Royal Casino - Prime

[maketime4cruisin]

3 minutes ago, SplashOfWater said:

Yes, based on the points you earn on that cruise .

thanks!

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

The $12,500 figure would be required if no spin ever won.  You would need to be massively unlucky to spin that many times and never once get a single hit.

 

For example one time I charged $300 to my room.  Not long after I hit a ~ $900 win.  I still had over $200 from my original $300 available.  So now I'm staring at something like $1,137 in the machine.   

 

If I cash out I am up $837.  I chose to continue playing because I wanted to make Prime.  I played that $900 for points not using any new money until all that was gone.  At that point I was around 950 points.  I wanted to reach 1200 points for the 1200 point level free cruise so it took me another ~$200 in new money to get there. 

 

I ended up with something like 1237 points.  That earned me a free instant reward cruise.  So far my run to Prime cost me just over $500.  The free cruise I booked was 6 nights on Adventure in an interior.  At the time that was a $1,300 cruise.  

 

On my next cruise I wasn't as lucky.  I completed my Prime run, earned a 1500 instant reward free cruise with around ~$1,100 more invested in the casino program.  I booked a 3 night on Allure in a balcony that was at the time something like a $1,500 cruise.

 

So at this point I have spent around $1,600, have earned Prime and two free cruises.  Come April they hand out the annual Prime free cruise which I used for a 7 night Wonder cruise.  That was an interior that I spent ~$600 to upgrade to a balcony through the casino department which at the time was around a $3,000 cruise.

 

I chose to split my Prime run over two cruises to get two free instant rewards cruises plus the annual Prime free cruise.  

 

In summary for ~ $1,600 I earned Prime with free drinks in the casino for the rest of that year and all of the following year and I booked three cruises which cost me port fees, taxes and a balcony upgrade.  Those three cruises would have cost $5,800 to book on the website as a solo Pinnacle.

 

I have been lucky.  The $1,600 Prime cost is probably below what most folks invest.  The following years will not always be so lucky.  Consequently my average to maintain Prime will likely go up.  However if I continue to spread my gambling across multiple cruises I will continue to earn multiple free instant reward cruises as well as the annual Prime free cruise.

 

In 2019 it wasn't that hard to find balcony deals on short Florida sailings for $200-$300.  Back in those days the Prime math was different.   Those days are over.  With the high cost of cruising in modern times the Prime math works for me.

 

I room charge and let my gambling be charged to my credit card.  This nets me 2% cash back through my credit card.  I pay off my card monthly so I am not financing my gambling, it floats on my credit card for a month with no cost to me.  Sure that $1,600 only netted me $32 in cash back rewards but $32 is $32 and it costs me nothing.  

 

Gambling will never be profitable or revenue positive on it's own.  For someone who loves to cruise and since I live in Florida it's a means to be reduce the cost to cruise.  Free drinks at the casino bar is actually a pretty great perk too.  This have proven to be more valuable than I originally thought.

 

Another item to be aware is that the low level instant rewards are mostly interior or oceanview.  I am okay with that for a free cruise.  If you must have a balcony or suite the math is different.   Instant rewards are better when earned on a short cruise, you can view the list at the URLs already posted above.

Great informative post. You already touched on being lucky, but I think it’s important to mention most people lose more money in the casino than if they simply paid for their cruises out of pocket. The casino program would not exist if this wasn’t true. 

[Cruising89143]

5 hours ago, little britain said:

@twangster thanks so much for clear explanation of how you did it.. and most importantly how much $$ you had to invest! 
 

The lack of cruises from England would be an additional factor, as the flight/hotel costs etc would need to be added which would be a minimum of $1000! I checked the list for 1200 … not a single European one 😕

Concerning the list of cruises. The list can and does vary by offer. We were on the NV in April and started with zero points. We both had very good success on winning, made Prime again and both received offers for a balcony stateroom plus each had a nice small profit. We came home and looked at the list. A lot of nice options. We chose the Anthem out of Southampton for nine nights next month. Since we combined our balcony offers, we were automatically upgraded to a JS. I then told the rep that I wanted to upgrade to an OS. The cost was $2500.00 to upgrade from JS to an OS. So with only a little over three grand spent including gratuities, taxes and fees we are cruising in an OS that listed for over twelve grand if we had booked it outright. There was a good number of cruises in Europe and it included three TA’s for the fall. Our list of cruises was around 25 pages long.

 

Now we are not always that lucky in winning but we don’t approach gambling as a way to always win. Sometimes you do and other times we miss. We have a set amount to spend and we look at it as entertainment. We live in Vegas so we’re very familiar how gambling works. 🙂

[twangster]

3 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Great informative post. You already touched on being lucky, but I think it’s important to mention most people lose more money in the casino than if they simply paid for their cruises out of pocket. The casino program would not exist if this wasn’t true. 

 

Not everyone is happy with interior and ocean view so they continue on towards the higher point awards which increases the opportunity for losses.

 

Jewel was treating me terribly.  I just couldn't get into a groove so I cut my losses and abandoned any hopes for an instant reward free cruise.  I got as far as a minimal discount off an existing cruise so it wasn't all thrown down the drain but it will impact my annual statistics.  

 

But then on my last two cruises I hit hand pay jackpots on each so while I lost some money on Jewel I more than made up for it on Icon and Freedom.  

 

I'm up on the year and Prime is renewed but two hand pay jackpots in a row probably means I'll soon enter a losing streak so that will be on my mind on my next cruise.  I'll pull the plug quickly if it isn't working out.

[colesc15]

On 7/12/2024 at 1:58 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

I guarantee no one is laying down $12,500 playing slot machines. You need to wager $12,500, which is not the same as putting $12,500 at risk. For example, I always put $500 into a slot machine the first day/night of a cruise. I have had many cruises where that $500 lasted the entire cruise, so for most of the cruise I was gambling with the casino’s money. On the other hand, I have had many cruises where I lost $500 in 45 minutes or less. 

Not necessarily true. On a week long, we've lost more than $12,500 a handful of times. You win sometimes and lose big sometimes. Gambling. 

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, colesc15 said:

Not necessarily true. On a week long, we've lost more than $12,500 a handful of times. You win sometimes and lose big sometimes. Gambling. 

Unfortunately I know what you mean. What I was trying to convey is it would be extremely rare to lose $12,500 without any kind of win no matter what you are playing in the casino. Even on my worst days in the casino, I have more than a few good wins playing slots. It’s just overall I have a lot more “bad” spins.  

[colesc15]

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Unfortunately I know what you mean. What I was trying to convey is it would be extremely rare to lose $12,500 without any kind of win no matter what you are playing in the casino. Even on my worst days in the casino, I have more than a few good wins playing slots. It’s just overall I have a lot more “bad” spins.  

Oh yes, 100% agree 

[Roybthered]

On 7/13/2024 at 8:07 PM, Cruising89143 said:

Concerning the list of cruises. The list can and does vary by offer. We were on the NV in April and started with zero points. We both had very good success on winning, made Prime again and both received offers for a balcony stateroom plus each had a nice small profit. We came home and looked at the list. A lot of nice options. We chose the Anthem out of Southampton for nine nights next month. Since we combined our balcony offers, we were automatically upgraded to a JS. I then told the rep that I wanted to upgrade to an OS. The cost was $2500.00 to upgrade from JS to an OS. So with only a little over three grand spent including gratuities, taxes and fees we are cruising in an OS that listed for over twelve grand if we had booked it outright. There was a good number of cruises in Europe and it included three TA’s for the fall. Our list of cruises was around 25 pages long.

 

Now we are not always that lucky in winning but we don’t approach gambling as a way to always win. Sometimes you do and other times we miss. We have a set amount to spend and we look at it as entertainment. We live in Vegas so we’re very familiar how gambling works. 🙂

We went on Oasis in May ( 7 nights), both my wife and I where Prime from last year and looking to at least one of us getting to Prime on on this cruise. She did and at the end of the cruise had our instant certificate in our suite waiting for us to download, we had 16 pages of cruises. Most of them were from the US but a couple where from Europe/UK, we also chose Southampton for 9 nights at the beginning of August. Now do we spend excessive amounts of money in the casino to enable us to get to prime? No as we know what we are willing to spend during the cruise we are on and as it is part of our holiday and enjoyment, we don't win all the time but we do win enough to enable us to get to prime and get offers of comp'd cruises. Our May cruise was a comp'd cruise as is the next one and they would have cost us a lot more than the money we put into the casino fund!

A lot of our friends think we are mad gambling in the casino just to get a free cruise but are amazed when we keep getting offers of free cruises, our August one should have cost £3500 for two of us 9 nights but is only costing me fuel to drive the port and paying to park, a no brainer to me. 

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, Roybthered said:

We went on Oasis in May ( 7 nights), both my wife and I where Prime from last year and looking to at least one of us getting to Prime on on this cruise. She did and at the end of the cruise had our instant certificate in our suite waiting for us to download, we had 16 pages of cruises. Most of them were from the US but a couple where from Europe/UK, we also chose Southampton for 9 nights at the beginning of August. Now do we spend excessive amounts of money in the casino to enable us to get to prime? No as we know what we are willing to spend during the cruise we are on and as it is part of our holiday and enjoyment, we don't win all the time but we do win enough to enable us to get to prime and get offers of comp'd cruises. Our May cruise was a comp'd cruise as is the next one and they would have cost us a lot more than the money we put into the casino fund!

A lot of our friends think we are mad gambling in the casino just to get a free cruise but are amazed when we keep getting offers of free cruises, our August one should have cost £3500 for two of us 9 nights but is only costing me fuel to drive the port and paying to park, a no brainer to me. 

I got off Grandeur a few days ago. Like most cruises I spent time at the casino bar and talked with a bunch of people sitting at the bar over the course of the cruise. Like most cruises the majority of people I talked to were not doing very well in the casino, with one guy saying he had already lost over $10K on the third night of the cruise. However, it seems everyone who posts online says something similar to either they usually win in the casino or their cruise(s) would cost more than they lost in the casino. I realize there are people who win in the casino, but they are the exceptions. The casino program with comped cruises, free drinks, etc. would not exist if the majority of gamblers were winning or losing less than the cost of comped cruise(s) they booked. 

[kcmo74]

If you become Prime this year do the benefits/free drinks last through March of 2025 or March of 2026? I know the free cruise you earn is taken in the following year between April 2025 and March 2026, but it's always confused me on the wording of the perks and whether they carry over for a year or not.

[RFerrington]

33 minutes ago, kcmo74 said:

If you become Prime this year do the benefits/free drinks last through March of 2025 or March of 2026? I know the free cruise you earn is taken in the following year between April 2025 and March 2026, but it's always confused me on the wording of the perks and whether they carry over for a year or not.

Yes.  As soon as you make Prime the "onboard" perks will be in effect (free drinks, no "convenience" charge) but, as you noted, the annual tier complimentary cruise is not available until the next April.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I got off Grandeur a few days ago. Like most cruises I spent time at the casino bar and talked with a bunch of people sitting at the bar over the course of the cruise. Like most cruises the majority of people I talked to were not doing very well in the casino, with one guy saying he had already lost over $10K on the third night of the cruise. However, it seems everyone who posts online says something similar to either they usually win in the casino or their cruise(s) would cost more than they lost in the casino. I realize there are people who win in the casino, but they are the exceptions. The casino program with comped cruises, free drinks, etc. would not exist if the majority of gamblers were winning or losing less than the cost of comped cruise(s) they booked. 

 

Absolutely.  The casino program exists because overall it makes money for the company.

 

The casino can get quite busy on any given ship.  The vast majority of those folks will not come out ahead.  Many of those folks are not there to play for a free cruise.  With more than 50% new to Royal on board many of those gamblers are not likely fully up to speed on the concept of earning a free cruise in the casino, how points accumulate, what Prime is, etc.

 

Earning a free cruise costs money.  It's not really a free cruise but when combined with some gambling the casino program can be an avenue for reduced cost cruising. 

 

It can also provide some different options.  I don't typically cruise during the summer peak for example.  It costs more and there are no reduced single supplement fares usually.  However with an instant reward cruise I can cruise in the summer months and the absence of reduced single supplement doesn't matter.

 

As it turns out for me I am ahead having won B2B jackpots.  Statistically if I continue gambling I'll lose.   I'm hoping Casino Royale will see I am ahead and that I've stopped gambling.  Maybe they will throw me an extra comp cruise to get me back into the casino.  

[TheInnocentAge]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

As it turns out for me I am ahead having won B2B jackpots.  

Were those on the 'Lucky Leprechaun' slots by any chance?

 

I kept feeding those on Jewel and watching the jackpot totals rise, only to return later and see they had been hit and reset to $1000 or so 🙂.

 

Oh well, maybe next time!

[PhillyFan33579]

7 hours ago, kcmo74 said:

If you become Prime this year do the benefits/free drinks last through March of 2025 or March of 2026? I know the free cruise you earn is taken in the following year between April 2025 and March 2026, but it's always confused me on the wording of the perks and whether they carry over for a year or not.

If you reach Prime this year, you get free drinks in the casino up to March 31, 2026. 

[Cdude]

I earned platinum with MLife through MGM during covid because I lived in CA which was locked down and I was able to drive to Vegas for dining out and entertainment, albeit limited at the time. It was an easy escape and I didn’t need to gamble much at all to earn platinum, a high status level. As a platinum, I found out I was eligible for a free RCL cruise, which I did when cruising opened back up in 2022. I don’t know how much MGM gets paid for the cruise referrals but it must be pretty decent to let RCL get a crack at their second highest status gamblers.

 

I did a free 3-night Mexico cruise and had so much fun finally doing something other than Vegas. I took advantage of another free cruise in 2022. On both offers I didn’t gamble that much,  maybe $600 - $800 per cruise. In any case, they kept soliciting me with offers. Some offers were balcony, some interior, etc. Some were 3 nights, 4 nights, 7 nights. Some were newer ships and some older. 

 

I didn’t sail on any cruise ship during 2023 but the RCL offers kept coming, I am now basically worthless to MGM since covid is over and I am over Las Vegas, so I decided to take advantage of a free offer for 7 nights on SOTS this September before they too get rid of me. I was able to pay a small amount to upgrade to a mid ship balcony. The UDP and DBP were extra and I had to pay the ~$150 for port fees and taxes.

 

I guess the bottom line is that you can make out pretty well once you get on the list and it isn’t hard to stay on their list even though bookings are very high now. Also, a “free” cruise still costs money if you want a nicer cabin, booze, specialty dining, and even if you don’t want any of that, you still need to pay for port, taxes, and gratuities.

 

Good luck everyone!

[Mikew0805]

On 7/12/2024 at 9:19 AM, little britain said:

At $5 per point assuming you hit a run of back luck your potential outlay cost for “free” drinks is $4960… isn’t it cheaper to PAYG?!? 🤷‍♀️

 

I also don’t understand potentially laying down $12500 to get a “free” cruise?!  Where do you draw the line and stop 🎰?

I don't spend anywhere close to $12,500 (I am an RN, so could not afford that) and I sail in comped suites on all my sailings.

On 7/12/2024 at 2:58 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

I guarantee no one is laying down $12,500 playing slot machines. You need to wager $12,500, which is not the same as putting $12,500 at risk. For example, I always put $500 into a slot machine the first day/night of a cruise. I have had many cruises where that $500 lasted the entire cruise, so for most of the cruise I was gambling with the casino’s money. On the other hand, I have had many cruises where I lost $500 in 45 minutes or less. 

Yep. My best was on a 4 night Navigator. Spent the $2 they give everyone at the beginning and played on that the entire cruise. Went home with money, and had prime. That was an amazing cruise. My worst was Icon.... and I don't want to talk about it. LOL

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Mikew0805 said:

My worst was Icon.... and I don't want to talk about it. LOL

We (a friend I cruise with often) had a similar experience on Icon in February. Additionally, almost everyone we talked to at bars who were gambling had the same experience. By days 4 and 5 of the cruise it became a running joke among a bunch of us that RCI was apparently going to pay for Icon quickly with revenue from the casino. 

[DallasGuy75219]

21 hours ago, Cdude said:

I guess the bottom line is that you can make out pretty well once you get on the list and it isn’t hard to stay on their list even though bookings are very high now.

Some of my offers are for guarantees now, and that used to not be the case.  I think that's one way they're dealing withe the higher demand now, leaving more cabins open to be specifically reserved by people willing to pay for them, then giving the leftovers to people on free casino cruises.

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Some of my offers are for guarantees now, and that used to not be the case.  I think that's one way they're dealing withe the higher demand now, leaving more cabins open to be specifically reserved by people willing to pay for them, then giving the leftovers to people on free casino cruises.

Another new offer(s) I have seen lately that is new (at least to me) is one person free in a two person cabin.