Casino Premier Cruise Cuts

[DallasGuy75219]

I've done lots of Casino Premier cruises but until last week on the Valor hadn't been on one since 2018.  I was shocked at all the cuts:

 

• Gone is the welcome gift bag.  You now get a welcome note with your lanyard and DOU card stuffed inside, along the schedule of casino events....
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• ... from which all the Premier promotions/events have been cut except the Premier slot tournament on the last day.  With that exception the only casino events were the ones held on any other regular cruise and open to all players.  Not even a snowball raffle anymore, for either Premier guests or all players.
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•  
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• No more welcome reception or late night snacks in the casino.

 

Overall, the casino seemed less busy then I've seen on any prior Premier cruise.  I myself earned substantially fewer points than I normally would without the special events to bring me back to the casino.  The Premier slot tournament only had about 8 qualifying rounds; not sure if people just didn't care or hadn't earned enough points, but I suspect the latter.

 

The Premier cruises were one of the last things keeping me loyal to Carnival, but there's not much reason to book them when the only differentiators are the DOU from the beginning and the Premier slot tournament on the last day.  I can get the same amount of casino cash with a Dealer's Choice offer on just about any sailing.  And for the same spend that used to get me a DOU card at the beginning of my next Carnival cruise, I can earn Prime status with Royal Caribbean with free drinks in the casino and free cruise offers in the year I qualify plus the following year.

[coevan]

is this your day to research Carnival cuts? 

[sc4125]

Was this a Premier or a Getaway Cruise?  It looks like the welcome note you showed was a Getaway note.  I have been on Premier cruises every year & will be going on another next month on the Breeze.  There have always been the Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, Premier Check In and many special drawings for Premier guests.  I have the mailer for the Sept. Premier I'm going on, and it lists all of the above.

 

The Getaway Cruises are different than Premiers.  They give a certain amount of Free Play, Drinks on Us, and maybe, like you stated, a few special drawings.  They don't have the welcome aboard cocktail party or the special early check in.

 

Sounds like you may be confusing the two - Getaway and Premier.

[DallasGuy75219]

3 minutes ago, sc4125 said:

Was this a Premier or a Getaway Cruise?  It looks like the welcome note you showed was a Getaway note.  I have been on Premier cruises every year & will be going on another next month on the Breeze.  There have always been the Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, Premier Check In and many special drawings for Premier guests.  I have the mailer for the Sept. Premier I'm going on, and it lists all of the above.

 

The Getaway Cruises are different than Premiers.  They give a certain amount of Free Play, Drinks on Us, and maybe, like you stated, a few special drawings.  They don't have the welcome aboard cocktail party or the special early check in.

 

Sounds like you may be confusing the two - Getaway and Premier.

I'm not confusing the two.  I've done Premiers from 4 to 8 days.  The 4- and 5-days Premiers (now called Getaway) used to have all the same perks as the longer cruises (except less cruise cash and obviously fewer special drawings/events due to fewer days on board).

[Elaine5715]

8 minutes ago, sc4125 said:

Was this a Premier or a Getaway Cruise?  It looks like the welcome note you showed was a Getaway note.  I have been on Premier cruises every year & will be going on another next month on the Breeze.  There have always been the Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, Premier Check In and many special drawings for Premier guests.  I have the mailer for the Sept. Premier I'm going on, and it lists all of the above.

 

The Getaway Cruises are different than Premiers.  They give a certain amount of Free Play, Drinks on Us, and maybe, like you stated, a few special drawings.  They don't have the welcome aboard cocktail party or the special early check in.

 

Sounds like you may be confusing the two - Getaway and Premier.

I believe this is correct

[Danica Babaz]

Like DallasGuy75219, I booked this same "Premier Cruise".  I have other cruises booked as a Getaway cruise and was not a Getaway cruise this.

This Premiere cruise was a bit underwhelming. We got the few inexpensive gifts in the room each day(towel, cookies, water). We had DOU from the beginning. There was not welcome aboard party. The only exclusive events for the Premier guests were a slot & blackjack tournament. 

[lazydayz]

We have a Premier coming up at the end of September. If Carnival handles that cruise this way, we won't spend much time or money in the casino. 

[sc4125]

2 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I'm not confusing the two.  I've done Premiers from 4 to 8 days.  The 4- and 5-days Premiers (now called Getaway) used to have all the same perks as the longer cruises (except less cruise cash and obviously fewer special drawings/events due to fewer days on board).

I didn't realize they were the same.  I've never done a 4 or 5 day Premier cruises.  On my casino offers I've never seen 4 or 5 day Premier cruises, they've always been 7 day or longer.  So, have they just renamed those to Getaway cruises?  I just thought they were two totally different types of casino offers.

[DallasGuy75219]

They used 

6 minutes ago, sc4125 said:

I didn't realize they were the same.  I've never done a 4 or 5 day Premier cruises.  On my casino offers I've never seen 4 or 5 day Premier cruises, they've always been 7 day or longer.  So, have they just renamed those to Getaway cruises?  I just thought they were two totally different types of casino offers.

They used to be all called Premier cruises and had similar perks and special events/drawings, regardless of the number of days. 

 

Not sure if changing the name to Getaway is Carnival's excuse for cutting most the perks and special events/drawings on the shorter cruises, or if there are similar cuts on the longer cruises that are now called "Premier", but I don't intend on booking another Premier to find out if the latter is the case.

[DallasGuy75219]

5 hours ago, coevan said:

is this your day to research Carnival cuts? 

Do you have a problem with factual posts about the realities of today's Carnival experience?

[schittenden]

I have taken a Getaway cruise in the last (2017). We received all of the perks of a premier including the drawings and cocktail party. 

[spyingeyes]

Probably our last 15 cruises have been Premier/Ultra. They USED to be really great and they USED to make us feel at least a little appreciated. Like the OP has stated, they are not very good now and the perks are pretty weak. Our next cruise with Carnival isn’t until January and we’ve purposefully booked a non-premier cruise (although they seem to make many of the cruises premier nowadays, so it’s always possible this changes). But we are actually looking forward to going on a regular cruise for a change. I can get a lot better return on investment and comps with any of the nearby land based casinos. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by spyingeyes

[pe4all]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:30 PM, spyingeyes said:

Probably our last 15 cruises have been Premier/Ultra. They USED to be really great and they USED to make us feel at least a little appreciated. Like the OP has stated, they are not very good now and the perks are pretty weak. Our next cruise with Carnival isn’t until January and we’ve purposefully booked a non-premier cruise (although they seem to make many of the cruises premier nowadays, so it’s always possible this changes). But we are actually looking forward to going on a regular cruise for a change. I can get a lot better return on investment and comps with any of the nearby land based casinos. 

I had also booked a non-premier cruise, as I find the casino too crowded on a premier cruise.  Last week my January (Dealer's choice) cruise was "changed" to a premier.  I noticed this by accident as I was looking to book another cruise.  I called up my pvp who switched my booking to Premier.  Besides the party, gifts, drink card, etc.,  I am getting $1500 on my card to gamble with.  As the cruise only cost me $1400- and that included my pre-paid gratuities-  it was a no-brainer in my mind to stay on as a premier guest.  And I agree that land-based casinos give better comps than CCL does now.

[lottiegreen56]

Was on the same cruise, it was like the casino people weren't even trying. We booked a different offer because it was the same price and had double the OBC/Freeplay. We are on a non-premier this week on the pride and it is infinitely better. I do think Royal is stepping up their game a bit on the offers to compete for people like my family who have done 80% carnival the last 5 years due to the offers. I'm just scared of doing one of the newer ships on Royal. It seems like they are difficult to navigate and almost too much going on. Will prbably have to see for myself soon!

 

[CRUZN-IS-FUN]

So I have also done many premier cruises and a couple of getaways.  Have a regular cruise booked in January and then the Vista in April.  My April cruise just got listed as a premier.  I am presently booked in one of the four Havana Vista suites and have purchased a drink card.  I called yesterday to have my totally refundable suite changed to a premier so that I can receive the casino credit and participate in the fun casino stuff.  I was told by two different casino representatives that the Havana suites are specifically not included in the premier promotion.  I was not asking for any price reduction and have the drink package.  They will not honor the premier for me on that cruise with any casino credit, etc.   So my point to them was, I can book the same cruise in an inside cabin for say $500 and receive all of the perks, but my nearly $5,000 cabin doesn't qualify?  What horrible business practice.  At this point, I will be far less inclined to spend time in the casino and will hang out with my free drinks in the havana area instead.  Totally ridiculous.  (I am also a platinum member, so I have spent a lot of time with them).  

[Are.we.there.yet?]

We sailed on the Premier in August on the Splendor.  Our host did a great job making us feel special and treated us to a few nice things but we did notice a change in the program.  The Snowball drawings that were specifically for the Premier players was gone.  No drawing at the cocktail party to start things off.  We did have Fireball a few times but that's open to all players.  

 

Overall, we had a good time and received nice bounce back offers but we spent a lot of time in the casino and spent way more money than usual.  Our last Premier was really fun with all of the drawings and they had refreshments set-up in the casino.  This Premier was kinda boring and the casino was packed.  The cruise cash was nice to have... it made our cruise free but in the end, our cruise was far from free.  Will we do it again?  I don't know.  Our next cruise will hopefully be a non Premier.

 

 

 

 

 

[sgttami]

I was on  a Premier on Pride in March.  We got welcome bags and a lot of other stuff during the week so I have no complaints.

 

I was under the impression that I'd be playing with FUN PLAY but was happy to get $1000.00 cash for the casino on the first day despite people saying they no longer give real money...LOL

 

Got a repeat free cruise from that and going on 9/15 on Pride to Bermuda...port charges only, free drinks and $200 OBC.

 

I'm happy.😊

[Jamman54]

30 minutes ago, sgttami said:

 

 

Got a repeat free cruise from that and going on 9/15 on Pride to Bermuda...port charges only, free drinks and $200 OBC.

 

I'm happy.😊

 

We will be in Bermuda the same time on the Sunrise. See you at Calico Jack's! 😀

[sgttami]

 

 

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

 

We will be in Bermuda the same time on the Sunrise. See you at Calico Jack's! 😀

See you there😄😊

[AmBear]

Our thinking is we agree there have been cutbacks, and a lot of them make no sense to us either! But its their company, and its my money, so we'll pick Carnival when we feel their offer is what we want!

We had a B2B 28 days of cruising booked that we canceled because we learned that one leg of it (14 days) had become a free elite cruise, and Carnival didn't want to change us to it from the offer we had, so we agreed to disagree, and canceled both cruises!

You gotta do what makes you happy, Carnival is doing what they think is best for them!

We later got Ultra offers for this Fall/Winter, and booked a B2B out of Miami! Maybe its 14 days instead of 28, and the Ultra cruise itineraries aren't as good as the ones we canceled, but we're happier with them, and that's all that matters!

Life's short, enjoy your cruising!

Edited August 29, 2019 by AmBear

[evandbob]

We are just off a premier 8/24 - 8/31 Conquest cruise.  There was no snowball drawing that used to be at 8 pm every evening and rolled over the prize $$$ if no one claimed that night's drawing.  It was easy for this drawing prize to be over $1,000.  Now it's gone, and there is no replacement for the 8 pm time window.

 

The raffle towards the end of the welcome party during Saturday's sail away was also non existent.  The casino staff never used the raffle drum with eligible premier players' names once during the week.  They used the electronic computer spin that was shown on the casino's flat screens.

 

All the other drawings were held at 11 pm.  They were sparsely attended.

 

Saturday:  Dodge the Bull 11PM  - top prize on the wheel was $350.  3 players were picked.  One got $75, another hit the Bull and got zero.  I was lucky, spun twice, and won $600 casino cash.  Last time I played this game, I rolled a six and hit the bull 1st spin, so I made up for it that this time with a $350 and $250 hit on my 2 spins.

 

Sunday: 1) Fireball Promo every half hour from noon to 3 pm.Prize started at $100, went up a hundred if unclaimed.

2) Luck of the Card at 11PM. I won $75 casino cash, someone got $100 and another got $50. Don't know what others won, since I left after getting mine.  Only win once, so I gave my other card away.  Perhaps 8 or 10 winners total?

 

Monday: Stack It Up promotion - didn't go, so I don't know what prizes were possible.

 

Tuesday: Spin & Sail - wheel had one free cruise slot, there were several for towels and "champagne".  Money prizes were mostly in the $50 to $150 range.

 

Wednesday : Fireball Promo from 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 and 11:3-0 pm, then midnight.  Started at $100, went up $100 if unclaimed.

 

Thursday; Fill My Bag Promo, 11PM - prizes were a towel, "champagne", or a gift bag same size as the welcome one found in the cabins upon arrival with a few "goodies" in them.

 

Friday: No drawing at all.  They had a slot tournament at 11AM for premier players who accumulated 2,000 points or more.  There were 6or 7 heats of 6 players each, winner allegedly won $500, though it could have been $300. Might have been the only cash prize, all others were casino cash.  Ended just after noon.

 

So draw your own conclusions.

[Davey Wavey]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:30 PM, spyingeyes said:

I can get a lot better return on investment and comps with any of the nearby land based casinos. 

 

I tried going to my local casino and play comparable to how I play on a cruise, and while they would give me a free buffet and several hundred in free play, none ever gets close to giving me three free cruises for 4 days of playing plus $500-1500 in free play on each one. I did get a 4-day hotel and food and show tickets to Vegas and tried the M perks and still never get close to a free cruise. Is there a particular casino I could try that would give better comps?

 

 

On 8/28/2019 at 6:15 PM, sgttami said:

I was under the impression that I'd be playing with FUN PLAY but was happy to get $1000.00 cash for the casino on the first day despite people saying they no longer give real money...LOL

 

I used to get cash all the time, but now it is mixed. Sometimes cash, sometimes fun chips. Same thing with contests/games. Sometimes fun chips, sometimes cash.

 

I am pretty sure that Carnival started calling ALL <6 day Premier sailings Getaway. Looking at my currently offered Getaway sailings they are only 4 or 5 days. The Premier sailings are all 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15 days. The OPs pictures show he was certainly talking about a Getaway, which doesn't have all the same activities as a 6+ day Premier. Even my offers for those Getaways are far lower freeplay and only free interiors (compared to free balconies/suites) from Premier offers. Whatever they are called Evandbob is spot on. The Premiers have changed alot, maybe to differentiate between Getaways, Premiers, Ultras, and Elites when those new categories were added.

[footballbabe3]

My hubby and I took 3 Getaways this past Spring and summer. The first was on The Paradise it was awesome. Lots of games, gifts and welcoming casino staff. The next was the first Sunrise cruise from New York and it was a little less in drawings but treats and gifts. The last one was on the Horizon 3 weeks ago and it was still nice but they only had like 2 drawings. I did win the slot tourney. I thought I got to pick either cash or a seat on another ship. I just got the money and was very happy. It helped to stop the bleeding.  We just had our first invite to a Premier so we booked the new Panorama for April. Woo hoo.! We have never sailed from LA. I thought maybe the Casino was cutting back at the end. Who knows.