You don’t need a cruise expert like me to tell you that a free cruise is better than one you’re paying for. But where I can help you is to tell you how to get those free cruises…
One option is a free casino cruise. In fact, not just one. I’ve spoken at length with people who book free casino cruises every single month and rarely, if ever, pay for the actual cruise fare themselves.
Of course, there’s a catch. How could there not be? But despite that, there are still many people who swear by casino offers – so you’re going to want to know more.
Free Casino Cruises Explained
Let’s start with the basics. Casinos – land-based ones – love to give their top customers a ton of perks, often known as “comps”. This can be free meals, tickets to shows, hotel rooms and so on.
And on a cruise, the same kind of thing applies. The people who spend the most time playing casino games can get a ton of casino perks, including ‘free’ cruises.
Basically, every dollar you wager (there’s a reason I’m using dollar – more on that later) earns you loyalty points. And once you hit a certain threshold, you’re going to be offered the chance to cruise again, for free.
Essentially, instead of paying your cruise fare with cash, you’re paying for it via the casino plays.
These offers are designed to keep you playing – and coming back.
The more you wager (known in industry speak as “coin-in” for slots) and the longer you play at the tables, the more valuable you become to the onboard casino team. As that theoretical value goes up, so do the rewards.
The Cruise Lines Offering These Deals
Not every cruise line offers free casino cruises. For a start, not every cruise line has a casino. Most do, but there are some like Disney Cruise Line that don’t, for fairly obvious reasons.
But then the cruise lines that offer casino comps tend to be the more American-style ones. So that’s:
- Royal Caribbean
- Celebrity Cruises
- Carnival
- Princess Cruises
- Holland America Line
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Virgin Voyages
- MSC Cruises
I know MSC is more of a European cruise line, but they’re expanding their American offering more and more and they definitely have a blended American/European style to their sailings.
That’s why I talk about $dollar spend – it’s typically the American cruise lines that offer these types of programmes and so it’s dollars you’ll be using to fund your cruises.
Defining ‘Free’
Is it misleading to call these cruises “free”? Yes, in a way.
The Cost of Qualifying
Firstly, let’s clarify more on how you get the free cruises.
It’s based around a couple of statistics – your “Coin-in” and your “Average Daily Theoretical”. These are fancy terms for “how much you spend” and “how much you’re likely to lose, on average”.
Spending and losses are tracked differently because, shockingly, it is possible to win in a casino. Here’s a quick example:
Person A walks into a casino with $50. They have terrible luck and they win nothing. They have spent $50.
Person B walks into a casino with $10. They play a slot machine and win big early – getting them up to $100. They re-invest that $100 into more spins, lose most of it, and quit while they’re ahead at $20 remaining.
Person B has profited to the tune of $10, but they’ve spent $90 in the casino – their original $10, and then another $80 from their winnings.
(I know this is an extremely simplified version and you’re likely to have a lot of smaller winnings as you play, but it’s for the sake of painting the picture).
Person B is actually more valuable to a casino even though they walked out with $10 profit. That’s because they’ve shown they’re willing to spend more, and on average they will lose more money across multiple casino visits.
Remember that all casino games have some form of payout. Casino games can’t just keep taking money without ever paying out. So a casino is much happier with someone winning who will then spend that money in the casino again instead of it being withdrawn.
Those are small examples, but as a benchmark, you’ll need to have a coin-in of around $3,000 to $5,000 to qualify for a free cruise in an Inside Cabin.
That doesn’t mean you need to lose that much.
Casinos pay out at around 90%. So you may only need to spend $300 to $500 to get that free cruise for two.
If you walked in with $100 and were very lucky, won a few $500 jackpots but then kept re-investing the money, you’d probably get some free cruise offers.
However, nothing is guaranteed. I actually ran $10,000 through the machines to try to get an invite to the casino rewards program. I failed. And if you want to know why, then read this article…
Read more: I Spent $10,000 In The Casino Trying To Get A Free Cruise
Also They Aren’t Fully ‘Free’…
Even when you qualify for a ‘free’ casino cruise, they aren’t free.
You’ll need to pay your port fees and taxes, which is usually a couple of hundred dollars depending on your itinerary.
And then you’ll also need to pay gratuities.
Most other extras onboard your cruise remain payable too, like drinks or WiFi. If you’re a very high roller and you spend a LOT in cruise casinos, you might get some of those extras included though.
Casino Reward Programmes
Every cruise line that operates a casino also runs its own Reward Programme, designed to thank you for your play by converting your wagering into points – and those points translate into a variety of perks.
From the moment you insert your players’ card into a slot machine or buy in at the blackjack table, you begin accumulating loyalty points. As your point balance grows, you move through tier levels, with each level unlocking a new set of benefits.
Typical rewards include:
- Stateroom Upgrades: A boost from an interior cabin to an ocean-view, balcony or even a suite once you hit the next tier.
- Free Speciality Dining Meals: Invites to eat at the fancy restaurants during your cruise
- Free Drinks: Complimentary cocktails, beers or soft drinks in the casino (and sometimes across the ship).
- Shipboard Credit: Vouchers you can spend on speciality dining, spa treatments, gift-shop purchases and more.
- Priority Reservations: Early access to shore excursions, dining reservations or show bookings.
- Exclusive Events: Invitations to cocktail parties, tournaments or meet-and-greets with the ship’s cruise director and casino hosts.
While these are the headline perks, there’s another benefit that often goes unlisted: complimentary cruises.
As soon as you start earning points – and provided you generate enough “coin-in” (total amount wagered) and demonstrate a sufficient Average Daily Theoretical loss – the casino will extend offers for free or heavily discounted sailings.
These free-cruise vouchers may not always appear in the standard Reward Programme perks list, but rest assured: once you’ve played your way up to a qualifying point threshold, those full-fare comps become every bit as real as that promised drink package or suite upgrade.
Status Matching: Stretching One Offer into Many
One of the cleverest ways seasoned casino cruisers multiply their free-sailings haul is by status matching.
Put simply, once you’ve earned a complimentary-cabin offer from one cruise line’s casino programme, you don’t have to let that voucher gather digital dust in your inbox.
Services such as URComped allow you to upload your existing free-cruise offer and have rival cruise casinos match it with an equivalent deal of their own.
Imagine you’ve just secured a free interior cabin on Royal Caribbean after a week of diligent slot-play.
You register on URComped, scan or forward your Royal Caribbean offer, and submit it to MSC or Carnival.
Within days or weeks you may find yourself with an MSC or Carnival free-cruise voucher in your email.
Sites like URComped will vary with their offers. Sometimes it’ll be equivalent to your existing ones, or it’ll be a bit less. And sometimes the offers only apply to cruise lines you’ve never sailed with before.
Still, it’s a great way to explore more options.
Bouncebacks vs. Email Offers: Timing Your Next Sail
Casino comps typically arrive in two flavours.
Bounceback offers land in your stateroom on the final night of your cruise, rewarding your play from that single voyage. Because they’re handed out immediately, you know exactly where you stand before you disembark.
By contrast, email offers arrive days, weeks or even months later. After crunching final figures on your coin-in, Average Daily Theoretical and any follow-up activity (for instance, if you played on a second cruise before the first offer had been issued), the casino sends a more polished deal by email.
These can sometimes be more generous than the bouncebacks, particularly for high-value players whose true worth only becomes clear after the data is fully analysed.
Veteran casino cruisers check their inbox religiously in the six weeks following a sailing, since it’s not uncommon for the best offers to arrive well after you’ve unpacked at home.
How the Game Has Changed
Prior to 2022, it wasn’t unusual to trigger a free-cruise offer with a few hundred dollars’ worth of slot play.
Today, with cruise demand and onboard competition at record highs, most lines have raised their thresholds substantially.
Whereas an interior-cabin comp might once have required around $2,000 coin-in, you can now expect to need closer to $3,000–$5,000 – and table-game ADT requirements have similarly climbed.
Simultaneously, some operators have reduced the generosity of perks bundled into comped offers.
Free drink vouchers, specialty-dining credits and shipboard credit that once came automatically with certain casino tiers are now reserved for only the most prodigious gamblers.
If maintaining your “free-cruise” strategy is central to your holiday planning, you’ll want to monitor each line’s casino newsroom or Facebook-group chatter for the latest changes – and adjust your play budget accordingly.
Gambling Responsibly: The Most Important Rule
It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of chasing comps, but remember: the primary purpose of casino play should be entertainment, not profit.
Even if you walk away “ahead” one day, a streak of losses can follow – especially when you’re travelling and socialising. Always:
- Set a firm daily limit before you board, then stick to it, charging only what you can comfortably lose.
- Track your play meticulously; registering every slot session and table bet ensures you actually earn the points you deserve.
- Take breaks to explore the ship, join a shore-excursion or simply enjoy a sunset on deck. A clear head makes for better decisions at the machines and tables.
By treating casino cruising as a controlled leisure activity rather than a money-making scheme, you’ll safeguard both your holiday enjoyment and your bank balance.
TODAY’S BEST CRUISE DEALS!
Don’t miss these offers…
Final Word
Earning a free casino cruise isn’t magic – it’s a combination of understanding how onboard loyalty programmes work, being smart with your bets, and leveraging status-matching opportunities.
Professor Melissa is a university professor and travel enthusiast who regularly cruises for free with casino points. Make sure you check out her guide too. She has some good tips for you.
Also, Chris Wong, A Royal Caribbean croupier, has some great tips in his guide to free casino cruises with Royal Caribbean.
While the landscape has grown more competitive, those who plan ahead, budget sensibly and stay informed can still turn a week’s worth of coin-in into multiple complimentary voyages.
But don’t make the same mistakes I did on my Holland America Line Cruise.
Smooth seas and good luck!
And remember, the casino is just one of the ways you can get a free cruise. If you don’t like playing slots, or you’re worried that you might develop an addiction, then don’t do it! It’s not for everyone.
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