People on cruise ships often talk about what they paid for their trips because prices can vary a lot based on how and when they book.
Some people pay less, some pay more, but there's always someone -- usually a lot of people -- surprised when I chime in.
"I didn't pay anything, I'm a casino comp."
Now, gamblers understand what that means. But people who generally avoid the casino or simply dabble in gambling rarely know that as a gambler, sometimes even a relatively modest one, you can get free cruises a few different ways.
Royal Caribbean Group (RCL), Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), MSC, and Virgin Voyages all have casino programs where it's possible to earn a complementary cruise.
The rules vary (and some are never explained) but there are clear ways to guarantee you'll get a free Royal Caribbean cruise, and sometimes more than one.
Image source: Daniel Kline/TheStreet
Royal Caribbean Offers Free Cruises
Royal Caribbean and every other cruise line track your play while you are on board.
That's enabled when you insert (or, on newer ships, tap) your SeaPass card/room key on the machine you are playing or hand it to the dealer at a table game.
The cruise line uses your card to measure how much money you put through a slot or video-poker machine. At table games, it's a less exact science, but unless you are a high roller, earning free cruises generally requires that you play slot machines.
For every $5 you cycle through a slot machine, you earn a point. On video-poker machines, it's $10 per point. Notice that I said "cycle through," not win or lose. It's about how much money you play through the machines, not whether you spend a lot or somehow come home a winner.
Earning points does multiple things. First, points can be redeemed for free play, which you should do at the end of your cruise.
Second, Royal Caribbean has two definitive ways that your points translate into free cruises. One is based on your total annual points and the other on the sailing you are on.
- Earn Prime: If you compile 2,500 points in a single year (a period that for some reason runs from March 1 to April 30 of the following year), you earn Prime status in the Royal Caribbean casino-loyalty program from the moment you earn it through the next full year. That comes with two key benefits:
- Free drinks in the casino when the casino is open. (This kicks in immediately if you ask the casino host for a sticker for your SeaPass card).
- A free annual cruise benefit, which is awarded (roughly) in April. This gives you an interior room on any sailing 8 nights or less on any ship more than a year old with some holidays blacked out on some ships.
- Free cruise certificates: This benefit can be a little trickier as the number of points needed to earn a free trip can vary from ship to ship or even sailing to sailing. Each ship will have a flier posted at the casino host desk showing how many points you need to earn a free cruise. Sometimes as few as 800 get you access to a limited list of sailings while 2,500 is generally the highest total on a single sailing ever needed to get access to a much deeper list.
- What gets offered at every points level can vary a lot. On some ships 2,500 points in a single sailing get you access to the larger free list in an interior cabin while on other sailings that total may get you a balcony or even a junior suite.
- Offers with so-called free play, essentially bonus cash you can use in the casino, generally require making a blank reservation at the Next Cruise desk and then, within seven days of your return, booking a specific sailing .
Free-cruise certificates must generally be redeemed within 30 days. You may get a paper certificate delivered to your room or the casino host can print you one.
If you keep earning points and go up a level, the revised offer will appear on the Casino Royale website a few days after your cruise.
Royal Caribbean Has Another Way to Get Free Cruises
In addition to earning free cruises, passengers may also get sent free-cruise offers from the cruise line. These will appear on your Casino Royale page and you will sometimes get an email or even snail mail alerting you to the offer.
The challenge here is that Royal Caribbean does not share the methodology it uses to grant these free cruises.
I'm a pretty steady gambler who pretty much always hits 2,500 points or more per trip. I live in Florida, so it's easy to get to multiple ports with little notice, During some periods I get tons of offers -- my account now has at least six -- and others where I get none.
I have seen people gamble very little and get free offers, and I've seen regular somewhat heavy gamblers get none. It's a less-than-transparent system, but it does make it important that anyone gambling at all on their sailing use their SeaPass card to record their play.
There are some tips and tricks that anyone who either earns or receives a free offer should be aware of:
- Book as soon as you can: Ships have only so many rooms allotted for free offers.
- Register with a free trip service: I use URComped, and I forward them any emails I get from cruise lines or land-based casinos offering me free trips or room nights. They can use that knowledge to get me free trips on cruise lines besides Royal Caribbean (that's how I have sailed Virgin, MSC, and even Royal Caribbean-owned Celebrity (which has a separate casino program).
- If you want a free trip, ask: Once you get free trips on one cruise line for gambling-related reasons, other lines may want your business. Carnival, for example, has a form where you can ask for a casino comp match.
- Remember that free is not free: On a free trip you still have to pay taxes and port fees, usually around $150 per person on a seven-night trip. And you should make sure that you're not losing more than the trip would have cost in the first place (at least without being aware that's happening).
- Tip generously: Yes, you can drink free in the casino, but that also means the bartender is not getting the automatic 18% gratuity. Tip early and often.
