Winning a cruise in the casino question

[RCI Cruisers 004]

hello, we aren’t gamblers so I’m at a loss here, but my question is based on a coworker who says his wife has won their last 4 cruises by gambling in the casino. He won’t tell us the details but says she uses her own money so he doesn’t know for sure how much she spends to get their free cruise but he says they only pay taxes and port fees once their actually cruise. Does anyone have any experience with winning cruises and if so, what are the actual costs. Like I said, we don’t gamble so this is all new to us, but I can’t help to think if it’s that easy and cheap, everyone would be doing it instead of just booking a cruise the old fashioned way. TIA

[tinatark]

You "win" a cruise in the casino by winning a slot/blackjack/poker tournament.

 

The Casino can award cruises based on your play.

 

Still have to pay port charges and gratuities, along with fees to upgrade if you want a different cabin than awarded to you.

[Albertacruisers55]

you don;t win a cruise by just going to the Casino they have to accumulate lots of points on your seapass card and that costs money. I know people that have spent enough to get the cruise. Strange they always tell you how much they win but not what they lost. The odds in those casinos are not in your favor.

[aubreyc1988]

so, it really just depends...I have a friend who won a jackpot of 3k on a cruise, put another 1k through machines, and got enough points for a cruise...but it really depends on your luck and your coin in. Kinda hard to explain to a non gambler, but it is possible she didn't lose too much money to get them...but general consensus is that if you are getting a free cruise, you gambled a substantial amount...my husband and I, combined, got 400 points last cruise and lost about 600.00 or so...which was pretty bad, never got a good hit and couldn't play through most of my money. Casino points are based on your coin in, money you play through. RCI does 1 point for every 5.00 Coin in on slots, and 1 point for every 10.00 coin in for Video Poker...table games are rated by bet amount per hand and time spent at tables. So by RCI calculations, I played through over 2k (had some Video Poker in the mix and some table games) but my loss was actually 600. Ive done MUCH better at different casinos both on land and on sea, so it really does depend from visit to visit.

 

on Freedom, they wanted 2400 points for a complimentary cruise offer to be delivered to my stateroom. But yesterday I got an emailed casino offer valid for certain sail dates...so it just depends..the casino is complicated, but you are right in the sense where no one usually is ever ahead