Time goes fast! To recap, back in 2021, Reva and I were trained by a couple of gambler friends on how to earn complimentary cruises in the Casino on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line by playing slots. Since then, we have been gambling and earning free cruises. Its been a good run and fun too!
In general, you earn points by gambling in the Casino on the ships. If your get enough points you are awarded complementary cruises. Without going into too much detail, you earn 1 point for every $5 you play in the slot machines. 2,500 points over the year earns you “Prime” status and a free cruise for two. Of course on any cruise if you get at least 400 points you can get cruise discounts and/or additional free cruises. You also, get free drinks anytime the casino is open, not bad perks!
So what does it cost? Assuming the overall return on the slots is 90% you could expect to lose $1,250 over the year to obtain the 2,500 points. Of course its not a linear curve and sometimes you may lose more…or less.
RCL provides an annual win/loss statement and for 2024, I lost $461.71. Reva lost $3,091.01. Together we lost $3,552.72 (compared to $2,147.04 in 2023) or about $1,000 more than expected for approximately 5,000 points we earned. We actually earned a little more than5,000 points so it isn’t quite as bad as it sounds.
So what did we get for our casino investment?
During 2024 we earned four complementary cruises from RCL. These included two short 3 and 5 day cruises and a two week cruise in the southern Caribbean. The total value of of the complementary cruises was around $5,500 or a few thousand more than what we lost. Additionally, we were provided free drinks on all our cruises. Not bad overall.
Additionally, we also were given free cruises on MSC, Carnival and Virgin Cruises. So we ended up with a total of 7 casino funded cruises. Status match is a wonderful thing!
Unfortunately, every time we are in the casino, we watch people playing without having their cards in the machine (no points earned) or having no idea how the system works. All they had to do would be talk to the casino host or another gambler. Sometimes, we meet people who don’t know how to track their annual points or even know they have free cruise offers.
As I see it, the key is not playing more than the minimum levels to obtain the posted offers. Unfortunately, many players don’t understand how the system works and spend way more than they should in the casino. If you would like to understand more about the program, refer to my previous blogs on the subject.
