It's no secret that you can get a free cruise if you gamble enough on a Royal Caribbean cruise, but what are the ways to make it easier to earn perks and lose less money?
Ever since I was introduced to the lucrative offers you can get simply by playing in the ship's casino, it's changed how I cruise and I firmly believe saved me money.
Sure, gambling is risky and addictive. And there's a good chance you'll lose a lot of money. I've never lost sight of that fact, and it's something my wife and I think about when we go into any cruise. Please gamble responsibly.
I find the casino to be a form of entertainment. I bring a certain amount of cash with me on a sailing that is my gambling budget, and work with that.
While we have fun gambling and trying our luck, the possibility of winning a free cruise is very real and I've taken a number of cruises now that cost me very little.
I'm going on Enchantment of the Seas this week for a 4-night sailing in a balcony for just $170.30 total. To be clear, that $170.30 does not include how much I lost in the casino to earn the "free" cruise, but I'm pretty certain I'm coming out ahead.
A user on the Royal Caribbean sub reddit posted a list of tips he uses to get free cruises, and I thought it was a great assortment of advice for newbie.
Z3Ch0sen0ne is a self-described "unlucky as a....#$%^ when it comes to the casino. I thought his advice is useful given he's not coming at it from a best case scenario of winning big in the casino.
Both he and his wife have achieved Prime status in the casino, reaching the second level of loyalty status that grants significant benefits.
Here are the 10 casino tips in his post that you might consider taking advantage of on your cruise.
Don't play table games if you want to earn points
He starts off with the sage advice for anyone looking to get as many points as possible of avoiding table games.
"Playing on the tables is probably the worst way to accumulate points. The math is complex and unknown to most people - something to do with time played multiplied by average bet and/or how much money you sit down with and then walk away with."
Instead, he recommends slot machines for their simplicity as well as faster method for earning points.
You'll earn one point for every $5 you wager, and because slot machines are digital, it can precisely track your play.
Convert cash before you cruise
As an Australian, Z3Ch0sen0ne advises anyone going on Royal Caribbean from outside the United States to exchange cash before the cruise.
"If you intend to convert money onboard... don't! You will get ripped 6 ways till Sunday," he claims.
What you want to do is convert your cash before you board the ship.
If you forget or run out of cash, his other advice is to charge your gambling to your onboard account, "and let your bank handle the exchange rate."
Calling to book is sometimes confusing
Redeeming your instant casino vouchers can be confusing if you reach a person who isn't familiar with the program.
"When you call to book in a cruise with your instant cruise vouchers and get told you can’t do that over the phone. Say ok, hang up and call them again because you’re talking to the wrong person."
Yes, you can combine a casino offer with Next Cruise
Another stumbling block Z3Ch0sen0ne has run into is misinformation about booking with Next Cruise onboard your ship and getting those benefits.
"If you get told you can’t combine a Next Cruise booking and a casino offer (yes I have been told this). Hang up the phone and call again."
My advice is don't even bother calling directly. Our friends at MEI Travel will book casino bookings for you, as well as regular bookings, with no fees!
Check your offers first, then play
I really like this piece of advice to verify what your goal is before you start gambling.
He recommends going straight to the casino on the first day and scan the QR code at the casino host desk to see which offers they have, and how many points you need to accrue.
"This is your spending limit. I have refused to play at all in the casino on cruises which didn’t have any offers I wanted - because otherwise they win."
Prime is the best status to reach...
Unlike Crown and Anchor Society, where everyone wants to reach the top levels, he doesn't see a point to go past Prime.
"Unless you get a massive windfall and love cruising and have nothing but time on your hands for holidays - Prime is about as good as you can get."
"The Cost/Benefit drops off significantly after prime for losers like me."
...instead, get your spouse to Prime too
Rather than get to Signature or Master, his advice is to get your spouse/partner to Prime status.
He doesn't see the value in just maximizing one of you, "It’s significantly better and cheaper to get yourself and your partner to Prime than it would be to get just one of you to Signature."
You can combine offers
According to Z3Ch0sen0ne, it’s possible to combine Prime offers or instant cruise certificates that coincide with your partners prime offers or instant cruise certificates to get an upgrade to a maximum of a Junior Suite.
Here is his example:
For instance a 7 night cruise leaving Brisbane in a balcony with $250 freeplay for me and a 7 night cruise leaving Brisbane in an interior room with $100 of freeplay for her can be combined to get a Junior Suite and all of the attached freeplay.
This can work with interior/interior to get an oceanview, or oceanview/oceanview to get a balcony or balcony/balcony to get a junior suite… so on so forth.
He added that offers must be identical, "the same ship, same date… They don’t have to be identical in terms of the rooms offered to get the upgrade."
Once again, his advice is if you call to combine offers and get told you can't do it, to call back again and talk to someone else.
Try to qualify for prime right after April 1st
To get Prime status in the casino, you need to qualify for it each year. It's similar to airline or hotel loyalty status.
The calendar year for Casino Royale begins April 1st and runs through March 31st. If you accumulate 2,500 points across all your cruises in this time period, you'll get Prime Status for the year.
His advice is if you qualify immediately after the year starts, you can get two years for one.
If you accumulate 2,500 points on the 10th of April 2025, for example, you will get an instant cruise offer... then on the 1st of April 2026 you will "officially" become prime for that year and get a free 7 night cruise offer on Club Royale.
So if you get all your points in April, you have prime for 24 months.
If you don't spend in the casino after that, you got 2 free cruises from it (the offers will come 1 year apart) and free drinks in the casino the whole time. You could almost repeat this every 24 months.
I can verify this does work, it just requires you to cruise close to April and benefits those that cruise multiple times per year.
You can look up offers online too
Earlier, Z3Ch0sen0ne posted about going to the casino desk to check casino offers, but another Reddit user shared a hack for finding the offers online without being on a ship.
oOoOsarahOoOo posted the steps how to do it:
- Try going to the Club Royale offer website
- Click menu top left of the page
- Click certificate offer code
- Enter code (2501C03)
Code break down:
- First two 2 digits = year
- Second two digits= 2 digit for month
- Alpha code= A, C ( C includes longer cruises)
- Last two digits 01-05 =level of offer/ free play For example
January 2025 offer on 7+ day trips with 150.00 free play would look like: 2501c05. Same level with less than 7 day trips 2501a05
