Casino offers - No wonder we get confused

[HELENPSL]

8 hours ago, Sherry H said:

So Paul, I went to the HAL website and can't figure out how to get to the $200 OV fares?

Did you login in to your account?  If the casino offer is there it will show the $200 fare.

Helen

[rodndonna]

10 hours ago, Laminator said:

Here are the only numbers I care about. FREE Neptune Suite for me. FREE Neptune Suite my wife. on this particular cruise that adds up to over $18,000 saved.

 

Sadly I'll never know, but, if I was getting $18000 of free rooms, whether it is $100 or $200 OBC for the room would not be of any concern for me. 😃

[NCTribeFan]

I always keep the original email offer from HAL and put it in my email folder along with my booking confirmation.  I also always check with the casino club to confirm the offer shortly prior to sailing and print that response to take with me, just in case.

 

All my casino offers are "only" for free insides until just recently, when I started getting free OV.  Personally, I prefer an inside to a window.  I wake very early when there's any light seeping in.

 

Leaving next Wednesday on an Alaska B2B.  By the time I added Club Orange and HIA, it wasn't so free any more.  Let's not talk about the airfare cost!  Still, much less than if I was paying rack rates.

 

Will go check the January sailing I've been thinking about and see what comes up.

[rochelle_s]

10 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

I always keep the original email offer from HAL and put it in my email folder along with my booking confirmation.  I also always check with the casino club to confirm the offer shortly prior to sailing and print that response to take with me, just in case.

 

All my casino offers are "only" for free insides until just recently, when I started getting free OV.  Personally, I prefer an inside to a window.  I wake very early when there's any light seeping in.

 

Leaving next Wednesday on an Alaska B2B.  By the time I added Club Orange and HIA, it wasn't so free any more.  Let's not talk about the airfare cost!  Still, much less than if I was paying rack rates.

 

Will go check the January sailing I've been thinking about and see what comes up.

Hi Joan,

 

Hope  you have a wonderful time on your cruise and may the tables be really good to you, so much so you never need to sit at a slot machine unless you want to! 😁

 

Rochelle

[DaveOKC]

34 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

I always keep the original email offer from HAL and put it in my email folder along with my booking confirmation.  I also always check with the casino club to confirm the offer shortly prior to sailing and print that response to take with me, just in case.

 

All my casino offers are "only" for free insides until just recently, when I started getting free OV.  Personally, I prefer an inside to a window.  I wake very early when there's any light seeping in.

 

Leaving next Wednesday on an Alaska B2B.  By the time I added Club Orange and HIA, it wasn't so free any more.  Let's not talk about the airfare cost!  Still, much less than if I was paying rack rates.

Sometimes free is not really free!  I have experienced situations where using my casino discount rate along with all the perks at the time and being able to select my own cabin (plus no stockholder credit), was almost the same as accepting the free cabin offer, giving that I had to upgrade myself.  So, keep this option in mind.

[kangforpres]

12 hours ago, HELENPSL said:

Did you login in to your account?  If the casino offer is there it will show the $200 fare.

Helen

  

Helen-

 

I will try to post a screen shot. 

 

[kangforpres]

Well that didn't work. Just log in and go to the first screen of available cruises don't selected any destination. the 2nd cruise on my first line shows a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on 10-22 for $200. That is the casino offer fare. Click it to see what and upgrade is. Remember the $200 fare becomes a $200 OBC so you are only paying taxes and fees to cruise if you choose a $200 cabin.

 

-Paul 

[kangforpres]

I want to do the 9 day Canada and East Coast, Montreal to FLL on the Volendam on 10/1/2022.  I haven't gotten permission from wife to book yet. Maybe Fla-gal can help explain the numbers to her.

 

Attached is the PDF list of cruises. 

 

-Paul

HEP2226CO_SAILINGS_USD.pdf

[kangforpres]

Sorry it's the Zaandam on that cruise

 

[Laminator]

5 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

Sadly I'll never know, but, if I was getting $18000 of free rooms, whether it is $100 or $200 OBC for the room would not be of any concern for me. 😃

There were previous posts in a thread where pax were saying that whatever deposit put down would be applied to OBC and would show up on your account in your stateroom on embarkation day. I have never once had any OBC on my account. The only reason we went through this accounting exercise is the friends we have in our cabins with us insisted on reimbursing us for the deposits and port fees/taxes. It's their 40th anniversary cruise. I didn't want to charge them anything. We just found it odd that there were 2 different scenarios for getting your deposit reimbursed for the same casino offer. 

[HELENPSL]

6 hours ago, kangforpres said:

I want to do the 9 day Canada and East Coast, Montreal to FLL on the Volendam on 10/1/2022.  I haven't gotten permission from wife to book yet. Maybe Fla-gal can help explain the numbers to her.

 

Attached is the PDF list of cruises. 

 

-Paul

HEP2226CO_SAILINGS_USD.pdf 188.89 kB · 16 downloads

I received a casino offer in April with a different code but it also included the 9 day Atlantic Coast cruise on the Zaandam.  I just logged into my account and it shows $200 for an inside or ocean view cabin.  My experience on these cruises has been that the cabin will be a guarantee status and cabin will not be assigned until right before the cruise and could be anywhere on the ship.

Helen

[VennDiagram]

22 hours ago, Laminator said:

Here are the only numbers I care about. FREE Neptune Suite for me. FREE Neptune Suite my wife. on this particular cruise that adds up to over $18,000 saved.

 

Wow, that's amazing.  Congratulations!  (Yeah, I am feeling more than a twinge of jealousy, but still, good for you 👍 )

 

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by VennDiagram

[Torquer]

@LaminatorThat is truly an amazing offer...I never heard of Neptune Suites being comped by the casino....and 2 of them at that.  I have to ask the question, and you are certainly free to simply not answer if it is too personal:  how much money do you gamble on a typical cruise to get that kind of comp?  A ballpark figure of how many digits in the number is fine with me.

 

Congratulations on your good fortune...you hit the jackpot the instant you embark on the cruise with an offer like that!

[Laminator]

19 minutes ago, Torquer said:

@LaminatorThat is truly an amazing offer...I never heard of Neptune Suites being comped by the casino....and 2 of them at that.  I have to ask the question, and you are certainly free to simply not answer if it is too personal:  how much money do you gamble on a typical cruise to get that kind of comp?  A ballpark figure of how many digits in the number is fine with me.

 

Congratulations on your good fortune...you hit the jackpot the instant you embark on the cruise with an offer like that!

Not as much as I used to. I think I have been grandfathered in as I have been going on these events for 14 or 15 years now. These used to be invitation only with an email from a casino host that only handled these events. But to give you a general idea the cost of the cabin on HAL's site is $9018 or somewhere close to that. I look at it if I lose $9 grand I am even. And if I lose a few grand more I am ok with that. They also give my wife and I a significant amount of casino cash to start. To lose that amount of money takes quite a bit of time which helps with my rating for time played in the casino. I firmly believe I have put enough time and money in to earn the Neptune Suite. I am quite surprised at the amount of casino cash they give me. 

[kangforpres]

So far the Casino Cabins I've booked are guaranteed HH (Fully Obstructed by a life boat) and a VH ( partial obstructed verandah)  I've always gotten the guaranteed cabin category or better when assigned.

 

-Paul

Edited May 26, 2022 by kangforpres

[Laminator]

16 minutes ago, kangforpres said:

So far the Casino Cabins I've booked are guaranteed HH (Fully Obstructed by a life boat) and a VH ( partial obstructed verandah)  I've always gotten the guaranteed cabin category or better when assigned.

 

-Paul

We always get an SC guaranty. I love the aft wrap balcony's so I call my PCC and pay the small upcharge to upgrade. She does have to jump through a few hoops as she has to call the casino division for approval. Since the casino division pays their share immediately I also have to pay my portion immediately. So if the cruise is 6 months out I have to pay my share in full at that time. My share is never much more than the deposit would be anyway so it's not that big of a deal anyway. 

[DaveOKC]

8 hours ago, Laminator said:

We always get an SC guaranty. I love the aft wrap balcony's so I call my PCC and pay the small upcharge to upgrade. She does have to jump through a few hoops as she has to call the casino division for approval. Since the casino division pays their share immediately I also have to pay my portion immediately. So if the cruise is 6 months out I have to pay my share in full at that time. My share is never much more than the deposit would be anyway so it's not that big of a deal anyway. 

Interesting.  I have tried this and been told that I could not upgrade my SC - I even tried buying Club Orange to accomplish this but to no avail.  Do you mind sharing how much HAL wanted to upgrade (and how long the cruise was)?    

[Laminator]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Interesting.  I have tried this and been told that I could not upgrade my SC - I even tried buying Club Orange to accomplish this but to no avail.  Do you mind sharing how much HAL wanted to upgrade (and how long the cruise was)?    

On the upcoming June 5th cruise for 7 days it was $329 per pax on the Rotterdam. A SC Neptune Suite includes Club Orange so I am not sure why you would try and purchase it. My wifes SC Guaranty was upgraded to an SA yesterday at no additional cost. My PCC always says just wait and you will be upgraded for no cost but we really love those aft wrap suites.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Laminator

[DaveOKC]

11 minutes ago, Laminator said:

On the upcoming June 5th cruise for 7 days it was $329 per pax on the Rotterdam. A SC Neptune Suite includes Club Orange so I am not sure why you would try and purchase it. My wifes SC Guaranty was upgraded to an SA yesterday at no additional cost. My PCC always says just wait and you will be upgraded for no cost but we really love those aft wrap suites.

Thanks for the information.  The reason I tried to purchase Club Orange was to use it to get my SC moved up to a specific cabin. but they would not let me.

[Laminator]

17 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Thanks for the information.  The reason I tried to purchase Club Orange was to use it to get my SC moved up to a specific cabin. but they would not let me.

It shows in the offer upgrades are available and to contact your PCC. I have never not been able to upgrade to an aft wrap. I don't understand why you ae having an issue.
 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Laminator

[DaveOKC]

18 minutes ago, Laminator said:

It shows in the offer upgrades are available and to contact your PCC. I have never not been able to upgrade to an aft wrap. I don't understand why you ae having an issue.
 

I suspect it is due to the inexperience of my PCC - not pushing the issue enough!

[rochelle_s]

So if I understand this correctly;

 

If you receive an email offer with a free cabin you will be given a guarantee cabin in the category offered and you should be able to pay for an upgrade or pay for Club Orange in order to to choose a particular cabin up to the best available in that category.

 

If you receive a Come Back and Play offer you can pick your cabin. I was able to make a slight down grade on the one offer I received so far but, for future reference, is it possible to upgrade on a Come Back and Play offer?

 

Rochelle

 

 

[Laminator]

7 minutes ago, rochelle_s said:

So if I understand this correctly;

 

If you receive an email offer with a free cabin you will be given a guarantee cabin in the category offered and you should be able to pay for an upgrade or pay for Club Orange in order to to choose a particular cabin up to the best available in that category.

 

If you receive a Come Back and Play offer you can pick your cabin. I was able to make a slight down grade on the one offer I received so far but, for future reference, is it possible to upgrade on a Come Back and Play offer?

 

Rochelle

 

 

I can't help you here as I have never booked a come back and play offer as they are never as good as the email offers I receive.

[DaveOKC]

11 hours ago, rochelle_s said:

So if I understand this correctly;

 

If you receive an email offer with a free cabin you will be given a guarantee cabin in the category offered and you should be able to pay for an upgrade or pay for Club Orange in order to to choose a particular cabin up to the best available in that category.

 

If you receive a Come Back and Play offer you can pick your cabin. I was able to make a slight down grade on the one offer I received so far but, for future reference, is it possible to upgrade on a Come Back and Play offer?

Sounds like you have it correct.  One thing to add, with the email free cabin offers you generally do not get any perks (like free crew incentives, shore excursion discounts, etc) and you cannot use your stockholder credit.  To be clear, some people get free drinks while in the casino while others get a free Signature Beverage package.

 

On one recent cruise I got so many perks with my booking using the casino discount rate that it ended up costing only a bit more than if I had gotten the free cabin email, so always do your due diligence before booking.  The discount rate approach also has the advantage that it is refundable (prior to final payment date of course), you can book further out than the free cabin deals, and it most times applies even to the more popular cruises that may not be on the free cabin offer list.

 

Keep in mind that my comments only apply to my situation (small time player), as the more you play the better offers you get.

 

[keeponcruising]

I have a question about casino offers.  I booked a fall cruise a couple of weeks ago under the offer.  I wanted to book another fall cruise and they are all gone.  Do they remove them from you once you book one?  Anyone else not seeing the offers for the fall Caribbean cruises now?