Blue Chip free cruise offers- Can it be used as trade in value for other cruises?

[fstuff1]

it's the weekend and Blue chip isnt open.

 

i got a postcard for a free cruise on the Edge.

it's for cruises in Europe.

 

for ncl, a free cruise can be used as $550 trade in value for any cruise not on the list.

what's Blue Chip's policy?

thx

 

[Paulras]

First, are you sure it's from Blue Chip or actually from a 3rd party casino host/travel agent? Blue Chip has been notorious (my opinion) about checking to see if you actually got an offer from them on a specific cruise rather than any cruise. And I've found that by the time you actually get the postcard, their comp cruises specified in the offer are already sold out. 

 

Now if it's a 3rd party casino host that looks at your play and gets you comp cruises from the Cruiselines. If so, they would probably be able to get something for you. You'd know if it's from a 3rd party if their contact name/number to call is the agent, not actually Blue Chip. 

 

If you're Amethyst or above in BlueChip based on past play, they should be able to take a certain dollar amount off of your cruise reservation for any cruise. But that dollar amount is based on how much you played on your last Celebrity cruise. You'll also get a rebate of free play on your next cruise. Again, only if Amethyst or above. 

[fstuff1]

3 hours ago, Paulras said:

First, are you sure it's from Blue Chip or actually from a 3rd party casino host/travel agent? Blue Chip has been notorious (my opinion) about checking to see if you actually got an offer from them on a specific cruise rather than any cruise.

And I've found that by the time you actually get the postcard, their comp cruises specified in the offer are already sold out. 

 

Now if it's a 3rd party casino host that looks at your play and gets you comp cruises from the Cruiselines. If so, they would probably be able to get something for you. You'd know if it's from a 3rd party if their contact name/number to call is the agent, not actually Blue Chip. 

 

If you're Amethyst or above in BlueChip based on past play, they should be able to take a certain dollar amount off of your cruise reservation for any cruise. But that dollar amount is based on how much you played on your last Celebrity cruise. You'll also get a rebate of free play on your next cruise. Again, only if Amethyst or above. 

 

yes, the postcard is from blue chip.

it said call or email bluechipclub@celebrity.com for more info.

(it also had a phone #.)

 

what do you mean by 'notorious (my opinion) about checking to see if you actually got an offer from them on a specific cruise rather than any cruise'?

shouldnt it be normal for them to check and verify that you actually got a postcard for specific cruises as you claim?

 

[bighairtexan]

This may or may not be helpful (hope it is) but I've always "taken" my (cough cough) "free cruises" on X rather than tried to trade. But on RCI I lately just book through the casino itself. I call them and tell the what I'm interested in and see what they can do for me. They've been anywhere from VERY generous to really "meh" depending on my most recent previous cruise.  

 

[Paulras]

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

yes, the postcard is from blue chip.

it said call or email bluechipclub@celebrity.com for more info.

(it also had a phone #.)

 

what do you mean by 'notorious (my opinion) about checking to see if you actually got an offer from them on a specific cruise rather than any cruise'?

shouldnt it be normal for them to check and verify that you actually got a postcard for specific cruises as you claim?

 

Well yes, but if you hear that someone else got a postcard but you didn't, they won't give it to you. And if you ask about the same ship/itinerary but on a different date, that won't fly either. Basically, they only offer special comp rooms on certain sailings that aren't selling well. But call to find out what they can offer you. 

 

What level are you in BlueChip? 

[villauk]

X have been offering free cruises on Edge from its inception to fill the cabins. Not surprised to hear they are also offering them on the European route as there are so many available cabins. Search and you will see many pax saying their cruises on Edge were comped because of their casino play.

[fstuff1]

11 hours ago, Paulras said:

Well yes, but if you hear that someone else got a postcard but you didn't, they won't give it to you. And if you ask about the same ship/itinerary but on a different date, that won't fly either.

Basically, they only offer special comp rooms on certain sailings that aren't selling well.

But call to find out what they can offer you. 

 

What level are you in BlueChip? 

 

as i said in my OP, i couldnt call because it was the weekend and they're not open.

thus this post for some info.

 

since it's now mon, i called. LONG hold time. 😞

offer for all the cruises on postcard is free balcony/Veranda, no perks, just pay port fees/taxes.

and like you said, i cant substitute for another cruise not listed on the postcard.

 

doh.. just remembered i forgot to ask how much is the upgrade fee to either AquaClass or sunset veranda.

might call back tomorrow to ask since i dont want to be on hold again.

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by fstuff1

[Paulras]

51 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

as i said in my OP, i couldnt call because it was the weekend and they're not open.

thus this post for some info.

 

since it's now mon, i called. LONG hold time. 😞

offer for all the cruises on postcard is free balcony/Veranda, no perks, just pay port fees/taxes.

and like you said, i cant substitute for another cruise not listed on the postcard.

 

doh.. just remembered i forgot to ask how much is the upgrade fee to either AquaClass or sunset veranda.

might call back tomorrow to ask since i dont want to be on hold again.

 

As I thought, you can't use on another cruise. But are you Amethyst or higher in their club? If so, you can usually get them to take money off the price. 

 

If you have casino status at another cruiseline or land casinos, you might want to get in contact with URComped. Send them your offers and they'll work with Celebrity or others to get you much better comps than BlueChip can give. I had a casino host on a celebrity ship tell me I'm getting ripped off by BlueChip because I should be getting much more freebies than they can give me under their current program. 

[FireEMT978]

I received the same offer. But, unfortunately I can't do any of the 8 or 10 sailings listed.

But, I just received another "Mailing/Book" on Saturday from them. That listed like 10 "Holiday" sailings, and it said "20% off + $750 off". And, it had a thing about a "Free Bottle of Remy Martin? 1783"

[fstuff1]

5 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

I received the same offer. But, unfortunately I can't do any of the 8 or 10 sailings listed.

But, I just received another "Mailing/Book" on Saturday from them.

That listed like 10 "Holiday" sailings, and it said "20% off + $750 off". And, it had a thing about a "Free Bottle of Remy Martin? 1783"

 

i got free veranda for nov 22-dec 28, all from ft Lauderdale. (silhouette or Equinox.)

and 20% off plus +1000 off for dec 27 Celebrity Reflection.

(re-check your offer. it might be just the last one is '20% + $x off' and all the rest are free, like mine)

 

oh, plus bottle of Remy for any of the above.

 

probably going 12night dec 1 on silhouette.

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by fstuff1

[FireEMT978]

11 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i got free veranda for nov 22-dec 28, all from ft Lauderdale. (silhouette or Equinox.)

and 20% off plus +1000 off for dec 27 Celebrity Reflection.

(re-check your offer. it might be just the last one is '20% + $x off and all the rest of free, like mine)

 

oh, plus bottle of Remy for any of the above.

 

probably going 12night dec 1 on silhouette.

 

Looks like the $750 vs. $1000 was the only difference in ours

[fstuff1]

13 minutes ago, FireEMT978 said:

Looks like the $750 vs. $1000 was the only difference in ours

 

so 7 of the 8 cruises listed are free to you?

veranda cabin as well?

 

im going to call to see how much is an upgrade to sunset veranda or Aquaclass.

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by fstuff1

[FireEMT978]

16 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

so 7 of the 8 cruises listed are free to you?

veranda cabin as well?

 

im going to call to see how much is an upgrade to sunset veranda or Aquaclass.

 

Yes. Veranda. We were on the Edge 3/24-3/31 sailing.

Edited April 22, 2019 by FireEMT978

[Paulras]

Were any of those offers for December 18th on Constellation? Just curious

[WonderMan3]

5 hours ago, Paulras said:

Were any of those offers for December 18th on Constellation? Just curious

 

No. I got this same offer. It was for 11/22 Silhouette, 11/23 Equinox, 12/1 Silhouette, 12/7 Equinox, 12/20 Silhouette, 12/21 Equinox, 12/28 Equinox. Plus 12/27 Reflection, but that wasn't free just 20% plus $1000 off.

[fstuff1]

4 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

No. I got this same offer. It was for 11/22 Silhouette, 11/23 Equinox, 12/1 Silhouette, 12/7 Equinox, 12/20 Silhouette, 12/21 Equinox, 12/28 Equinox. Plus 12/27 Reflection, but that wasn't free just 20% plus $1000 off.

 

how often do these free cruise offers come?

im awaiting one for the Summit out of NJ since i can get to it w/o flying

[fstuff1]

On 4/22/2019 at 12:16 PM, FireEMT978 said:

That listed like 10 "Holiday" sailings, and it said "20% off + $750 off". And, it had a thing about a "Free Bottle of Remy Martin? 1783"

 

i just booked.

the Veranda is an Ocean view veranda, 1C category.

on silhouette, it's on Deck 8 fore or aft only.

 

if you want to upgrade, you pay casino price (?) for that cabin - $1000 discount.

So AquaClass would have been $5000 for me.

 

keeping the 1C cabin, it's just port fees/taxes which is about $125 depending on itinerary.

yewah, i like $125 better than $5000.

[Cpatti8]

Are all Amethyst’s supposed to receive the same offer? My husband has been Amethyst since last summer and has not received any promotional emails or mail offers from the casino department.  Blue Chip told us because we booked with a travel agency less than a year ago, they cannot market to us. They can offer about $500 off, depending on the sailing.

 

While Celebrity is our preferred line, Royal has been WAY more generous with actual FREE cruises.

[CTSandy]

9 hours ago, Cpatti8 said:

Are all Amethyst’s supposed to receive the same offer? My husband has been Amethyst since last summer and has not received any promotional emails or mail offers from the casino department.  Blue Chip told us because we booked with a travel agency less than a year ago, they cannot market to us. They can offer about $500 off, depending on the sailing.

 

While Celebrity is our preferred line, Royal has been WAY more generous with actual FREE cruises.

I'm Sapphire and am cruising solo on a ten day Bermuda cruise out of Bayonne in May.  Veranda, with the casino discount wound up a decent price.  This was not an offer - I just called the Blue Chip club and priced a 7 day Bermuda and this 10 day Bermuda.  Like you, I prefer Celebrity, but Royal has been very generous with free cruises - been taking advantage of the ones out of Port Liberty even if it's a Bahamas itinerary just because it's a nice getaway and it's an easy drive to port.

 

[kwokpot]

On 4/25/2019 at 1:18 PM, Cpatti8 said:

Are all Amethyst’s supposed to receive the same offer? My husband has been Amethyst since last summer and has not received any promotional emails or mail offers from the casino department.  Blue Chip told us because we booked with a travel agency less than a year ago, they cannot market to us. They can offer about $500 off, depending on the sailing.

 

While Celebrity is our preferred line, Royal has been WAY more generous with actual FREE cruises.

Royal's Club Royale program is head and shoulders better than Blue Chip! We're sailing on four Royal cruises this year, each in a balcony, each totally comped from Club Royale(usually applying the certificate value towards an alternative cruise from the given list) and longest being a 16 night Suez Canal cruise!

The other cruiseline who had a great casino program is  Carnival! I know, I know but we're doing 3 Carnival cruises (including a 16 night Hawaii cruise) all comped this year AND we have three!!! comped Carnival cruises booked for next year including a b2b from NY to Iceland, Greenland, Shetland Islands, Ireland(16 nts) followed by a 9 nt Norwegian fiords cruise! Then in the fall a 15 nt Southern Caribbean on their newest flagship. In fact, if we rely wanted to Carnival allowed us to book a comped cruise into 2021!

NCL's program sucks mainly because their comped cruises involve a bogus administration fee which adds $300 to the cabin in price! 

 

[Cpatti8]

Here’s what Blue Chip has told us regarding why my husband has not received any offers at Amynethist. Since we booked with a travel agent within the last 24 months he cannot recieve promotional offers! We were told we could book through a TA and call Blue Chip to have them adjust the price after booking (old news). However, they did tell us that we can email Blue Chip and state that we want to forfeit our right to book with a TA and they may consider putting us on the offer list. While we are not loyal to one TA or site, I don’t think we will do this.

 

I’m also going to post this info on the casino forum to see if it generates any chatter.

[fstuff1]

20 minutes ago, Cpatti8 said:

Here’s what Blue Chip has told us regarding why my husband has not received any offers at Amynethist. Since we booked with a travel agent within the last 24 months he cannot recieve promotional offers! We were told we could book through a TA and call Blue Chip to have them adjust the price after booking (old news). However, they did tell us that we can email Blue Chip and state that we want to forfeit our right to book with a TA and they may consider putting us on the offer list. While we are not loyal to one TA or site, I don’t think we will do this.

 

I’m also going to post this info on the casino forum to see if it generates any chatter.

 

yeah, i stopped dealing with blue chip unless it's an email or snail mail offer.

they are inconsistent... you get a different answer.

 

it's a shame. i really want to take discounted cruises with them based on my casino play like i do with ncl.

now i just wait till i get a free offer and not spend any $ (except port fees/taxes) to book it.

till then, i book NCL.

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by fstuff1