Q about select sailing CAS mailers

[cdnsteelman]

I recognize there are a number of ways people earn CAS booking opportunities. This question is specific to the mailers NCL CAS sends out from time to time for specific sailings only... I assume these are targeted primarily at those (like me) who play a fair amount on one or two sailings a year but not enough to move beyond ~Pearl status annually. I'll be taking advantage of my first of these mailer offers on an upcoming Dec 5 Epic sailing.

 

All of the mailers I receive seem to be for specific Caribbean sailings - more specifically Western Caribbean. Has anyone received these mailers with itineraries in other regions (i.e. Europe, Mexican coast, Panama Canal, etc)? I suspect not as my guess is they use these mailers to fill undersubscribed sailings but I'd appreciate any insight as I'd LOVE to score a CAS deal that goes to some ports I've only done once or twice. Guess I could just gamble more but then I wouldn't have the money to pay for the next cruise 😉 Such a fine balance LOL

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by cdnsteelman
fix typo and remove double photo

[poohdreaming]

There are times where they do offer cruises to other places/ports. But mostly cruises to the Caribbean / to Bahamas.

One of my friend do gamble, she only play the slot machines and does not gamble a lot. She wanted to go on a cruise to Europe. NCL said she did not have enough points/credits to go, but can only select cruises (to the Caribbean/to Bahamas or to Bermuda). She selected to go to Bermuda. Depending on your credits, you would be offered different types of room. If you gamble less, you would start off on a inside room. Of course you can upgrade to another type of room, but you would need to pay for it out of pocket. Comp. cruises is not totally free as you would need to pay the admin fee, the port taxes and the dsc charge. Think of it as saving some costs.

[Pappion]

I only get offers for the Caribbean from ncl directly.  My land based casino I get offers for Mexican riviera or Alaska as well as Caribbean. 

[BirdTravels]

On 11/18/2018 at 12:06 PM, cdnsteelman said:

I recognize there are a number of ways people earn CAS booking opportunities. This question is specific to the mailers NCL CAS sends out from time to time for specific sailings only... I assume these are targeted primarily at those (like me) who play a fair amount on one or two sailings a year but not enough to move beyond ~Pearl status annually. I'll be taking advantage of my first of these mailer offers on an upcoming Dec 5 Epic sailing.

 

All of the mailers I receive seem to be for specific Caribbean sailings - more specifically Western Caribbean. Has anyone received these mailers with itineraries in other regions (i.e. Europe, Mexican coast, Panama Canal, etc)? I suspect not as my guess is they use these mailers to fill undersubscribed sailings but I'd appreciate any insight as I'd LOVE to score a CAS deal that goes to some ports I've only done once or twice. Guess I could just gamble more but then I wouldn't have the money to pay for the next cruise 😉 Such a fine balance LOL

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

If you are a rated player with CAS (and you are), you can call them up and ask about a room on any itinerary (e.g., "Hi, this is Steelman, I would check on what you can do for me on the Escape on 11/24") (have your latitudes number). Base on your play, they will tell you what they can comp on that cruise. On a "cheap" Caribbean cruise, you can likely get a comp'ed inside room. On an expensive Alaskan cruise, you may get a steep discount. It never hurts to call and see what they will offer. Never limit yourself to the mailers. 

[bam1957]

I choose which sailing I'm interested in and call them and ask what can they offer me. I never take the offerings that come in the mail. I'm going on Bliss December 8th. Although it's a Caribbean cruise it's a new ship so no mailers were sent out for it. I then upgraded to the cabin that I wanted. So, to me I got a good deal.

[cdnsteelman]

Thank you both for the insight - when I was on the phone booking my Dec 5 sailing with CAS I did ask what else was available to me and they said just the upcoming mailer. Perhaps I'll call back and try again with a different agent.

 

Cheers,

Jeff

[fstuff1]

12 minutes ago, cdnsteelman said:

Thank you both for the insight - when I was on the phone booking my Dec 5 sailing with CAS I did ask what else was available to me and they said just the upcoming mailer. Perhaps I'll call back and try again with a different agent.

 

Cheers,

Jeff

how did you find out you got a free cruise on the Epic for dec 5?

and when did you receive your jan/feb/march mailer?

Edited November 20, 2018 by fstuff1

[cdnsteelman]

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

how did you find out you got a free cruise on the Epic for dec 5?

and when did you receive your jan/feb/march mailer?

The Epic 10 day was booked off a mailer I received in Sept / Oct and the mailer above arrived ~10 days ago.

Edited November 20, 2018 by cdnsteelman
typo

[lindseylu8]

all of our CAS offers have different varieties. We see European itineraries and Mexican Rivera in addition to the usual Caribbean. We did the ABC islands on our last CAS and our upcoming one is Eastern Caribbean. 

[2NOLAcruisers]

My Cas offer comes through a land based casino. This year the offer has San Juan, Alaska, Canada/New England, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. Everyone I spoke to while picking it up had the same itineraries. The only thing that changed was cabin class based off of casino play. 

 

Last year the Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, and European cruises were offered. 

 

How did you get an offer directly from NCL? Did you call and ask for one? 

[cdnsteelman]

2 hours ago, 2NOLAcruisers said:

How did you get an offer directly from NCL? Did you call and ask for one? 

If you look at my first post you'll see the two side of a direct mailer I received from NCL CAS. That's how I get my offers. The one pictured is a more recent one and the one I booked off of came a couple of months ago. I get these NCL CAS mailers every couple of months or so and I also receive non-CAS NCL direct mailers fairly frequently too but they aren't necessarily for special offers, more just direct marketing of what's on the website at a given time.

 

I assume the mailers come to me as a rated player in the actual ships casinos (could also be influenced by my Platinum Plus Latitudes status)... I am a lower rated player (Pearl... the second tier). I don't play in land-based casinos... it's a cruise ship extravagance for me... mostly poker and slots.

 

While I recognize there are many different offer sources, it is these kinds of NCL CAS direct mailers I'm particularly interested in hearing about from others as I'd like to learn if they ever feature a variety of itineraries. I've had some much-appreciated and helpful guidance through this thread to just call CAS and ask about specific sailings, which I will absolutely do.

 

I appreciate you all taking the time to read and comment.

 

Best,

Jeff

 

 

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, 2NOLAcruisers said:

My Cas offer comes through a land based casino. This year the offer has San Juan, Alaska, Canada/New England, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. Everyone I spoke to while picking it up had the same itineraries. The only thing that changed was cabin class based off of casino play. 

 

Last year the Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, and European cruises were offered. 

 

How did you get an offer directly from NCL? Did you call and ask for one? 

If you have ever sailed and gambled on NCL, you can call CAS directly to see what the can offer you on any cruise (except Hawaii). If you are a “good” casino guest, CAS will comp rooms up to suites while your land based casinos offer you based on your land play (normally the cheapest room).