Play requirements for comped casino cruises …

[VIFP1987]

Hello! I recently returned from an 8 day cruise on board the Dream. I booked with a casino offer that included a comped suite, $2500 in FP and drinks everywhere. I assumed that they were expecting quite a bit of play in exchange for the offer. In my opinion, I way overplayed. Since I’ve been home, I’ve received new offers and my comps have been drastically reduced to an ocean view cabin and $250 in FP. Drinks in casino only. Would you please share your experience with casino offers to include the offer itself and the play you gave to get it? Thank you! 

[KarmaCruisers]

Without knowing your “play” we can’t evaluate.

how many points did you earn? (If you play machines)

or what was your table play like? (Buy-ins; first bet and length of play)

[lazydayz]

Most of my offers have dropped a little.  From balcony to OV, from Free Drinks Everywhere to in casino only, and amount of free play has dropped as well (from $1,000 to $500 or lower).  I think that is just where they are in the cycle.  I will wait for the next round of Elite offers to come around before booking anything else on Carnival.  Without a substantial amount of FP and FDE, I will likely just book on Royal.

 

Royal gives me either a JS or balcony, free drinks in the casino, plus free wifi but very little free play.  Since I am Diamond Plus, I  also get four free drinks a day, which can be used anywhere.   My Royal offers have not declined the way the Carnival ones have.  

 

[brownc424]

45 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

Most of my offers have dropped a little.  From balcony to OV, from Free Drinks Everywhere to in casino only, and amount of free play has dropped as well (from $1,000 to $500 or lower).  I think that is just where they are in the cycle.  I will wait for the next round of Elite offers to come around before booking anything else on Carnival.  Without a substantial amount of FP and FDE, I will likely just book on Royal.

 

Royal gives me either a JS or balcony, free drinks in the casino, plus free wifi but very little free play.  Since I am Diamond Plus, I  also get four free drinks a day, which can be used anywhere.   My Royal offers have not declined the way the Carnival ones have.  

 

I'm on my first real cycle of Carnival offers, and my offers make zero sense to me. $1000 in freeplay, drinks on us for myself and a companion, and yet the room isn't free. Depending on the specific cruise and which offer it decides it likes the best, it's anywhere from 10-80% off.

[VIFP1987]

3 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Without knowing your “play” we can’t evaluate.

how many points did you earn? (If you play machines)

or what was your table play like? (Buy-ins; first bet and length of play)

My play is 75% slots and 25% video poker. I earned just under 70K points over the 8 days. I average 6 hours a day of play. 

[luvcruzing]

I would say just be patient.  The better offers will come.

[Elaine5715]

The on-land casino marketing department buys data points on everything from FB, Google search to credit cards companies to use to target casino offers plus Carnival regular marketing to find slow illing ships. There is no way to determine any predicable pattern based on points.

[KarmaCruisers]

14 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The on-land casino marketing department buys data points on everything from FB, Google search to credit cards companies to use to target casino offers plus Carnival regular marketing to find slow illing ships. There is no way to determine any predicable pattern based on points.

Do you know this for fact???

i would be SHOCKED if CCL casino department went that nuts on data analytics. (VEGAS casinos don’t even do that!)

but..honestly it may make sense…

[Elaine5715]

1 minute ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Do you know this for fact???

i would be SHOCKED if CCL casino department went that nuts on data analytics. (VEGAS casinos don’t even do that!)

but..honestly it may make sense…

Yes.  Vegas casinos also do it. Credit card use patterns find people who are willing to use credit for "fun" and card users outspend cash users by far.  

[WKUTopperFan]

I can say my most recent round of offers have stayed the same, even though my play was a bit down on my March cruise. I still get Free Suite offers for normal sailings and Free Balcony for Elite sailings (obviously Free Drinks Everywhere). My free play is down on most recent Elite offer (down to $300!) which I attached but my Suite offers are as always with $1000.

 

On Cruises where I spent the most ,with the goal of  getting Free Suite offers on my upcoming Elite offers... ot had never happened.  I have no idea what I gotta spend to get a Comp Suite on Elite sailings. I've given up trying.

 

In summation, my last round of offers (which came out a few days ago)... no real changes.  They're always the same. 

 

For you Elite sailors... They have dropped providing a bar in the room and replaced it with Cocktail parties at the beginning and end of the cruise (see my offer attached). I'm quite upset with this change and will be calling my host next week to let them know. Obvious cost cutting measure. If it weren't for smoking being allowed in the casino... I'd take all my gambling dollars elsewhere. Celebrity comps me free verandahs and all inclusive... I'm getting closer and closer to sailing them exclusively.  

[Colorado Beach Bum]

12 hours ago, Buomalley said:

My play is 75% slots and 25% video poker. I earned just under 70K points over the 8 days. I average 6 hours a day of play. 

Should be more than enough for great offers.  The first offers we get right after a cruise are usually pretty weak. After a few weeks back they seem to get back to normal. 

[Colorado Beach Bum]

12 hours ago, WKUTopperFan said:

I can say my most recent round of offers have stayed the same, even though my play was a bit down on my March cruise. I still get Free Suite offers for normal sailings and Free Balcony for Elite sailings (obviously Free Drinks Everywhere). My free play is down on most recent Elite offer (down to $300!) which I attached but my Suite offers are as always with $1000.

 

On Cruises where I spent the most ,with the goal of  getting Free Suite offers on my upcoming Elite offers... ot had never happened.  I have no idea what I gotta spend to get a Comp Suite on Elite sailings. I've given up trying.

 

In summation, my last round of offers (which came out a few days ago)... no real changes.  They're always the same. 

 

For you Elite sailors... They have dropped providing a bar in the room and replaced it with Cocktail parties at the beginning and end of the cruise (see my offer attached). I'm quite upset with this change and will be calling my host next week to let them know. Obvious cost cutting measure. If it weren't for smoking being allowed in the casino... I'd take all my gambling dollars elsewhere. Celebrity comps me free verandahs and all inclusive... I'm getting closer and closer to sailing them exclusively.  

I’m not sure they dropped the bar in your room.  Just below what you circled says early room access with your preferred drink waiting for you. 

[DomoYoshi]

19 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Do you know this for fact???

i would be SHOCKED if CCL casino department went that nuts on data analytics. (VEGAS casinos don’t even do that!)

but..honestly it may make sense…

Just want to throw out there that I do know for a fact that multiple land-based companies like Cordish, MGM, and Caesars have been using this level of analytics outside of Vegas for years. That’s why some find extremely generous offers to get them in the door/on the ship but they steadily decrease afterwards. 

[VIFP1987]

19 hours ago, WKUTopperFan said:

I can say my most recent round of offers have stayed the same, even though my play was a bit down on my March cruise. I still get Free Suite offers for normal sailings and Free Balcony for Elite sailings (obviously Free Drinks Everywhere). My free play is down on most recent Elite offer (down to $300!) which I attached but my Suite offers are as always with $1000.

 

On Cruises where I spent the most ,with the goal of  getting Free Suite offers on my upcoming Elite offers... ot had never happened.  I have no idea what I gotta spend to get a Comp Suite on Elite sailings. I've given up trying.

 

In summation, my last round of offers (which came out a few days ago)... no real changes.  They're always the same. 

 

For you Elite sailors... They have dropped providing a bar in the room and replaced it with Cocktail parties at the beginning and end of the cruise (see my offer attached). I'm quite upset with this change and will be calling my host next week to let them know. Obvious cost cutting measure. If it weren't for smoking being allowed in the casino... I'd take all my gambling dollars elsewhere. Celebrity comps me free verandahs and all inclusive... I'm getting closer and closer to sailing them exclusively.  

I appreciate your feedback. Would you mind sharing what type of games you play and your average points earned per 7-8 day trip? Thanks 

[KarmaCruisers]

3 hours ago, DomoYoshi said:

Just want to throw out there that I do know for a fact that multiple land-based companies like Cordish, MGM, and Caesars have been using this level of analytics outside of Vegas for years. That’s why some find extremely generous offers to get them in the door/on the ship but they steadily decrease afterwards. 

Interesting; that’s one data point that we didn’t know about..I DID know the casinos “bought” data from their ATM machine vendors (ie: if you’re in Vegas and take out a huge cash advance from an ATM in a casino..they’ll send you offers thinking you’re a degenerate)

I need to think about the CC game a little more (we are both super-prime; but don’t use the CC’s we have)

[ew101]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:15 PM, DomoYoshi said:

Just want to throw out there that I do know for a fact that multiple land-based companies like Cordish, MGM, and Caesars have been using this level of analytics outside of Vegas for years. That’s why some find extremely generous offers to get them in the door/on the ship but they steadily decrease afterwards. 

This indeed has been a topic in MBA programs for a long time.  The trick, as was pointed out, is to work the system to get the most free stuff 🙂 Big Data At Caesars Entertainment - A One Billion Dollar Asset? (forbes.com)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

6 minutes ago, ew101 said:

This indeed has been a topic in MBA programs for a long time.  The trick, as was pointed out, is to work the system to get the most free stuff 🙂 Big Data At Caesars Entertainment - A One Billion Dollar Asset? (forbes.com)

 

I had to go read the linked story on Watanabe, though I was surprised that they only extended him $12,500/mo in air travel!!

 

Tom

[ew101]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I had to go read the linked story on Watanabe, though I was surprised that they only extended him $12,500/mo in air travel!!

 

Tom

Yes- I would be in "send our jet" mode with that level of VIP 🙂

 

[evandbob]

I've played slots every night on all of my 40 Carnival cruises.  Currently my best offers have been a free balcony on a 5 night or an ocean view on a 7 night.  I generally hit approx. 2500 -3000 points on a week long sailing.  I've sailed many Elite and premier Carnival casino cruises pre COVID.

 

But after cruising Celebrity 3 or 4 times, their blue chip casino started offering me free mid ship mid deck balconies on the Equinox, Silhouette, Edge, and Apex.  It was a no brainer to keep accepting the Celebrity offers and wait for Carnival to come close to matching.  I have free 18 might B2B balcony and 3 different week long  balconies booked through next January on Celebrity.  Yay to  Celebrity and its smoke free casino!!!

Edited July 11, 2022 by evandbob

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, evandbob said:

...Yay to  Celebrity and its smoke free casino!!!

 

We love Celebrity - have a B2B over Thanksgiving on the Reflection this year. 10 nights is our longest cruise prior to this (also Celebrity), so this will  get us into new territory. We were able book a RS through the Blue Chip Club and got a great discount (an honest 50% or so off). It's hard to beat the RS perks - Carnival could learn a lot (even if they just offered just a couple REAL perks)!

 

When I first walked into a Celebrity casino, I was not sure if I was in the right place (could not smell stale smoke)! Actually, when we first sailed them, they did allow smoking - but the change is substantial !

 

Tom

[WKUTopperFan]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:40 PM, Buomalley said:

I appreciate your feedback. Would you mind sharing what type of games you play and your average points earned per 7-8 day trip? Thanks 

Hi Buomally...

 

I play about 80% slots/20% Tables. I doubt I get much credit for the table play as my buy ins are never more than $200 a seat. As for slots, I average about 55 to 60k per 7 night sailing (The most I've earned on a 7 night sailing is 81k). I usually hit at least two hand pay jackpots per sailing. I don't play that long (in terms of time, maybe 3 hours a day) but move a lot of dollars through a machine in a short amount of time... my average bet is $5 to $10 per spin. I'll wager more than that if I'm able to hold my own on a machine for a while (Mardi Gras has a nice selection of higher limit machines). 

[StephPS79]

5 hours ago, evandbob said:

I've played slots every night on all of my 40 Carnival cruises.  Currently my best offers have been a free balcony on a 5 night or an ocean view on a 7 night.  I generally hit approx. 2500 -3000 points on a week long sailing.  I've sailed many Elite and premier Carnival casino cruises pre COVID.

 

But after cruising Celebrity 3 or 4 times, their blue chip casino started offering me free mid ship mid deck balconies on the Equinox, Silhouette, Edge, and Apex.  It was a no brainer to keep accepting the Celebrity offers and wait for Carnival to come close to matching.  I have free 18 might B2B balcony and 3 different week long  balconies booked through next January on Celebrity.  Yay to  Celebrity and its smoke free casino!!!

 

We played in RCCL's casino for one cruise and started getting free balcony offers.  Can't say we really even dropped much bank, a few Gs.  They are usually pretty select and limited in date though.  Carnival was't coming close on offers.  We booked the first one we received.  However, I'll say, after the last points reset and/or booking we did, we got removed from the mailing list.  Had to request to be "enabled" again, and I must say, offers aren't so great now, and Carnival's are definitely better.  We'll see what happens.

[VIFP1987]

1 hour ago, WKUTopperFan said:

Hi Buomally...

 

I play about 80% slots/20% Tables. I doubt I get much credit for the table play as my buy ins are never more than $200 a seat. As for slots, I average about 55 to 60k per 7 night sailing (The most I've earned on a 7 night sailing is 81k). I usually hit at least two hand pay jackpots per sailing. I don't play that long (in terms of time, maybe 3 hours a day) but move a lot of dollars through a machine in a short amount of time... my average bet is $5 to $10 per spin. I'll wager more than that if I'm able to hold my own on a machine for a while (Mardi Gras has a nice selection of higher limit machines). 

Thank you so much for taking the time to offer your feedback. I’ll try to be patient and see if better offers come my way.