Casino Promotions

[jangor]

My husband has often gotten discounts and free play offers from Princess.  Last month, we got our first offer for a free cabin and casino play.  We choose a voyage, asked for difference for upgrade.  The trip would have been next February (2022) and we were all set to book until we learned that full amount (approx $4000)  needed to be paid in full at time of booking.  Has this always been their policy?  Although we hope to sail on another cruise in August, we are reluctant to put down more that a deposit at this time.

[bronzey214]

34 minutes ago, jangor said:

My husband has often gotten discounts and free play offers from Princess.  Last month, we got our first offer for a free cabin and casino play.  We choose a voyage, asked for difference for upgrade.  The trip would have been next February (2022) and we were all set to book until we learned that full amount (approx $4000)  needed to be paid in full at time of booking.  Has this always been their policy?  Although we hope to sail on another cruise in August, we are reluctant to put down more that a deposit at this time.

It has.

[sfsd]

yes free casino cruise need to pay non refundable deposit( back in onboard credit) port and taxes any upgrades at the time of booking... If you choose to book EzAir at the time that also needs to be  paid at booking. . We have 3 on the books now.. We skipped the free cabin and went with casino discount for our March 2022 cruise...We feel we have enough money tied up in free casino cruises...

[azbirdmom]

Yes, it is normal to have to pay the upcharge and everything else at the time of booking.  What you may want to do is check in with your TA or Princess and ask them to provide a quote with just a casino discount.  When you do that you only have to pay the deposit immediately and don't have to pay the balance until the normal final payment date.

 

We just booked an Antarctica cruise for next year through the casino upgrading to a mini suite from the free inside cabin that the casino offered.  I alternately checked the upgrade price to book a full suite and that cost exceeded what the list price minus the normal casino discount would be.  On this option, my TA also would have given us a discount on the final Princess price so going through her would have been the best deal by far had we chosen to book a full suite.  But the crazy low upcharge for being in a mini suite and paying upfront won out.

 

And I say all of this to tell  you to check your options in case you haven't done so already!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

My free interior cabin offer required me to pay taxes, port fees and a $200 nonrefundable deposit per person that would be given back in the form of onboard credit.  This had to be paid at the time of booking.

 

My original offer required a $100 deposit per person. I was told when that cruise was canceled that I could use the exact same offer to rebook. When I called to rebook they said the deposit had gone up to $200 per person.

[caribill]

8 hours ago, jangor said:

My husband has often gotten discounts and free play offers from Princess.  Last month, we got our first offer for a free cabin and casino play.  We choose a voyage, asked for difference for upgrade.  The trip would have been next February (2022) and we were all set to book until we learned that full amount (approx $4000)  needed to be paid in full at time of booking. 

 

What type of an upgrade did you ask for that costs so much?  (Yes, I know that the taxes/fees and refundable deposit are included in that amount.)

[Sprocket]

I think the reason it has to be paid in full at time of booking is because the casino is responsible for paying the lions share of the cruise fare and my one and only experience with this so far is that they wait until final payment.  Much easier for their accounting department to only have one outstanding balance than 2.  JMO though.

 

 

[jangor]

13 hours ago, caribill said:

 

What type of an upgrade did you ask for that costs so much?  (Yes, I know that the taxes/fees and refundable deposit are included in that amount.)

We choose a cruise we had been considering for awhile.  14 transatlantic and Spain.  We upgraded to a mini-suite and would have saved over $1000 using free interior and have had money for the casino.  We had no objection to the price, it was paying out $4000 13 months in advance. We plan to sail before then, but used FCC for deposit, so at worst we would lose $200 on that cruise.  Not willing to chance trying to recoup $4000, if the 2022 cruise were canceled.

[jangor]

18 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

Yes, it is normal to have to pay the upcharge and everything else at the time of booking.  What you may want to do is check in with your TA or Princess and ask them to provide a quote with just a casino discount.  When you do that you only have to pay the deposit immediately and don't have to pay the balance until the normal final payment date.

 

We just booked an Antarctica cruise for next year through the casino upgrading to a mini suite from the free inside cabin that the casino offered.  I alternately checked the upgrade price to book a full suite and that cost exceeded what the list price minus the normal casino discount would be.  On this option, my TA also would have given us a discount on the final Princess price so going through her would have been the best deal by far had we chosen to book a full suite.  But the crazy low upcharge for being in a mini suite and paying upfront won out.

 

And I say all of this to tell  you to check your options in case you haven't done so already!

Will do,  Thank you!

 

[triple7tahoe]

34 minutes ago, jangor said:

We choose a cruise we had been considering for awhile.  14 transatlantic and Spain.  We upgraded to a mini-suite and would have saved over $1000 using free interior and have had money for the casino.  We had no objection to the price, it was paying out $4000 13 months in advance. We plan to sail before then, but used FCC for deposit, so at worst we would lose $200 on that cruise.  Not willing to chance trying to recoup $4000, if the 2022 cruise were canceled.

I just got through booking the same or similar cruise in 2022-We will be getting off a Panama Canal cruise (also booked through Casino) the day this one departs. One Princess rep tried to upsell me for balcony (I was going to do that anyway) along with Beverage package and trip insurance to be paid up front. In talking with another agent I confirmed that I could pay the insurance and get Bev Package as long as I booked them prior to or around time final payment (shown on Casino Invoice) time. That way we should have a better idea of these cruises will sail. I presently have 11 out there with Princess holding my money 😞

[Slyfox16]

We had received a promotion from Princess' Casino Dept. It said "sign in and complete your stateroom selection on your preferred cruise to view your discounted rate". We went all the way through until we had to check out with a credit card, but the rate did not change. Has anyone had any success with this type of promotion and seeing the rate change with the casino rate?

[racj846]

Not all cruises qualify for the casino rate.  You have to sign in thru the email and then you will see the cruises which qualify for this promo.

[dog]

6 hours ago, Slyfox16 said:

We had received a promotion from Princess' Casino Dept. It said "sign in and complete your stateroom selection on your preferred cruise to view your discounted rate". We went all the way through until we had to check out with a credit card, but the rate did not change. Has anyone had any success with this type of promotion and seeing the rate change with the casino rate?

yes, I get these offers frequently. A little tricky at times as you log in to Personalizer first. Go back to email offer , click on email, go to select a cruise on Princess site—at topic click on casino offer tab, then scroll through cruises. Sometimes the cruise I want doesn’t show up so I just go back and forth to select cruise tab, let g in again. More options became available as casino offers after a few tries. You have to go through full booking process up until payment when a box pops up with discounted casino rate. Currently I get $600 pp less then fare showing on website plus some OBC. Got this offer again yesterday. 
 

Or call Princess say you go casino email offer. Easy way

Edited March 25, 2021 by dog

[franktown]

Had no problem seeing Casino rate when I logged on using the email link.  Unfortunately the Casino rate was higher on the cruise than the fare was when I booked 6 months ago.

[dog]

17 minutes ago, franktown said:

Had no problem seeing Casino rate when I logged on using the email link.  Unfortunately the Casino rate was higher on the cruise than the fare was when I booked 6 months ago.

My cruise has also increased over the past month. Happy with the casino rate. I got awhile ago. Basically gives us perks plus for a 12 day cruise. 

[azbirdmom]

I had the same problem with a recent offer and I do log in first before launching the email link.  I was always able to see the discounted rates at the booking step but I tried a few cruises a couple of days ago and nothing changed.  My TA is able to see the discounted rates when she inputs the CASINO code and I'm sure a Princess rep could see them too.  Just more fun with the Princess website!

[Daniel A]

I have never before received a casino offer but I got my first one yesterday.  How can I determine if the casino offer is better than an existing booking?  My T/A doesn't handle casino offers.

[azbirdmom]

Is it a percent off offer or free cabin?

 

If a percent off deal, you can do the math yourself.  The categories have different discounts by region and category and those should be identified in the offer mailer.  Simply apply that discount to the fare and that's what you should pay.  Sometimes you can see the discounted fare if you do a mock booking.  You would need to log into Princess.com, then launch the link to available cruises from the email.  When you get to the last screen that lists the total owed, it should show the discounted fare.  Your TA should be able to quote and book you for it using the offer code.

 

If it's a free cabin, TAs can do it but to my knowledge they get no commission on those.  It's best to go through Princess directly.  I've had a couple of these offers during the pandemic and paid a very small amount to upgrade from the free interior offered to a mini suite.  The downside of these offers is that you have to pay everything upfront, including flexible EZair if you choose to do that.  But it's an awesome deal.

[FirstTeacher]

How does Princess deal with offering cash for the casino? I know I can simply bring cash with me and store it in the safe, and I really don’t want to use an ATM. However, I’m not thrilled about carrying a lot of cash while traveling to the port. Will Princess cash a check on board? 

[LACruiser88]

You can buy chips by charging to your onboard account.  No need to bring cash for the casino.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, FirstTeacher said:

How does Princess deal with offering cash for the casino? I know I can simply bring cash with me and store it in the safe, and I really don’t want to use an ATM. However, I’m not thrilled about carrying a lot of cash while traveling to the port. Will Princess cash a check on board? 

If you want to bring cash for casino - perhaps to know what you are gambling with - you can purchase Casino Gift Credits in the Cruise Personalizer (same as buying OBC).  You will have a receipt card/cards on board for each $100 or less "gift" purchased.  Just give them to yourself when you pre-order.  When you go to the casino, you get chips or load your Medallion (stateroom account) with funds and this is offset by the "gifts" your pre-purchased which simply become credits on your account.  This is a way to get more cash to the ship without carrying it.

 

The other option is leave the cash in the bank at home, charge all casino spending to the room account and then the balance at end is charged to your credit card.  Or, maybe you get lucky and win.  GL.

[dog]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

If you want to bring cash for casino - perhaps to know what you are gambling with - you can purchase Casino Gift Credits in the Cruise Personalizer (same as buying OBC).  You will have a receipt card/cards on board for each $100 or less "gift" purchased.  Just give them to yourself when you pre-order.  When you go to the casino, you get chips or load your Medallion (stateroom account) with funds and this is offset by the "gifts" your pre-purchased which simply become credits on your account.  This is a way to get more cash to the ship without carrying it.

 

The other option is leave the cash in the bank at home, charge all casino spending to the room account and then the balance at end is charged to your credit card.  Or, maybe you get lucky and win.  GL.

This is what I did for my South America cruise. Purchased $600 credit online in Personalizer and withdrew as we wanted cash to use onshore or to use in casino. 
Not to annoy anyone, but after this we started getting casino offers when we went to book future cruises. I don’t know if this is why, as we are not gamblers. 

[FirstTeacher]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

If you want to bring cash for casino - perhaps to know what you are gambling with - you can purchase Casino Gift Credits in the Cruise Personalizer (same as buying OBC).  You will have a receipt card/cards on board for each $100 or less "gift" purchased.  Just give them to yourself when you pre-order.  When you go to the casino, you get chips or load your Medallion (stateroom account) with funds and this is offset by the "gifts" your pre-purchased which simply become credits on your account.  This is a way to get more cash to the ship without carrying it.

 

The other option is leave the cash in the bank at home, charge all casino spending to the room account and then the balance at end is charged to your credit card.  Or, maybe you get lucky and win.  GL.

By charging the spending to the room account, isn’t that like taking a cash advance on the credit card? The bank would start charging interest immediately, wouldn’t they? I’d like to avoid that. 
 

With the Casino Gift Credits, would it make a difference if I’m playing slots (no chips to exchange)?

[cr8tiv1]

14 minutes ago, FirstTeacher said:

By charging the spending to the room account, isn’t that like taking a cash advance on the credit card? The bank would start charging interest immediately, wouldn’t they? I’d like to avoid that. 
 

With the Casino Gift Credits, would it make a difference if I’m playing slots (no chips to exchange)?

 

This is an oddity.  It will show up on your folio as charged to your room.  Similar to any other purchase your make on the ship (store/bar/jewelry).  You will not have additional cash advance charges.  It is so easy to upload casino credits that it can be "dangerous".  

[memoak]

5 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

This is an oddity.  It will show up on your folio as charged to your room.  Similar to any other purchase your make on the ship (store/bar/jewelry).  You will not have additional cash advance charges.  It is so easy to upload casino credits that it can be "dangerous".  

If you have any modicum of moderation it is not dangerous.