Carnival points for free Cruise?

I am on the 6 day Vista now with 5k points but some websites are blocked so I cannot find the answer. How many points for a free Cruise do they want. As usual they are cryptic so I have no way of knowing. The only perks so far are free drinks in the casino and dinner for 2 in cucina but I had to ask. Thanks

With 5k points, I normally get offered a free interior, but it is not a guarantee. I play tables also, so no idea what points I have from that. There is no set point value that is shared though. If you have one booked already, you normally have to email casino after you get home and ask.

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Up to 6.5k points. A lady next to me is getting all kinds of perks with less than half my points. I don't think they like it when u ask what levels you need for perks.

9k points and a free bounce back interior room came in. I have 14 days to book select cruises over the next 6 months. They offer one cruise in April, a few in May and June, and nothing after that. There is almost nothing to choose from and they cut out the better cruises they used to offer like Alaska and Canada. I cannot use this. Does anyone know if rcl or NCL is better and which one. Carnival is no longer an option for casino players.

9k points and a free bounce back interior room came in. I have 14 days to book select cruises over the next 6 months. They offer one cruise in April, a few in May and June, and nothing after that. There is almost nothing to choose from and they cut out the better cruises they used to offer like Alaska and Canada. I cannot use this. Does anyone know if rcl or NCL is better and which one. Carnival is no longer an option for casino players.

Let me tell you my stories and maybe it will help...

I first sailed on Carnival 15 months ago as bucket list Christmas gift to my wife. Well one sailing turned into five by the end of the year due to casino bounce back offers. Found out I like the ships and really like the casinos.

Story 1 is latest Carnival, Story 2 is Club Royale (Royal Caribbean), Story 3 is NCL.

Story 1 CCL: I was on a 7 day on Sunshine over Christmas. Received a PMI BB offer. Had a sail by date of 6/24/2017. Sailings were only offered January through March or April - nothing in May or June. I already had an NCL cruise booked in January and a RCCL in February and March / April / May are busy work periods so I let the book by date pass with the offer unused. I waited until March and asked the casino group at another site if people were receiving June sailings on similar offers - they were now. I contacted Carnival casino using the ocean players club contact us form a week ago Friday and asked if my PMI could be reinstated. On Monday I received a phone call saying yes they would give me a free interior but I still had to sail by the original date - perfect as I was looking at sailing mid-June. Not a lot of choices (no to Vista or Magic 6/17 departures even though I had seen that another booked a BB on Vista sailing one week earlier) but Fascination out of San Juan was offered on the 6/18 sailing. Booked it and upgraded to an OV (Fascination has very few balcony rooms). Moral of the story - just because the book by date has passed does not mean the casino does not want you back. Pick the right time to ask about an available comp and you may sail away happy.

Story 2 RCCL: Story starts with an oops that worked out OK. I typically buy $500 in Carnival gift cards before each cruise at AARP. In February, we were booked on a RCCL cruise with 16 other couples from our condo so I figured I would buy a RCCL gift card to fund onboard expenses on that cruise. AARP has both Carnival and RCCL offerings. Well the oops was RCCL was not a gift card but was a next cruise certificate and could only be used on a new booking meaning no value on the booking I already had. Not to waste the $500 we booked a 5 day cruise out of Miami on Enchantment.

I hit the casino on Enchantment at similar level of play as I do on Carnival ships and picked up just over 2,000 points (comparable to 4,000 Carnival casino points). Received a $500 future cruise certificate and was told to book at casino rate. Had one month to book and one year to sail. Any ship any sailing! We are going on a 7 day Canada/New England cruise in September. Casino rate proved to be another $100 less than the current promotion at the RCCL website.

A month after returning from the Enchantment cruise, I started receiving email offers from Club Royale. First was free interior offers on 4 or 5 day cruises out of Florida with around 30 sailings to pick from. Next came any sailing offers at casino rate with additional discounts or casino credit ranging from $250 to $500. Also received some specialty cruise offers.

Only racked up 1,641 points on the February four day Brilliance cruise and received a $400 FCC. We used it to book a Greek Islands cruise next October. Casino Royale rate was again about $100 per person better than what I saw doing a mock booking at the RCCL web site.

Story 3 is NCL: Booked a five day sailing on Jade out of Tampa (45 minutes from home) for the wife and I plus our two grown kids and their significant others. My wife's parents also came along so we had four interiors. Chose Tampa and NCL so it was easy to get everyone to port and NCL offered free drinks for all. Itinerary was day stops at Key West and Cozumel with two sea days. No sooner were we all onboard when the Tampa port was closed due to fog. Ship did not depart Tampa until 11 PM so no casino until sometime after 1 AM when I was fast asleep. Day 2 was supposed to be Key West but the late departure meant we missed our Key West berth. Day 2 became a day at sea and I spent around 10 hours in the casino. Because we missed Key West it was decided the ship would overnight at Cozumel. An evening tied up in Cozumel meant no casino a second evening. The last full day was a day at sea. I spent around six hours in the casino during the day. Come evening the casino was closed as the Captain decided to return to Tampa in the evening rather than the next morning as had been scheduled. By the time I hit the casino after dinner they were preparing to shut down. I checked in at the desk and found I had 1,360 points - enough for $13 in free play on slots (I play tables). Obviously when NCL looks at my five day play, I do not look the kind of player that should be getting casino offers from them. Had the casino been open the other three evenings things might have been different as I understand NCL comps start at 2,500 points.

Conclusion - I will continue to sail both Carnival and Royal as both are sending offers my way. NCL probably lost me due to a fog delay and a couple decisions that had unintended consequences. Hard to pay advertised price for a cruise when competitors are offering discounts. I like all three lines and each has their strengths.

9k points and a free bounce back interior room came in. I have 14 days to book select cruises over the next 6 months. They offer one cruise in April, a few in May and June, and nothing after that. There is almost nothing to choose from and they cut out the better cruises they used to offer like Alaska and Canada. I cannot use this. Does anyone know if rcl or NCL is better and which one. Carnival is no longer an option for casino players.

I totally agree with you. A couple years back you could choose any cruise from any port when you received a bounce back offer. Now the selection is horrible, there is never anything to pick from, and I spend a lot of time and $ in the casino. I don't even book these offers. I am trying Celebrity. I don't know how their casino is, but if you book a balcony cabin you get unlimited drink package (for two) and a $300 onboard credit. That's more than I am getting from Carnival these days.

Carnival did just open up some more cruises in July. There were not a ton and very limited of course but I was able to get a free interior on the Magic for June 17th. I feel kind of stupid because I declined all those free Alaskan cruises because of airfare cost and now that I am wanting to take one they got rid of them.

Just a funny story about my bad luck in their casino. I probably had around the most points in the casino on my last cruise. Time after time they did drawings based on your casino points but my name was never called. A couple people with far far less points that I had got called twice. Well I bought some lotto tickets which were losers of course and entered them in the second chance drawing on the last day and lo and behold my name was finally called to spin the wheel. With very low odds I hit, you guessed it, the worst section on the wheel- scratch off tickets. They gave me 4 of the $5 tickets and all 4 were losers. I was the only person to show up to a drawing, win, and still come away with $0.

I totally agree with you. A couple years back you could choose any cruise from any port when you received a bounce back offer. Now the selection is horrible, there is never anything to pick from, and I spend a lot of time and $ in the casino.

When you call to book a BB with the main number, they only have a list of rooms that are reserved by the casino. They go fast, which really limits the selection. Email Global Casino Services (casino@carnival.com) and tell them you are unable to find any cruise that you can take within your BB offer window. Tell them which cruise you are interested in still within your BB window and they will offer to pay a certain amount of your fare if you book it. It would be nice if they just would tell you that...but maybe the don't so they can offer it when they want.

So, I'll tell my Carnival story. I had a free oceanview BB offer from my November 2016 cruise. I booked for April, 2017. In January or Feb, they released the premier cruise offers for July - September. Usually mine are just reduced fare and they say you can pick as many as you like. This time, it was a free interior premier cruise offer. I wondered if I could still select as many as a I wanted. I booked 3 and got all 3 for free. That offer still shows as available in my account until April 5. So, 4 free cruises this year where I had actually planned on taking none. I would argue that Carnival is still a great place for casino players.

Just off the Sunshine, got the free interior cabin offer but there is nothing to choose from ... it was so nice when you could pick any cruise within the 6 month window, now it seems they are based on where they are having trouble booking cabins. It gives you 6 months but there is NOTHING offered for September or October and I just cannot turn around and take more time off within the next 4 months so I guess this "free" cabin is going to go to waste.

My husband also won the blackjack tourney and qualified for the 100K tourney. We are from Florida and I assumed that the tourney they would have offered him a seat in would have been from a port in our state but alas it is a cruise that goes out of New Orleans so I just don't know if it is even worth the expense to travel to take that cruise. Does anyone know if you can request a seat in one of the other 100K tourneys that go out of Florida or is that entry set in stone?

Just off the Sunshine, got the free interior cabin offer but there is nothing to choose from ... it was so nice when you could pick any cruise within the 6 month window, now it seems they are based on where they are having trouble booking cabins. It gives you 6 months but there is NOTHING offered for September or October and I just cannot turn around and take more time off within the next 4 months so I guess this "free" cabin is going to go to waste.

I picked up a PMI on Sunshine over Christmas. Sailings were limited to January through March when I was unavailable. I let the offer expire. In late March I contacted the casino through the oceanplayersclub.com website asking if they had any comps for me - mentioned I had a PMI that expired and wanted to be on a ship on my birthday and asked could they resurrect the PMI. Next business day I received a call saying yes to resurrecting the PMI but I still had to sail within the original window (perfect as sail by date was 4 days after my birthday). No availability on my first two choices but 3rd choice was available and is now booked.

Just off the Sunshine...

My husband also won the blackjack tourney and qualified for the 100K tourney. We are from Florida and I assumed that the tourney they would have offered him a seat in would have been from a port in our state but alas it is a cruise that goes out of New Orleans so I just don't know if it is even worth the expense to travel to take that cruise. Does anyone know if you can request a seat in one of the other 100K tourneys that go out of Florida or is that entry set in stone?

Last year a BJ tournament was out of Galveston. This year New Orleans. The big tournaments are not run very often so unlikely there is another to exchange it for. On the plus side the entries sell for around $50 on ebay and other web sites.

Last year a BJ tournament was out of Galveston. This year New Orleans. The big tournaments are not run very often so unlikely there is another to exchange it for. On the plus side the entries sell for around $50 on ebay and other web sites.

Thanks for the info, have you ever been on one of those cruises? I hear they are crazy crowded

Hi trpschick,

I have not been on a tournament cruise but I have also heard they are very crowded in the casino. What happened to me is I went on my first cruise January of last year and was handed a bounce back (PMB). I used it for a cruise on Valor in February and found out it was a Premier and I was not a Premier invitee. It was hard to get a seat at a table game - couple times I waited hours. Premier people were having fun. I decided then that Premiers are for Premier invitees only and extended my thought process to any other casino special cruise (tournaments, Premiers, Elites, Ultras, and any others they come up with). Now I track Premiers, tournaments, etc. to make certain I do not book myself on one inadvertently.

George