Live From Oasis of the Seas 2/18-2/25!

[exlondoner]

8 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Another loyalty benefit. You get your first at 140, and every 70 points after.

 

 

I hit 420 this cruise.

What do you do with this? Wear it, eat it, put it on the mantlepiece, hang it on a wall?

[exlondoner]

4 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Some photos of my quick visit to Labadee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ropes look rather - well - ropey.

[jam19872016]

Good morning everyone. 

 

I found myself laying in bed last night debating going back out for a late night snack. I resisted and good thing as I still feel full this morning. Playmakers opens at 2, so it will be a while before any specialty opens, I hope I can hold out that long.

 

Not getting off the ship today and the casino is not open so not sure what I'm going to get into today, might check out the on demand movie selection.

Edited February 23 by jam19872016

[jam19872016]

8 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I think you are going to have to talk me through this in simple non gambler’s terms. But I assume it is another way of accruing benefits, unrelated to days on board.

Correct. This is a loyalty program for the casino.

 

When playing, you register your room key so it can track your play. You earn points based on how much money you play, win or lose does not matter, simply how much money gets cycled through. 

 

For slots, every $5 earns a point. Earn 2,500 points in an earning period, which runs April 1 to March 31, and you become prime. 

 

Prime status earns free drinks in the casino and you may order at the bar no need to flag down a server. It also earns a free cruise in an inside room which you may redeem on any sailing 7 days or less excluding certain blackout dates and ships.

 

You also earn instant certificates onboard for free cruises based on play. My planned number of points will earn me a free inside and $150 free play.

 

Some of the cruises on the list are eligible for ocean view or balcony but I'm going to pick the newer ship and take an inside.

 

That will net me at least two free cruises, plus they send out more lists to your email 2 to 3 times a month with more free cruises. Mostly 3 and 4 day last minute trips, but living in Florida those work for me.

 

There are two more levels higher than prime, signature at 25k points, and masters at 100k points, but those are way beyond my budget and honestly the perks at that level aren't amazing and I think for those players, Carnival's program is actually better.

Edited February 23 by jam19872016

[jam19872016]

8 hours ago, exlondoner said:

What do you do with this? Wear it, eat it, put it on the mantlepiece, hang it on a wall?

Mantelpiece.

 

With some creativity you could wear it but I think it would be quite heavy. 

 

Definitely don't eat it. If you do, put bacon on top as everything tastes better with bacon. 

8 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Ropes look rather - well - ropey.

They don't seem as tight as I am used to, but then I figure they must know what they are doing.

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Correct. This is a loyalty program for the casino.

 

When playing, you register your room key so it can track your play. You earn points based on how much money you play, win or lose does not matter, simply how much money gets cycled through. 

 

For slots, every $2.50 earns a point. Earn 2,500 points in an earning period, which runs April 1 to March 31, and you became prime. 

 

Prime status earns free drinks in the casino and you may order at the bar no need to flag down a server. It also earns a free cruise in an inside room which you may redeem on any sailing 7 days or less excluding certain blackout dates and ships.

 

You also earn instant certificates onboard for free cruises based on play. My planned number of points will earn me a free inside and $150 free play.

 

Some of the cruises on the list are eligible for ocean view or balcony but I'm going to pick the newer ship and take an inside.

 

That will net me at least two free cruises, plus they send out more lists to your email 2 to 3 times a month with more free cruises. Mostly 3 and 4 day last minute trips, but living in Florida those work for me.

 

There are two more levels higher than prime, signature at 25k points, and masters at 100k points, but those are way beyond my budget and honestly the perks at that level aren't amazing and I think for those players, Carnival's program is actually better.

Goodness gracious. How on earth does the company make any money, with all those free drinks and free cruises?

[exlondoner]

18 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Good morning everyone. 

 

I found myself laying in bed last night debating going back out for a late night snack. I resisted and good thing as I still feel full this morning. Playmakers opens at 2, so it will be a while before any specialty opens, I hope I can hold out that long.

 

Not getting off the ship today and the casino is not open so not sure what I'm going to get into today, might check out the on demand movie selection.

Do you have to work while aboard?

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

 

They don't seem as tight as I am used to, but then I figure they must know what they are doing.

That is what they probably said about the Captain of HMS Hood, just before a hawser broke as he was docking at Gibraltar, killing my husband’s uncle. But they probably do.🙂

[TwoMisfits]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Goodness gracious. How on earth does the company make any money, with all those free drinks and free cruises?

 

Normally, they make 10% off the throughput, and most gamblers will not stop and only gamble one cruise to get perks.  They will gamble on their free cruises, thus ultimately paying for the cruise through the throughput on that cruise.

[jam19872016]

+2.0

 

[jam19872016]

21 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Goodness gracious. How on earth does the company make any money, with all those free drinks and free cruises?

I once had a Carnival casino exec confide in me the casino on a slow week generates 100k in revenue per week per ship. Frequently in excess of 200k. Royal's casino is just as busy typically so I would not be surprised if they make just as much. The freebies cost them very little compared to their expected return.

 

It also helps in other ways. For example, when bookings were weak Carnival started sending me freebies but for very far out. Things i never qualify for on Carnival (and how i took my TA trip and all those weeks on Magic). Next quarter they reported to shareholders how strong bookings were for far out bookings, even if close up was still weak.

 

Coincidence? Probably not, I'm sure many of us all of a sudden had an offer we would normally not qualify for just to make bookings look stronger. Now they are strong again on their own and my offers aren't quite as nice.

 

It also helps avoid price drops when they fill rooms with casino players. By not offering the discounts to the public, the public can not price match to the discount. That happens FREQUENTLY. 

 

21 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Do you have to work while aboard?

Sometimes, yes. Depends on how busy my business is. Business is slowing down, so less work to do, but less cruises that I can afford. A real catch 22.

[jam19872016]

21 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Normally, they make 10% off the throughput, and most gamblers will not stop and only gamble one cruise to get perks.  They will gamble on their free cruises, thus ultimately paying for the cruise through the throughput on that cruise.

This ^.

 

Very few who gamble exercise the self control to not keep playing. It is a profitable venture for the casino for sure. And for that I am thankful because if not for that, they would surely raise the threshold until I was priced out.

[jam19872016]

Different barista today and I forgot to say no whipped cream.

 

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, jam19872016 said:

This ^.

 

Very few who gamble exercise the self control to not keep playing. It is a profitable venture for the casino for sure. And for that I am thankful because if not for that, they would surely raise the threshold until I was priced out.

This all seems so much a US thing. Cunard halved the size of the casinos on their Vistas (and used the space for single cabins) because on European cruises the Casinos are usually virtually empty. I often feel quite sorry for the unoccupied croupiers as I wander through.

[jam19872016]

Just now, exlondoner said:

This all seems so much a US thing. Cunard halved the size of the casinos on their Vistas (and used the space for single cabins) because on European cruises the Casinos are usually virtually empty. I often feel quite sorry for the unoccupied croupiers as I wander through.

Yes definitely a US and Asia thing. Carnival has a nearly identical class of ships to the QE and the casino spills into the area taken by the pub, the Queen's room, and Cafe coronthia if my memory serves me correctly. And as big as that is, it's still often at capacity. 

 

Carnival and Royal are both currently retrofitting their ships with larger casinos than originally built to accommodate the demand. The problem is the spaces are tiny and weird since they were not purpose built as casinos and don't seem to be generating the additional revenue they probably intended.

 

As these are non smoking spaces, I want to enjoy them more than I do. The one on Magic was nice for a slot player, but this one is extra tiny and I haven't used it much.

[jam19872016]

Had a letter in the mail saying they made a reservation for me at solarium bistro for tonight. It's been closed off every time I've walked by, I'd assumed for the celiac group but now I'm not sure.

 

Maybe they are making reservations for everyone to go once? Tonight is lobster night, would most people want to go on lobster night?

 

I probably would if not on ultimate dining because I have never been to the bistro and want to try it and I don't care for the lobster. 

[colesc15]

55 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Normally, they make 10% off the throughput, and most gamblers will not stop and only gamble one cruise to get perks.  They will gamble on their free cruises, thus ultimately paying for the cruise through the throughput on that cruise.

Yep this exactly. Many times a "free" cruise ends up costing more than had you paid for it at normal rates, but like I said earlier, me specifically, I was gambling in the casinos before they implemented the casino program, so it's nice to get something in return for your money. Some cruises I can walk away ahead or even (I consider even a win), or there's been 7 night sailings where I've lost $10,000. With or without the casino program, I would have gambled anyway, but if you lose $10k and get a $4k cruise in return with free drinks etc, the loss quickly became "less". 

[colesc15]

5 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Had a letter in the mail saying they made a reservation for me at solarium bistro for tonight. It's been closed off every time I've walked by, I'd assumed for the celiac group but now I'm not sure.

 

Maybe they are making reservations for everyone to go once? Tonight is lobster night, would most people want to go on lobster night?

 

I probably would if not on ultimate dining because I have never been to the bistro and want to try it and I don't care for the lobster. 

Never done bistro either. Always been interested but never enough to actually try it. 

[jam19872016]

2 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Yep this exactly. Many times a "free" cruise ends up costing more than had you paid for it at normal rates, but like I said earlier, me specifically, I was gambling in the casinos before they implemented the casino program, so it's nice to get something in return for your money. Some cruises I can walk away ahead or even (I consider even a win), or there's been 7 night sailings where I've lost $10,000. With or without the casino program, I would have gambled anyway, but if you lose $10k and get a $4k cruise in return with free drinks etc, the loss quickly became "less". 

I would cry if I lost that amount, but get your point. If you're going to gamble, it is nice to offset some losses with future cruises and even better I love that Royal says "earn x points and get this". It's nice.

 

2 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Never done bistro either. Always been interested but never enough to actually try it. 

Doesn't get great reviews, but then neither does the mdr and I enjoy the food there so I'd like to try it out one of these days.

[colesc15]

4 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

I would cry if I lost that amount, but get your point. If you're going to gamble, it is nice to offset some losses with future cruises and even better I love that Royal says "earn x points and get this". It's nice.

 

Doesn't get great reviews, but then neither does the mdr and I enjoy the food there so I'd like to try it out one of these days.

Thankfully those big losses have been extremely rare lol. I enjoy a lot of the other activities on the ship so I generally will look through the instant certificates before the cruise, see what level I want to get to, and then be disciplined enough to leave once I get to the level I want. Generally you can get to the 4,000 or less point lists without massive losses as long as you're strategic with the slots to play. 

[jam19872016]

Just now, colesc15 said:

Thankfully those big losses have been extremely rare lol. I enjoy a lot of the other activities on the ship so I generally will look through the instant certificates before the cruise, see what level I want to get to, and then be disciplined enough to leave once I get to the level I want. Generally you can get to the 4,000 or less point lists without massive losses as long as you're strategic with the slots to play. 

I've been doing some research at low volitale slots but most videos seem to be pretty tight lipped on which ones are low volitale and just explain what it is and what to look for.

 

Pinball is one of the few that gets mentioned and I have done decent on that this week. 

 

Of course the ones that are more fun tend to be more volitale. 

 

I do video poker a lot too which has better odds, but earns less points. 

[jam19872016]

Taking a walk. Getting some photos of the ship. I'd like to post of photo tour but we'll see how much down time I have to post them. I know if I don't post onboard I probably won't find time to post.

[jam19872016]

I found a nice collection of ducks while walking the ship. Added seven.

 

[jam19872016]

Portside was open, super tempting to stop in for lunch but I'm going to hold out for playmakers.

 

The buffet and park Cafe did not even tempt me a little. Very poor selection although I can't speak to the taste. Maybe they would impress me like the Cafe promenade has.

 

El Loco Fresh had a massive line, no temptation there either.

 

The boardwalk dog house was very tempting though.

 

Going to get in a little time on the walking track and then head out for some lunch.

[Celandine]

So excited to catch you live! I have been binging your past reviews the past few weeks! Love your pics and commentary! It’s helping me cope with my super long wait until my cruise! Plus the Oasis is on my bucket list for cruise ships!