Casino Royale Offer Received After Cruise Booking

[YellowBrickRoad]

I received a casino royale offer for same cruise I’m already booked on…I called and can get a rate that is cheaper than my already booked cruise..I would have to cancel my booking first to get the offer and was wondering if that is tricky since the rates change so much when you call back. I could chance cancelling and then when I call back, it being a rate that is not worth it. Has anyone had experience with this? I have never used a casino comp and of course, I am now receiving many now that I’m booked.  

[Ampurp85]

I have not experienced this, but you could always call and ask what the best option would be. If it was just booked, they might be able to apply the offer and use your deposit to cover the cost. If it is past final payment, you might not be able to do anything. I mean you have to call anyway, unless you are booked with a TA and that is a whole other can of worms because they don't make commission on casino comps. 

[YellowBrickRoad]

6 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I have not experienced this, but you could always call and ask what the best option would be. If it was just booked, they might be able to apply the offer and use your deposit to cover the cost. If it is past final payment, you might not be able to do anything. I mean you have to call anyway, unless you are booked with a TA and that is a whole other can of worms because they don't make commission on casino comps. 

Thank you for the reply. I am not pass the final payment date and I am with a TA. Right now, a Grand Suite is less than my JS with the comp upgrade. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Back in the old days, they would just make the switch for you without much ado, but those days are long gone (sorry, I know that's of no help to you now).

If your TA is not experienced with casino bookings I would be loathe to ask them to do this kind of switcho-chango for you.  Not only is it likely to be a very stressful maneuver, as @Ampurp85 mentioned, you would basically be snatching money right out of the TA's hand for their trouble.

My advice would be to keep the booking you have and use the cert for another cruise.  I know that's not always possible due to work schedules and travel expenses, but that would be the most prudent thing to do.  If that is not an option, I guess there's really no option other than to thrust your TA into that difficult position.  

[YellowBrickRoad]

19 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Back in the old days, they would just make the switch for you without much ado, but those days are long gone (sorry, I know that's of no help to you now).

If your TA is not experienced with casino bookings I would be loathe to ask them to do this kind of switcho-chango for you.  Not only is it likely to be a very stressful maneuver, as @Ampurp85 mentioned, you would basically be snatching money right out of the TA's hand for their trouble.

My advice would be to keep the booking you have and use the cert for another cruise.  I know that's not always possible due to work schedules and travel expenses, but that would be the most prudent thing to do.  If that is not an option, I guess there's really no option other than to thrust your TA into that difficult position.  

Thank You! I didn’t realize I would be getting so many casino comps since I’m only Choice. I was Prime before but that expired. And of course they started coming  and the exact one I wanted right after I booked! 

[CrznTxn]

2 hours ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

Thank You! I didn’t realize I would be getting so many casino comps since I’m only Choice. I was Prime before but that expired. And of course they started coming  and the exact one I wanted right after I booked! 

We sail exclusively on the Casino comp cruises and the offers come and go depending on the time of year and how often we are booking. Currently the wife has 7 offers listed but we have had only one or two at different times of the year. It was a few months since she booked a cruise so I guess they were throwing a bunch at her to try to get her to book another one. Guess it worked as she booked another the first of this week for a B2B in October. Maybe she will take me on this one.

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

Thank You! I didn’t realize I would be getting so many casino comps since I’m only Choice. I was Prime before but that expired. And of course they started coming  and the exact one I wanted right after I booked! 

Cool !!  Good problem to have.

[YellowBrickRoad]

34 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

We sail exclusively on the Casino comp cruises and the offers come and go depending on the time of year and how often we are booking. Currently the wife has 7 offers listed but we have had only one or two at different times of the year. It was a few months since she booked a cruise so I guess they were throwing a bunch at her to try to get her to book another one. Guess it worked as she booked another the first of this week for a B2B in October. Maybe she will take me on this one.

I have 7 offers as well which I never I never had as many offers before. I book about 1 or 2 a year and just became Diamond. Didn’t know if that made any difference. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I have had 1 offer over the past 13 months !

[YellowBrickRoad]

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have had 1 offer over the past 13 months !

Go figure!

[Thom Cruise]

Do European cruises ever appear in the list of comp cruises? 

I'm in the UK and am Prime, it's so frustrating seeing only Caribbean cruises. 

[YellowBrickRoad]

31 minutes ago, Thom Cruise said:

Do European cruises ever appear in the list of comp cruises? 

I'm in the UK and am Prime, it's so frustrating seeing only Caribbean cruises. 

Mine have always been Caribbean cruises. @WAAAYTOOO have you seen European cruise comps?

[billdauterive]

1 hour ago, Thom Cruise said:

Do European cruises ever appear in the list of comp cruises? 

I'm in the UK and am Prime, it's so frustrating seeing only Caribbean cruises. 

Instant certificates?  Absolutely, even on the lower tiers. 

Online offers?  I've personally never seen any.

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

Mine have always been Caribbean cruises. @WAAAYTOOO have you seen European cruise comps?

I've never gotten an offer that included a European cruise....but we don't get the big offers (instant or monthlies).  Alaska ?  Yes.  But never Europe.

[dr martini]

In a pretty steady 5 years of getting and using casino comps I have seen allllll of the short Caribbean out of FL, smaller ships weeklong out of FL, the Navigator Pacific cruises, just started getting some Oasis weeklong and more Galveston, very rarely an Alaska but have never seen a Europe offering

[Thom Cruise]

2 hours ago, dr martini said:

In a pretty steady 5 years of getting and using casino comps I have seen allllll of the short Caribbean out of FL, smaller ships weeklong out of FL, the Navigator Pacific cruises, just started getting some Oasis weeklong and more Galveston, very rarely an Alaska but have never seen a Europe offering

That's really interesting. 

Are you all US based? 

Do you think I'm registered with the wrong Club Royale office?  There is a UK and US dept I believe. 

I was on a cruise in Oct on Symphony and met a British guy who said he was sailing on a casino comp, in fact he was the one who made me aware of Prime. 

[YellowBrickRoad]

4 hours ago, billdauterive said:

Instant certificates?  Absolutely, even on the lower tiers. 

Online offers?  I've personally never seen any.

Thanks!

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, Thom Cruise said:

That's really interesting. 

Are you all US based? 

Do you think I'm registered with the wrong Club Royale office?  There is a UK and US dept I believe. 

I was on a cruise in Oct on Symphony and met a British guy who said he was sailing on a casino comp, in fact he was the one who made me aware of Prime. 

That is a possibility, because I have talked to people from the UK and they get comps for the UK and US. I believe the US ones are the instant rewards for sailing in the US.

[billdauterive]

Just in case anyone is curious, you can look up the current (and previous) instant reward certificates to see what's available for yourself.

http://clubroyaleoffers.com/CertificateOfferCodeLookUp.asp

The code format for instants certs is: (2 digit year) (2 digit month) ("A" - 5 or less night cruise, "C" - 6+ night cruise) (07 - 1200 points, 06 - 1500 points, 05 - 2000 points, 04 - 3000 points, 03A - 4000 points, 03 - 6500 points, 02A - 9000 points, 02 - 15000 points, 01 - 25000 points).

So for example, if you want to look up the 1500 point for short sailings ending in Feb '24, the code would be 2402a06.  If you want to look up the 4000 point long sailings ending Jan '24, the code would be 2401c03a.

[YellowBrickRoad]

1 hour ago, billdauterive said:

Just in case anyone is curious, you can look up the current (and previous) instant reward certificates to see what's available for yourself.

http://clubroyaleoffers.com/CertificateOfferCodeLookUp.asp

The code format for instants certs is: (2 digit year) (2 digit month) ("A" - 5 or less night cruise, "C" - 6+ night cruise) (07 - 1200 points, 06 - 1500 points, 05 - 2000 points, 04 - 3000 points, 03A - 4000 points, 03 - 6500 points, 02A - 9000 points, 02 - 15000 points, 01 - 25000 points).

So for example, if you want to look up the 1500 point for short sailings ending in Feb '24, the code would be 2402a06.  If you want to look up the 4000 point long sailings ending Jan '24, the code would be 2401c03a.

Oh…didn’t know this. Thanks. 

[JasonOasis]

We just go off an 8 night cruise this past Sunday on Symphony and my husband got one instant offer onboard and he also got monthly certificate in the mail and they both were for either a balcony or JS for multiple cruises including Utopia in September of this year. He gambles but not that much and usually his offers are for either an ocean view or balcony which we will usually take the cash offer and apply it to an existing cruise we all booked.  He's never gotten an offer instant or monthly for a free junior suite and at first we thought it was a mistake.  Long story short the offer was real and we booked a B2B in a junior suite on Utopia this September using his Casino Royal offers. 

Now we have to find a different cruise to take in January of 2025 as we were booked (not for free) on Utopia on a B2B.  However, there was no way we were passing up a free JS and his certificates were only valid for 1 month so they don't give you a whole lot of time to find a cruise.  But his offers had nearly every US based ship except for Icon, from the 3/4 night Caribbean cruises to 7 night Alaskan cruises although the Alaskan cruises were for balconies only. 

Also we were told by a Casino Royal agent on the phone when we called if you get an certificate for a free JS redeem it immediately, because revenue management only give Casino Royal so many JS's and once that allotment is gone that is it even if there are JS open for sale to the public they can't give you the JS once they given away their allotment.  This is why the offer is for either a balcony or a JS, once they give away the fee allotment they can upgrade you into a JS from a balcony but you have to pay for the upgrade which defeats the purpose of a free cruise. 

[dr martini]

yes @Thom Cruise I am US based and not aware of separate programs by region or continent but would make sense.  I think we heard on the last earnings call that 80% of royal's guests are North america, sorry I realize that doesn't help you and I'm not an expert on the program, but do know that the commission is almost nothing on these compared to normal sailings and while it is possible to transfer casinos reservations and make more changes I have been told by travel agents from more than one company they don't like to do them (in so many words, "you may have better luck if you contact casino royale directly.....") which is fine, totally get it. 

pardon the pun, but just another game we have to play.  there's a sliding scale for slots but for me, as an exclusively blackjack table player, there's very little to know about how they rate your playing/winning or what goes into the status.  I just try to tip well and have a good time and hopefully they keep coming.  I will say the offers are a lot more aggressive if I walk off the ship with more money than I came aboard with, which is pretty obvious.

[loki007]

On 2/7/2024 at 11:17 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have had 1 offer over the past 13 months !

i have stopped getting mail offers from Royal and Celebrity but when I go to clubroyaleoffers.com i always have new offers available. 

[WAYNO]

I've shown similar examples before...

My Wife just got off Oasis yesterday.  And in the week she was away, we've received all these offers in the mail.

 

I don't know how the cruise ship advertising industry works.  Does Royal/Casino Royale pay for all this advertising, or allow an advertising agency to foot the expense, with the agency keeping a portion of the sales?  And if so, just maybe we are on the easy-sell list.