about playing, despite the fact that I’m not a lot of a gambler. Earlier than beginning analysis for this story, I don’t recall ever enjoying something in a cruise ship on line casino. Nonetheless, it is a story about how I performed the slots in Royal Caribbean’s On line casino Royale to earn a “free” cruise. Your outcomes could differ from mine. Please gamble responsibly.

I’ve all the time been intrigued by the idea of complimentary on line casino cruises. Have been they legendary, or completely for top rollers? May I begin from nothing, take one cruise, follow a strict playing funds and parlay that right into a free crusing? The concept was thrilling — addictive even — and as soon as it took maintain, I couldn’t let go.

Despite the fact that I don’t gamble a lot, I do come from an extended line of slot machine gamers. So I channeled the luck of my grandmother and dived into researching Royal Caribbean’s Membership Royale on line casino program, with the goal of beating the system and netting a comped cruise. Here is the way it went down, what I discovered and the way a lot it value me — plus tips about the way you, too, can get “free” cruises from onboard on line casino play.

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The best way to get on line casino comps on Royal Caribbean

A on line casino comp is a free merchandise or perk given out by a on line casino to entice you to play extra. To earn on line casino comps on a Royal Caribbean cruise, it’s essential to first spend money and time playing within the onboard on line casino, On line casino Royale, being cautious to make use of your Sea Cross cruise card to trace your play. That will get you „rated“ as a participant within the line’s Membership Royale on line casino loyalty program, which in flip will get you perks and comps primarily based on a factors system. (Observe: These tiers are usually not associated in any approach to Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor loyalty program for frequent cruisers.)

You earn totally different quantities of factors per greenback performed relying on the sport you select. Slots earn factors at a fee of 1 per $5 performed, together with re-played winnings; video poker machines earn $1 per $10 performed; and desk video games earn factors primarily based in your common wager and time spent on the desk (which is considerably subjective). The variety of factors you earn in a 12-month interval from April 1 by March 31 determines your tier stage for the subsequent 12 months.

Every tier stage comes with perks and reductions; when you make it to the second tier, Prime, and past, you additionally get a comped cruise on the finish of the present program 12 months. Prime members, for instance, earn a comped inside cabin and likewise get free drinks on the on line casino bar on each cruise as quickly as the extent is reached.

Observe {that a} complimentary Royal Caribbean cruise consists of cruise fare for 2, however you continue to have to pay the extra taxes and port charges. You may improve comped cruises to greater class staterooms by paying an improve payment primarily based on the worth distinction between your awarded class and your most popular class on the crusing you’re reserving.

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Along with the rewards earned by the tier system, anybody, no matter their tier standing, can earn instantaneous reward certificates whereas on board a cruise. These are awarded primarily based on the variety of factors earned completely in your present cruise. The chart detailing the variety of factors required to earn an instantaneous reward adjustments continuously and is just accessible on board on the On line casino Host desk.

Every reward has two components. The primary half is the moment reward certificates, typically a reduction on a cruise or a comped cruise, which you’ll redeem when reserving a crusing from a brief record of choose cruises inside a sure timeframe. The second is a bonus reward that you simply solely get should you guide a cruise (or not less than pay a placeholder deposit) by the Subsequent Cruise future cruise-booking program whereas on board your present crusing.

For instance, should you hit the 800-point stage on a single cruise, you get an instantaneous reward certificates good for $250 off choose cruises, and an onboard reserving bonus of a complimentary inside cabin on choose dates. (Observe that should you guide the free cruise, you don’t additionally get the low cost.) At greater level ranges, the certificates earned could also be for a comped cruise and the onboard-booking bonus is without spending a dime play (cash in your account that’s solely legitimate for on line casino play). On this case, should you booked the cruise on board, you’d get each perks.

For those who stroll off the ship with out reserving a cruise or placing down a deposit for a TBD future cruise, you lose out on the bonus supply, although you possibly can nonetheless redeem the moment reward certificates inside the allotted time. On the spot reward certificates get notably difficult should you attain a excessive level stage on the final night time of the cruise.

The third alternative for Membership Royale members to earn rewards is essentially the most mysterious. That is when the cruise line selects recipients primarily based on demographic standards resembling age, place of residency, variety of occasions cruised per 12 months, common wager, common time spent within the on line casino and even marital standing and sends them focused affords, which may vary from $100 off a cruise to complimentary junior suites. These marketing-based affords are normally restricted to particular sailings, typically with close-in dates, for a spread of cruise lengths and cabin classes. Members report receiving them by snail mail, e mail or strictly through the Membership Royale member web site.

The extra factors you earn on a single cruise, the higher your advertising affords are prone to be. Gamers who get advertising affords for junior suites are sometimes operating fairly a bit of cash by the on line casino or did that not less than as soon as; a cruiser who gambles $20 on a cruise in all probability will not get advertising affords in any respect. There’s additionally no assure that when you begin receiving these affords they’ll proceed; they’ll cease as mysteriously as they begin.

My journey to a free cruise primarily entails this final kind of comp, however as you’ll see, a greater understanding of the opposite forms of bonuses may have helped us save much more.

How I earned a ‘free’ on line casino cruise

If I needed to attain a comped on line casino cruise, I first wanted to go on a cruise and play within the on line casino. My major objective was to not spend an excessive amount of (as a result of that may take away from the worth of the comped crusing), so I discovered a five-night crusing on Quantum of the Seas in early Might when Alaska costs have been low. My husband and I used Southwest Airline factors for flights to Seattle to assist preserve our preliminary prices down.

Every night, he performed blackjack and I performed slots. I put aside a funds of $200 for the slots. I arrived at that quantity primarily as a result of dropping far more than that may exceed the worth of a brief cruise in an inside cabin, which is the most typical comped cruise providing. Hubs set his blackjack funds at $500. My common wager per spin was round $1, generally as excessive as $2. I performed on the identical penny machine in the course of the cruise. Hubs performed at $10 blackjack tables, with bets ranging between $10 and $25.

On the finish of the cruise, I nonetheless had my $200 and had earned 291 Membership Royale factors. Hubs had round $300 left and had accrued 139 factors. Observe that I earned factors whereas breaking even by placing my winnings again into the machine; these 291 factors required $1,455 to be run by the machine (at $5 per level). The purpose counter within the machine doesn’t distinguish between your authentic cash and the cash it paid out to you alongside the way in which.

At that time we had loved a beautiful Alaska cruise at a cut price value and had enjoyable enjoying within the on line casino with out dropping an excessive amount of cash, so it was a win no matter what occurred subsequent.

It took a full week following the cruise for our factors to point out up on the Membership Royale Affords web site. Two weeks after the cruise, the primary advertising supply of $100 off a cruise confirmed up. I’ve now acquired a complete of 20 of these $100-off affords. (Hubs acquired zero affords.)

On July 12, two months after the top of our Might cruise, I acquired a advertising supply of a complimentary inside cabin for 2. The cruises provided have been all for the approaching fall and have been three to 5 nights lengthy. Two weeks later I acquired one other supply of a complimentary interior stateroom for 2, additionally with fall dates. That record was for cruises of six to eight nights lengthy. Up to now, these are the one comp cruise affords I’ve acquired.

How I turned a comp into an affordable trip

The reserving window is slender on these affords. Fb on line casino associates had warned that rooms allotted for on line casino comps can disappear rapidly, so I began my seek for a cruise as quickly as the primary supply arrived. Once more, my objective was to maintain the cruise as „free“ as attainable.

My technique was to log into the Royal Caribbean web site, seek for the precise cruises proven within the providing, then research pricing by strolling many of the manner by the reserving course of to see the actual particulars, not that first-screen stuff, which frequently adjustments as you slender down the alternatives. I used to be checking on two issues: What are the taxes and port charges (which range primarily based on the itinerary and variety of passengers, not the stateroom class) and what’s the value difference between an interior cabin and an ocean view ought to I need to improve?

I began with departure ports we may both drive to or these I felt would contain an affordable flight. The primary few sailings I checked out had giant gaps between inside and outdoors cabin fares. I hit the jackpot, although, with a four-night crusing of Grandeur of the Seas out of Galveston. We dwell 4 hours from the port and the improve hole was solely $33 per particular person for the cruise.

I known as the On line casino Royale reservations line. After a maintain time of solely two minutes, I had an agent on the road serving to me guide my comp cruise. She quoted me $86.42 per particular person in „taxes, charges and port bills,“ $33 per particular person for a „on line casino improve“ and $58 per particular person for pay as you go gratuities. The quantity charged to my bank card was $354.84. The entire prices for an out of doors cabin with out the on line casino comp supply, plus taxes and gratuities, would have been $1,036.84, a financial savings of $682.

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Added bills we incurred included $104 in gasoline for driving to and from the port. I used 15,000 Wyndham Rewards factors for an ocean-view room on the Baymont in Galveston for an in a single day keep earlier than the cruise. Port parking was $70 at a non-public lot. We additionally took an tour priced at $79 per particular person. To assist pay for that, I exchanged 5,000 My Cruise Rewards factors from my Financial institution of America Royal Caribbean bank card for $50 in onboard credit score.

I’m a Diamond Crown and Anchor member with Royal Caribbean, which comes with 4 free drinks per day, so I didn’t spend further on alcohol. Diamond C&A members additionally obtain one free 24-hour interval of Wi-Fi per particular person. We may have used that profit for every of the 2 sea days and reverted to cell service in port in Mexico, which is free on my wi-fi plan, however Royal Caribbean was conscious I used to be on board and equipped complimentary Wi-Fi in the course of the cruise, one thing it generally does for media members.

On the finish of the day, our complete value for 2 folks for a four-night cruise was $636.84, or lower than $80 per particular person, per day. That’s what I name an reasonably priced trip.

Our expensive on line casino mistake

We boarded our comped cruise hoping to come back out of it with extra factors and higher affords for each me and my husband. That meant we needed to tweak our technique from the primary cruise. I elevated my funds to $400; hubs budgeted $400 as effectively. We additionally determined he ought to play some slots on this cruise, because the consensus amongst Membership Royale members on social media is that slot gamers earn factors far sooner (which had additionally been our expertise on the Might cruise).

I earned 318 factors and got here house with the $400 I budgeted, breaking even once more. Like earlier than, I caught to penny machines, and wager a median of round $1 per spin. Hubs additionally broke even, bringing house his authentic $400. He earned 136 factors on slot machines. His slot machine play was all the time $1 bets or barely over and his blackjack bets have been once more between $10 and $25 per hand.

Right here is the place we made a expensive mistake. While you’re enjoying on slot machines, the display will inform you what number of factors you’ve gotten earned enjoying on machines throughout that cruise. However should you’re enjoying desk video games, the one approach to learn how many factors you’ve gotten earned is to ask the on line casino host. Even the host could not have the ability to offer you a precise complete, as a result of there’s a lag as pit bosses should enter info manually into the system.

We checked on hubs’ level complete from the tables mid-cruise; he had 56. We had no cause at the moment to consider he would earn sufficient factors to earn an instantaneous rewards certificates, so we put it out of our minds.

The morning after we arrived house, I logged into every of our accounts to see if level totals had been up to date. Whereas there was no change in factors but, hubs had a proposal listed as “2022 October On the spot Rewards” for $250 off a cruise. I checked the blurry picture I had snapped of the rewards chart on the desk of the on line casino host and was excited to see that $250 off was the reward for incomes between 800 and 1,200 complete factors on a single cruise. I used to be crushed although, to see that the Subsequent Cruise onboard bonus would have been a complimentary inside cabin.

As I discussed earlier, the comp cruise bonus is just activated if a cruise is booked or a deposit paid whereas nonetheless on board the ship. Since we didn’t do this, the certificates now was solely legitimate for $250 off a choose record of cruises.

Once I regarded on the itineraries included in his supply, I used to be shocked to see that some wonderful comp alternatives would have been accessible, together with seven nights on Wonder of the Seas from Rome in November. The cruises have been between 5 and eight nights, largely departing in the course of the subsequent two and a half months, however with September 2023 sailings thrown in as effectively. A name to the Membership Royale reservation line acquired sympathy, however nothing else.

The arduous lesson we discovered is to by no means anticipate the on line casino to let you realize you earned an instantaneous reward certificates. We must always have checked with the host on the finish of our closing night of enjoying to ask if there was a reward certificates ready for us. By not being proactive, we missed out on an epic comped cruise on a brand new ship in Europe.

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Professional suggestions for maximizing on line casino play

Between my on-line and in-person analysis into on line casino comps, I gathered some helpful intel and suggestions that may enable you take advantage of your onboard on line casino play and associated bonuses.

• Two folks in a single family who obtain affords with the identical figuring out code quantity (proven on-line and in emails) can mix their affords for a single upgraded room with out an added payment. For instance, two matching inside comps will be exchanged for one balcony cabin.
• As soon as booked, you possibly can’t swap a on line casino comp cruise to a unique date except your supply hasn’t expired. You may solely cancel and have your taxes and charges refunded. As soon as a proposal expires, it’s gone for good.
• On line casino factors may also be exchanged without spending a dime play. The gamers’ display on any slot machine will inform you the quantity of free play you’ve gotten accessible to switch to the machine to play (it’s a fraction of the factors earned). Utilizing the free play reduces your complete quantity of factors proven on the display however doesn’t have an effect on factors earned towards reward certificates or annual tier rewards. Most gamers wait till the ultimate day of the cruise to money them out.
• In case your objective is to maintain your comp cruise low-cost and probably improve your class, store for older, smaller ships. That normally helps preserve the taxes and charges a smidge decrease.
• For essentially the most snug lower-category cabins, go for newer, bigger ships. Freedom-class ships have amazingly spacious fundamental inside cabins. Or contemplate a Central Park Inside on an Oasis-class ship, which has a window and is a bit bigger than even an ordinary balcony cabin.
• For those who earn an onboard instantaneous reward certificates that has a bonus, however the Subsequent Cruise desk is already closed, or an appointment shouldn’t be accessible, the Royal Caribbean app has the choice to pay a $200 Subsequent Cruise deposit, which might have secured the bonus comp cruise for seven days. The deposit goes towards the taxes and charges owed and any improve you may want. To finish the reserving, you name the on line casino reservation line.
• It’s prudent to introduce your self to the on line casino host early within the cruise. Membership Royale members report unofficial comps of free play, specialty dinners and onboard credit score posted to their accounts by the hosts.
• Even comped cruises will earn nights towards standing in Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor loyalty program. On line casino Royale gamers on social media report utilizing casino-comped cruises to spice up their Crown and Anchor standing stage, which results in perks and freebies like my 4 free drinks per day.

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Backside line

How does all of this info work for the typical cruiser? Like every loyalty program, getting the total good thing about Royal Caribbean’s (or another cruise line’s) on line casino rewards program poses a number of challenges. Those that reap essentially the most profit are these with versatile journey schedules and those that dwell driving distance from a cruise port. Cruisers who additionally take part within the factors, miles or loyalty packages of airways, lodges, cruise traces and bank cards profit by saving on extra vacation-related bills.

Utilizing comped cruises is harder for households, however there are alternatives to mix Royal Caribbean’s Youngsters Sail Free gross sales with a comp supply. Cruisers on social media report upgrading to suites giant sufficient for a number of relations, and each penny saved by beginning with a comp means extra accessible to spend on the holiday.

What it actually comes right down to is whether or not you get pleasure from playing within the ship’s on line casino. If that’s your factor, then completely, you need to be checking your level totals, schmoozing with the on line casino host and looking ahead to affords in your inbox and on-line. If placing cash in a machine hoping for a great end result appears neither enjoyable nor accountable to you, then purchasing cruise gross sales might be a greater path to a less expensive trip.

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