Offers received from Club Royale (Royal Caribbean)

[OHCruisinDad]

My wife and I both received our 2022 tier cruises as well.  We will likely use them next February or March when we coordinate with cruising friends who are e Prime for this year.

[SWACruising]

We just booked our first "free" cruise. It was for an inside but since this was an Alaska cruise we wanted a balcony. Difference in price online between inside to balcony was about $1100. The charge to upgrade our inside to balcony was $600 total. Was planning on having to pay the rack rate difference and was pleasantly surprised that the casino upgrade price was less.

[EZ1]

On 4/16/2022 at 4:23 PM, NRWPA said:

I got excited when I read this until I saw the discount is for purchases of $2000 or more 😞

Yes, saw the small print also afterwards. I first was thinking that this was to replace the free art that was ended so fast after last Sept. But the art was free up to $1,000 for signature, & $2,500 for masters, no purchase required. They probably lost a lot with that promotion.

[Daghis]

It was a brief period when the art was free with no minimum purchase required. When I sailed over Labor Day week, I was told that they would honor the value that I'd seen on the web but that going forward, it was with a minimum purchase of $2,000 (for Signature at least). It disappeared not long after that, so I don't know how many people actually had the $1,000-off-$2,000+ offer.

[AlohaLivin]

On our sailing last week I accumulated 1600+ points and was awarded a free Oceanview balcony! However, I need a little help understanding the restrictions and details though and would appreciate any assistance!

* There is no expiration date is listed, but assume the end of September 2022 for both the free cruise and the $400 option… correct? 
 

* The host on Symphony told me that a new cruise list was due out very soon and that I would be eligible for those new sailings - is that true? I have seen posts suggesting that the currently free cabins are all taken, so I just need to understand what is possible.

 

* I have seen conflicting info on status length - if I reach Prime on our next sailing in August 2022, will I retain that status through April 2023 or April 2024?

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by AlohaLivin

[RFerrington]

YIPPEE !  Congratulations !

 

As for expiration date, hmmmm....  Nothing listed on the website so I really have no idea when it will expire.  Di you get an actual piece of paper ?  Does it say anything about expiration on that ?

 

You should be able to see your list of applicable cruises by clicking on "view itineraries".  When I click on that link on my PC, I get an over-sized page that is hard to read...but I can use the side-to-side/top-to-bottom slider(s) to finally see which sailings the cert applies to.  Annoying at hell though...

 

If the casino host said that the new list would include your cert then I guess you have to believe that.  That has been rather hit-or-miss in the past, but my experience is that they are usually pretty lenient with that and usually allow your cert to apply to a new list.

 

Whatever points you earn from 1 April 22 - 31 March 23 will determine your status for the casino year 1 April 23 - 31 March 24.  So basically, you are earning points now, for next year.  If you make Prime (or higher !!) anytime between now and the end of next March, you will be that tier level until 31 March 2024.

[Daghis]

The cruise certificate that one would get at the end of a cruise after earning a sufficient number of points during a sailing required that it be used to book a (new, probably) cruise within 30 days. I don't know whether that carried over to the new way they're doing per-cruise certificates.

[AlohaLivin]

37 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

YIPPEE !  Congratulations !

 

Thank you 😊 The list shows cruises from April to September, but shows only the offer number at the top (no expiration). And you are right, that format of the cruise list is crazy! Would the potential new list show up on that same site or would I need to try to locate it?

 

Good news on the length of the prime, I would expect the next cruise to reach it and glad to know that it will last a bit longer than from 8/22 to 3/23! 🥳

 

@Daghis thank you for that info! That is a rather crucial bit of information that they didn’t bother to provide! Since we’ve already got six booked in the future I’m not sure how it looks to book another one within 30 days; hopefully some of these others have open availability! It’s not really a free cruise if there’s no or few rooms available (especially since we aren’t in retiree world yet).

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by AlohaLivin

[RFerrington]

1 minute ago, AlohaLivin said:

 Would the potential new list show up on that same site or would I need to try to locate it?

That's a good question.  I truly do not know.  Back in the before-times, you would usually have to "find" a list of the applicable cruises which wasn't always an easy thing to do.  Who knows how it will work now !  Good luck and again - Congratulations !

[Daghis]

2 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

@Daghis thank you for that info! That is a rather crucial bit of information that they didn’t bother to provide! Since we’ve already got six booked in the future I’m not sure how it looks to book another one within 30 days; hopefully some of these others have open availability! It’s not really a free cruise if there’s no or few rooms available (especially since we aren’t in retiree world yet).

 

Just to clarify, in case there was confusion, the 30-day clock is only for booking.

 

Now, as far as availability, I suspect that the cruises on these lists are the ones that have extra capacity that Casino Royale are able to get at a discounted rate and offer to the players. I've even seen cruises over holidays (Labor Day last year on Oasis of the Seas was one) show up on such lists and I've booked them.

[EZ1]

12 hours ago, Daghis said:

It was a brief period when the art was free with no minimum purchase required. When I sailed over Labor Day week, I was told that they would honor the value that I'd seen on the web but that going forward, it was with a minimum purchase of $2,000 (for Signature at least). It disappeared not long after that, so I don't know how many people actually had the $1,000-off-$2,000+ offer.

We were on Allure in Sept & my husband gave his art offer to a friend also on the ship. His friend had his own $1,000 signature amount & also used our $2,500 masters amount. He paid 0 for all the art he got! He didnt have to pay anything.

[EZ1]

7 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

On our sailing last week I accumulated 1600+ points and was awarded a free Oceanview balcony! However, I need a little help understanding the restrictions and details though and would appreciate any assistance!

* There is no expiration date is listed, but assume the end of September 2022 for both the free cruise and the $400 option… correct? 
 

* The host on Symphony told me that a new cruise list was due out very soon and that I would be eligible for those new sailings - is that true? I have seen posts suggesting that the currently free cabins are all taken, so I just need to understand what is possible.

 

* I have seen conflicting info on status length - if I reach Prime on our next sailing in August 2022, will I retain that status through April 2023 or April 2024?

 

Since Dec'21, we've been getting our free cruise paper in our cabin on the first day of our next cruise, based on previous play (instead of on the last day as was before) It's for a cabin in the next 5 months on various ships.& free play. They are also giving us the option of booking during the cruise at nextcruise, to get an extra $500 freeplay (if get $8,000 pts during the cruise). Since we have a bunch already booked, we are going to nextcruise, & upgrading the cruises we already have to that newer offer, of a better cabin & more freeplay.

[AlohaLivin]

40 minutes ago, EZ1 said:

Since Dec'21, we've been getting our free cruise paper in our cabin on the first day of our next cruise, based on previous play (instead of on the last day as was before) It's for a cabin in the next 5 months on various ships.& free play. They are also giving us the option of booking during the cruise at nextcruise, to get an extra $500 freeplay (if get $8,000 pts during the cruise). Since we have a bunch already booked, we are going to nextcruise, & upgrading the cruises we already have to that newer offer, of a better cabin & more freeplay.

Thanks for that info. Is this for the annual prime cruise?

[EZ1]

Just now, AlohaLivin said:

Thanks for that info. Is this for the annual prime cruise?

No, this is for your bounce back offer for each cruise you do (based on your casino play for the week)

[AlohaLivin]

1 hour ago, EZ1 said:

No, this is for your bounce back offer for each cruise you do (based on your casino play for the week)

We are already booked on one of the cruises listed, but my TA said we could not get the cert applied without essentially rebooking (and with it losing the pretty good price we got on our GS and also losing the double points promo 😞)

[EZ1]

21 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

We are already booked on one of the cruises listed, but my TA said we could not get the cert applied without essentially rebooking (and with it losing the pretty good price we got on our GS and also losing the double points promo 😞)

You should then use it on a new cruise. In the small print, it also says you can use it for money off, up to a year on any cruise, except for holidays, etc.

We did lose the first offer by cancelling, but the newer offer was a better cabin

(balcony to jr suite) & more free play. Actually double pts stayed the same, since jr suite gets double anyway). We did the 8 nite gs back in Dec, & got the 32 pts. But we had to cancel the 7 nite gs in March (husband tested positive), which would have been 28pts, Oh well.

[sunnydaysmile]

On 4/24/2022 at 7:36 PM, EZ1 said:

Since we have a bunch already booked, we are going to nextcruise, & upgrading the cruises we already have to that newer offer, of a better cabin & more freeplay.

Be careful - In Feb, I received the same offer.  I was told by next cruise to cancel the original booking and rebook new offer.  When I received the invoice, they applied the dollars off instead of the free cabin as there were no casino cabins open, and I had a $5000 balance.  Fortunately, I found out while I was on the cruise and asked them to give me my original booking back - took days and finally the casino host was able to rebook cruise with original offer.  Lesson learned to never cancel a booking.

[lazydayz]

Has anyone had success upgrading a free casino cruise using a FCC?  

[Daghis]

Yup, I'm pretty sure we've done that once or twice. I'd been comped junior suites lately and we'd been upgrading them to grand suites. On at least one occasion, possibly two, we used an FCC from a 2020-cancelled cruise to pay for the upgrade. I had to wait about a month to get a replacement FCC for the remaining balance.

[EZ1]

6 hours ago, sunnydaysmile said:

Be careful - In Feb, I received the same offer.  I was told by next cruise to cancel the original booking and rebook new offer.  When I received the invoice, they applied the dollars off instead of the free cabin as there were no casino cabins open, and I had a $5000 balance.  Fortunately, I found out while I was on the cruise and asked them to give me my original booking back - took days and finally the casino host was able to rebook cruise with original offer.  Lesson learned to never cancel a booking.

Havent had any problems like that. Have now done 2 new cruises, & 2 rebooked cruises with nextcruise. I always go to the next cruise office(better to see them in person) early in the cruise. I tell them which cruise I want, & what cabin,(the nite before, I go online & see what cabins are open) & they do a hold booking. Then I can call from the cabin phone, no chg, thru guest services, the land casino line to cancel my original bking (refund of the port chgs) Then I go back to the next cruise office, where I give them my Visa # to book the cabin on hold. I always ask for an print out, 1st of the hold reservation, then of the payment booking. In several days, the land casino will remove the cabin costs, & email the updated confirmation. The latest time, they did not any jr suites left, so I went (down grade) with a big balcony cabin. 2 days later, the next cruise agent sent me a newer email, with a jr suite, I guess one opened up!

[adidas5676]

The only offers we have received for $100 off certificates for April and May.  Do they send free cabin offers for Choice players?

[JessyCruises]

3 hours ago, adidas5676 said:

The only offers we have received for $100 off certificates for April and May.  Do they send free cabin offers for Choice players?

My mother and sister are both Choice and they periodically get comp offers.

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, adidas5676 said:

The only offers we have received for $100 off certificates for April and May.  Do they send free cabin offers for Choice players?

 

Once I got one when Choice, but it was during the Empress Cuba debacle. They were giving anyone a free cruise. Been Prime since 2019 and have never received a free offer othet than annual reward. 

 

No love for those of us that earn our status 100 points at a time😉

[EZ1]

48 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Once I got one when Choice, but it was during the Empress Cuba debacle. They were giving anyone a free cruise. Been Prime since 2019 and have never received a free offer othet than annual reward. 

 

No love for those of us that earn our status 100 points at a time😉

Yep, remember the Empress offers well. That year we we were on 3 free sailings of Empress, starting in July soon after it was brought back. Started back too early(In May) & heard the ship had all types of problems, like plumbing, a/c, etc.

For us in July, there were fans all over the casino, as the a/c there wasn't working. But the crew & the service was wonderful, made up for the old ship. They even gave us free wine sometimes at dinner, & every night free soda at dinner. The 2 other offers was because the trips to Cuba were delayed(so still Caribbean), because another ship had brought neurovirus there. 

[Sunshine3601]

We continue to receive new offers every Monday.   Decent lists.    Just booked another for December.    Very nice clubroyale rep gave us a free upgrade to a large oceanview balcony instead of standard balcony that was offered.  Additional savings of $288.   

I still have $500 FCC I have to use by 12.31 so will look at booking one of the offers for October to Canada and use the FCC to upgrade.