Free cruise from casino at sea

We were on the Spirit in early July and the casino people told us we were two of the top seven players on the ship. They gave us free drink cards and told us to book our next cruise thru them. Last week DH got a birthday letter form casino at sea with a free 7 or 8 day cruise for two, to be used by Dec 31. Its just not going to work in that time for us and we are going to call them and see if we can go Jan. 4th on a 10 day cruise. Anyone have experience with this? Just wondering how flexible they will be. We want to leave from New York, and during that time there's not much. We would have to fly to Miami or LA and that air price would defeat the free cruise. Anyone have a similar experience? BTW, I got an email birthday card from cas with a $100 free slot play. Not quite as good as DH!!

If CAS offered your DH a free room (was it inside, ocean-view or balcony?) I assume has has been rated by them (if he was one of the top 7 players, I'm sure he has). If he is a rated player they'll extend an offer on the ship/itinerary of your choice based on his ranking.

FWIW, I was on Dream in July. The casino is only open 4 of the 7 days since we are docked at Bermuda 3 days. I only did what I consider "average" play (for me) and based on that one cruise alone CAS:

• Gave me an invitation for a balcony cabin on Dawn for a 7 day trip from NYC to Bermuda to play in a slot tournament. I declined since I had just returned from Bermuda.
  
• Ranked me as an INSIDE-COMP, meaning they'd give me an inside cabin on any 7 day cruise. Using that ranking, I upgraded to a Courtyard Villa on Jade for 14 day cruise in Europe, CAS comp'd a huge amount of the bill (they took about $5K off).

I belong to many player's clubs, but CAS is quickly becoming one of my favorites. From my limited experience with them to date, they take good care of their players. By comparison, I played through $49,000 on a 12 day Princess cruise in Europe last year, their player's club (Ocean Players) has never contacted me to offer me anything, and when I called a couple of weeks ago to ask a few questions, they didn't seem to have me rated (but I am Platinum! just shy of VIP-Platinum, which is their highest rating!) and didn't seem to even know what they could offer me. The woman I spoke to mentioned something about a slot tournament cruise in the Fall and said she'd email me an invitation with the details, I never got it. :mad:

My advice: Pick a ship, itinerary and dates that you want. Call CAS and ask them what they can offer - and if you like the terms (which I expect you will) book it directly through them.

Happy Sailing - and Good Luck! :)

They offered an inside oceanview cabin, which I guess means either one. We just had a balcony and decided (at least I did) that we will always need one. I have one thousand in NCL mastercard points, so I will ask for a balcony and if they don't offer to pay the whole price, I will offer to pay the difference. We play alot at Mohegan and Foxwoods and get pretty good comps from them, but this cruise thing is pretty big for us.

I do want to say that CAS has always taken great care of us. I wont say what they have comp'ed with us, but they have always made us happy.

Here is what CAS has told us on several occasions. When CAS comps a room for you, it is a thank you for your previous playing. Whey they comp it, you are under no obligation to them at all. However, if you wish to continue a relationship with them, they do expect you to keep up your playing at the same level it was your last cruise. If you didn't do that, other than possibly not getting another comp'ed cruise, I'm not for sure what they would do.. ie. I don't know if they would still maybe offer you a discount on future cruises, etc.

The reason I am mentioning this to you is, if it is important to you to continue a relationship with the, you might want to make sure you pick a cruise with an itinerary that has plenty of time for you to play in the casino. If you pick an itinerary that would only allow, say, four nights of casino play, as opposed to seven, you might want to play $5.00 slots instead of $1.00 slots, etc, etc.

Hope this helps you.

T

They do seem to have a little flexibility in what they can give you. We wanted a longer cruise and they offer a 20% discount to us - we had rec'd free rooms in the past. We opted out, but called back closer to cruise time when it appeared there were lots of cabins available. We were able to get a pretty good deal on the cruise we wanted at that time.

I got one of those birthday letters recently and it said we could get a Jr Penthouse Suite. Never heard of such a category.

We were on the Spirit in early July and the casino people told us we were two of the top seven players on the ship. They gave us free drink cards and told us to book our next cruise thru them. Last week DH got a birthday letter form casino at sea with a free 7 or 8 day cruise for two, to be used by Dec 31. Its just not going to work in that time for us and we are going to call them and see if we can go Jan. 4th on a 10 day cruise. Anyone have experience with this? Just wondering how flexible they will be. We want to leave from New York, and during that time there's not much. We would have to fly to Miami or LA and that air price would defeat the free cruise. Anyone have a similar experience? BTW, I got an email birthday card from cas with a $100 free slot play. Not quite as good as DH!!

I have always wondered how much you have to put in play to be considered for these perks...anyone have a ballpark figure???

A LOT!!!

some of the casinos have a way to get a "win/loss" statement. it gives you an idea of how much goes through the machines.

if you are lucky, most of that is "their" money, not yours. counting the small wins that you playback into the machine? i know DH and and i can start with a $100 each and still play several thousand in a day...but never anything to cash out and leave with. just tiny little payoffs that keep us playing.

days where we aren't getting those little playoffs, we leave early...hate playing on my money.

i sent CAS an email last night, asking about a cruise date for us. we don't have much play on our harrah's card this year, but we had a lot of play on the last NCL cruise. if they ask i can send a win/loss statement from the hollywood casino (they should give us the whole ship)

if i don't get an answer by the end of the week, will call.

I have always wondered how much you have to put in play to be considered for these perks...anyone have a ballpark figure???

Last year on a 14 day repo I was playing minimum bets on Let It Ride and my wife played maximum bets on $.25 Video poker. Not really big bettors but, for the entire cruise, you could pretty much bet if the casino was open, we were playing.

When I called CAS they offered me 17% off on this years repo. I got a better deal elsewhere. :rolleyes:

I have always wondered how much you have to put in play to be considered for these perks...anyone have a ballpark figure???

On both of our last two cruises, we spent out of our pocket, in the casino, just into the five figures. Some people will look at that and think we are stupid, I know. but it works for us. Here is how we justify it to ourselves. A. It's our money.. LOL B. We usually would spend anywhere from 4K to 6K on the cruise itself and then around 5K to 7K in the casino. With the perks CAS gives us, we just spend all of that in the casino then do not worry about the actual cost of the next cruise.

As Toyz says.. it adds up when you include all the little wins you get. And I hate to say this..but even our big wins we usually just put right back in. We haven't gotten a win/loss statement for this last cruise because it was in this year, but for the one last Nov, it showed we had played over $45K each. So that just shows you how those little wins do add up because we didn't spend more than 4 figures per person.

Hope this helps some.

Does anyone know if there are any perks provided by Casinos At Sea when you book through them (besides the discount/comped room)? We just booked our next cruise through them and forgot to ask. I thought I remembered reading (long time ago) that someone said they had booked through CAS and got to embark with suite/garden villa guests:confused:

Depending on your "level"within CAS, you might get VIP status. I think that is for their real high spenders.

The other perk, which I really hate to even bring up, because it will start another long discussion is "free drinks". Prior to the time when they were offering them for everyone, as a CAS guest, you got them when playing.

Yes, I know, there have been scattered reports of everyone that is playing getting free drinks. There have also been scattered reports of getting free drinks during certain times only. There have also been reports that they might not be doing that anymore. So, ALL OF THE ABOVE options are possible. And it is changing rapidly, week to week, ship to ship. So, whatever you hear from anyone here might be different next week, or last week.

We booked our first cruise through CAS and saved about $600 off the website price. This year we called CAS and it was actually going to cost more than the website listed.. Go figure!

We eached did the slots last year and had an allowance of $200 each. One day I played for nearly 7 hours on $50! So I have no idea what the win/loss would be.

Depending on your "level"within CAS, you might get VIP status. I think that is for their real high spenders.

 

The other perk, which I really hate to even bring up, because it will start another long discussion is "free drinks". Prior to the time when they were offering them for everyone, as a CAS guest, you got them when playing.

 

Yes, I know, there have been scattered reports of everyone that is playing getting free drinks. There have also been scattered reports of getting free drinks during certain times only. There have also been reports that they might not be doing that anymore. So, ALL OF THE ABOVE options are possible. And it is changing rapidly, week to week, ship to ship. So, whatever you hear from anyone here might be different next week, or last week.

I hope this information is correct. I'm going to say it is correct as far as I know, so if anyone knows differently, don't bash me, I'm just trying to help..LOL

I think the difference is this. I believe if you book your cruise through CAS and get a discount on a cruise, you may not get the VIP card that gives you the free drinks anytime you are in the casino. If CAS has actually comp'ed your cruise, you get the VIP tag for the casino that gives you the free drinks. Again, I may be wrong, but I believe that is how it works. Getting the free drinks from CAS as a ViP is different than people playing using the casino cards who were getting or are getting drinks comp'ed. If you are a guest of CAS and have their VIP tag, you get free drinks no matter if others are getting free drinks or not. Hope that makes sense.

Well I guess we'll just see what we get when we get on the ship:) I know there is a lot of confusion regarding "free drinks in the casino" and I really don't want to start another lengthy discussion regarding that subject! However, if anyone has recently sailed that booked through CAS, I would be interested in knowing any details. Thanks.

We recently took a comp cruise with CAS. From what I have gathered over my last 4-5 cruises (for slots only): It takes "around" 275-300 CAS points earned on a card (or couple) over a one week cruise to get comped on your next 7-8 day cruise (inside or oceanview). Same points will get you a buy-one, get one passenger free (inside or oceanview) on longer cruises or Bermuda cruises. The exception to the Bermuda thing is, of course, the special tournament cruises, where they offer a free balcony cabin. Comped rooms can be upgraded with extra cash to any category. Not sure where the "bottom line" is for the discount only, but hopefully I will learn soon, as my daughter is possibly booking a cabin on her lesser play. Points are earned at approximately $138 per point, whether it's your own money or the casino's money run back through over and over again. For example, I ran through close to $48,000 in the casino on my last trip, but only $3000 was my own. I did notice on the Sun a few weeks ago that the dollar Wheel of Fortunes were over $150 per point, but never did remember to check exactly how much. Video poker earns approx 1/2 the points of regular slots, so take twice as much play for the same comps. Table comps are at the discretion of the casino management. If you book through CAS, whether comped or with a discount, you get a special card allowing free drinks in the casino (this has never failed, whether they were offering the freebies to non-CAS guests or not). All of your comps/discounts given for any cruise booked are based ONLY on your play from the last cruise - so if you have a good amount of play on a cruise, book several more based on that play for the best rates before you actually cruise again. Calling CAS may get you different answers each time you call - so if you hear an offer you like, TAKE IT. If not, they are open to a bit of negotiation - for example, we were a "few points" shy of our first comp, but they said we were close enough that they would extend it to us. Or just call back again and speak to someone else. But if you get a great person at CAS, stick with them, they can be a great asset.

For those of you that understand casino comps, I think my explanation will make sense. I have had rebuttals to my explanations, but they make sense if you can understand me LOL.

Robin

We recently took a comp cruise with CAS. From what I have gathered over my last 4-5 cruises (for slots only): It takes "around" 275-300 CAS points earned on a card (or couple) over a one week cruise to get comped on your next 7-8 day cruise (inside or oceanview). Same points will get you a buy-one, get one passenger free (inside or oceanview) on longer cruises or Bermuda cruises. The exception to the Bermuda thing is, of course, the special tournament cruises, where they offer a free balcony cabin. Comped rooms can be upgraded with extra cash to any category. Not sure where the "bottom line" is for the discount only, but hopefully I will learn soon, as my daughter is possibly booking a cabin on her lesser play. Points are earned at approximately $138 per point, whether it's your own money or the casino's money run back through over and over again. For example, I ran through close to $48,000 in the casino on my last trip, but only $3000 was my own. I did notice on the Sun a few weeks ago that the dollar Wheel of Fortunes were over $150 per point, but never did remember to check exactly how much. Video poker earns approx 1/2 the points of regular slots, so take twice as much play for the same comps. Table comps are at the discretion of the casino management. If you book through CAS, whether comped or with a discount, you get a special card allowing free drinks in the casino (this has never failed, whether they were offering the freebies to non-CAS guests or not). All of your comps/discounts given for any cruise booked are based ONLY on your play from the last cruise - so if you have a good amount of play on a cruise, book several more based on that play for the best rates before you actually cruise again. Calling CAS may get you different answers each time you call - so if you hear an offer you like, TAKE IT. If not, they are open to a bit of negotiation - for example, we were a "few points" shy of our first comp, but they said we were close enough that they would extend it to us. Or just call back again and speak to someone else. But if you get a great person at CAS, stick with them, they can be a great asset.

For those of you that understand casino comps, I think my explanation will make sense. I have had rebuttals to my explanations, but they make sense if you can understand me LOL.

Robin

Thank you Robin! Excellent explanation. Can't wait to see the Gem's casino in 6 months:)

We booked our upcoming October Sun cruise through CAS. I was told we would find in our cabin a casino card (just like everyone one who signs up for one) plus a second one with some sort of sticker on it which would allow for free drinks in the casino only while playing. We got the standard 17% discount plus a few category upgrade (which I think is a very good price $1782 total for 11-day category II inside for two). When they mentioned free drinks, it was the icing on the cake.:D

I'm so happy I found this board last year. What a wealth of information. Using that figure of one point for $138 in play, we would show over $30,000 combined, when actually we spent between three and four thousand of our cash. We're hoping to be able to use the comp on a Jan 4th 10 day cruise. Thanks again for all the feedback. It really helps.

We booked our trip through a cruise consulant because this is our first cruise, let alone w/NCL. My husband and I are Platinum members w/Harrahs and have been offered numerous free trips with them. I think I read here somewhere that Harrah's and NCL are somehow connected. Would it be too late to call our CC or the CAS and get some sort of discount, OBC, drink card or any other perk you are all talking about?

We booked our trip through a cruise consulant because this is our first cruise, let alone w/NCL. My husband and I are Platinum members w/Harrahs and have been offered numerous free trips with them. I think I read here somewhere that Harrah's and NCL are somehow connected. Would it be too late to call our CC or the CAS and get some sort of discount, OBC, drink card or any other perk you are all talking about?

If you have not made final payment on your cruise, you can simply cancel it, and then book through Harrah's or NCL's CAS. If you do that be sure and check what cancellation policy the TA has to see what you will be charged by them to cancel.

To see the details about the NCL - Harrahs deal, click here

We booked our trip through a cruise consulant because this is our first cruise, let alone w/NCL. My husband and I are Platinum members w/Harrahs and have been offered numerous free trips with them. I think I read here somewhere that Harrah's and NCL are somehow connected. Would it be too late to call our CC or the CAS and get some sort of discount, OBC, drink card or any other perk you are all talking about?

Find out if your currently booked cruise can be cancelled without penalty.

Call CAS and talk to them, I doubt they can comp you anything since you've never played with them, but your Harrah's Total Rewards Platinum status does entitle you to a 10% discount (I posted the complete discount structure in an earlier post, just search for 'Total Rewards' and you'll see it).

If your cruise CAN be cancelled without penalty and rebooked, and CAS gives you a better deal - do that.

If your cruise CANNOT be cancelled without penalty, CAS might be able to do something for you (maybe some Free Play or something to compensate for the discount you didn't get).

We booked our trip through a cruise consulant because this is our first cruise, let alone w/NCL. My husband and I are Platinum members w/Harrahs and have been offered numerous free trips with them. I think I read here somewhere that Harrah's and NCL are somehow connected. Would it be too late to call our CC or the CAS and get some sort of discount, OBC, drink card or any other perk you are all talking about?

I had experience with this as I had taken a first cruise and booked three more before I found out about CAS. If you don't want to cancel and rebook your cruise, the TA has to fax in a signed letter on agency stationery releasing the booking to CAS/NCL. This was easy for me as I WAS the TA. We decided to cancel and rebook one cruise outright. The second one, I released to CAS and had them reprice it. The third was booked through the old "family plan", and the price we originally paid was less than the CAS discount/comp, so we left it alone, although I did have CAS provide cards and drink cards in our suite.

If you talk to your cruise consultant (TA), and they are willing to release the booking to CAS, that's certainly the easiest way. But they won't be happy, as they have done quite a bit of work and will now lose the commission, so don't be surprised if they charge a cancellation fee. Call CAS or however you get the Harrah's discount and see if the price difference is worth the hassle after you call the cruise consultant and see what they say. It is a rather tenuous process, having to make sure everything is done correctly, but it is a nice discount.

We are Harrah's Diamond, but we have found that CAS gives us better comps directly than through our Diamond cards, which provide only discounts, no comp cruises yet. Once you are extablished through CAS, compare the discounts and see what is best for you.

One last thing - if you are a true gambler on your first cruise, check with the casino manager part way through your cruise. If you are "earning your keep", they should be able to provide you with a drink card or at least some comp drinks for the rest of your cruise. Also, if you are booked directly through NCL, it is very simple to have your booking released to CAS, they do it all internally.

Robin

Thanks to you all. I love this board, it is always so full of information!!!