sgvcruiser

Last day on Ruby and receive a come-back-and-sail offer with Princess Plus. Does anybody know if the Princess Plus applied to only me or also to the second adult in the room? p.s. I figured it's a lot faster to ask this forum 😁 instead of waiting till Monday and wait for hours with casino agent.

I think another consideration to put in is the price market for each cruise line. I have better offer from Holland, but I find Princess has better food options - the 24hr International Café and the ability to schedule dining far ahead of the cruise meant we never have to wait too long for food. Having said that, Holland seemed to have bigger room - but then I've only been in Koningsdam so what do I know 😅. I would suggest trying San Diego port too. It's incredibly easy to get to from LA, take the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from downtown, then you can practically walk from the San Diego (Santa Fe Depot) train station to the port.

As far as the discounts, your guess is as good as mine. That's why I started the post with a preface that I received all the offers based on one trip only. There is also post covid need to fill up the ship to consider. Having said that, each offer (they sent through email or snail mail) are valid for 3 trips, but the free play only for one. For example if you are sent an offer of free inside stateroom + $100 freeplay, you can use the free inside stateroom for 3 different sailing, but you will only get the $100 freeplay for the first one. So, if I have more time, I would have been in ship a lot more often since I received at least 10 offers from Princess alone. As for clawback, I doubt they will do that prior to your journey. Now, if I go on all those cruises and I don't play at all, then yes. They will definitely cut down the amount of their offer. Having said that, I don't have to play at all the cruises either, especially since European cruises tend to be very port heavy. My budget is always not to exceed whatever the market price different. There is also the "standard" discount from simply being casino player in Holland America. I believe it's $200 per person for the first 2 occupant. It is offered randomly depends on ship availability. Last, yes the $1300 is basically what shown on my room statement. It's the amount of money I put inside the machine, not the total play. Your comp is actually based on how much money you play, not how much money you put in. That's why they don't care whether you win or loose, you will still get the comp if your play is high enough. Their purpose is not to make you loose because the more time you spend on casino, the higher the chance you will loose. They don't have to make extra effort on that, it's built into the system.

Do you know how much each load/cycle cost?

Here's my experience w/ Princess so far. I paid for 2 cruises one in 2019, another one 2022 summer Alaska. For last Summer 2022, I lost $1,300 in casino. In exchange I receive enough offers for: 1. 2023 - I am booked for 4 cruises (including 12 days British Isle and 11 days new year Caribbean cruise) where I paid $5,037 for the market price of $15,441.04. 2. 2024 - I am also booked for 4 cruises (Mediterranean 21 days, and 35 days Japan) for $4,035 with market price $24,969. Mind that there are 3 of us in one room. Majority of the cost went to the 3rd person because the first 2 occupants are free. So if there is only one or two of you, your cost will be even cheaper. I also upgraded all my rooms for 2023. I have better offers with Holland despite I only sailed with them one time. But I did get lucky and walked off the ship with $1,050 winning plus all my specialty restaurants meal (5 times for 3 people) were reimbursed. There was also unlimited drink available when I was in Casino which I didn't use since I don't drink alcohol. With their offers afterward, I am booked for 2 Norway Fjord cruise and 1 Alaska cruise that cost me $4,235 with market price $17,908. All for 2023 summer. I have not received any interesting offers from Holland since, but I expected that it will show up after I finish my first Fjord cruise in summer. Does playing in Casino pay off? Yes, if you know what you are doing. As you can see, I meticulously track my money going in/out and how much I pay. I only play slots and I very rarely bet more than $3 a hand. Having said that, I agree with others that point out if you are not used to gaming the system with land-based casino (which tend to be more generous), I would not advise starting with cruise casino. Check out this post for another perspective https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/how-to-gamble-on-a-cruise-to-unlock-perks/

My apology. I jumped to the last part. Mtn2Sea answer is the most definitive one.

It's "refunded" to the credit card on file.

We will be sailing Norway Fjord this summer for 3 weeks in Rotterdam. Just want to know if the casino will be open when we are scenic cruising the fjords. Thanks!

Just tried it right now. I have one offer from the mail and several online, they are expired tomorrow. I decided to take a chance and do it online since I won't have the time to wait for an hour on call with the casino rep. Booked 2 btb for Sun Princess Europe summer 2024, turned out they did apply one of my offer correctly. My guess is they applied the same offer to these bookings so I only have 1 free play, but free room on both. I'll take it for now especially if that means I can do the booking during my leisure instead of fighting on hold forever...

My rule of thumb is to gamble no-more than the cost of the comped cruise. When you have a casino invite, often times you will still have to pay (port & fee, upgrade, etc) Whatever money I save from using the comp vs out-of-pocket, is my limit.

Hi, we are currently casino players with Holland and Princess, looking to expand our options. Which other cruise line is more generous in your experience?

Prices assuming standard casino offer. If you call them, you should be able to get the free room. I just booked for Alaska yesterday.

Depends on the type of the OBC. Some will allow you, some will not.

A bit hijack here. I am looking into Premier Inn County Hall, is there anyway we can do laundry nearby? We will be going on 2 weeks cruise after and would rather go into the ship with a luggage of clean laundry. I mean if we have to, we can do it on the ship but I think in-land would be easier and cheaper.

Same here. The FCC and casino offers have not shown up for the last one week.

Just to piggy back on this topic. This will be our first HAL and San Diego cruise and we are given 12.50 boarding. Would it be better to show up later like 2 pm instead?

I have some gift-card from Holland that I would like to use on board. Does anybody know how to do this? Thanks!

Happened to me before. Problem was in my name spelling, one booking did not have the correct spelling so Princess automatically flag it as a different person and assigned a new Captain Circle number. I called my TA and asked her to put in my Captain Circle manually. If you call Princess, they can also "merge" the two accounts.

First time booking our casino offer and just want to know if using Casino Offer cruises count in climbing up Captain Circle?