Carnival Casino Club Newbie

[Sue Goodreds]

I keep hearing about all of the amazing Casino Rates offered through Carnival Casino Club.  On average, how much do you plan to spend per day on a ship?  Do you get better offers if you play tables vs. slots?  Any advice is welcome!

[RWolver672]

I limit my casino spending to $100 per day.  I always just play the slots.  

 

Before Covid, I might get one "deal" every few months.  Usually if we already had a cruise booked and it never applied to the booked cruise.  

 

Since Covid, we get on the average, five "deals" a week.  Anything from free Wifi, free cabins, reduced rates, Cheers for both of us, drinks on us both anywhere on the ship or just in the casino.  (Some for just me, others for both of us.)  Some come with OBC, casino rates, a few for Australia cruises, etc.

 

At this point, they are offering all kinds of things to get people to book a cruise.  I'm not sure if your chances are any better when playing the slots vs. tables.  Pretty sure that as soon as they start sailing full again, the "Deals" will be few and far between.

Edited November 16, 2021 by RWolver672

[kdr69]

You dont need to spend alot in the casino to get offers you only need to be a Casino club member for that.  However just like Vegas the more you spend the better you are treated.  I usually spend about 50-100 bucks a day in the casino and all 5 of my current offers are Casino Offers.  They are the lowest offer type ie "free interior cabin" vs "free Suite cabin"  or "drinks on us in Casino for you" vs "drinks everywhere onboard for you and a companion".  That being said even my Cheers offer is the RU9 offer which isnt as good as some Cheers offers out there.

[BamaMomRollTide]

4 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

You dont need to spend alot in the casino to get offers you only need to be a Casino club member for that.  However just like Vegas the more you spend the better you are treated.  I usually spend about 50-100 bucks a day in the casino and all 5 of my current offers are Casino Offers.  They are the lowest offer type ie "free interior cabin" vs "free Suite cabin"  or "drinks on us in Casino for you" vs "drinks everywhere onboard for you and a companion".  That being said even my Cheers offer is the RU9 offer which isnt as good as some Cheers offers out there.

 

Dumb question....how do you join Casino Club?  Can I do it ahead of time online?  

[hurricane0226]

yes you can sign up online before you cruise, go to carnival.com website, under the VIFP and 

sign up there.

[JGB]

my latest casino offer which I am taking advantage of is $1000 cash free balcony free drinks anywhere on the ship. I pour thousands of dollars through the slots. I have lost as much as $4000 and have won as much as $8000 on a sailing.

JGB

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Offers depend on historical casino spend.  As mentioned above some might only be for free interior room while others are up to a free suite.  And then “casino cash” is also different from zero to $1000+.  In our experience the slits tend to earn way more points and better offers.  Now if you play higher limits on table games ($25 per hand for hours per day) those poits add up and those players get great offers. 

[kdr69]

9 hours ago, BamaMomRollTide said:

 

Dumb question....how do you join Casino Club?  Can I do it ahead of time online?  

Carnival Players Club®
Carnival Players Club is a unique casino program that offers something for every level of player. All members are eligible to receive benefits and special offers. The Carnival Players Club sends out various offers and invitations – with a variety of benefits – based upon frequency of cruising and point levels.

Additional information can be found at www.carnivalplayersclub.com.

 

 

[kdr69]

8 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

yes you can sign up online before you cruise, go to carnival.com website, under the VIFP and 

sign up there.

I believe your thinking of VIFP Club which is just your Cruising benefits not the Players Club membership which is for Casino benefits

[dubohio]

If you want to get good deals play slots.  I bet big on the craps table and I’m lucky to get the free drink card.  I was on a cruise with someone who dropped $500 on day one in a slot and received free champagne at dinner and a free cruise (interior room) before we got off the boat.  I dropped several grand on the craps table and didn’t even get ice cream.  I called carnival to ask why, they told me to play slots.

[Sue Goodreds]

Thanks everyone for all your great answers.  I did sign up to join the Casino Club.  I leave Sunday on a cruise out of Tampa and definitely plan to drop some money to see if it gets me any offers.  Thank you again!

[Colorado Beach Bum]

59 minutes ago, dubohio said:

If you want to get good deals play slots.  I bet big on the craps table and I’m lucky to get the free drink card.  I was on a cruise with someone who dropped $500 on day one in a slot and received free champagne at dinner and a free cruise (interior room) before we got off the boat.  I dropped several grand on the craps table and didn’t even get ice cream.  I called carnival to ask why, they told me to play slots.

Totally agree. Table games you have to have $25+ average bet. And in craps it’s not a total of all bets, it each bet, especially the pass-line. I play all week and spend way more in craps than the wife does on slots and she always gets the better offers. 

[SCBarker]

I generally take a $100 a day for the casino. I'm getting free balcony  offers on any ship now. Bumped up from interiors previously.  It seems they track slots way better than they do table games.  For reference, my last 5-night cruise netted me about 1300-1400 points on my card.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

1 minute ago, SCBarker said:

I generally take a $100 a day for the casino. I'm getting free balcony  offers on any ship now. Bumped up from interiors previously.  It seems they track slots way better than they do table games.  For reference, my last 5-night cruise netted me about 1300-1400 points on my card.

In the past that probably wouldn’t have earned a free room offer.  I think you need 7k or more but I may be wrong.  For a year or so there was an actual chart that showed how many points you needed for different room type offers. Haven’t seen that in a while. 

[matymil]

13 hours ago, kdr69 said:

You dont need to spend alot in the casino to get offers you only need to be a Casino club member for that.  However just like Vegas the more you spend the better you are treated.  I usually spend about 50-100 bucks a day in the casino and all 5 of my current offers are Casino Offers.  They are the lowest offer type ie "free interior cabin" vs "free Suite cabin"  or "drinks on us in Casino for you" vs "drinks everywhere onboard for you and a companion".  That being said even my Cheers offer is the RU9 offer which isnt as good as some Cheers offers out there.

I was about to say the same thing here. You really dont have to spend alot to get casino rates. Like i think i may have started getting them after my 4th....maybe 5th cruise and the most ive ever lost in the casino is afew hundred bucks. You dont have to be a high roller for sure. The rates are good, one draw back though that i found out the hard way during the pandemic is that if you have to cancel you have to go through casino sales directly which can be a pain. I think they call it "global sales". My TA told me they are much more strict when it comes to rebooking sailings when rates drop, which i can second.

[sgttami]

1 hour ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

In the past that probably wouldn’t have earned a free room offer.  I think you need 7k or more but I may be wrong.  For a year or so there was an actual chart that showed how many points you needed for different room type offers. Haven’t seen that in a while. 

Casino hosts have always told me that people aren't necessarily rated on much $$$$ they spend in the casino, but rather, the time spent there.

I've heard people say they lost a bundle and a "bundle" to them was $100 for the week.

I've seen people play $75 a spin on a slot machine for hours and they don't blink an eye.

 

I gave up trying to figure out how they decide who gets what.  As long as I keep getting my offers, they can figure it out however they want.

 

They used to hand out the free cruise vouchers on the last night of the cruise if you had earned enough points but I haven't seen that in a few years.  I get e-mails every single day with offers and they are all different.

[hurricane0226]

4 minutes ago, sgttami said:

Casino hosts have always told me that people aren't necessarily rated on much $$$$ they spend in the casino, but rather, the time spent there.

I've heard people say they lost a bundle and a "bundle" to them was $100 for the week.

I've seen people play $75 a spin on a slot machine for hours and they don't blink an eye.

 

I gave up trying to figure out how they decide who gets what.  As long as I keep getting my offers, they can figure it out however they want.

 

They used to hand out the free cruise vouchers on the last night of the cruise if you had earned enough points but I haven't seen that in a few years.  I get e-mails every single day with offers and they are all different.

We received our free room offers the night before pulling in on Aug on the Magic sailing.

[BamaMomRollTide]

4 hours ago, kdr69 said:

I believe your thinking of VIFP Club which is just your Cruising benefits not the Players Club membership which is for Casino benefits

 

Yes, I think that must have been what that person meant because that’s all I could find there.

[Virga]

I have zero idea what usually earns casino offers via the players club, but I can testify that light slot play (~1200pts each on a 4nt cruise in September, followed by ~300pts each on a 7nt cruise in October) earned some pretty excellent offers in November.  

 

We both have two great offers ($200 & $500 freeplay, free drinks everywhere, and free cabins int-balc depending on the route, June-December next year) and two decent offers (slightly discounted cabins from now to end of schedule, $200 obc, and drinks in the casino or really cheap cabins through February with drinks in the casino.). Some of the deals are discounted well over a thousand dollars, not counting the freeplay or drinks.  

 

I have no expectation of them keeping up these offers once things rebound - our play does not warrant or discounts - but I'll happily trade them a few hundred points a day as long as they keep giving me free/cheap cabins and free drinks.  

[staceyglow]

3 hours ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

Totally agree. Table games you have to have $25+ average bet. And in craps it’s not a total of all bets, it each bet, especially the pass-line. I play all week and spend way more in craps than the wife does on slots and she always gets the better offers. 

Carnival makes more money on slots because as a general rule, the odds favor the house more.  Maybe that's why they give slot players better offers.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

3 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

We received our free room offers the night before pulling in on Aug on the Magic sailing.

Yes.  If you earn enough points they are still doing that.  We’ve had four since the restart but the offers we get later have been even better which rarely happened before. 

[CruiserLucas]

I don't spend a lot on our past sailings with the casino, a few hundred the whole cruise tops. Yet, I get the "free drinks at the casino, reduced rate" offer within a month of returning. That's not an enticing enough offer for me, though. I booked the RU3 free Cheers rate on our two cruises this year. And they offered it to me again for cruises through December 2022 if I book by Jan 31, 2022.

[IntrepidFromDC]

I play table games only, my daughter plays slots only.  We almost always enter and leave the casino at the same time.  We get our "Player's Club Offer" emails at the same time and typically I get "free balcony" while she gets "free interior" offers.  Table players don't earn points.  Rather they are rated.

[nlktx49]

If you look at Casino Players Club website they state that they have a method of choosing who gets what offers, and they will not disclose that method.  About 5 or 6 years ago my husband I started get the Players Club offers. We were kind of surprised as we are not high rollers by any means! On a 7 day cruise we take $300 each for gambling. When that's gone, no more gambling. We only play slots. Then we started getting Premier and even one Ultra offer. Not free rooms, but special Players rate - which we doubt is really that much off - and free drinks while playing in the casino, some contests that are for Premier or Ultra players only. Gifts in our cabin each day, most of which aren't that great. My husband usually gets better offers that his BIL who drops a lot more money in the casino than we do. 

 

Since the startup, my husband has been getting lots of really great offers, has booked 6 cruises for 2022, says it's like they're paying us to cruise. Balcony rooms for $100 each, $200 OBC, $200 Casino Cash, free drinks when playing in Casino. I know others are getting free balcony rooms, etc. but we're happy with the offers we're getting. They've slowed down in November, so I guess Carnival is satisfied with the numbers of passengers coming back to cruise.

 

We had a 7 day Ultra cruise October 23 on the Vista and were disappointed with the Ultra benefits and gifts compared to our other Ultra. On the other hand we were very pleased by the changes such as the wonderful short muster drills and doing almost everything through the HUB app. Wearing masks most places on the ship wasn't a big deal.

 

[splintz]

17 hours ago, sgttami said:

Casino hosts have always told me that people aren't necessarily rated on much $$$$ they spend in the casino, but rather, the time spent there.

I've heard people say they lost a bundle and a "bundle" to them was $100 for the week.

I've seen people play $75 a spin on a slot machine for hours and they don't blink an eye.

 

I gave up trying to figure out how they decide who gets what.  As long as I keep getting my offers, they can figure it out however they want.

 

They used to hand out the free cruise vouchers on the last night of the cruise if you had earned enough points but I haven't seen that in a few years.  I get e-mails every single day with offers and they are all different.

Casinos use what they call the ADT (Average Daily Theoretical)to calculate comps on table games.  The formula is similar to this: Theoretical = (Average bet x hours played x hands per hour) x (House Edge / 100)  So every table game has a different House edge which would give a different ADT for what you play.  Something like black jack is easy for them to calculate once they see your average bet.  Something like craps is a little more difficult.  They don't count back odds.  Some don't really look at place bets.  so you might have a lot of money on the table but the pit boss might only rate you for what you have on the pass line.  Slots are more lucrative to play and easy to calculate.  most casinos give you 1 point for every $5 run through the machine, and 1 point for every $10 run through a video poker machine.