Free cruise from casino advice needed

[macimoo1]

Hi all, I am picking up a free cruise certificate from Caesars this weekend and was hoping I could get some friendly help from any of you who may have cruised with this incentive before.

The "free" cruise of course does not include taxes and port fees. The cruise we may take has four ports, anyone know the average port fee? Taxes I can certainly figure out. Others have mentioned a free beverage card and VIP line for checking in. Any info would be appreciated. We may book the Dawn out of Tampa in February have been reading reviews nonstop. This will be our first experience with NCL though we have cruised with other lines in the past. Any one want to chime in on the ships casino I would love to hear a gamblers perspective because I will certainly be making a deposit in the slots.

Thanks for any and all thoughts!

[sjbdtz]

Hi all, I am picking up a free cruise certificate from Caesars this weekend and was hoping I could get some friendly help from any of you who may have cruised with this incentive before.

The "free" cruise of course does not include taxes and port fees. The cruise we may take has four ports, anyone know the average port fee? Taxes I can certainly figure out. Others have mentioned a free beverage card and VIP line for checking in. Any info would be appreciated. We may book the Dawn out of Tampa in February have been reading reviews nonstop. This will be our first experience with NCL though we have cruised with other lines in the past. Any one want to chime in on the ships casino I would love to hear a gamblers perspective because I will certainly be making a deposit in the slots.

Thanks for any and all thoughts!

 

 

Expect taxes, fees, etc. to be somewhere around $250 - $300 pp.

 

 

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[modfanmike]

My mom and I did bermuda thismyearnand the taxes and fees were $350. In march we will do western caribbean from Miami and the fees are $300. In both cases we upgraded to a balcony for $300. These prices are per person. We had priority chack-in and free drink cards for the casino. There was also a coctail reception as we were leaving port.

[farmer92]

I have seen you mention the priority check in for the casino paid cruise, but how do they know? we also got a free cruise from total rewards, we are taking it out of NOLA Jan 20. I also upgraded to a balcony because we just like at least them on cruises. This is our first time on NCL, so when, where do I get my players card and drink card? How and where does it show priority boarding or where do I go at the port? If you know any answers thank you in advance!

[friskat]

If your port has a priority line there will be a sign once you have gone through security that says NCL CAS (or something to that effect for Casinos at Sea). There will be an NCL rep with a clipboard and all of those who booked through CAS are on that list (which you would be booking through your free cruise offer). Once the rooms are ready you will/should find an envelope on your bed with your name on it. Inside will be your players card and attached to your players card is the card that states that you have free drinks during the sailing. If for any reason it is not already in your room (this happened to me once) go to the casino prior to sailaway as they have reps signing people up for players cards. Notify them that you are booked through CAS and your drink card and players card isn't in your room and they will fix it ASAP!!!

 

Can you tell I have booked through CAS before :D. There will also be an invitation for a cocktail party (around sailaway time) with free drinks and apps. There will be casino staff on hand to answer any questions and they will do a short presentation.

[ranchette]

Hi all, I am picking up a free cruise certificate from Caesars this weekend and was hoping I could get some friendly help from any of you who may have cruised with this incentive before.

The "free" cruise of course does not include taxes and port fees. The cruise we may take has four ports, anyone know the average port fee? Taxes I can certainly figure out. Others have mentioned a free beverage card and VIP line for checking in. Any info would be appreciated. We may book the Dawn out of Tampa in February have been reading reviews nonstop. This will be our first experience with NCL though we have cruised with other lines in the past. Any one want to chime in on the ships casino I would love to hear a gamblers perspective because I will certainly be making a deposit in the slots.

Thanks for any and all thoughts!

How do you get the free cruise certificate? I have been going to Harrahs for many years and have a platinum card and never was offered a free cruise. I wonder how the offers are given.

[macimoo1]

Thanks to everyone for the responses so far. I figured 300 or so was a safe figure. Do the tips just get charged to your account on ship? It looks like the dates I am looking at are selling out so I may not end up booking at all. Right now all that appear to be left are inside cabins and I need at least an ocean view. I need some natural light or I don't function!

The cruise vouchers are given to memebers that meet a certain ADT with CET casinos. I am a diamond but this is the first time I have been included on the free list. If the price isn't right I will wait until I find the right cruise and just pay for it. I will know what my voucher says when I pick it up this Sunday if it seems to be worth it I will push forward with my adventure.

[friskat]

At least when I got a free cruise offer there were specific dates and specific ships that were part of the offer. So that may help you in deciding when. The Dawn I believe was one of the ships, but I was unable to use the offer as the dates didn't work for me.

[jdkirkp]

Ranchette,

 

My understanding is that the free cruises from Harrah's (Caesar's) are only offered to players that reach the 5 Star level. My reason for thinking this is that my parents were offered a free cruise on the Spirit out of NOLA last year when my mom reached the 5 star level. My wife and I are both Diamond level members and have not been offered free cruises. However, Harrah's does offer discounts through their website if you call their special NCL/Harrah's phone number. I believe that platinum is worth 5% or 10% discount depending on the level of room you are booking. This offer is associated with CAS as I believe that any players cards above Gold are also given the Free Drink Card when booking through Harrah's. I did not know of this discount until it was too late to switch my last booking, but from my understanding after reading other posts, Harrah's does not inflate the prices before the discount. Some posters have stated that the price given by Harrah's as the pre-discount price matched what NCL's website showed. Seems like a good deal to me, and we will certainly be taking advantage of it for our next cruise.

[sjbdtz]

Ranchette,

 

My understanding is that the free cruises from Harrah's (Caesar's) are only offered to players that reach the 5 Star level. My reason for thinking this is that my parents were offered a free cruise on the Spirit out of NOLA last year when my mom reached the 5 star level. My wife and I are both Diamond level members and have not been offered free cruises. However, Harrah's does offer discounts through their website if you call their special NCL/Harrah's phone number. I believe that platinum is worth 5% or 10% discount depending on the level of room you are booking. This offer is associated with CAS as I believe that any players cards above Gold are also given the Free Drink Card when booking through Harrah's. I did not know of this discount until it was too late to switch my last booking, but from my understanding after reading other posts, Harrah's does not inflate the prices before the discount. Some posters have stated that the price given by Harrah's as the pre-discount price matched what NCL's website showed. Seems like a good deal to me, and we will certainly be taking advantage of it for our next cruise.

 

 

This is incorrect.

 

I was offered a CET certificate for 7 day cruise, when I was platinum, and my partner was offered a 4 day cruise....as a Gold.

 

We didn't use either due to the black-out dates & CAS already comping us...but we have Seven Stars friends who didn't get an offer, either.

 

So that's not the logic behind it.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

[luvcruzing]

I am Diamond and have cruised four times on comped cruises through CAS and have another one booked for April. I will be going to Caesars Windsor on Saturday to pick up another cruise certificate on Saturday. I always upgrade to a balcony cabin, and the cost is less than $600 (I sail solo, so I am assuming that would be the cost for two, also). And, yes, the certificate will state what ships and what cruises you are able to choose from. But, after you have established a history with them, you won't have to wait for a certificate to get a comped cruise. You can just call CAS, tell them what cruise you're interested in, and see what kind of offer they make. if you don't like that offer, call back again later.

 

The only time that I had VIP check-in was on my first cruise on the Sky. I cruised on the Sky again this past May, and there was no VIP check-in or boarding.

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, the player's cards and drink cards should be in your cabin upon arrival. If not, go to the casino and make them aware of it.

 

I sailed on the Dawn last month and spent a lot of time in the casino. I won several $800 jackpots and one $1,000 jackpot. Doesn't mean I came home a winner, though. Heard maybe three over $1200 jackpots announced over the PA system. People seemed to be having a good time. Lots of Texas Hold-em tournaments and a couple of slot tournaments were held. Casino host stayed mostly behind her desk, but the slot attendants were always available.

 

The DSC (daily service charge) will be charged to your onboard account or you can pay it ahead of the cruise. When ordering a free drink in the casino, a cash tip is customary and appreciated.

 

Government taxes and fees on my November Dawn cruise were $102.03, and $103.64 on my upcoming April cruise.

[emcelh]

This is incorrect.

 

I was offered a CET certificate for 7 day cruise, when I was platinum, and my partner was offered a 4 day cruise....as a Gold.

 

We didn't use either due to the black-out dates & CAS already comping us...but we have Seven Stars friends who didn't get an offer, either.

 

So that's not the logic behind it.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

 

You're right Stephen. I had a Diamond card for several years prior to 2012 when I dropped to Platinum. I've never received an offer for a comp, but I have used the tier discount. There seems to be no logic to who gets the offers.

[jdkirkp]

They are certainly confusing as to how they how they award the free cruises. If you have seven star friends that were never offered a free cruise, you should refer them to https://www.totalrewards.com/TotalRewards/RewardsAndBenefits.do?page=trBenefits . At the bottom it states that all seven star members should receive a congratulatory cruise on NCL. I would definitely want to know where my free cruise was if they hadn't offered it to me already!

[macimoo1]

Luvcruises, We will be at the same Cruise give away Saturday! I am going to pick up my voucher in Windsor also. Small, small, world. So glad to hear that you have had success with the program. I will see what they offer me and decide from there whether or not to book. The 100 or so in taxes seems very reasonable but still need to figure in those port fees! I will have at least 4 ports to pay for.

Thanks again!

[callmebetty]

Kind of related, but more of a CAS topic...

I was delighted to find out when hubby got a casino offer, they gave both of us a drink card :). Make sure you check your envelopes when you get in your room (if you decide to go)...one of ours slipped off the bed and we missed the party!

[luvcruzing]

Luvcruises, We will be at the same Cruise give away Saturday! I am going to pick up my voucher in Windsor also. Small, small, world. So glad to hear that you have had success with the program. I will see what they offer me and decide from there whether or not to book. The 100 or so in taxes seems very reasonable but still need to figure in those port fees! I will have at least 4 ports to pay for.

Thanks again!

 

Port fees are included in the "government taxes and fees" as far as I know. I have cruised many, many times and have never been charged anything more. If I'm wrong, someone please chime in here.

[bonniemari]

I am Platinum with Harrah's/Caesar's and received the cruise offer in September from Harrah's (now Hollywood) in St Louis, MO. Strange since I live about an hour away from several Harrah's/Caesar's properties in Tunica, MS. When we went up to St Louis for the weekend, included in the offer was the chance to earn $$$ based on your play for that weekend. I ended up getting $200 "spending" cash for my cruise.

 

You have 60 days to book the cruise and up to a year to sail. The only blackout dates I saw were Christmas and New Years. The offer was for 3/4 day on the Sky/Miami, 7 day on the Pearl/Miami, 7 day on the Dawn/Tampa and 7 day on the Star/NOLA. We ended up choosing a cruise out of NOLA on the NCL Star for March 3rd. We upgraded to Category BA and with the upgrade fees, port fees and taxes I ended up paying about $1200 for a 7 day (4 ports) cruise. I priced out the same cruise and it was about $1950-so a savings of $750. Not too bad.

 

I was also told by the very nice lady at CAS I booked with that my DH would also receive the drink card for the casino.

[KrusinKajun]

Ranchette,

 

My understanding is that the free cruises from Harrah's (Caesar's) are only offered to players that reach the 5 Star level. My reason for thinking this is that my parents were offered a free cruise on the Spirit out of NOLA last year when my mom reached the 5 star level. My wife and I are both Diamond level members and have not been offered free cruises. However, Harrah's does offer discounts through their website if you call their special NCL/Harrah's phone number. I believe that platinum is worth 5% or 10% discount depending on the level of room you are booking. This offer is associated with CAS as I believe that any players cards above Gold are also given the Free Drink Card when booking through Harrah's. I did not know of this discount until it was too late to switch my last booking, but from my understanding after reading other posts, Harrah's does not inflate the prices before the discount. Some posters have stated that the price given by Harrah's as the pre-discount price matched what NCL's website showed. Seems like a good deal to me, and we will

certainly be taking advantage of it for our next cruise.

 

I'm only a gold card & rec'd a comp cruise from Harrah's which I have booked out of NOLA on Star for 4/7/13....I have since rec'd 3 additional FREE CRUISE OFFERS. I visit Harrah's in NOLA 1-2 times a year on average & Vegas once every 5 years or so...so why I get these great freebies I don't know...but no complaints here. But besides the cruises...I am regularly getting FREE CHARTER FLIGHTS/HOTEL STAY FOR TWO to HARRAH'S LAUGHLIN, RENO & TAHOE from a local airport...none of which I have been able to take advantage of thus far. My friend is Platinum & we both get the exact same offers with the only difference being free play amounts...his are usually more than mine. My relatives that live in NOLA & frequent Harrah's weekly have yet to get a cruise offer & a few local players I've spoken to, told me they have never gotten anything more than free play, food comps & other common comps....so my DH's thinking is that by the time I spend the 3 days it takes to get the cruise package I will have already pre-paid that "free" cruise & then some!! :eek:

 

Or

[cabincop]

I just want to say I always sail in suites however I felt CAS treated me much better than the concierge. I think ncl has the best casino program at sea and I have been on 41 cruises on lots of line Celebrity RCCL Cost Carnival Princess and nothing beats ncl great staff on all their ships. Stephen can't wait to meet you. I am at the craps table or bj

[ilovewdw]

We have sailed on COMP CAS cruises a few times. I don't think the level you are with Harrahs has anything to do with the fare (or comp) you get.

 

Our friends are Harrahs Platinum, soon to be 7 Star Members. We are Harrahs Gold. Our fare for our upcoming Breakaway Cruise was better than our friends. He couldn't understand, so he contacted NUMEROUS people in Casino Services. Basically, it depends on your casino play on your LAST NCL cruise. He hasn't cruised NCL in 2 years, so his fare wasn't as good as our fare was. Interesting...

 

We are picking up free cruise vouchers in April...I'm hopeful I will be able to use them for my President's week cruise. If not, we will just have to take another cruise. :p

 

And the Taxes and Fees usually come out to about $500-$600 for 2 of us, sailing out of NY depending on the cabin. Then we add the kids onto that.

[crimsnlady]

My husband is Diamond level with TR. He has rec'd many travel comps over the years but just recently rec'd first cruise offer. We picked up our certificate at Harrah's/Tunica MS the first of Feb. Our certificate had options of Alaska, Europe, Bermuda, Eastern and Western Caribbean with no restriction as to any specific ship. We had until 4/13 to book trip and had to sail by 2/14. After researching all the ships, destinations, etc we chose the Inaugural sailing of the Getaway on 2/1/14 to Eastern Caribbean from Miami...which just gets us under the wire on travel date!! We upgraded to a balcony and are thrilled about our trip even though it is almost a year away.

 

I did find out through discussion with others picking up their certificates on the same weekend that everyone's were different. Many listed specific ships to specific destinations. Nevertheless a great comp!!! :D

[Cleanfreak]

I've just returned from a CAS cruise aboard the Dawn. At the time I received the certificate I was a Platinum, have since become Diamond. I assumed that my offer came because of the new casino that opened in Cleveland. Can't state with any certainty how one is selected for this comp.

 

There were 3 of us in a balcony cabin. We were each given the drink card along with our players card. The total costs came to just under $300 for the cruise. I was able to find very reasonable airfare ($230 round trip from Akron) and I cashed in points on my NCL Mastercard to upgrade to the balcony. We had a terrific time - who wouldn't for this amount?

 

Once inside the terminal there was a large CASINOS AT SEA check in which enabled us to avoid the long lines and board very quickly.

 

I am encouraged by other posts indicating future similar offers will be made. I would do this again in a heartbeat! Take advantage of this if you are lucky to receive the offer.

[spidybabe]

We have taken two free cruises with Harrah's cruise certificates, and just booked a cruise on the Breakaway with a certificate we picked up yesterday. They are wonderful to use, and it seems Harrah's gives them out every two years. This will be our third free cruise ,each with priority check-in and boarding, free casino drink cards, and a welcome cocktail party.We live in NY so we have no extra travel fees, except cab ride. It is wonderful! Wish I could cruise everyday:) LOVE NCL

[Prittyditty]

My boyfriend and I are both Diamond players with the Total Rewards

Program. We both received the offer from Harrah's and used both offers combined to upgrade the stateroom offer to a ocean view balcony. I am not sure why our port fees and taxes were around $500 PP, possibly because we booked it last week and are leaving at the end of this month. This is our first cruise so we are excited. I believe the vouchers need to be picked up by the 21st, and a TR rep told me the options were running out which is why we got ours asap. Good luck!

[whenisthemidnightbuffet?]

Wow $500 does seem high for the port fees and taxes. I just booked a Bermuda from Boston CAS today and they got $300 per per for these fees and I thought that was high since I only paid $250 for these fees from a NY/Bermuda cas cruise on the Breakaway for the same month and year. Just assumed it was the port of Boston maybe costing more than port of NY, which in and of itself I would have anticipated it being the other way around! Not complaining still a savings of almost $2000 once you factor in the free drink card for the two of us.