Carnival Casino bookings... What is the final cruise price you pay including losses... ?

[VentureMan_2000]

Lots of posting of $100 rooms, free drinks, etc. posted often.

Carnival's Casino is not giving away money and only offer these bookings if they think (know) they will make bank.

So, What is the final cruise price you casino gambler's actually pay including losses... ?

Was talking to a guy at the pool on the ship... said I was doing a Back-2-Back cruise.  He said he couldn't afford to do a B2B because of the Casino. 

Anyway... any honest gamblers willing to tell their stories, both good and bad ?  Really don't want to hear only the rah-rah stories about how they owned the casino.  Just looking for the bottom line of how much the casino offers really cost you.

[LatinaInTexas]

15 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Lots of posting of $100 rooms, free drinks, etc. posted often.

Carnival's Casino is not giving away money and only offer these bookings if they think (know) they will make bank.

So, What is the final cruise price you casino gambler's actually pay including losses... ?

Was talking to a guy at the pool on the ship... said I was doing a Back-2-Back cruise.  He said he couldn't afford to do a B2B because of the Casino. 

Anyway... any honest gamblers willing to tell their stories, both good and bad ?  Really don't want to hear only the rah-rah stories about how they owned the casino.  Just looking for the bottom line of how much the casino offers really cost you.

Prob get the same answers I see in my Vegas groups, everyone breaks even every trip😂🤣

[VentureMan_2000]

11 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Prob get the same answers I see in my Vegas groups, everyone breaks even every trip😂🤣

So, if you were to infer by your experience, folks say they pay $100 ( guessing pp ? ) and free drinks in the casino ( likely most often just the 1st person in the room ).  How does that play out ?  Say, a 7-day cruise.  Assuming they still have to pay port & Taxes.  Also, assuming an Interior costs $1,000 less than a balcony ( most never explicitly specify what the casino booking room is ).  How much does it really cost per person or per cabin ?

 

[icft]

We each have a budget for "entertainment" of $2,500. My wife plays in the casino on occasion, but only if the slots are paying. So she doesn't spend a lot in the casino; she buys jewelry, clothes and gifts in the ports and usually comes back with unspent money (at least unspent on the cruise). She still gets some offers, but we always use my better offers.

 

I spend my $2,500 in the casino plus the $1,000 free play they have been giving me since covid and that usually gets me a bit over 10,000 points in the casino. So we cruise in balcony rooms for $200 ($100 each for which we get $200 on-board credit) plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking (we drive to the port). We have a year long travel medical policy for a bit over $200 a year but I'm leaving that out of the calculation since its cost per trip is minimal and depends on the number of cruises.

 

So I guess it depends on what you include in the "cruise price." Looking only at me it costs $2,500 plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking. If you look at what I am actually out of pocket taking my wife into account it costs me $5,000 plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking. On the other hand, including my wife and subtracting the value of "other services" a cruise puts her in the mood to provide I think I might be getting paid to take the cruise...

[VentureMan_2000]

5 minutes ago, icft said:

Looking only at me it costs $2,500 plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking. If you look at what I am actually out of pocket taking my wife into account it costs me $5,000 plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking. 

Thank you for your honesty.  So, the cruise price seems to be a break-even, and there's an additional $1k to $2k spent on 'Entertainment'. AKA, Gaming.  Is this an accurate description ?  Seems like the Gaming is really not any more than folks spend on a couple 6-hour excursions. 

[icft]

7 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Thank you for your honesty.  So, the cruise price seems to be a break-even, and there's an additional $1k to $2k spent on 'Entertainment'. AKA, Gaming.  Is this an accurate description ?  Seems like the Gaming is really not any more than folks spend on a couple 6-hour excursions. 

It all depends on how you look at it. As far as our bank account we are out $5,000 plus taxes, port fees, gratuities and parking. I don't know offhand the going rate for balcony rooms, but I would hope they are not $5,000. Of course if we did pay regular price and didn't gamble we would still want some entertainment over and above the free stuff. So it depends on what your alternative costs would be in the comparison. We long ago did shore excursions to death, but if one were to pay regular price and do shore excursions rather than gambling that would go into the comparison, for example.

 

Also, I've been talking about our costs. What Carnival gets is a different thing, mainly in how much my wife spends on the ship v. ashore or brings back. I guess I could reduce my total costs by not giving my wife any entertainment money, but that would just result in my early death so I don't see that as a cost effective strategy.

[havanadaydreaming]

Much lower roller here.  Wife and i each budget about $400 casino money for a week long cruise. 

 

She has broke even a couple cruises. I have not,  50/50 i bust my entire budget by last night, but i do go home with $2-300 sometimes.

 

I start paying for beer at heroes bar once im depleted so i kinda cut my losses. I dont chase the machine being "due". It does seem some nights i can spin for a couple hours, other nights deplete cash rapidly. 

 

[mz-s]

My wife and I usually cruise free insides - fine with us, we paid for insides for years.

 

We gamble with about $1000 between us, plus any FunPlay we get from the Casino.

 

That's typically enough to continue to get us free Insides and DOU while playing.

 

We usually come home with $0 charged to our credit card, but also $0 in our pocket.

[KarmaCruisers]

Previously we were burning about $1500 a day in the casino (ie: 7-day cruise, we’d lose $10,500) 

we finally realized the casinos on the ships must be crooked because we’re frequent Vegas travelers (once a month or so), and we play a LOT (7 stars with Cesar’s) and the majority of the time, we lose in a weekend is $3000; for the same amount of play we do in the ship casino. 
weve got some offers for balconies with DOU(everywhere for two). But it still costs $100 per person “deposit” plus all applicable taxes, port fees, and gratuities.

So for a 7-day carribean cruise it’s $880 for two people out-of-pocket, to even set foot on board.

[jiggs]

there will be so many scenarios around this topic that I think you may have a hard time finding a pattern.  I get discounts, but extremely discounted trips are only for certain cruises, not any one I want to pick.  I play tables and not machines so my points are usually lower than most people on here.  

 

A lot of people will argue that though your past play does matter, what CCL thinks you will play in the future really influences the offers.  I think the only ones who truly know are in the marketing department of Carnival's Players Club.

 

With all that typed, don't gamble to try to get future cruise offers/comps.  If it is something you enjoy and it results in bounce back or future discounts, great.  Otherwise it could be a very expensive attempt to get a future deal.

 

[Theosprey247]

On my last cruise, I lost $20 playing video poker and was comped a shirt that reeked of cigarette smoke. 

[mz-s]

Nobody should gamble because they want comps. Carnival does not have a published schedule of comps. You could blow $20k gambling and not get a single offer - and you'd have nobody to appeal to, because there is nowhere on Carnival's websites or advertisements that says to expect these comps at these levels of play.

 

As far as I'm aware, the only comp that Carnival advertises is 1500 points for drinks on us. Anything beyond that is gravy.

[shiner6]

We usually allot $1,500 each for a 7 day cruise. Most times we lose about half of that or once in a while we break even or win a few hundred.  We try to use it as entertainment and do not spend more than a few hours in the Casino.  We have not received any meaningful Casino offers.

Edited October 15, 2023 by shiner6

[tree.critter]

My dad was a gambling man, he made sure to let you know his winnings but NEVER confessed to the amounts he lost and he lost bigger than he won, we know that from the bills that went unpaid.

Add alcohol to the mix and sometimes I don’t even think he knew. I’m sure it’s a lot more than most will own up to.

 

[Kristi Williamson]

we play anywhere from 2-4k a piece on a 7 day cruise. (DH and I)  We are going on a b2b in November on Mardi Gras. We got an OS for 100 each plus port/taxes for each week. (we paid a total of 1200 dollars for 2 weeks in an OS, including tips) We have drinks on us everywhere on board both weeks (free cheers for both of us for 2 weeks), 200 OBC and 500 each casino cash. Based on the price of the suite, we did, in fact, break even. However, we also get a massage, buy the thermal spa pass, do excursions, etc... So, the cruise does cost, but we were comped about what we spend in the casino, so it's a trade off for us. How do we want to spend our money? I'd rather play and get a nice room. YMMV

Edited October 15, 2023 by Kristi Williamson

[sammee]

I know better than call it a free cruise, maybe almost free, lol.  $100 per day for husband and I, occasionally on the last night another $100. I usually get the $200 deposit free interiors and upgrade a couple hundred for a balcony, sometimes less.

I just like paying a lower rate (including gambling expenses). Never hit anything big, but that's okay, it's fun trying as long as I don't go overboard.

 

[jiggs]

8 minutes ago, sammee said:

it's fun trying as long as I don't go overboard.

 

Punny

[Elaine5715]

Considering you can charge up to $5000 a day to your S&S and that daily number is increased when there it is a Premier/Elite/Ultra, you can bet people are spending more than $100 a day

[icft]

A bit off topic, but this thread reminded me of something that happened years and years ago.

 

On about the third day of the cruise we had just given our orders in the MDR when our head waiter came over with a very young oriental girl. The waiter approached me and said "the casino wishes to give you a bottle of wine. Would you like it with dinner?" Then the young lady said, in just passable English, "you've lost, we know."

 

My wife and I about fell out of our chairs laughing.

 

Our view ever since that experience has been that the comps are the casino saying, "you've lost, we know" and showing a little sympathy. One might come out ahead on the occasional cruise, but in the long run the house always wins.

[seaman11]

Normally around $268 for my room.and $200 back in on board credit and if i lose the $200 thats it. And i sometimes win a few hundred or break even i take the $200 back and it only costs me $68 plus tips.  Im on celebration right now. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by seaman11

[MURCOTT]

We will do a 15 day transatlantic cruise this month on Casino Offer. My husband and I each got the offer. We booked 2 rooms using one offer in each. In one room will be me and my sister. The other will be my husband and brother in law. Each room $200 cruise rate and was                                                                                 given back as OBC

                                                   Each room $221.72 taxes, fees, port

                                                                                charges.

Therefore each room cost $421.72 with $200,00 coming back OBC.

Free drinks in the casino only.

If anyone has done this [booked others in the second cabin] can you tell me the way to go about swapping out people so that the spouses will be together. Thanks so much.

[bafinegan]

1 hour ago, MURCOTT said:

We will do a 15 day transatlantic cruise this month on Casino Offer. My husband and I each got the offer. We booked 2 rooms using one offer in each. In one room will be me and my sister. The other will be my husband and brother in law. Each room $200 cruise rate and was                                                                                 given back as OBC

                                                   Each room $221.72 taxes, fees, port

                                                                                charges.

Therefore each room cost $421.72 with $200,00 coming back OBC.

Free drinks in the casino only.

If anyone has done this [booked others in the second cabin] can you tell me the way to go about swapping out people so that the spouses will be together. Thanks so much.

just have you and you brother in law ( or sister and hubbs) go to guest services and ask to hve sail/sign card room switched.  Old cards will have t be surrendered before new ones will be issued.  We have done this several times with us and my son/daughter in law.

[staceyglow]

4 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

 

we finally realized the casinos on the ships must be crooked because we’re frequent Vegas travelers (once a month or so), and we play a LOT (7 stars with Cesar’s) and the majority of the time, we lose in a weekend is $3000; for the same amount of play we do in the ship casino. 
 

The casinos are on the ships are not "crooked"; they simply have odds that favor the "house" more than the casinos in Las Vegas.  In other words, tighter slots, lower pay tables on video poker, more decks in the shoe, etc.  

The casinos on the ships have a captive audience.  It's the only place you can gamble.  The casinos in Las Vegas know that if you aren't doing as well as you hoped, you might cash out and go to a different casino down the block.  That's not an option on the ship.  

 

Whenever possible, you should always be aware of the odds  before you decide to wager.  Of course, you can't do that on slot machines, which is why I never play them.

Edited October 15, 2023 by staceyglow

[KarmaCruisers]

2 hours ago, seaman11 said:

Normally around $268 for my room.and $200 back in on board credit and if i lose the $200 thats it. And i sometimes win a few hundred or break even i take the $200 back and it only costs me $68 plus tips.  Im on celebration right now. 

Huh? I just got off the celebration and it was $880 for wife and I, on a “free” offer. (Ok $680 if you count the $200 OBC as cash-back)..but $68!? GTFO…port fees and taxes look like this…(we just got off the ship you just got on)

[New2Cruise76]

Am I reading that wrong? It looks like the total cost was 698, and then there's the 200 in OBC, so that would work out to 498 for the cruise.