Very Low Carnival Rewards?

[qturbo]

Hi all, new here and I'm wondering if my experience is normal or if I'm missing something.

 

I like to gamble on vacations and decided to give cruising a try as an alternative to Vegas.  I'm a sucker for slots.

 

I picked Carnival mostly for the port proximity and racked up 10k-ish points on the first cruise.  Didn't lose horribly but didn't end up in the black either. Got a DOU card and some wine but nothing else onboard.  On the last day I received a 50% off INSIDE stateroom discount for another cruise. 

 

Not really my bag, I like balconies but figured I had a few more vacation days so I repeated a cruise and this time won quite a bit and of course, put it all back in.  Up around 14k points this last time, only I didn't realize until the second go that Carnival resets your points total each cruise.  Lots of hand-pays though.

 

Same offer.  No recognition and nothing spectacular, just 50% off an inside.  Oh, wait, I got cookies this time.  They weren't great.  I still ate them. 🙂

 

This seems odd to me compared to Vegas where the level of slot play which puts me on a host's radar and generates free stays and free play offers far, FAR more attractive.

Is this in line or do I have a bad host on the ship or something?  Apples and Oranges maybe, this isn't Vegas and they don't comp like vegas?

 

So confused, any insights would be most welcome. I love ships, was just trying to combine passions. 😞

Edited March 4, 2019 by qturbo

[Port of Tampa]

Completely agree...have done nineteen cruises with carnival and used to get great free cruise bounce back offers with drinks on us card waiting.  Last few were discounted interior cabin and like you we only do balcony so up grade cost were on us.  Am trying URComped for the first time this May on RCCL got balcony cabin drinks in the casino for both of us and only paying taxes and port fees for grand total of $162.  Taking a break from carnival maybe they will realize they should treat their loyal gamblers better or they will lose them.

 

Cheers and good luck.

[oxymoron11]

I agree with Port of Tampa. My husband and I both gamble on cruises and have cruised Carnival exclusively for several years because they appreciated our play. I think they have miscalculated in reducing offers and going with premier type cruises. Carnival has pushed me to try new cruise lines via UrComped, we have 2 RCCL cruises coming up from mine and my husbands offers. We are also doing a couple of land trips this year. I like that Royal lets you accumulate points in one year for their perks and also is upfront about what perks you can receive. I am looking forward to expanding my cruise horizons, thanks Carnival!

[johnny75]

Carnival used to be our go to cruise line to gamble.

But, they make us pay for the room.

Premiers are nice but gifts have been junk.

And still have to pay for the room!

Tried RCCL and NCL last year really like them.

 

Royal is the best .

 

Free rooms and drinks.

 

NCL is a little less generous.

 

Tried Celebrity, never again . The casino sweats the money and it shows.

 

When will Carnival start giving back some free rooms for players?

[ajtaylor29]

We're also formerly loyal to Carnival, but due to diminishing offers we're trying HAL and RCCL this year through URComped. Better offers by far. I think Carnival is going to regret how many players they're losing, but maybe they don't need us after all?!?!

 

[LaCal]

We use to cruise Carnival a lot but their casino offers got insultingly low so jumped ship back to NCL 

 

Now I get Free Balconies each cruise 😃 from NCL 

 

Also check out Urcomped.com 

 

Great Company and you Input casino offers you’ve gotten and they get you Comped or Discounted cruises on Royal, Holland, Celebrity, MSC and more 

 

Going on our first comped cruise through them to Cuba in May

[Casino Player]

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Fellow gamblers:  We go on trips that we want to go on.  Have no interest in going someplace we don't really want to go to just because of a discounted or comped room.  Get invites for specialty restaurants, comped.  Get bottles of wine, comped.  Get stuff sent to stateroom, comped.  Lately have gotten bookings thru casino.  Discount.  Never thought of a cruise as a way of getting totally comped for doing something we like to do.

[clcjdn]

I started on Carnival in the early 2000s.  We would get DOU card, Premier offers, comp rooms once in a while (as in pay tax only, so like $75 total for 2 in a balcony).  The issue I ran into was I had to fit into their schedule.  At that point, I jumped over to NCL.  Had to pay for the first one, but was able to do a Kids Sail Free, so took the whole family on a 10 day for about $1500.  After that, the NCL 'comps" started.  We can go NCL still for about $600 for 2 of us (includes tips for drink package) on most any sailing they have.  I have noticed they are raising limits for Theo/Actual loss over the last handful of years.  I have been comped anything from an inside all the way up to the Spa Suite level.  In the end, I look at the dates I want to go, figure out if kids are coming (17,17,14 now so not really kids anymore) and then look for the best deal.  Usually that has been NCL, but this summer it actually worked out to a Carnival Premier sailing.

 

As for the bigger question, these ships are nowhere near Vegas for comps.  Also, be careful how you practice money management.  We play 3-10 play $0.25 Video Poker mainly, so we get a fair amount of tax forms.  I have found on NCL, that if you get a W2G, they do not include that in your "actual" loss calculation if you play it back.  I have learned to put that money in the safe, and just stick to my budgeted amounts.  

 

Hope this helps!

[Jzx1103]

Try RCL, based on what you wrote, I definitely don't come close to gambling the amount you do but havnt paid anything but taxes and port charged our last 4 cruises. Thing with Royal is, not only do you accumulate points over an entire year. But outside of that guaranteed free cruise you get for being a Prime member or higher. We also got free cruise offers by mail from club royale that's separate. 

[oxymoron11]

We just returned from our first UrComped cruise, 5 days on the Brilliance out of Tampa. Lovely ship, some nice wins! and we each made Prime so we receive 2 comped cruises, anytime except holidays, plus 2 free cruises for our play and free drinks on all cruises for the next year. We will continue to book with UrComped because they give excellent service and nice upgrades from our current offers. 

Carnival's current paltry offers can't compare and their secrecy about comps drives me crazy. I recently got a call from my Carnival rep with better offers but no free cabins, just casino cash or fun play only on certain dates. If I did inside cabins it would be a good deal but my hubby wants balconies and no deals for them.

Next up is Allure of the Seas in August and I am looking at Harmony for October. I won't mention my other 2 land trips or you might think I have a gambling problem. 😉

[Sand and Seas]

We haven't cruised on Carnival in the last 15 or so years and yet Carnival has been sending me emails 4 or 5 times a week.  Offers like "Free Inside Cabin" , or "$500 Free play and $300 off Casino rates".  I came here to read what recent cruisers think of Carnival and their casinos.

 

I think I'll just stick with my free Spa Balcony or Large Balcony offers from NCL.  They have been very consistent with what they give me.  There is an Admin Fee of $20 per person/per day but we are OK with that.  And since I've achieved Tier status in their casinos, each cruise I start with $400 of onboard credit, 250 minutes of wifi and some other perks.  I like being able to count on what they will offer me.  As soon as I get home from a cruise I just call and book another.  (Currently have four future cruises booked.)

[ToroAzul]

On 4/8/2019 at 2:19 PM, oxymoron11 said:

We just returned from our first UrComped cruise, 5 days on the Brilliance out of Tampa. Lovely ship, some nice wins! and we each made Prime so we receive 2 comped cruises, anytime except holidays, plus 2 free cruises for our play and free drinks on all cruises for the next year. We will continue to book with UrComped because they give excellent service and nice upgrades from our current offers. 

Carnival's current paltry offers can't compare and their secrecy about comps drives me crazy. I recently got a call from my Carnival rep with better offers but no free cabins, just casino cash or fun play only on certain dates. If I did inside cabins it would be a good deal but my hubby wants balconies and no deals for them.

Next up is Allure of the Seas in August and I am looking at Harmony for October. I won't mention my other 2 land trips or you might think I have a gambling problem. 😉

Sidebar: we sail on Indy in two weeks via a urcomped.com offer. Care to share how many points/coin in you accrued over those five days? We are hoping for a bounce back offer. Feel free to PM me. Thanks. 

 

ETA: wife did $6000 coin in on carnival liberty last week (4 day and we had the kids with us) and all she got were cookies delivered to the room. Drink on Us was no biggie since we had the cheers package. 

Edited April 12, 2019 by ToroAzul

[oxymoron11]

14 hours ago, ToroAzul said:

Sidebar: we sail on Indy in two weeks via a urcomped.com offer. Care to share how many points/coin in you accrued over those five days? We are hoping for a bounce back offer. Feel free to PM me. Thanks. 

 

ETA: wife did $6000 coin in on carnival liberty last week (4 day and we had the kids with us) and all she got were cookies delivered to the room. Drink on Us was no biggie since we had the cheers package. 

Edited 14 hours ago by ToroAzul

 

I accrued around 4900 slot points, my husband had around 2700 slot points.He played table games also so I don't know how many points he accrued there. I played on winnings until the fourth day, DH came home up almost $3000. The payoffs were early in the cruise. The ratings on table play can vary so you should ask the pit boss or host daily (or more) for your point total.

 

$5 in equals 1 point on slots but you will win some so putting winnings back in counts. I can't give you an amount that we played as we have a gambling budget and we did not use it all this time (we have gone over our budget a few times) but $6000 actual loss should have gotten you more than cookies.

 

On RCI you get a free inside cabin for 2400 on limited cruises. 2500 points gets you another free inside cabin on any cruise except holidays.  Points accumulate from April 1 to March 31 every year so more points gets you better cabins. From what I understand, UrComped will try to upgrade any offers you receive.

 

I hope you enjoy Royal as much as we did. I won't return to Carnival unless I get an offer I can't refuse and I am not holding my breath on that happening.