Did Royal Caribbean insult my intelligence here?!

Hi all,

There is not much activity on cruise casinos here, but I do see a few active members. As you can see, I mostly cruise Royal Caribbean, although I am taking advantage of 2 free Carnival cruises this year and will be very open minded about where my loyalties fall. I spend considerable money in the casino whenever I cruise ($5K range). LAst year, I received an $850 rebate which I applied to my Dec 2013 cruise. After last month's cruise, they offered me $250. I am booked on Quantum Dec 2014 which is costing me $6400. A $250 credit is insulting to me. I send them an email confirning this, and got a response that I will post next. What are your thoughts?!

Hello Amy,

I am so sorry you are disappointed with your rebate. Unfortunately you

played twice as many hours on your first cruise then this one and that can

affect your rebate amount as well as your average bet. So this is why the

difference in the rebate.

You are correct, other cruise lines can offer and do offer complimentary

cruises as they are backed by land-based casinos. Harrah's and Caesar's

owns and operates Noweigan Cruise lines and Carnival Cruise line casinos.

Royal operates and owns their own casinos. There are large differences in

the cruise lines and how they operate their casinos. They have flexibility

as the land-based casino covers their expenditures where we at Royal, cover

our own. I do hope you understand that casinos onboard ships and

different cruise lines are not all the same.

You do have choices and you are welcome to cruise whichever cruise line you

like. We would love to have you onboard, but again the choice is always

yours as to which cruise line you prefer to sail with.

I do hope this helps clarify the difference in the casinos on different

cruise lines for you. Again, we would welcome you onboard anytime you

choose to sail with us, but the rebate remains as is.

Regards,

Donna Kurz

Club Royale, Casino Operations

So....regardless of who operates the casino, since I am paying $6400 for my cruise, I don;t drink and am therefore costing them nothing, am I not worth more to them than $250?! That's the insulting part. Carnival hasn't seen me in a while and is eager to have me back. The tone of this email sounds to me like they are ambivelant which cruise I select.

Do you share my opinion, or am I personalizing this too much:rolleyes::confused:

Sounds to me like they came back with the "the choice is yours, but we aren't giving you anything more" response. I have had success with both Carnival and NCL recently. I average about 1,000 points a day on Carnival and 500 on NCL (NCL values points 2x Carnival) and qualify for the Premier Casino Cruises on Carnival and was offered a comped balcony for 7 days on NCL after just one sailing. My out of pocket budget is about $2,000 a cruise, so I would assume you would get at least what I received or more, unless you play table games, which then would not make an apples to apples comparison (reference to average bet in response/tracking/etc). Good luck to you!

I don't believe Harrah's/Caesars (Harrah's Entertainment changed its name to Caesars Entertainment a few years ago) owns and operates Norwegian Cruise lines and Carnival Cruise line casinos. I know there is an association between NCL and Caesars but I don't think Caesars owns or operates NCL or CCL casinos. I might be wrong, though.

Carnival Corporation Casino Division is the largest and most popular cruise group in the world, serving over 10 million guests a year.

It is a fully owned subsidary of the parent corporation Carnival Inc and operates on all 10 of the lines that they own.

Carnival Corporation Casino Division is the largest and most popular cruise group in the world, serving over 10 million guests a year.

 

It is a fully owned subsidary of the parent corporation Carnival Inc and operates on all 10 of the lines that they own.

Yikes! So they insulted you and lied to you. I would have been as upset as you are - and have been, which is why I left Carnival. NCL does have an association with Harrah's, which is in turn owned by Caesars, which is in turned owned by Apollo. Carnival has zero land-based casino association. They used to have a partnership with Palazzo at Venetian in Vegas, but that only lasted a year or two. And RCCL is partnered with a land-based casino - MGM Grand. Google Royal Caribbean and MLife.

I would feel the same way. I left Carnival because they started doing the same thing with the sad offers - 9000 points on a 3-day cruise got me a 15% off offer. :rolleyes: I moved my cruising to NCL (spending about half what you do in the casino), and they are already comping me cabins. Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you in the future and happy sailing!

I usually drop around $5k in the ships' casinos and have found Club Royale to be pretty generous with their rebates. I think a lot also depends on how much time you spend on the machines. I was told by a casino host that you have to play the slots for a minimum of 3 consecutive hours a day, with a minimum of 2,000 points collected by the end of the cruise, to get any kind of rebate. Also, I understand the casino host can influence the rebates -- it's not just the sea-pass tracking. I've found that if I do win a decent jackpot ($4,000+), I'm inundated with free trip offers from RCL, probably because they want their money back! That's my experience, anyway.

Yikes! So they insulted you and lied to you. I would have been as upset as you are - and have been, which is why I left Carnival. NCL does have an association with Harrah's, which is in turn owned by Caesars, which is in turned owned by Apollo. Carnival has zero land-based casino association.

I would feel the same way. I left Carnival because they started doing the same thing with the sad offers - 9000 points on a 3-day cruise got me a 15% off offer. :rolleyes: I moved my cruising to NCL (spending about half what you do in the casino), and they are already comping me cabins. Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you in the future and happy sailing!

Thank you! I have never been on NCL. Not sure why - think the freestyle concept seemed like work to me making reservations or standing in line to eat.

But I've read some of your posts and think I am going to give them a try. You've given some excellent commentary - thank you.

And...good luck to you and enjoy!!!!

I usually drop around $5k in the ships' casinos and have found Club Royale to be pretty generous with their rebates. I think a lot also depends on how much time you spend on the machines. I was told by a casino host that you have to play the slots for a minimum of 3 consecutive hours a day, with a minimum of 2,000 points collected by the end of the cruise, to get any kind of rebate. Also, I understand the casino host can influence the rebates -- it's not just the sea-pass tracking. I've found that if I do win a decent jackpot ($4,000+), I'm inundated with free trip offers from RCL, probably because they want their money back! That's my experience, anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts. I play some slots, but generally play the tables. ON this last cruise I played mainly 3 card poker. Some Caribbean Stud. They didn;t have a let-it-ride table. And I was losing $500 minimum a night. When you're not hitting, it doesn;t take long. So, you're right, I didn;t log the hours, but they were very aware of my losses.

I am going to try carnival twice this summer, since the cruises are comped. And I am going o explore NCL and hope they treat me like Samantha suggests/

Good luck!!!!

Thanks for your thoughts. I play some slots, but generally play the tables. ON this last cruise I played mainly 3 card poker. Some Caribbean Stud. They didn;t have a let-it-ride table. And I was losing $500 minimum a night. When you're not hitting, it doesn;t take long. So, you're right, I didn;t log the hours, but they were very aware of my losses.

 

I am going to try carnival twice this summer, since the cruises are comped. And I am going o explore NCL and hope they treat me like Samantha suggests/

 

Good luck!!!!

Can I ask you a question?

I assume you are associated with a land based casino and are in a top tier of the land based program... For instance Diamond at Harrah's or Sagamore at Mohegan Sun??

If you are I might be able to assist you..... (well more like point you in the direction of someone that can assist you:) )

I would not feel like they were "insulting my intelligence". Rewards are mostly computer generated, and based on a formula. So, unless the computer was looking to settle a score...

Comps from a past cruise are also independent of the price you paid for your Quantum cruise. I realize you were just trying to show the contrast, but it is not really relevant. Also, not drinking in the casino is not really saving them any money. They are supplying drinks at cost to them (very little) and gamblers inevitably lose more when liquored up.

If you are a player with a 5K bankroll on a cruise, you probably already know this:

Slot machine play is rated by "coin in". It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's just how much you put through the machine. You get more comps with more coin in.

For example: Start with $100, $5 max bet "penny machine", manage to get 150 spins out of it (example only, lots of cherries!), cash out 100 (even). You will have put $750 through the machine (5X150), and you have neither won nor lost. Now take $500 to a $100 machine, spin 5X, lose all $500. You are now down $500 real dollars and have credit for $500 coin in. As far as comps go, the first example will be better for you.

Table game comps are based on a formula: average bet x amount of time spent playing x average hands per hour x house edge. The casino will then return a % of that number. Hands per hour and house edge are not really controllable by you. The other two are. I find that the time element is where I'll notice a big jump in comps. I have friends who bet decent money, but are always jumping from table to table. This has an adverse effect on their comp $, but this is how they like to play and they are more worried about their real $ and view comps as a nice bonus.

On a side note, I hear NCL is the best line for gamblers. I've received offers from them (through Harrahs/Caesars), but, like you, have never taken them up on it. I also agree that RCCL is a little quirky with their program, but it has come a long way in a short time. And, they have always been very good to me, so they keep roping me in.

The rebate is a separate thing from the free cruise offers. Just like Carnival sent you an offer to cruise for free, Royal does the same (and NCL, etc.). This is independent of your rebate. If any of these companies feels your action is high enough to justify a free cruise, they will offer it to you. In the case of RCCL, you will then get your rebate on top of that.

I recently walked off a RCCL ship with a good chunk of money and had the host pull me aside the final night. She flatly said, "Come back, on us, anytime. We want our money back." Her tone was dead serious. I've received several emails directly from that ship trying to lure me back. Please don't think I'm bragging, because I've lost much more than I've won on these stupid ships! I'm just showing that there are other, less common, ways to gain comps.

As another poster alluded to, you can also consider going through a junket company. Friends have had luck with them in the past, but I'm pretty sure you don't get a rebate for that cruise. I think it gets diverted to the junket company.

One last thing, the casino host does have some discretion regarding comps. Let's say you sit down at roulette and bet $50,000 on black (they raised the limit just for you!), you lose, leave, and never return. Based on the above formula for table games, you will have a low number (similar to a medium slot player). The host can take such factors into consideration and adjust your comps accordingly. This is uncommon, but it's worth mentioning.

I have been totally annoyed and baffled by comps in the past. Sometimes I'm surprised in a good way, but usually it's a disappointment. Pit bosses get lazy, people make errors, the system is far from perfect. So, please don't feel like I'm judging you negatively. Based on the info you provided, it seems like your rebate is lower than you expected based on length of play. If you hit a brutal losing streak, there's not much you can do about that. They do, however, get it wrong sometimes. And, there are "other" ways to get comps, but it is mostly based on their mathematical formulas.

Please provide a casino review after your Carnival cruise. I'd like to jump ship in the future and see what other lines have to offer.

Enjoy your upcoming vacations, and good luck!

Wow - thanks for the lengthy, thoughful reply. In general, I completely agree with you. I think the part I felt more insulted about was the email in which she sounded like she was ambivelant who I cruised with, and then the lame (and apparently false) justification about who runs each cruises's casino, like that should make a difference.

I am going on the first of these free cruises in April. I will definitely post. I am very open minded, and my last cruise on Legend of the Seas was disappointing in many respects, so I might just be "won" over :D

Thansk again - happy sailing and good luck to you!!!

I have sailed (twice) on RCCL and received a keychain and DH got a polo shirt on our last cruise with them...

Sailed once on NCL and received a nice discount on 2 cabins in the Haven the next time we booked...from that sailing the casino host was very generous (I thought so anyway) and took over $300 off of our final bill and I now have a comped balcony cabin as well as a 20% discount on a second balcony cabin (on the Getaway) during spring break.

We tend to have a budget between $3K - $5K for each sailing so I wasn't too thrilled with RCCL for not doing a little more. I decided to give NCL a try and am very happy.

I would not be too pleased with the email they sent you if it were me...it makes them sound a little too arrogant and unappreciative for my liking however I know they're looking at it from a different perspective than I am.

Thanks 3D Beach.

Arrogance is a good word - I think that captures the sour taste the note left with me.

So I am going to try Carnival with my free cruises, and if I'm not satisfied with their generosity, I'll consider NCL. You (and others) are making that option sound very appealing so I am compelled to give it a shot. What do I have to lose:rolleyes: :D :eek:

Hi all,

There is not much activity on cruise casinos here, but I do see a few active members. As you can see, I mostly cruise Royal Caribbean, although I am taking advantage of 2 free Carnival cruises this year and will be very open minded about where my loyalties fall. I spend considerable money in the casino whenever I cruise ($5K range). LAst year, I received an $850 rebate which I applied to my Dec 2013 cruise. After last month's cruise, they offered me $250. I am booked on Quantum Dec 2014 which is costing me $6400. A $250 credit is insulting to me. I send them an email confirning this, and got a response that I will post next. What are your thoughts?!

I do not play at your level but from my experience Carnivals casino is much better and from what I read on these boards NCL is the best. On my last 2 Carnival cruise I drank for free and on my last 2 RC cruises I got zero.

My thought is if I had someone spending your kind of money I would want them in my casino.

HI.. I don't want to hijack your thread with questions... but I'm hoping someone can answers these...without me starting another thread... I hope you don't mind... If this is inappropriate, please let me know and I'll start another thread...

I'm Platinum with M-Life. When I was on the Liberty I talked to the host about M-Life benefits. It took 2 days for her to tell me that I couldn't use them because I used a $35 C&A coupon when booking... Ok... 5 day cruise... quick booking.. but she said to make sure I used my seapass card when I gambled. Ok... I usually gamble 3-5 hours an evening... I do some slots during the day. I play Let it Ride and Three Card Poker. I also play some Craps but did not on this cruise. I bet between 25 and 35 per hand...

First night I hand my card to the dealer... and get 500$ in chips. The Pit Boss is happy to track my play.

Second night I hand my card to the dealer... and still have 400$ in chips and get only $200 more... the Pit Boss basically give me a cold shoulder.

Third night... same thing. Too late I figure out I need to cash in the chips and show up with $$$$.

So... I'm not rated (I guess)... but my question is... am I not playing enough per hand... or what???

Oh... I lost about $2000 on this cruise... First cruise in a while I've lost. But we are sailing in April and I'd like to know if there is a secret... or if I should just give up.

Oh... and I'm just a plain old 55+ female... I don't wear my flashey jewelry (should I??) I do tip WELL.... and the dealers like me... Just don't know how to play the game....

Anyone that can tell me... I appreciate any advise.

I don't believe Harrah's/Caesars (Harrah's Entertainment changed its name to Caesars Entertainment a few years ago) owns and operates Norwegian Cruise lines and Carnival Cruise line casinos. I know there is an association between NCL and Caesars but I don't think Caesars owns or operates NCL or CCL casinos. I might be wrong, though.

Caesars Entertainment and NCL are owned by the same holding company.

Caesars has nothing to do with Carnival, to my knowledge.

Yikes! So they insulted you and lied to you. I would have been as upset as you are - and have been, which is why I left Carnival. NCL does have an association with Harrah's, which is in turn owned by Caesars, which is in turned owned by Apollo. Carnival has zero land-based casino association. They used to have a partnership with Palazzo at Venetian in Vegas, but that only lasted a year or two. And RCCL is partnered with a land-based casino - MGM Grand. Google Royal Caribbean and MLife.

 

I would feel the same way. I left Carnival because they started doing the same thing with the sad offers - 9000 points on a 3-day cruise got me a 15% off offer. :rolleyes: I moved my cruising to NCL (spending about half what you do in the casino), and they are already comping me cabins. Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you in the future and happy sailing!

We're NCL loyalists for a number of reasons: First, the NCL Casinos At Sea program seems to be the most rewarding of any of the cruise line casino operations. We're generally extremely pleased with the offers, and the comps, upgrades, and the treatment we receive on board NCL ships.

Second, while there is no direct connection between Caesars and NCL, their close association allows us to work with NCL CAS through our Caesars/Harrah's marketing rep.

Aside from the casino operation, we also have found we prefer the mid-size NCL ships, the great suite perks, and the wonderful staff.

Hi all,

There is not much activity on cruise casinos here, but I do see a few active members. As you can see, I mostly cruise Royal Caribbean, although I am taking advantage of 2 free Carnival cruises this year and will be very open minded about where my loyalties fall. I spend considerable money in the casino whenever I cruise ($5K range). LAst year, I received an $850 rebate which I applied to my Dec 2013 cruise. After last month's cruise, they offered me $250. I am booked on Quantum Dec 2014 which is costing me $6400. A $250 credit is insulting to me. I send them an email confirning this, and got a response that I will post next. What are your thoughts?!

I don't mean to insult you but 5k spent during a cruise is not a lot of money. I know people who spend that in a day.

Can't speak for other cruise lines, but on NCL I've been on more than 10 cruises booked with CAS. I'm playing $5 -$10 craps, $5 - $10 table games; probably average 4 -5 hours of play per day. Never had total losses for a week exceed $3K; generally less. Have had many comped cabins (varies from inside to OV), plus other CAS perks including comped drinks for the every cruise (even under the new program). I agree that there are a few big bettors who spend thousands a day, but my experience is that, if you're budgeting up to $5K a week for the casino, NCL would be happy to accommodate you with various comps - especially after your first cruise. Having been on RCI, Celebrity, Carnival, etc. I can say that the treatment I get from CAS (even for someone whose gambling budget is a few thousand a week) is the reason that I don't even consider other cruise lines any longer. On my upcoming cruise (12 days away!), the comped cabin (for 2) plus the free drinks are probably "worth" something like $2K. I found out long ago that most other cruise lines don't seem to offer much to folks who aren't at the $25 table for at least 6 hours a day; CAS is the way to go in my opinion.

~Bob

Can't speak for other cruise lines, but on NCL I've been on more than 10 cruises booked with CAS. I'm playing $5 -$10 craps, $5 - $10 table games; probably average 4 -5 hours of play per day. Never had total losses for a week exceed $3K; generally less. Have had many comped cabins (varies from inside to OV), plus other CAS perks including comped drinks for the every cruise (even under the new program). I agree that there are a few big bettors who spend thousands a day, but my experience is that, if you're budgeting up to $5K a week for the casino, NCL would be happy to accommodate you with various comps - especially after your first cruise. Having been on RCI, Celebrity, Carnival, etc. I can say that the treatment I get from CAS (even for someone whose gambling budget is a few thousand a week) is the reason that I don't even consider other cruise lines any longer. On my upcoming cruise (12 days away!), the comped cabin (for 2) plus the free drinks are probably "worth" something like $2K. I found out long ago that most other cruise lines don't seem to offer much to folks who aren't at the $25 table for at least 6 hours a day; CAS is the way to go in my opinion.

~Bob

I agree with you, I love NCL. However, I am able to get my rooms comped on Celebrity and Royal by going through a junket. I met the person who referred me to the junket on cruise critic, and at first I was somewhat skeptical, but now that person has become my friend and I have been comped four cruises, one with two with NCL, one with Celebrity and one with Royal Caribbean.

My prior luck booking through Casino Royal and Blue Chip Club was that they would give me rebates of about 700 - 800 for each cruise and that rebate would appear at the casino cage on my next cruise, but I paid for those cruises......

Now I book through the junket, I get free cruises, drink card (but it doesn't matter on Celebrity because I buy a premium alcohol package), a spa treatment or dinner in speciality (at the discretion of the casino host) and a smaller cash rebate taken off my bill......I no longer get the 700 -800 on the next cruise...but in the end I feel I am getting a better overall comp.....an I coming out ahead....HELL NO!!!!!! LOL

I agree with you, I love NCL. However, I am able to get my rooms comped on Celebrity and Royal by going through a junket. I met the person who referred me to the junket on cruise critic, and at first I was somewhat skeptical, but now that person has become my friend and I have been comped four cruises, one with two with NCL, one with Celebrity and one with Royal Caribbean.

 

My prior luck booking through Casino Royal and Blue Chip Club was that they would give me rebates of about 700 - 800 for each cruise and that rebate would appear at the casino cage on my next cruise, but I paid for those cruises......

 

Now I book through the junket, I get free cruises, drink card (but it doesn't matter on Celebrity because I buy a premium alcohol package), a spa treatment or dinner in speciality (at the discretion of the casino host) and a smaller cash rebate taken off my bill......I no longer get the 700 -800 on the next cruise...but in the end I feel I am getting a better overall comp.....an I coming out ahead....HELL NO!!!!!! LOL

Hi we met on the summit cruise that repositioned in San Juan. We had the family aft balcony that was shown during the cabin crawl. How much do you have to guaranty to spend in the casino to qualify on a junket? Is this just for table games or for slots too?. I normally receive $550 - $650 from casino royal, but free cruises and other comps sound much better to me.

I agree with you, I love NCL. However, I am able to get my rooms comped on Celebrity and Royal by going through a junket. I met the person who referred me to the junket on cruise critic, and at first I was somewhat skeptical, but now that person has become my friend and I have been comped four cruises, one with two with NCL, one with Celebrity and one with Royal Caribbean.

 

My prior luck booking through Casino Royal and Blue Chip Club was that they would give me rebates of about 700 - 800 for each cruise and that rebate would appear at the casino cage on my next cruise, but I paid for those cruises......

 

Now I book through the junket, I get free cruises, drink card (but it doesn't matter on Celebrity because I buy a premium alcohol package), a spa treatment or dinner in speciality (at the discretion of the casino host) and a smaller cash rebate taken off my bill......I no longer get the 700 -800 on the next cruise...but in the end I feel I am getting a better overall comp.....an I coming out ahead....HELL NO!!!!!! LOL

Where do you contact a "junket"?