Princess Casino Comp Offers

[muggo11]

I really appreciate those of you posting experiences with the casino.  For 2023 I have 5 casino-comped cruises:  3 with Carnival and 2 with Princess (Discovery to Alaska and Sky to Norway).  For 2024, I have 3–1 Princess (Royal from Sydney to Auckland)  and 2 Carnival.  None of the Princess cruises come with the Plus package.  Two are balconies, 1 is a mini-suite.  This represents 34 days of cruising with a total of $1200 in free play that cost me a total of $4000 in fees (I paid a little extra for the mini-suite!).

 

 The Carnival casino deals offer far more perks and casino cash—some of them cost less than 0 when perks are calculated.   And most include drinks throughout the ship!  The 4 Carnival cruises total 35 days for $4000 (one is a suite!), with $3000 in cash.  One is what Carnival calls an Elite offer that includes transportation to and from the ship plus 2 excursions and other gifties.

 

I am not particularly happy about the Princess deals being Princess Standard but it’s somewhat offset by already having Elite status with Princess.  We are not big drinkers.  The bidding for upgrades are interesting.  Does anyone know if casino comped cruisers are eligible?  I think not.  

 

I just read that Holland America casino is doing status matches.  We have never sailed on Holland but may give them a try if the deal and itinerary are right.  

 

In the meantime, I still (and always) wish that cruise casinos would organize themselves more like land-based casino loyalty programs where I know exactly what I can get for what level of play.  AND they recognize my accumulated play with them.  On every ship it’s like I’m there and playing for the very first time.  

 

Not hating—just wish the cruise casinos would take a page from their land-based counterparts.  

 

Happy sailing (and gambling), all. . . 

[roxievegas]

2 hours ago, muggo11 said:

I really appreciate those of you posting experiences with the casino.  For 2023 I have 5 casino-comped cruises:  3 with Carnival and 2 with Princess (Discovery to Alaska and Sky to Norway).  For 2024, I have 3–1 Princess (Royal from Sydney to Auckland)  and 2 Carnival.  None of the Princess cruises come with the Plus package.  Two are balconies, 1 is a mini-suite.  This represents 34 days of cruising with a total of $1200 in free play that cost me a total of $4000 in fees (I paid a little extra for the mini-suite!).

 

 The Carnival casino deals offer far more perks and casino cash—some of them cost less than 0 when perks are calculated.   And most include drinks throughout the ship!  The 4 Carnival cruises total 35 days for $4000 (one is a suite!), with $3000 in cash.  One is what Carnival calls an Elite offer that includes transportation to and from the ship plus 2 excursions and other gifties.

 

I am not particularly happy about the Princess deals being Princess Standard but it’s somewhat offset by already having Elite status with Princess.  We are not big drinkers.  The bidding for upgrades are interesting.  Does anyone know if casino comped cruisers are eligible?  I think not.  

 

I just read that Holland America casino is doing status matches.  We have never sailed on Holland but may give them a try if the deal and itinerary are right.  

 

In the meantime, I still (and always) wish that cruise casinos would organize themselves more like land-based casino loyalty programs where I know exactly what I can get for what level of play.  AND they recognize my accumulated play with them.  On every ship it’s like I’m there and playing for the very first time.  

 

Not hating—just wish the cruise casinos would take a page from their land-based counterparts.  

 

Happy sailing (and gambling), all. . . 

We just finished a cruise in January on Princess.  It was a comped offer of free Balcony.  I was able to go online, bid for a mini suite.  The cost was $245 total for the upgrade.  Yes you can bid - just go to your personalizer online and click on the upgrade within the 90 days limit

[memoak]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:06 AM, muggo11 said:

I really appreciate those of you posting experiences with the casino.  For 2023 I have 5 casino-comped cruises:  3 with Carnival and 2 with Princess (Discovery to Alaska and Sky to Norway).  For 2024, I have 3–1 Princess (Royal from Sydney to Auckland)  and 2 Carnival.  None of the Princess cruises come with the Plus package.  Two are balconies, 1 is a mini-suite.  This represents 34 days of cruising with a total of $1200 in free play that cost me a total of $4000 in fees (I paid a little extra for the mini-suite!).

 

 The Carnival casino deals offer far more perks and casino cash—some of them cost less than 0 when perks are calculated.   And most include drinks throughout the ship!  The 4 Carnival cruises total 35 days for $4000 (one is a suite!), with $3000 in cash.  One is what Carnival calls an Elite offer that includes transportation to and from the ship plus 2 excursions and other gifties.

 

I am not particularly happy about the Princess deals being Princess Standard but it’s somewhat offset by already having Elite status with Princess.  We are not big drinkers.  The bidding for upgrades are interesting.  Does anyone know if casino comped cruisers are eligible?  I think not.  

 

I just read that Holland America casino is doing status matches.  We have never sailed on Holland but may give them a try if the deal and itinerary are right.  

 

In the meantime, I still (and always) wish that cruise casinos would organize themselves more like land-based casino loyalty programs where I know exactly what I can get for what level of play.  AND they recognize my accumulated play with them.  On every ship it’s like I’m there and playing for the very first time.  

 

Not hating—just wish the cruise casinos would take a page from their land-based counterparts.  

 

Happy sailing (and gambling), all. . . 

I upgrade all of my casino cruises on Princess to full suites when I book   On each casino cruise we have somewhere between $800 to $1.250 in free play between the 2 of us

[pootsien2]

Just wanted to say that the problem I had with Princess casino offer being applied (see my post #246) correctly FINALLY did get corrected!! I received a call yesterday from the Casino department number 661-284-4414,and not the casino call center. It now shows all the special services that are on that offer and I am waiting to see if my pending offer for a balcony gets accepted!

[spunks]

On 2/12/2023 at 8:06 AM, muggo11 said:

I really appreciate those of you posting experiences with the casino.  For 2023 I have 5 casino-comped cruises:  3 with Carnival and 2 with Princess (Discovery to Alaska and Sky to Norway).  For 2024, I have 3–1 Princess (Royal from Sydney to Auckland)  and 2 Carnival.  None of the Princess cruises come with the Plus package.  Two are balconies, 1 is a mini-suite.  This represents 34 days of cruising with a total of $1200 in free play that cost me a total of $4000 in fees (I paid a little extra for the mini-suite!).

 

 The Carnival casino deals offer far more perks and casino cash—some of them cost less than 0 when perks are calculated.   And most include drinks throughout the ship!  The 4 Carnival cruises total 35 days for $4000 (one is a suite!), with $3000 in cash.  One is what Carnival calls an Elite offer that includes transportation to and from the ship plus 2 excursions and other gifties.

 

I am not particularly happy about the Princess deals being Princess Standard but it’s somewhat offset by already having Elite status with Princess.  We are not big drinkers.  The bidding for upgrades are interesting.  Does anyone know if casino comped cruisers are eligible?  I think not.  

 

I just read that Holland America casino is doing status matches.  We have never sailed on Holland but may give them a try if the deal and itinerary are right.  

 

In the meantime, I still (and always) wish that cruise casinos would organize themselves more like land-based casino loyalty programs where I know exactly what I can get for what level of play.  AND they recognize my accumulated play with them.  On every ship it’s like I’m there and playing for the very first time.  

 

Not hating—just wish the cruise casinos would take a page from their land-based counterparts.  

 

Happy sailing (and gambling), all. . . 

Muggo....I feel your pain. Princess will not tell you what the points are good for. Then when you do get an offer there is always an issue. On our last cruise ( a VIP comped cruise) the Casino never let us know what that even meant. When I was finally able to corner a hostess and ask she looked at all her paper work and discovered that my wife and I were supposed to be VIP which meant free drinks in the casino and other perks. This was on the third day of the cruise which meant that we missed the first day party and two days of free drinks.

 

After the cruise we received offers for free VIP cruises with the total package Free internet, free drinks anywhere, and all tips paid. Sounds great but there is NOT ONE cruise that we could take. We could go up to 12 days but there were no cruises offered within the time frame that were possible.

 

On the other hand RCCL publishes what all their tier levels are and you have a 12 month window to achieve them....your points accumulate. You can ask the host everyday what your table points are. With Princess, Captain Stubing could not get information on his table points. Princess does not accumulate points.

 

If you are a serious player go with Carnaval or RCCL.

 

Doug

[lodinayr]

On 1/30/2023 at 6:06 PM, lodinayr said:

Something is definitely going wrong @ Princess Cruises Casino department.  I called to cancel a cruise two weeks ago.  After waiting about an hour for a callback, I spent 15 minutes trying to get it cancelled.  The agent said I would have my refnd in 10 to 14 days.  After two weeks, the cruise was still showing as booked, so I called again today.  Today's agent said the cruise was still booked and there were no notes that it was to be cancelled.  Crazy!

 

So.... I told him to go ahead and cancel it.  He said he had to escalate it to a special team to cancel and that it would take up to 14 days to cancel.  What ****!  They are obviously just trying to slow roll cancellations so that they can hold on to my money (approx. $3k) as long as possible.

 

There also no longer appears to be a dedicated Casino team.  The people who answer the calls are now called "Navigators" (you can't make this up) to help you.  They appear to just be offshore call center employees.  I really think we deserve better than this!

 

Sorry, I needed to vent.

Thought I might update y'all on my Princess cancellation saga.  The short version is: there is no update.  My cruise is STILL booked; no refund.  I filed a complaint with the BBB.  Princess responded to the BBB complaint saying that "someone from the casino department" would call me.  They still have not contacted me.  In Princess's response, they quoted a completely wrong booking number despite me giving them the correct booking number.  I also filed a dispute with the credit card company -- just that I am awaiting a refund.  Maybe that will get their attention.  Such a sad state of affairs @Princess Cruises.

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, lodinayr said:

Thought I might update y'all on my Princess cancellation saga.  The short version is: there is no update.  My cruise is STILL booked; no refund.  I filed a complaint with the BBB.  Princess responded to the BBB complaint saying that "someone from the casino department" would call me.  They still have not contacted me.  In Princess's response, they quoted a completely wrong booking number despite me giving them the correct booking number.  I also filed a dispute with the credit card company -- just that I am awaiting a refund.  Maybe that will get their attention.  Such a sad state of affairs @Princess Cruises.

You do know that a “free” casino offer comes with a Non Refundable deposit

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

6 hours ago, memoak said:

You do know that a “free” casino offer comes with a Non Refundable deposit

 

My guess Iodinayr is talking about their port charges & taxes which Should be returned.

I am Also waiting on another cancellation Refund, but not as long as they have.

 

 

I have been putting off posting in the hopes of some good things to say.....

Best I can say is there has been alittle progress with my newest online offers.

 

All the ones I had from Oct. to present have Expired, as I could get No help fixing it

no matter who I talked to or emailed.

 

The small progress made, is my casino offers have begun to dribble back into MY email.

(So someone, somewhere, maybe fixed that.  Don't know who?)

 

I haven't booked anything Yet..... waiting for cream of the crop offer to book.

I have a current Prestige with bells & whistles, but not during a time I can do.

 

Several other offers have dropped below my threshold... which is, 

If the offer doesn't include Princess Plus?

NEXT!

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[memoak]

33 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

My guess Iodinayr is talking about their port charges & taxes which Should be returned.

I am Also waiting on another cancellation Refund, but not as long as they have.

 

 

I have been putting off posting in the hopes of some good things to say.....

Best I can say is there has been alittle progress with my newest online offers.

 

All the ones I had from Oct. to present have Expired, as I could get No help fixing it

no matter who I talked to or emailed.

 

The small progress made, is my casino offers have begun to dribble back into MY email.

(So someone, somewhere, maybe fixed that.  Don't know who?)

 

I haven't booked anything Yet..... waiting for cream of the crop offer to book.

I have a current Prestige with bells & whistles, but not during a time I can do.

 

Several other offers have dropped below my threshold... which is, 

If the offer doesn't include Princess Plus?

NEXT!

 

 

 

I have seen very few with Princess Plus lately. But if I can get $1,000 + in free play I will pay for the plus

[lodinayr]

7 hours ago, memoak said:

You do know that a “free” casino offer comes with a Non Refundable deposit

Yes, I paid about $2,600 in upgrade charges for Princess Plus and/or a room upgrade (I forget which).  This is the refund to which I am referring.

Edited March 5, 2023 by lodinayr

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

6 hours ago, memoak said:

I have seen very few with Princess Plus lately. But if I can get $1,000 + in free play I will pay for the plus

 

If you are fine with that?  That's what their counting on.

 

They seem to be removing Plus from many of the Vip offers as well.

I see it as a big downgrade, and Not acceptable to me.

I plan to hold out for best offers, book last minute if need be,

and take fewer Princess cruises. 

 

 

 

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

If you are fine with that?  That's what their counting on.

 

They seem to be removing Plus from many of the Vip offers as well.

I see it as a big downgrade, and Not acceptable to me.

I plan to hold out for best offers, book last minute if need be,

and take fewer Princess cruises. 

 

 

 

I am a cruiser at heart and will always cruise with or without deals but I almost always get casino cash even without free cabins 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

If thats all it takes to get you to book?  Glad you're fine with it.

 

Land based casinos do this kind of baloney all the time. 

So people Move to other places in the hopes their Fav place will come back to their senses.

"Don't marry a casino". It usually works to out-wait them.

And when the perks that are important to you Return?

That's when you Book again.

 

Why I plan to wait for Only the best offers to book.....

and ignore the other lesser offers.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

When you actually want to Book?  Good luck with the offshore Call center

with "navigators" who don't really know what their doing....

 

Princess HAD a good working Casino Dept with people who could book you without

creating issue after issue.....

 

[eyern1]

I'm curious and would appreciate it if someone would actually answer this. I don't gamble except maybe $20ish at the blackjack table or slots,  on my cruises, which occur about once a year.  How much do y'all typically gamble in winnings or losings and how much do you think you actually play overall in $? Do you get comped better by playing any certain games vs others?  I'm sure slots is the easiest to keep up with. Is blackjack, roulette and other table games kept up with on a time basis when you sign in or what?  I realize the money question is very personal and may not get answered. I tried to private message it to some of you but it kept telling me that feature was disabled. Maybe I actually have it disabled on my end lol, I don't know. But, y'all seem to be getting some great comps and I wanted to get an idea on this irregardless if I participate. Thanks.

[memoak]

23 hours ago, eyern1 said:

I'm curious and would appreciate it if someone would actually answer this. I don't gamble except maybe $20ish at the blackjack table or slots,  on my cruises, which occur about once a year.  How much do y'all typically gamble in winnings or losings and how much do you think you actually play overall in $? Do you get comped better by playing any certain games vs others?  I'm sure slots is the easiest to keep up with. Is blackjack, roulette and other table games kept up with on a time basis when you sign in or what?  I realize the money question is very personal and may not get answered. I tried to private message it to some of you but it kept telling me that feature was disabled. Maybe I actually have it disabled on my end lol, I don't know. But, y'all seem to be getting some great comps and I wanted to get an idea on this irregardless if I participate. Thanks.

$20 is not really going to get you much if anything. We play slots around 2-3 hours a day and get fairly decent offers. Get free balcony’s and anywhere from $250 to $1.000 each in free play. We also pick up free play on some cruises even when it is not a comped trip

[memoak]

On 3/11/2023 at 7:50 AM, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

When you actually want to Book?  Good luck with the offshore Call center

with "navigators" who don't really know what their doing....

 

Princess HAD a good working Casino Dept with people who could book you without

creating issue after issue.....

 

Be aware that Princess CVP’s can now book casino cruises. Much better service

[eyern1]

On 3/12/2023 at 11:04 AM, memoak said:

$20 is not really going to get you much if anything. We play slots around 2-3 hours a day and get fairly decent offers. Get free balcony’s and anywhere from $250 to $1.000 each in free play. We also pick up free play on some cruises even when it is not a comped trip

Oh yeah, I knew $20 was a laughable number.  What denomination slots do you play and do you play the max bet each time or the minimum?

[memoak]

28 minutes ago, eyern1 said:

Oh yeah, I knew $20 was a laughable number.  What denomination slots do you play and do you play the max bet each time or the minimum?

Depends on the machine. On penny slots it is usually anywhere. from $2 and up per pull. On quarter video poker I always bet the max

[luckyinpa]

ive played penny machines that are as little as 50 cents and done pretty well. just looking for some play,not the jackpot

 

on my 1st princess cruise ever i know i only put 60 of my own money in and played a long time and got some good discounted offers but they were over xmas and i couldnt go.

Edited March 13, 2023 by luckyinpa

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

I think instead of asking How Much someone plays onboard?

Is ask yourself....

Do YOU play enough to get ANY Comp offers from ANY Casino hotels on Land?

If the answer is No? 

You probably don't play enough to qualify on a ship either.  I find them to be pretty similar.

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[eyern1]

3 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

I think instead of asking How Much someone plays onboard?

Is ask yourself....

Do YOU play enough to get ANY Comp offers from ANY Casino hotels on Land?

If the answer is No? 

You probably don't play enough to qualify on a ship either.  I find them to be pretty similar.

 

Oh, I knew the answer to that was no from the get go lol. My curiosity was that it sounded like some great comps were being received and got me to wondering how much play was required to get them. I essentially don't gamble but my arm could be twisted. The only time I've thrown more than $20 in the slots was the last cruise, when I started with $25 at the blackjack table and ended up with a good run to over $100, but in blackjack they don't keep up with how much you win or lose afaik. The only thing they can count is playing time for when you check in and out and maybe the amount of chips you buy at the table, right?

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

YES some great comps CAN be given IF you play enough for ship, or shore.😆

 

[sgvcruiser]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:33 AM, eyern1 said:

Oh, I knew the answer to that was no from the get go lol. My curiosity was that it sounded like some great comps were being received and got me to wondering how much play was required to get them. I essentially don't gamble but my arm could be twisted. The only time I've thrown more than $20 in the slots was the last cruise, when I started with $25 at the blackjack table and ended up with a good run to over $100, but in blackjack they don't keep up with how much you win or lose afaik. The only thing they can count is playing time for when you check in and out and maybe the amount of chips you buy at the table, right?

 

Here's my experience w/ Princess so far. I paid for 2 cruises one in 2019, another one 2022 summer Alaska. For last Summer 2022, I lost $1,300 in casino. In exchange I receive enough offers for:

1. 2023 - I am booked for 4 cruises (including 12 days British Isle and 11 days new year Caribbean cruise) where I paid $5,037 for the market price of $15,441.04.

2. 2024 - I am also booked for 4 cruises (Mediterranean 21 days, and 35 days Japan) for $4,035 with market price $24,969. 

 

Mind that there are 3 of us in one room. Majority of the cost went to the 3rd person because the first 2 occupants are free. So if there is only one or two of you, your cost will be even cheaper. I also upgraded all my rooms for 2023. 

 

I have better offers with Holland despite I only sailed with them one time. But I did get lucky and walked off the ship with $1,050 winning plus all my specialty restaurants meal (5 times for 3 people) were reimbursed. There was also unlimited drink available when I was in Casino which I didn't use since I don't drink alcohol.  With their offers afterward, I am booked for 2 Norway Fjord cruise and 1 Alaska cruise that cost me $4,235 with market price $17,908. All for 2023 summer. 

 

I have not received any interesting offers from Holland since, but I expected that it will show up after I finish my first Fjord cruise in summer. 

 

Does playing in Casino pay off? Yes, if you know what you are doing. As you can see, I meticulously track my money going in/out and how much I pay. I only play slots and I very rarely bet more than $3 a hand. 

Having said that, I agree with others that point out if you are not used to gaming the system with land-based casino (which tend to be more generous), I would not advise starting with cruise casino. 

 

Check out this post for another perspective https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/how-to-gamble-on-a-cruise-to-unlock-perks/

 

 

[eyern1]

Thank you very much, sgvcruiser!  This is the exact information I was looking for.