Carnival Promotions/Offers: How do they work?

[mrak]

First off, I am not coming here to complain; I am just genuinely curious. I know some say it is random, but I have to think Carnival has some algorithms for determining what offers people get (for instance, I usually rack up a lot of drinks on Cheers so I only received the RU9 promo 😂). But what isn't making sense to me is what I am seeing right now. Carnival is trying to fill ships. I have been on 14 Carnival cruises, with my 15th booked for the Mardi Gras in November. We had 3 cruises cancelled and then rebooked last year, so an obvious willingness to cruise. I also live in Florida, so I have easy access to cruise ports. I am not a heavy gambler but play enough to receive occasional bounce back offers. However, I keep seeing all of these posts about $100 rooms (and have heard friends who haven't been on a cruise in 4 years getting emails with that type of promo), yet I'm not getting any decent offers. Again, I'm not complaining as I'm not even sure I could squeeze a cruise in right now...just more curious if anyone knows the science behind it.

[quattrohead]

None that I can figure out. My GF got a card in the mail and we were able to book a $25pp on magic. She never gambles and I have been on more Carnival cruises than her and more recently.

[tallnthensome]

I am one of those people and still trying to figure out why I’m getting $25 rates. I’ve been cruising for over 20 years yet my Panorama cruise two weeks ago was only my third on carnival .I’m not a gambler. It appears from what I can tell is that they want the gamblers and those guests who sailed in the past and want them back. If you sail a lot with Carnival and have many cruises already booked with them it seems they feel they’ve already got you hooked and don’t need to entice you with special deals if you’ve accepted regular rates when booking. Just a guess .

Edited September 13, 2021 by tallnthensome

[mrak]

3 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

 If you sail a lot with Carnival and have many cruises already booked with them it seems they feel they’ve already got you hooked and don’t need to entice you with special deals if you’ve accepted regular rates when booking. Just a guess .

 

Lol that is my girlfriend's theory too. I would think under current conditions, they would want to attract people most willing to book right now (frequent cruiser), vs those who previously only took a cruise every few years (Infrequent cruiser). Either or neither could be right lol

[tallnthensome]

I didn’t have a carnival cruise booked when these offers came to me. If you already had Carnival Bookings maybe that’s why because you had a willingness to cruise while I did not until the $200 cabins on Panorama were thrown my way. Again, still unsure and just theories. 

[V_V]

It sounds to me like Carnival is trying to win the less-frequent cruiser over by offering them rates too good to refuse. 

I've only been on a couple Carnival cruises but I didn't get ours dirt cheap like others did. However, I'm not complaining about it. We still got a nice deal for a 6 day cruise. 🙂 

[Elaine5715]

Your zip code has more to do with your offers than how many drinks you consume.  I have 5 cruises booked and have a dozen plus great offers I had to pass on.

[mrak]

12 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Your zip code has more to do with your offers than how many drinks you consume.  I have 5 cruises booked and have a dozen plus great offers I had to pass on.

I would agree, but it says you're in Michigan and I can be to 4 cruises ports within 4 hours, so I dont quite get that lol

[Elaine5715]

13 minutes ago, mrak said:

I would agree, but it says you're in Michigan and I can be to 4 cruises ports within 4 hours, so I dont quite get that lol

Correct. Floridians get more last minute deals, "pack & go" since they can drive to port.  These deals will repopulate once the COVID stuff stops.   Non Floridians get more further out offers some based on zip codes when their data shows some zip codes aren't well represented. The best offers come from the casino.  Don't believe anyone who gets great deals and wants to claim that they "hardly ever" gamble.    

Edited September 13, 2021 by Elaine5715

[helene109]

We were on the Mardi Gras in August and gambled a little and all of us got casino offers. But only good until the end of the year. Also got $200 obc if we book by the end of the month. Better than $50 obc.

[ksmcdonald]

My husband and I have been cruising together for the last 35 years.  We've literally been on the same ships, same dates, we both have the same zip code as we live in the same house, we both play moderately in the casino etc. yet we both have different offers.  I just booked a 14 day Hawaii cruise and I am offered "Drinks on Us While in the Casino" and he is not eligible for it.  I emailed the Casino Players club and asked why I am offered "Drinks on Us" while he isn't.  Same number of cruises, etc.   They really had not answer either except, that I was eligible for the offer and he was not.

 

 

[arkaine23]

My wife did her 1st cruise in 2013.  We started cruising together once/year in 2017, 2018, 2019, and our delayed honeymoon cruise last week.   We live about 75 miles from a port so this is an easy vacation option for us.

 

She gambled $10 on a slot machine on our 2017 cruise, but never got any casino offers.  This year we had 2020-rebooking OBC, and I made sure we used $200 of it to gamble (on her sail n sign card) because I was hoping we could get these casino offers I kept hearing about-  $50 on slots and $150 on roulette.  We actually won a little more than we put it.

 

She got the $25 PP and DOU casino offers less than a week after our recent cruise.  Next cruise we'll gamble a little on my sail n sign card and see if I can get casino offers and if they are the same as hers.

 

We have never Cheers'd or Bottomless Bubbles'd.  We usually spend under $50 on drinks- some happy hour fishbowls.  We smuggle our own and/or order a large $80 bottle of liquor via room service that we mix with the soda we bring or with juices from breakfast.  We have always gotten the RU2 code for the Cheers deal.

Edited September 13, 2021 by arkaine23

[Salem615]

We have cruised a few times over the past few years. We gamble a bit too.

 

We have never gotten any great offers at all. I get flyers and emails all the time but nothing great. 

 

My parents and my sister cruise and gamble all the time. (My parents do 2 or 3 cruises a year) and they get great deals. They practically pay for them to cruise. My sister got an excellent deal on the 14 day Journey cruise out of Baltimore. It was practically nothing. 

 

I would love to get a decent deal. 

[ScottsSweetie]

No rhyme or reason that I can tell. We have around 20 Carnival cruises - I have cruised twice without DH (many years ago). He has much better pp rate offers than I do; however, we just got back from a cruise and now I have the elusive RU1 offer which he doesn't have. 🤷‍♀️

[rawley2]

My wife and I got the offers and booked a $140PP week on the Glory in a balcony.

 

We are not loyal to carnival. We are gold but have not sailed Carnival in 5 years.

 

Furthermore, we don't gamble and have never booked a shore excursion through any cruise line.

 

We do spend a lot on board. 12 years ago we spent close to $3,000 on jewelry on Carnival. The last cruise with them, we had the drinks package and still spent north of $1,000 more.

 

They know we cruise and spend money when we do. That may be why we got it.

[urbanhawk]

I am platinum, so have gone on a few cruises. It's been over 7-8 years, since I 'be been able to go on a cruise. I admit that  my last 2 cruises, I spent a lot of time in the casino, as well as money. (Several thousand, which for me was alot). I get promos nearly every day.  They are  for ultras, elite, hot streak, , free suites, ,balconies,  inside cabins,  and  cruises  to  Alaska, Hawaii, , Europe,  Australia,  trans Atlantic, etc. I imagine that after I take a cruise or 2, , and don't spend time/money in the casino,  I will not receive these  promos. I can live with that!! 

[Illbcruzn4life]

4 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

I am one of those people and still trying to figure out why I’m getting $25 rates. I’ve been cruising for over 20 years yet my Panorama cruise two weeks ago was only my third on carnival .I’m not a gambler. It appears from what I can tell is that they want the gamblers and those guests who sailed in the past and want them back. If you sail a lot with Carnival and have many cruises already booked with them it seems they feel they’ve already got you hooked and don’t need to entice you with special deals if you’ve accepted regular rates when booking. Just a guess .

 

My wife and I are both Platinum with Carnival but have not cruised with them since 2011.

 

We did have one booked for last December on the Horizon. We don't get offered squat. lol

[Virga]

I'm a huge pointshound on Flyertalk - we dissect every targeted offer as best we can.  I'm fortunate to have several friends who have sailed with Carnival, so we have a bunch of datapoints for Florida resident past guests.

 

All but one of us were targeted for a really great PMU offer code recently - like $1000(total!) ocean suite for two on the Mardi Gras great.  This was one time use, and only valid on cruises through the end of October.  The person who didn't get this offer has only sailed twice on Carnival, the rest of us have sailed 5-15 times.  

 

The heaviest gambler in our group - still low enough that she's NEVER gotten enough points for free drinks onboard - has a casino offer for drinks on us in the casino, but no obc, can't remember the offer code.  I do know an actual heavy gambler who has offers for drinks on us everywhere on the ship, plus a hefty amount of obc. The rest of us might have given $50 to the slots any given cruise, and about half of us have a pretty decent code for sailings before the end of the year.  No idea if these casino offers are one time use or not.

 

As for Cheers, most of the rest of us have the RU9 offer, but one has RU3 which is a better deal.  We're all pretty heavy drinkers but RU3 man mostly drinks beer, while we drunk higher priced cocktails - I'd bet money there's a column in the passenger database that shows your average cost per day in alcohol, and it's used to help target offers.  

 

We have an assortment of other codes between us - zero idea how these are assigned.  Might have something to do with time since last sailing, that's about all we really differ on.  They're mostly about the same overall prices - some of us have to pay $80pp more for the cruise, but get $200 per cabin back in OBC, that sort of thing.  We're all hoping that we get targeted for another round like that last-minute PMU!

 

I haven't tried to track / analyze these, because at the end of the day it only matters what we've been targeted for, but hopefully these datapoints are helpful to anyone trying to make sense of it all!

Edited September 13, 2021 by Virga

[clambert1273]

It will be about 9 years since our last cruise & our one booked in March,  we ARE gamblers (a lot) but only got me to book with this last offer which put us on Horizon in OV for 3ppl around $900, I couldn't say no to it & neither could my husband even though he wanted to lol

[Elaine5715]

45 minutes ago, urbanhawk said:

I am platinum, so have gone on a few cruises. It's been over 7-8 years, since I 'be been able to go on a cruise. I admit that  my last 2 cruises, I spent a lot of time in the casino, as well as money. (Several thousand, which for me was alot). I get promos nearly every day.  They are  for ultras, elite, hot streak, , free suites, ,balconies,  inside cabins,  and  cruises  to  Alaska, Hawaii, , Europe,  Australia,  trans Atlantic, etc. I imagine that after I take a cruise or 2, , and don't spend time/money in the casino,  I will not receive these  promos. I can live with that!! 

I spent little time in he casino in August due to my non gambling travel partners.  My offers haven't stopped coming.

Right now is not a good time to try to assess why or who get great offers.   Cruise lines are just trying to get deposits in hand so they are flooding people with offers.  If you aren't getting email offers, you may have opted out of some correspondences so check your account frequently.   

[Elaine5715]

31 minutes ago, Virga said:

I'm a huge pointshound on Flyertalk - we dissect every targeted offer as best we can.  I'm fortunate to have several friends who have sailed with Carnival, so we have a bunch of datapoints for Florida resident past guests.

 

All but one of us were targeted for a really great PMU offer code recently - like $1000(total!) ocean suite for two on the Mardi Gras great.  This was one time use, and only valid on cruises through the end of October.  The person who didn't get this offer has only sailed twice on Carnival, the rest of us have sailed 5-15 times.  

 

The heaviest gambler in our group - still low enough that she's NEVER gotten enough points for free drinks onboard - has a casino offer for drinks on us in the casino, but no obc, can't remember the offer code.  I do know an actual heavy gambler who has offers for drinks on us everywhere on the ship, plus a hefty amount of obc. The rest of us might have given $50 to the slots any given cruise, and about half of us have a pretty decent code for sailings before the end of the year.  No idea if these casino offers are one time use or not.

 

As for Cheers, most of the rest of us have the RU9 offer, but one has RU3 which is a better deal.  We're all pretty heavy drinkers but RU3 man mostly drinks beer, while we drunk higher priced cocktails - I'd bet money there's a column in the passenger database that shows your average cost per day in alcohol, and it's used to help target offers.  

 

We have an assortment of other codes between us - zero idea how these are assigned.  Might have something to do with time since last sailing, that's about all we really differ on.  They're mostly about the same overall prices - some of us have to pay $80pp more for the cruise, but get $200 per cabin back in OBC, that sort of thing.  We're all hoping that we get targeted for another round like that last-minute PMU!

 

I haven't tried to track / analyze these, because at the end of the day it only matters what we've been targeted for, but hopefully these datapoints are helpful to anyone trying to make sense of it all!

For casino offers, an added and often missed data point is ship hosts can add notes into a gambler's record, same as in land-based casinos.  Jerks and non tippers need not return.

[CruiseesiurC]

Prior to covid I’d take a cruise every year or so. I wasn’t loyal to Carnival but sailed 3 times with them. My last Carnival cruise was May 2017. Ive never spent more than $50 in the casino and I’ve always purchased cheers. I usually get 10+ drinks each day so I more than get my moneys worth 🤣 

 

I’ve never had a casino offer in my life. I was given the RU9 cheers offer (not worth it), a PMU offer for a balcony room $135pp (which I booked), and a PLH offer which looks to be about $200pp for a balcony. Hopefully I’ll get some good offers after this October cruise. I plan to spend a bit more time in the casino and see if I can get a casino rate. 

[Virga]

4 minutes ago, CruiseesiurC said:

Prior to covid I’d take a cruise every year or so. I wasn’t loyal to Carnival but sailed 3 times with them. My last Carnival cruise was May 2017. Ive never spent more than $50 in the casino and I’ve always purchased cheers. I usually get 10+ drinks each day so I more than get my moneys worth 🤣 

 

I’ve never had a casino offer in my life. I was given the RU9 cheers offer (not worth it), a PMU offer for a balcony room $135pp (which I booked), and a PLH offer which looks to be about $200pp for a balcony. Hopefully I’ll get some good offers after this October cruise. I plan to spend a bit more time in the casino and see if I can get a casino rate. 

 

Out of curiosity, does your PLH code say 'exclusive casino rates' when you view your offers from the 'cruise deals' page?  We all have it, and it says that for all of ours.  Seems crazy that we'd have any casino rates at all, we're minimal gamblers at sea like yourself - but they are pretty attractive rates.  Double the PMU rate, as near as I can tell, but still a lot less than the publicly available rates and available on sailings through the end of the year.  

 

I haven't decided if I'm bringing extra cash to throw away in the casino.  I loooove these offers, but I hate onboard odds...

[CruiseesiurC]

5 minutes ago, Virga said:

 

Thanks!  You too, then!  Crazy they're giving us offers like this for such minimal play.  I think I'll do the same as you, donate fifty bucks every day, see what it does to my offers.  I have a four nighter this weekend, I can afford to squander a couple hundred bucks thanks to the $450 balcony cabin they gave us.  

If you remember, please let me know if you get an offer after this weekend! My cruise isn’t until October 3rd. 

[TNcruising02]

I play some slots in the casino every cruise, but have never spent more than $200.  I will reach platinum on my next cruise.  I usually get casino offers with special rates, but this year I have received offers with OBC and also offers with Free Cheers (we have never purchased Cheers).  
Lately, I have received offers for 7 day September and October cruises for $25 per person.  I've never received offers that low.