Casino Rates & Offers...aka FREE cruises

You have it completely covered. All of the above...and while it certainly affects you on a personal financial level, the beancounters have to eat too...not just YOUR beans...everybodys, everywhere...its as impersonal as it can get.....theres beaucoup folks who used to get "things"...not anymore....

I wonder if this falls under general belt-tightening, as well as the industry-wide effort to raise cruise fares across the board to be on a par with land-based vacations.

Up until Q3 last year, we were getting incredible deals on CCL when logging in with our VIPF numbers. Strangely enough, the rates would be different between my wife's number and mine even though we've been on the same cruises. Neither of us gamble, and neither of us has ever spent a dime at the bars. My wife has dropped maybe $100 in total in the shops across 14 cruises, so I really don't know why we were getting these deals.

My guess is either they figured out that they were losing money on every cruise we booked, or they're generally eliminating the deep discounts for those that don't leave a significant amount of money behind in the casino. Or maybe a combination of the two. CCL management has stated several times recently that both bookings and rates are now significantly higher, which I believe is atypical for wave season.

I always use my casino credit. Next cruise I will have about 250 .00 left to start.

However, an associate in my industry took his first cruise on Carnival 6 years ago. He cruise once a year now on a poker cruise for a Texas Hold'em tourney. Cost him only the entry fee to the tourney. Don't know much more about the process except that he wins--- a lot.....

Sure, sign up again and lose a whole bunch...Like i said, you're honest enough to admit you don't gamble, but somehow got the biggest perk attached to it...someone figured it out... you're probably not alone...where something happens to one, you can bet theres hundreds mebbe thousands of others. course, you could always call them up and explain it all....who knows what might happen....hehehehehehe

I found it interesting that while I've never given a cruise ship casino any money, I not only received numerous offers for casino rates, but actually had my loyalty number tagged with a code so that all my bookings were at a discounted casino rate. These rates were good on every category, not just inside cabins.

I have cruised using them on every cruise since cruising began reopening late 2021 all through 2022 and into next month. And would continue to use them all without going into a casino on any ship, but the code is now gone from my profile so my upcoming cruises will be the last casino rates for my group.

Hoping to learn if this is the new norm as ships are at or close to occupancy or if it was likely a glitch and I need to find a way to get it back.

There are casinos on cruise ships??????

JK, but the only venue I avoid more than those onboard money-suckers are the gyms.

I get the casino offers (not free ones as I don't gamble enough) but my DH does not. I am a very limited gambler and once my set amount is gone I'm done, but I am usually able to play for a very long time with $50. The casinos are actually a separte entity contracted to the ship, just like the spa, medical, and shops. Don't knoe the solution to your actual question.

Just a thought...mebbe some beancounter counted your beans.....and there weren't any...or, put another way, there was no "there" there....