"Free Room" offer

[EngIceDave]

12 minutes ago, WKUTopperFan said:

I have stuck with Carnival exclusively due to the free suite offerings  and the like (Elite sailings, DOU Everywhere, etc) until I discovered UR Comped about 8 months ago. I shared with them my comp offerings from Carnival and they matched me with offerings from other cruise lines. I sailed in a comp Sunset Veranda for a week on Celebrity Apex Thanksgiving week all inclusive (drinks, gratuities, WIFI). I'm now getting free room offers from Celebrity directly. I also have a booked comped Junior suite on Royal in May through UR Comped to give Royal a try again on a big ship.

 

That said I'm still cruising Carnival. I have a comp suite this month on Horizon with DOU Everywhere and free play and doing a Comped suite in Europe this summer with DOU Everywhere with a little less free play on the Pride. The casino always wins though... they get their money back plus some. I think Carnival has the most generous offerings for their gamblers for casinos at sea; however their method is not spelled out clearly like other lines. 

I worked with UR Comped a few years ago when they were kind of new, and had a great time. Only stopped because I couldn't fit it all in with work.

 

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, resetjet said:

Thats not completely correct.  Carnival you fill out a form on their website and they will status match any casino. Holland america does it too. They let you do this match one time in your life.  I am on the pride right now because of this.

Can't be a status match because Carnival Ocean Players Club does not offer status.  

[pandncruisers]

They do status match with land based  casinos.  We booked a suite with free drinks and free play just paying port fees and taxes after submitting proof of our status of a land based casino.

[SailawayKC]

I got upgraded to Platinum based on my land base casino play. It was a free cruise and they upgraded to VIPP since I was a top tier land casino player. I've never heard of anyone else getting this but I like the Platinum benefits.

[txcruiser1234]

2 hours ago, SailawayKC said:

I got upgraded to Platinum based on my land base casino play. It was a free cruise and they upgraded to VIPP since I was a top tier land casino player. I've never heard of anyone else getting this but I like the Platinum benefits.

 

First I've heard of this.. did not know they did that. Do they just award you the requisite 75 VIFP points for Platinum to work from to get to Diamond?

 

After the points were added to my VIFP from my last cruise, this message appeared near the top of my VIFP account "Benefits" page:

 

"All that glitters isn't gold, or even platinum. Because you're at the top of the VIFP Club, and that means you've got your own toll-free number for sales & service."

 

Thought I might have been magically transported to Diamond - even though I'm more than 100 points short. But, alas, when I checked in for my next cruise later this month, my boarding passes still say Platinum.. the message is still there, though, just an odd messaging glitch in the system.

[mondello]

11 hours ago, Mic101680 said:

Well aware of this, and this was not the case when I first started receiving the free room offers. They were simply free room with OBC. No free drinks, nothing in the terms, descriptions, or offer codes indicating they were from the casino. I've also never been to an MGM casino on land.

I do get the casino offers from time to time now that I have actually spent money in the casino onboard, and those offers have been nowhere near as good as the free room offers.

Seems to me that Carnival really rolled out these offers after the Covid restart. I’ve been booking “free” cabins Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer the past 2 years.

[mz-s]

4 hours ago, mondello said:

Seems to me that Carnival really rolled out these offers after the Covid restart. I’ve been booking “free” cabins Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer the past 2 years.

 

They want known spenders on their ships right now...best spenders they have are casino guests. They may not buy the photos or excursions but they definitely spend big money in the casino. A busy casino attracts casual gamblers to stop by on the way to supper etc who spend even more...it's a good strategy.

[Joebucks]

19 hours ago, mz-s said:

The real fun comes when you cruise for free (minus tips and taxes as you mentioned) and get free drinks and funplay credits in the casino - you literally get paid to cruise...

 

I always get a chuckle out of this:

Plane and taxi: $500

Port taxes, fees, gratuities, included drinks: $500 (on an original bill of $2500)

Gambling: $2500

 

 I can't believe they are just giving this away!

[SailawayKC]

7 hours ago, txcruiser1234 said:

 

First I've heard of this.. did not know they did that. Do they just award you the requisite 75 VIFP points for Platinum to work from to get to Diamond?

 

No I only have 43 points after taking four more cruises but I'm Platinum. It's a long time before I will make Diamond. 

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

I always get a chuckle out of this:

Plane and taxi: $500

Port taxes, fees, gratuities, included drinks: $500 (on an original bill of $2500)

Gambling: $2500

 

 I can't believe they are just giving this away!

if you’re spending $2500 over your fun play then yeah I see your point…that’s often not necessary to continue receiving these offers however. 

[hard_eight]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

I always get a chuckle out of this:

Plane and taxi: $500

Port taxes, fees, gratuities, included drinks: $500 (on an original bill of $2500)

Gambling: $2500

 

 I can't believe they are just giving this away!

No plane or taxi when you live in FL.

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

I always get a chuckle out of this:

Plane and taxi: $500

Port taxes, fees, gratuities, included drinks: $500 (on an original bill of $2500)

Gambling: $2500

 

 I can't believe they are just giving this away!

For most people that take comped casino cruises the calculus is a fully comped cruise allows one to take the funds that would have gone for the regular cruise cost portion and devote that toward gambling. Most gamblers would say their gambling budget is the same whether the cruise was comped or not, thus a comped cruise puts gamblers ahead of the proposition. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by kwokpot

[resetjet]

16 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Can't be a status match because Carnival Ocean Players Club does not offer status.  

Well maybe status match is the wrong word. Eveything with carmival is secret.  Royal is very transparent.  On royal you know your status.  My wife did it and got better offers,  i got lesser,  but we both got free rooms.  Only using our royal status.  So lets call it free room

match with dou and freeplay.  

[Earthworm Jim]

5 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

They want known spenders on their ships right now...best spenders they have are casino guests. They may not buy the photos or excursions but they definitely spend big money in the casino. A busy casino attracts casual gamblers to stop by on the way to supper etc who spend even more...it's a good strategy.

 

Do all these comped casino offers mean the casinos are busier now than they were pre-Covid?

[Earthworm Jim]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Most gamblers would say their gambling budget is the same whether the cruise was comped or not, thus a comped cruise puts gamblers ahead of the proposition. 

 

That assumes you would have still taken the cruise if it wasn't comped. If you only went because it was free, perhaps you would have stayed home and not gambled at all. (Though there's certainly plenty of ways to gamble from home, so maybe you'd have still spent the gambling money at home too)

[kwokpot]

52 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

That assumes you would have still taken the cruise if it wasn't comped. If you only went because it was free, perhaps you would have stayed home and not gambled at all. (Though there's certainly plenty of ways to gamble from home, so maybe you'd have still spent the gambling money at home too)

Unlike 25-30 years ago when Vegas and Atlantic city were the only places to gamble in the US there's gambling in almost every state except a few. And now there's online gambling and sports betting via smartphone. The statement I made applies to regular and/or frequent gamblers who instead of a comped cruise would be getting comped hotels rooms with freeplay and meals fully paid for with accumulated and/or resort credit offers. In our case in Philly there's two casinos within the city and Atlantic City is 1 hour away. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by kwokpot

[Earthworm Jim]

8 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Unlike 25-30 years ago when Vegas and Atlantic city were the only places to gamble in the US there's gambling in almost every state except a few. And now there's online gambling and sports betting via smartphone. The statement I made applies to regular and/or frequent gamblers who instead of a comped cruise would be getting comped hotels rooms with freeplay and meals fully paid for with accumulated and/or resort credit offers. In our case in Philly there's two casinos within the city and Atlantic City is 1 hour away. 

All true. But it still depends on whether one would have gambled some other way had one not been on that comped cruise. 

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Do all these comped casino offers mean the casinos are busier now than they were pre-Covid?

 

Seems to be, yes. On my last cruise - middle of September 2022 so not peak travel season or anything, if you didn't start playing blackjack right after supper you had to wait for a seat at the table. There were always slots available but perhaps not the game you want. And roulette/craps were just as busy as blackjack. This was on Sunshine which has a fairly large casino for the size of ship.

[Joebucks]

2 hours ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Do all these comped casino offers mean the casinos are busier now than they were pre-Covid?

 

On my Celebration cruise last month, I have never, ever seen such a consistently busy casino.

[luvs2beachit]

On 2/10/2023 at 3:12 PM, Chelle111213 said:

Thank you all so much!! NOW I'm really excited about going!! Anyone else going on the Venezia? 🙂

I have three cruises booked on Venezia.  First one is in June and is an Elite cruise and the other two are in Sept. Canada and Carib.

Very excited about being on this new ship!

Judie

[nycruise1]

On 2/11/2023 at 2:40 AM, txcruiser1234 said:

 

First I've heard of this.. did not know they did that. Do they just award you the requisite 75 VIFP points for Platinum to work from to get to Diamond?

 

After the points were added to my VIFP from my last cruise, this message appeared near the top of my VIFP account "Benefits" page:

 

"All that glitters isn't gold, or even platinum. Because you're at the top of the VIFP Club, and that means you've got your own toll-free number for sales & service."

 

Thought I might have been magically transported to Diamond - even though I'm more than 100 points short. But, alas, when I checked in for my next cruise later this month, my boarding passes still say Platinum.. the message is still there, though, just an odd messaging glitch in the system.

Never noticed this before but looked after reading your message and I have the same thing even though still platinum, must be a glitch in the system:

All that glitters isn't gold, or even platinum. Because you're at the top of the VIFP Club, and that means you've got your own toll-free number for sales & service.

[EngIceDave]

20 hours ago, kwokpot said:

For most people that take comped casino cruises the calculus is a fully comped cruise allows one to take the funds that would have gone for the regular cruise cost portion and devote that toward gambling. Most gamblers would say their gambling budget is the same whether the cruise was comped or not, thus a comped cruise puts gamblers ahead of the proposition.

This is correct.

 

We would spend the same money anyway, difference is I get to use that money as entertainment, because gambling for me is entertainment.

 

[dbrucern]

On 2/10/2023 at 1:56 PM, Chelle111213 said:

I have been getting emails for years now (literally) with offers for "free rooms"  (just port fees and taxes)...well, I have never really looked at any because always thought they were not "free".  But for kicks and giggles yesterday I went on to my account and clicked the email and off to the Carnival site.  I just put in the info just to see if it really was "free".  Well, to my surprise I was able to get a Aft Balcony for "free"...just had to pay the port and taxes, plus I added the gratuities.  I still think it's too good to be true.  I even called to pay for it versus the website to ensure it was! 🙂 Anyone else ever gotten this??? I do spend a lot of time in the casino on the ship and here at home 🙂 

 

[txcruiser1234]

1 hour ago, nycruise1 said:

Never noticed this before but looked after reading your message and I have the same thing even though still platinum, must be a glitch in the system:

All that glitters isn't gold, or even platinum. Because you're at the top of the VIFP Club, and that means you've got your own toll-free number for sales & service.

Always good to know it's not just us!

[trburks]

On 2/12/2023 at 11:17 AM, dbrucern said:

 

Yes, we are doing the freebie in Oct.  Some of the choices were amazing; such as a 22-day out of Australia.