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The True Cost of a Free Cruise with Norwegian Casinos at Sea


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I've booked a free cruise with Norwegian through their Casinos at Sea program. This was part of a promotion from the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, MS. I just want to reiterate that this cruise was not comped based on play on board a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, but was comped based on play in the Hard Rock Casino. We had picked up our certificate at the casino in Biloxi a couple of months ago, and we booked the cruise a few weeks ago by calling the Norwegian Casinos at Sea desk.

 

 

When we picked up our certificate in Biloxi, we learned that players get assigned different "tiers" based on their play. My player (family member) was a T3, and was able to book an outside cabin on many 7-day itineraries, including Europe. As we were standing in line to pick up the cert, we heard other players talking about their certs for inside cabins only. Presumably there are players in different tiers that get offered balconies and suites. My player called Casinos at Sea and told them I had permission to handle the cruise booking for us.

 

 

My first call to Norwegian was to determine which cruises would work with our schedules, and if there were any black-out dates. President's day week, the last week in March, and Christmas/New Years week were blacked out. We decided on a 7-day Mexican Riviera itinerary mid-March out of Los Angeles. I called back to make our booking.

 

 

There are several costs associated with these free cruises. The first is the "non-commissionable fare." This makes up about a third of the cruise base fare. In our case this was $185 per person. The second cost includes taxes and port fees. These were $116.96 per guest. So far our free cruise costs $301.96 /person. Now the hard sell began with the Casinos at Sea representative.

 

 

The first upsell attempt was to get us to upgrade to a balcony room for a few hundred dollars per person. If we did that, we would only have to pay a deposit. If we stayed with the "free" outside cabin, we would have to pay the full fare upfront. I said, "no thank you" and kept the outside room.

Then there was a determined attempt to sell us cruise insurance. When I said "no thank you" again, I was sternly lectured about how I would lose all my money if I had to cancel the cruise. I explained that I had trip cancellation insurance on my credit card (Ink Plus).

 

 

After I declined the insurance the agent tried to sell me some shore excursions, which I declined. I knew that the offer to buy the beverage package would be forthcoming, but I was pleased to hear her offer on this. We were offered a "free" Ultimate drinks (all alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages) package with our casino rate, providing we paid the gratuity up front. If drinks packages are not included in your rate, you can buy a unlimited drinks package for $64/person/day, so the retail value of this for a 7-day cruise is $448. An 18% service charge for gratuities is added to this package which is $80.64. We liked this deal and added this to our cruise. Now the cost of the cruise was $382.60.

 

We will need to fly to LAX from Atlanta. Since our chosen cruise coincided with many colleges' spring breaks, we were not able to get award tickets at "saver" rates. So we're buying round trip transcontinental tickets on Delta for $350/person. I won't add this into my cruise cost, but it's still cash out-of-pocket for us. We will pay $13.50/day each for gratuities, and this will bump our costs up by $94.50 person. Here's a summary of the cost of our "free" cruise, per person.

 

 

cruise fare $185

taxes, fees $116.96

drinks $80.64

gratuities $94.50

total $477.10

 

What would our costs be if we booked the same cruise at the retail rate? I will remove the costs of the beverage package gratuities, regular gratuities, and taxes and fees, since these will be the same no matter what kind of deal we get. The base price of our "free" cruise is $302.

 

 

The price of a comparable oceanview cabin, including the drinks package, is $1000/person as of today. It is possible that this price will drop before the sail date, but as of today, we are getting a $700 discount per person. While not "free" this is a substantial savings, and I'm looking forward to our deeply-discounted cruise.

 

 

Here's the linkie to the original post on my blog: http://www.plane2port.com/the-true-cost-of-a-free-cruise-with-norwegian-casinos-at-sea/

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The amounts seem right to me. I have a person I speak with at CAS regularly, so I don't get "pressure" to do the upgrades, add the excursions, etc. Was this your first time using a casino voucher? It could be that the extra selling was to make sure you were aware of all of your options. Have a great sailing!

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The amounts seem right to me. I have a person I speak with at CAS regularly, so I don't get "pressure" to do the upgrades, add the excursions, etc. Was this your first time using a casino voucher? It could be that the extra selling was to make sure you were aware of all of your options. Have a great sailing!

 

Thanks for the validation on the amounts. This was indeed the first time to use a voucher. I did get a definite "sell" vibe from the CSR but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and just say that they were giving me all the options.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of play are you doing to get the multiple offers?

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  • 2 months later...

I just happened to stumble across this post. We also had a "free cruise" from NCL from our home casino, when I tried to call to ask some questions about it for my husband the rep wouldn't talk to me said he had to call since his name was on the voucher.

 

We did end up taking the cruise and I believe we payed about 900.00 for both of us including prepaying our tips. We had free drinks all week if you got them from the casino. Currently, we have another one from the NCL but have to wait till we get back from our cruise in 2 weeks from Carnival.

 

Now, our current cruise that we are going on in 2 weeks with Carnival is also free from their casino, free interior room with free drinks all week in the casino. For both of us we paid 350.00, added our excursions too and that put us at 750.00 approx. We are avid cruisers and are gold members with Carnival but will go NCL if its with our home casino.

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  • 9 months later...

I play at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, IL. I was given a flyer for a free NCL cruise once I hit their middle player tier. It is the local casino tier, not a NCL casino tier. I called the number and they offered nearly any 7 day cruise for taxes, port fees, and $200 per person in non-commission fare. We selected the Epic at the end of January, and were offered a balcony for no extra charge, and we were told we will get free drink cards for the casino on the ship on day 1. We were also allowed to use a $100 coupon from NCL casinos at sea, for the time I spend at their casino on my last cruise, so they let me apply that to the non commissioned fare. So all in, we paid $750 for 2 adults and one child, for a balcony on a cruise that would have been well over $2k according to their website. Not free at all, but a very big discount. They also let me use my cruise next dollars, and they said that because I booked in 2016 for a sailing by the end of Janaury 2017, I would get another free cruise at the end of January 2017 from my local casino to use by the end of 2017. Not bad at all.

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Dang, that seems like the price of a regular cruise. How do they get away with charging the $185?

 

I believe the 185.00 is for port charges, they are separate from cruise fare, then you also pay taxes and fees, sounds right to me.

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I've booked a free cruise with Norwegian through their Casinos at Sea program. This was part of a promotion from the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, MS. I just want to reiterate that this cruise was not comped based on play on board a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, but was comped based on play in the Hard Rock Casino. We had picked up our certificate at the casino in Biloxi a couple of months ago, and we booked the cruise a few weeks ago by calling the Norwegian Casinos at Sea desk.

 

 

When we picked up our certificate in Biloxi, we learned that players get assigned different "tiers" based on their play. My player (family member) was a T3, and was able to book an outside cabin on many 7-day itineraries, including Europe. As we were standing in line to pick up the cert, we heard other players talking about their certs for inside cabins only. Presumably there are players in different tiers that get offered balconies and suites. My player called Casinos at Sea and told them I had permission to handle the cruise booking for us.

 

 

My first call to Norwegian was to determine which cruises would work with our schedules, and if there were any black-out dates. President's day week, the last week in March, and Christmas/New Years week were blacked out. We decided on a 7-day Mexican Riviera itinerary mid-March out of Los Angeles. I called back to make our booking.

 

 

There are several costs associated with these free cruises. The first is the "non-commissionable fare." This makes up about a third of the cruise base fare. In our case this was $185 per person. The second cost includes taxes and port fees. These were $116.96 per guest. So far our free cruise costs $301.96 /person. Now the hard sell began with the Casinos at Sea representative.

 

 

The first upsell attempt was to get us to upgrade to a balcony room for a few hundred dollars per person. If we did that, we would only have to pay a deposit. If we stayed with the "free" outside cabin, we would have to pay the full fare upfront. I said, "no thank you" and kept the outside room.

Then there was a determined attempt to sell us cruise insurance. When I said "no thank you" again, I was sternly lectured about how I would lose all my money if I had to cancel the cruise. I explained that I had trip cancellation insurance on my credit card (Ink Plus).

 

 

After I declined the insurance the agent tried to sell me some shore excursions, which I declined. I knew that the offer to buy the beverage package would be forthcoming, but I was pleased to hear her offer on this. We were offered a "free" Ultimate drinks (all alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages) package with our casino rate, providing we paid the gratuity up front. If drinks packages are not included in your rate, you can buy a unlimited drinks package for $64/person/day, so the retail value of this for a 7-day cruise is $448. An 18% service charge for gratuities is added to this package which is $80.64. We liked this deal and added this to our cruise. Now the cost of the cruise was $382.60.

 

We will need to fly to LAX from Atlanta. Since our chosen cruise coincided with many colleges' spring breaks, we were not able to get award tickets at "saver" rates. So we're buying round trip transcontinental tickets on Delta for $350/person. I won't add this into my cruise cost, but it's still cash out-of-pocket for us. We will pay $13.50/day each for gratuities, and this will bump our costs up by $94.50 person. Here's a summary of the cost of our "free" cruise, per person.

 

 

cruise fare $185

taxes, fees $116.96

drinks $80.64

gratuities $94.50

total $477.10

 

What would our costs be if we booked the same cruise at the retail rate? I will remove the costs of the beverage package gratuities, regular gratuities, and taxes and fees, since these will be the same no matter what kind of deal we get. The base price of our "free" cruise is $302.

 

 

The price of a comparable oceanview cabin, including the drinks package, is $1000/person as of today. It is possible that this price will drop before the sail date, but as of today, we are getting a $700 discount per person. While not "free" this is a substantial savings, and I'm looking forward to our deeply-discounted cruise.

 

 

Here's the linkie to the original post on my blog: http://www.plane2port.com/the-true-cost-of-a-free-cruise-with-norwegian-casinos-at-sea/

 

You got a great deal.

 

We have never, ever got a hard sell. If you ask, the will offer an upgrade.

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  • 1 year later...

I was offered a Free Cruise,7 days Balcony Statement room, from the Sugarhouse Casino on the Norwegian Cruise Line. I was able to pick exactly where I wanted to be on the ship. I had until 10/2019 to sail. I booked for 11/4/18 which happens to be my Wedding Anniversary and Birthday so why no take advantage of this gift.

 

I called Norwegian as instructed per the cruise card given to me to inquire about the taxes and port fees that I would be expected to pay. I was told to go on NCL.COM and add the cruise date and stateroom of my choice to see what I would be responsible for paying. The total for the cruise that I selected totaled $1,596.66 pp, and I would only have to pay $217.66 pp for taxes and port fees

 

I called to book and was informed I had to pay Taxes, Port Fee and a Administrative fee ($140.00 pp). I didn't know anything about a administrative fee , but ok. Turns out the price was $357.66 pp, still not bad considering the price of the cruise without the Free Cruise Card. Yes, I was offered the travel protection for a additional $31 pp and I took it, declined the upgrade as I already have a balcony. I was able to pick 2 free perks, which I choose the Ultimate Alcohol Package for $124.60 pp for 7 days and declined the other choice. I decided to add my gratuities which was $101.50 pp. So the total amount I paid per person was $614.74, I also have $100.00 on board credit.

 

No matter how we look at it we are on top with a savings of $1,863.80. Which is now spending money for two and we still have the onboard $100 credit :D⛴

Edited by Kreamkandi
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If you enjoy your cruise and think you will cruise with NCL again, look at picking up two CruiseNext certificates on board. For a net $250 you will get $500 in certificates to use on future cruises. If you are booking a balcony (even comped through casino) more than 6 months out you can use two of those certificates towards your admin and port fees. At times they allow you two use the two certs at less than 6 months out. Makes for an even better deal!

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NCL costs alot for a "free"cruise. Plus if you win early on NCL, they hold winnings against you. We were lucky enough to win big early on one cruise, and after 26 comped CAS when we called to book our next cruise, we were told by 3 different people (2 supervisors) that " because we won, we were playing with their money, and can pay for our own cruise" only 20%off. We played a lot, and got enough points to make elevated level with points. We then took a screenshot of a certificate from CAS and sent it to URCOMPED. We have sailed 3times on MSC for free, 1x on RC for just taxes, and just booked MSC for New Year's eve, again free. Try URCOMPED, you cant beat their deals. WE LOVE FREE

Safe sailing

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

what is booking window for the "free NCL" cruise? the wife rec'd one from Hard Rock Biloxi but it's an 8 hour drive for us to go get the certificate...just trying to decide if it's worth the drive...we've already got trips planned for available time-off thru Spring 2020.

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what is booking window for the "free NCL" cruise? the wife rec'd one from Hard Rock Biloxi but it's an 8 hour drive for us to go get the certificate...just trying to decide if it's worth the drive...we've already got trips planned for available time-off thru Spring 2020.

Certificates from CET (Harrah's/Caesars casinos) have to be used by 6 months after pickup. Not sure about Hard Rock but could be the same.

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what is booking window for the "free NCL" cruise? the wife rec'd one from Hard Rock Biloxi but it's an 8 hour drive for us to go get the certificate...just trying to decide if it's worth the drive...we've already got trips planned for available time-off thru Spring 2020.
We just got one from Golden Nugget AC Saturday and we have exactly 2 months to book and one year to sail .I bet each casino is different

 

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NCL costs alot for a "free"cruise. Plus if you win early on NCL, they hold winnings against you. We were lucky enough to win big early on one cruise, and after 26 comped CAS when we called to book our next cruise, we were told by 3 different people (2 supervisors) that " because we won, we were playing with their money, and can pay for our own cruise" only 20%off. We played a lot, and got enough points to make elevated level with points. We then took a screenshot of a certificate from CAS and sent it to URCOMPED. We have sailed 3times on MSC for free, 1x on RC for just taxes, and just booked MSC for New Year's eve, again free. Try URCOMPED, you cant beat their deals. WE LOVE FREE

Safe sailing

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app

We got a lot of free offers from urcomped and especially on MSC the host told me free is really free no charges at all ,they even pay the port charges/ taxes for you. I may use them our next cruise and not even use this certificate.

 

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We got a lot of free offers from urcomped and especially on MSC the host told me free is really free no charges at all ,they even pay the port charges/ taxes for you. I may use them our next cruise and not even use this certificate.

 

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Forums mobile app

 

Do you know how it works if there are more than 2 people in your cabin? TIA!

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Do you know how it works if there are more than 2 people in your cabin? TIA!

 

I am looking at the paperwork I got when I picked up my MSC certificate a couple weeks ago, and it shows EXACTLY what it costs to upgrade to each level and the price for an extra guest. For example, I was comped an interior, and the cost for BOTH (not each) of us to upgrade to outside is $359, all in. It goes up from there, but I like that it's all spelled out unlike NCL where it always seemed to be a mystery. I can verify that there were no additional fees on my previous MSC cruise, although they do require $200 pp additional deposit which they return to you as OBC. FWIW, I loved my MSC cruise.

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