Club Royale - casino comped cruise offers, quick guide

[Traveler]

During the last few months there were many questions and new post around the casino “free cruises” system , how it is working and how to use it.

Here is the information I gathered and the way I understand it , feel free to add to it /correct me.

Club Royale which is the name of the Royal Caribbean casino loyalty plan offers three  different kind of free cruise offers/certificates:

Annual cruise – Any one that is qualify to one of the three tree upper loyalty  tiers are entitled for Annual cruise:
Prime (2500 to 24999 points) – Inside cabin.
Signature -(25000 – 99999 points) – Balcony.
Master – (100000+ points) – Grand suite.

The Annual cruise can be booked from mid-April to end of March on the next casino year you got qualified for the tier. For example, if you got to be Prefer at December 2022 you will be entitle for the free cruise from April 2023 to March 2024.
The current offer is good for any 7 nights (or less) cruise with some blackout dates (like holidays) and not available on the newest ships (like Icon).

Instance certificate- During a  cruise you can get two kind of certificates :
1 – instance certificate for people that cruised in the past and played in the casino , this certificate might be in your cabin at the first day of the current cruise and based on your pervious cruise level of playing in the casino. Many time people are not getting it and there is not any clear rule who gets it and who not.

2 – instance certificate at the end of the cruise which you will get based on your play at the current cruise and the points you accumulate. It can start from low as 1500 points up to 25000 points for a  Grand suite and 2000 free play. The number of points that are required for getting discounts/free cruise can change from cruise to cruise so its better to verify it while you are on the cruise(you will have the information in the Casino host desk).

On the night before the last night of the cruise or during the last day ,your casino host will send your room the certificate. If you continued to gamble during the last day you can ask the host later to re print you a new certificate incase you past some point threshold (for example you got certificate for 4000 points and you now have 5000) .
Free play – The  current on board  certificates also can includes some free play for the cruise you will book with this offer , to be entitle to get it you must book the cruise using next cruise option. To make it simple, if you think you are entitled for a free cruise and a free play you can go to the next cruise location and  book your specific cruise from the offer list  or book a wildcard next cruise (which is good for booking any cruise) and use it later to book the cruise you choose  .Such booking  need to be done no later then 30 days after your cruise (please note it used to be 7 days so  better to check it every time). If you failed to book it in 30 days , you can still use the next cruise open booking  to book a cruise up to one year but you will not get the free play.

To get the list of cruises you can choose from or ask of the host can  print it or (And much better) wait a day or 2 and check for the offer in the club royal offers site - clubroyaleoffers.com enter your last  name and C&A number to check for the offer name number , it will show you all the different itinerary you can choose from.

Mail/club royale ite offers -  From time to time Club Royal can send offers using snail mail , emails or just load it to the club offers site (clubroyaleoffers.com).  
The Logic / algorithm behind the system of who gets the offers is really not clear , mainly I  guess its 10%  based on player activity, 5 % last cruise points accumulation , 5%  reviewing customer current booked cruises and 80% using voodoo .
The number of offers and number of cabins available  is based on current not sells cabins status and inventory , the speculation is that RCL using this kind of offers to fill up empty cabins. In other words , successful  selling efforts = less comped casino offers.

There are few things that might impact receiving offers such as wrong email (the usual excuse), two accounts which are  using the same email (for example if you opened account for a family member and use your email), already heaving many offers booked and not being a  us resident).

 

 

Q&A (as per my understanding the program):

·         What do I need to pay ? – IF it is fully comped cruise you will need to pay only port fees and taxes.

·         Can I add people to the free cabin offer ? – Yes , usually offers are for two (although lately they came up with single person offer) you can add more people to the cabin but it will be most likely with full price.

·         Can I use the offer to use on a cruise which is not in the list ? – Some of the offers/certificate comes with dollar values, with this kind of offers/certificates you can ask to use the dollar value for another cruise (but usually without many discounts so not all the time it will be cheaper than just book a regular cruise).

·         Can I give the certificate to someone else ? – No the certificate is not transferable.

·         Can I upgrade an offer/certificate – Yes you can try to upgrade , most of the time the upgrade will cost  the casino rate differences between the upgraded cabin and the cabin in the offer, sometimes the price might surprise you (for both directions).

·         Can my travel agent book the offer for me – Yes , but take into consideration , as far as I understand that most likely the commission the TA is getting for such booking is much less

·         Do I get C&A points for a casino comp cruise? – Yes, you are getting full C&A points including double points for being in suite.

·         Can I combined offers for a better offer – Yes, sometime , depends who you are asking  but only if the offer is of the same kind (like two annual offers) . Its always good to try.

·         How I am getting the free play ? – During the first day of the cruise when the Casino is open go to the casino cashier and ask to use the free points , they will load it to your account.

·         Are free casino cruise entitle for royal up offers ?  - Yes most of the time you will get the Royal Up offer.

 

 

As always , play for fun not for the offers

[WAAAYTOOO]

I have never received a certificate on day 1...only the one at the end of the cruise.

[Traveler]

28 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have never received a certificate on day 1...only the one at the end of the cruise.

They are not that common ,  I heard of them few times (also the host asked me if I got one) but only got one on our last cruise , its is quite limited offer and anyway , you can not use more then one certificate from the cruise as  I understand it. 

[Skippy67]

I'm guessing you meant to say Prime instead of Prefer as the first category.

Thanks for compiling this, very helpful...now if it can be pinned for anyone with questions about Casino Royale.

[Traveler]

20 minutes ago, Skippy67 said:

I'm guessing you meant to say Prime instead of Prefer as the first category.

Thanks for compiling this, very helpful...now if it can be pinned for anyone with questions about Casino Royale.

Thanks ,I fixed it

 

[WAYNO]

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have never received a certificate on day 1...only the one at the end of the cruise.

That's the craziness of their system.  We did receive a certificate on day 1 on a recent cruise.  Throughout the cruise we both received enough points to qualify for a substantial upgrade .  At the end of the cruise, the casino manager refused to issue us a new and upgraded certificate, saying we'd then receive an equivalent upgraded certificate on day 1 of the following cruise.  That didn't happen.  We received a certificate on the last night of the next cruise, and only for the points accrued during that cruise. 

I'm not really bellyaching.  It's all different ploys to get us back on a ship.  And for them, it works.  I've discovered too, no matter what certificate I use or don't use, a new offer will quickly come in the mail anyway.  I get often, multiple offers per week. Many of these offers are quite lucrative.

 

 

[Ampurp85]

Another tip is to ask the casino host for the cruise list starting at the 1500pts. 1500 is the smallest amount of points needed for a free cruise, those cruises are usually within a shorter time frame. For the 2000pt and up they often have sailings available for a 12m time frame.

I will set an appointment for the last day and then work on the cruise certificate I want. You will get the OBC from NextCruise, the freeplay, and the comped cruise booked. The list starting at 3000pt seems to be the best* as Med,  Asia,  and Alaskan sailings are available and the offerings include balconies.

On another note mailed and online offers are abysmal. I have received one mailer and then mostly $100off while my non-prime friends and family get comped offerings in spades.

*** Of course the higher the points the better the offerings but 3000pt is a comfortable, easy threshold for a 4+ night sailing.

[LCWind]

On Oasis last month, you get a free cruise at 1200 points. 

[Pattycruise]

The 1,500 point list this month was fantastic for me.  Anthem was on there for Nov and December ad well as other months.  The list itself went to March.  The 2,000 point list did not have Anthem.   I’ve been reading of cases where someone like me, who knows there’s an Anthem cruise at 1,500 points and earns over 2,000 points on the cruise and the list doesn’t have Anthem are SOL.  Then there was someone who asked to get a lower point cruise (not on their 2000 point list but to a cruise on the 1500 list) and it was granted but they lost the freeplay associated with 2000 points.  -this was done via the email form to Club Royale. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

8 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

The 1,500 point list this month was fantastic for me.  Anthem was on there for Nov and December ad well as other months.  The list itself went to March.  The 2,000 point list did not have Anthem.   I’ve been reading of cases where someone like me, who knows there’s an Anthem cruise at 1,500 points and earns over 2,000 points on the cruise and the list doesn’t have Anthem are SOL.  Then there was someone who asked to get a lower point cruise (not on their 2000 point list but to a cruise on the 1500 list) and it was granted but they lost the freeplay associated with 2000 points.  -this was done via the email form to Club Royale. 

That's utterly ridiculous.  It makes no sense at all !

[Xaa]

36 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That's utterly ridiculous.  It makes no sense at all !

That very phrase is proclaimed in RCI policy making meetings all the time.  100% of the time it is followed with "Ok, we all agree then, let's move forward"

[BrianB]

[Ampurp85]

@Pattycruise This is why I ask for the list(s) between the totals I want. If there is a particular ship/month/itn I want, I can plan accordingly. It sucks because the Freeplay deal starting at 2000pt makes the comp better.