Complimentary Sailings

[Safemike1]

I have been getting mailings from RCL for "free" Casino Royale  1-week Caribbean sailings. Have any of you received these mailings, and can you tell me what fees are involved?

[CrznTxn]

For the casino cruises you have to pay the port fees and taxes. We typically pay less than $450 for each cruise for the two of us and that includes gratuities but we do not take the Royal insurance. Third part insurance is better, covers more and is less expensive. It is a great way to sail.

[Marc]

I don't know whether this will be useful, but I'm offering it as a way to show that if the casino is offering you free cruises, you should consider calling them when you want to book cruises because they may be able to provide additional discounts if you were to upgrade as well.

Below is the pricing for a cruise that I had for Oasis of the Seas, the week after Labor Day.

The offer I'd received from Casino Royale was a comped junior suite. So, the "Casino Offer 67" is basically taking off the cost of a junior suite. However, because I booked through the casino, the incremental cost to upgrade to a grand suite was only $237/person. I don't know where that number came from because it wasn't something I saw on the public-facing website, but for a total price of $800.90 (not including gratuities) to get a week-long cruise in a Sky Suite accommodation on an Oasis-class ship? How could I say no?!

Now, note the bottom line here. This was the second week of a B2B. The first week was in the same cabin, booked on an identical offer. Yes, I got comped a junior suite on Oasis of the Seas for Labor Day week. It's rare, but it happens. That sailing only cost $422.90, and that included $500 in freeplay, which hubby and I handily turned into $540 in cash.

 

I will note, however, that Casino Royale is definitely overestimating any future revenues they will likely get from me. It seems that I somehow finagled their rating math to get a higher standing than I should get. Still, you may not get offers like this. Heck, I don't usually get offers like that. My B2B on Symphony of the Seas (same offer -- comped JS upgraded to GS) are about $4K/week total, still quite a respectable discount for the "Signature" tier, but much more typical.

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, Marc said:

you should consider calling them when you want to book cruises because they may be able to provide additional discounts if you were to upgrade as well.

Thanks, Marc.  I think the above is something that many [new] casino players often overlook.  Even if you are booking a cruise with which there was NO casino offer at all, chances are they can still save you money.  It took me a really long time to figure this one out and they do NOT advertise it at ALL.  IOW, investigate booking through the casino for ALL of your cruises and see if there is a savings.  Betcha there will be, even if it is a small savings.  I think I saved a minimum of 5% on each and every cruise I booked last year (30+ of them !).