Free cruise offer from HAL

[twentyknots]

We’ve just returned from a 7 day cruise on Oosterdam where we met several people who were cruising because they had received an offer they couldn’t refuse. One man told me he was offered a free cruise in an inside cabin with an option to upgrade to an obstructed cabin outside cabin for $69, which he took. He also had an option for $169 to upgrade to a verandah cabin but refused. The others who mentioned their incredible offers did not reveal the actual offer but after hearing from the one man who did, I assume the others also had similar offers. The man with the free offer had only cruised 4 times on HAL and gambled some but said he was certainly not a big gambler. We have cruised 5 times on HAL and I probably gamble more than he does. I did note that he books directly with HAL whereas we don’t. Do you think that matters? I’d like to get these offers sometimes.

[kazu]

It sounds like the gentleman who told you about this received a casino offer.

 

Those come from Ocean Players Club (who run the casinos) not HAL, I believe.

 

I don't think who you book with matters one iota for these deals. I'm not sure how people are chosen for the casino offers. Whether it is geography (close to the cruise port) or simply how much and how long you gamble.

 

As it was explained to me by someone who gets the offers (and think they know how it works ;) ) it's not just how much you spend, but how much time you spend in the casino playing as well.

[ilovhywd]

We received casino offer despite our not being high rollers. My husband plays some blackjack and three-card poker, but he usually plays a minimum bet. When we called HAL to inquire about the offer, they assured us that there was no obligation to play. However, they know that once we are on the ship, we will buy drinks, visit the casino, and spend money on other extras. They are right!!

 

 

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[RetesGirl3]

We too received a casino rate and are, by no means, high rollers! It wasn't free, but below the lowest advertised price. Found out about it when we called our PCC to book the cruise. Now waiting for our verandah assignment.

[DaveOKC]

It does seem that HAL is very liberal employing the casino rate (I have never received one), based on reports on this board plus the experiences of people I know who have taken advantage of these offers. I have my doubts that this will last however, so take advantage of it while you can.

 

Like in most casinos, how much you win or lose does not matter in generating these offers, rather they base them on the amount of your "play". They smartly know that in the long run, the more you play, the more they will eventually win from you.

 

IMO, the casinos should lower the "hold" on the slots and video poker (which is terrible IMO). That way people will play longer and more wins create more excitement, enticing others to play. Seeing an empty casino does little to motivate people to "give it a try".

 

Good luck to all the casino players!

[MaxThrusters]

I'd always wanted to try out a Neptune suite, having done veranda's and a few Signature suites in the past. Out of the blue we got a casino offer by email, with a huge list of sailings and categories to choose from including Neptunes! It seemed everything was at least 60% off the current prices at the time (some insides were free too). I'm not a big gambler, but I do play for a few hours at a time when I do. I only play blackjack, no slots or other games.

 

We learned that those offers are very time sensitive: by the time we called HAL about five hours after the email had been sent out, we were disheartened that the agent could not find anything left for us at first (we wanted a signature or neptune 11-14 days, Caribbean, between Dec-Feb..all sold out!). We settled on a 10 day in November..next week!

 

We got one of the two SC Neptune suites on deck 11 forward. It cost under $2000CAD pp WITH all taxes and fees included. At the time of booking, that was less than a veranda stateroom. Suddenly, sailing in a Neptune suite became affordable for us.

[travelnap]

I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam last week, and I had booked the cruise through the casino offers that I had received. I am not what I would call a high roller at all. I usually just play slots. I will usually get one or two offers a year from them, and they are usually short term bookings that are available. This cruise happened to work out for me from a timing standpoint, so I jumped at it. Needless to say, I didn't make any money in the casino, but still had an enjoyable cruise. Yes the machines are set pretty tight overall, but it still makes for an inexpensive cruise, as I would probably spend as much in the casino if I was traveling full fare. I think most of the offers are probably for ships that are not full a month or two before sailing dates.

[DaveOKC]

I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam last week, and I had booked the cruise through the casino offers that I had received. I am not what I would call a high roller at all. I usually just play slots. I will usually get one or two offers a year from them, and they are usually short term bookings that are available. This cruise happened to work out for me from a timing standpoint, so I jumped at it. Needless to say, I didn't make any money in the casino, but still had an enjoyable cruise. Yes the machines are set pretty tight overall, but it still makes for an inexpensive cruise, as I would probably spend as much in the casino if I was traveling full fare. I think most of the offers are probably for ships that are not full a month or two before sailing dates.

 

I think that you are correct on the cruises close in to booking, but I know my friends have received the casino rate when they booked 6-8 months out. I think the closer in ones are in the mailer, the others you have to check on your casino rating.

[travelnap]

I think that you are correct on the cruises close in to booking, but I know my friends have received the casino rate when they booked 6-8 months out. I think the closer in ones are in the mailer, the others you have to check on your casino rating.

 

DaveOKC, you are correct. The ones that I was referring to are the ones that come in the mailer. I have never checked out what the casino rate would be when booking and usually look at the cruises that are in the mailer that comes a couple of times a year. I had received the mailer in early October and booked my cruise about a month out. They did have a few into December, but I don't recall any of them being in 2018.

[Nieuwuser]

I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam last week, and I had booked the cruise through the casino offers that I had received. I am not what I would call a high roller at all. I usually just play slots. I will usually get one or two offers a year from them, and they are usually short term bookings that are available. This cruise happened to work out for me from a timing standpoint, so I jumped at it. Needless to say, I didn't make any money in the casino, but still had an enjoyable cruise. Yes the machines are set pretty tight overall, but it still makes for an inexpensive cruise, as I would probably spend as much in the casino if I was traveling full fare. I think most of the offers are probably for ships that are not full a month or two before sailing dates.

 

I was also on the NA last week.I received the Casino mailer in early September.

It was a good offer but I have had better through e-mail.Sometimes I have had an offer

a week after I got home from a Cruise.My last 3 of 5 Cruises have been booked through

a Casino offer.I hope it continues as I probably could not afford a NS now that I'm hooked :o

It seems unfair that the regular HAL clients don't get these offers but I guess that HAL knows they

will Cruise anyway.

[Big_G_111]

I just got a screaming casino deal in the US Mail today on Caribbean cruises leaving in the pre-Christmas timeframe. We are talking free insides and dirt cheap balconies (like $150-$200 total for 7 days). They must be struggling to fill those cruises going to heavily impacted ports.

[*Miss G*]

Aargh!!! I wish they wouldn't send things by snail mail. I am rarely home so I usually don't get to see my mail until it's too late.

[kazu]

I think that you are correct on the cruises close in to booking, but I know my friends have received the casino rate when they booked 6-8 months out. I think the closer in ones are in the mailer, the others you have to check on your casino rating.

 

there are 2 different casino offers - one is a casino discount which we get quite often IF the cruise qualifies and we book more than year out quite often. Casino discount is available to everyone who qualifies and all you need to do is log in and you will see the "real" rate.

 

No snail mail involved for the first.

 

the other is the free or very, very discounted rate on board. That is what I call the true casino offer. The deals are very good. I have only received one or two of those in all my years and they are usually Caribbean sailings. Snail mail seems to be involved in this one.

 

Either offer is a very nice deal.

[doublebzz]

There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason why some casino players get special offers and others do not. Wife and I spend considerable time in the casinos and have never been offered a deal. When I question a casino host on board I get vague or nonsensical responses.

[ilovhywd]

This is just a guess, but maybe one time we didn’t have cash with us at the time and we charged $100 to our shipboard account???

 

 

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[austincici]

We got a great offer, too, in late September. It had a whole PDF list attached. Some free insides, some for $99, some for $199 with Christmas sailings a bit more than that. We ended up booking an inside Panama Canal partial transit for $219 PP plus port fees! And we only put $60 on one of our cards, and played on that 3 separate times, cashing out $30 of it! I'm thinking they had so many cancellations due to the hurricanes that they really needed warm bodies in those cabins. We are thrilled, because we have always wanted to do this cruise, but it was always so expensive! Plus my mom, brother and SIL were already booked on this cruise!

 

 

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[winddawn]

I got one of these casino offers in snail mail yesterday. There are several different offers on it from free inside to $349 inside with options for cheap upgrades from $99 pp for a verandah to $399 pp for a Neptune suite. All of the dates in my offer are between now and the end of the year. The Christmas holiday cruises are not free but are discounted and those upgrades are more too. I'm not a high roller, and I've cruised on HAL only twice. And one of those 2 cruises was a free casino offer. I do cruise on other Carnival Corporation brands pretty frequently though. I came to the HAL board today to find updated information about drink packages and other helpful information since it has been a while since I sailed HAL.

 

I get casino offers from HAL a few times a year, but they're typically discounts that come with casino cash, and I haven't booked them since I'm getting other free cruise offers.

 

Good luck to others. I hope you get a great offer soon.

[Taters]

I just got off the Westerdam TA last Wednesday. I received a casino offer - there were two pages of options - And the TA itinerary caught my eye. We ended up on a 13 day transatlantic cruise for $499 per person for a Signature Suite. Yes! If we'd wanted to go on the super cheap we could have had an inside for $99 per person. I booked the cruise within 45 minutes of receiving the offer. There were 3 Signature Suites to choose from at that point. I've been spoiled! :D