I’d heard all the rumours – people getting free cruises just for spending a few nights in the ship’s casino. Play the slots, rack up some points, and voilà… your email inbox is filled with offers of free sailings.
It sounds too good to be true, I’ll admit. Yet after speaking to multiple people who told me that’s how they manage to cruise so much, it really did seem legit.
So, I decided to put it to the test. On a single cruise, I spent more than $10,000 trying to crack the casino rewards system and get invited back for free.
Did I walk away with a free cruise? No, I did not. (insert crying face emoji)
But I did learn a lot about how these programs really work – and how easy it is to spend the big bucks when unlimited free cocktails keep arriving without you needing to move from your seat at the machine.
The Hype Around Free Casino Cruises
Before I tried it myself, I’d seen loads of cruisers bragging online about getting “free” cruises through casino play.
They’d post screenshots of complimentary cruise offers, selfies with big wins on the machines, and talk about how they received so many free cruise offers they didn’t have time to take them all.
In theory, it’s simple: every time you play in the ship’s casino, you earn points. The more you play, the higher your casino status climbs and the more freebies you get.
Reach the right level, and you’re suddenly getting invites for free cruises. At least, that’s what I hoped would happen.
My $10,000 Casino Experiment
Before parting with my hard-earned cash, I spoke at length with several cruise ship gamblers over dinner and while sitting at the slots. They explained that, in general, 5,000 points would be sufficient to get an invite to the casino rewards program.
Once in the program, the value of the free cruises *should* outweigh any casino losses.
Usually on a cruise, I’m so busy with the kids that I barely get time to spend $20 in the casino. But, as I was on a solo cruise for a week, I thought it would be the perfect time to dive in and try my luck to get the much-coveted casino program invite.
And also, I’d just a flyer in my cabin that said I could have $25 in free play, as I hadn’t used the Holland America Line casino before. So off I went.
I was cruising on Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam. The casino on that ship is huge, with an endless array of brightly coloured slot machines. I had time to kill and money to lose invest.
Not all casino points schemes work the same, but on Holland America Line, 1 point is $2.
That means that every $2 you bet earns you one point.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to lose the $2 to get the point. And that’s key.
You’ll win some and lose some – so that $2 is recycled through the machine many times, earning you multiple points.
Here’s How I Did The Maths
According to my friend ChatGPT, cruise ship slot machines typically pay out at 85% to 92%. Let’s call it 90% for simplicity’s sake.
That means, that if you place 1,000 individual $1 bets, you should still have $900 in your account, on average.
That $1,000 spend will have earned you 500 points (at $2 per point), and you’ll be $100 down.
So in theory, getting to 5,000 points would involve putting $10,000 through the machines, but I should only lose $1,000 on average.
Even if I only get one free cruise in an interior cabin, that should be worth it, right? Those cruises cost more than $1,000 for two people.
Of course, I could be unlucky and lose way more than $1,000.
But then again, I could hit the jackpot and win a huge prize, plus unlimited free cruises for the next year!
For me, the gamble seemed worth it. I dove in.
What Actually Happened
I spent a two or three hours each day in the casino.
On Nieuw Statendam, the entertainment is mostly in the form of live music. That’s great, but it’s not something I usually attend much of when I’m cruising solo.
Plus, the weather en route to Iceland was pretty cold, so sunbathing on sea days wasn’t an option. So I didn’t feel that I was missing out on anything fun by spending time in the casino.
I started with the minimum bets, which were usually 60 to 80 cents per spin, depending on the machine.
But as I got bored of sitting there hitting the spin button like a caged rat trying to earn a treat, I realised that I could earn points faster by placing bigger bets. And sometimes I would bet up to $6 per spin.
You can bet more than that, but the thought of losing $6 every few seconds was just too scary for me!
By the end of the cruise, I had run $10,000 through the machines, achieved my goal of 5,000 points, and was $700 down.
The machines had paid me out 93% of what I put in, which is pretty good, as far as averages go.
At one point, things were not going at all well, and I was down by $1,200 with only 3,000 points to show for it.
But, I didn’t throw in the towel. I kept playing for a couple of hours each night and by the end of the cruise I was on 5,000 points and had reduced my losses to $700.
The charge to my room was $1,200. I transferred this from my room account to the machine in $100 chunks as I lost more and more money.
As casino ‘winnings’ are paid out in cash, I walked off the ship with $500. And, of course, a credit card bill for $1,200.
So even though I had lost $700, walking off the ship with $500 in my purse felt like I had won, in a strange way.
But still, no free cruise, yet…
Free Drinks Are A Dangerous Perk
Reaching 1,500 points was an important milestone as it meant I became entitled to free drinks in the casino.
The servers come round regularly and, as the casino wasn’t particularly busy, as soon as my glass became empty someone was there to ask if I’d like another.
There’s also a bar in the casino and the bartenders were really friendly and chatty. Sometimes, I’d go to the casino bar even when I wasn’t playing, just to get free drinks.
The casino was next to the theatre, so on my way to watch the show, I’d stop to pick up a free glass of wine to take into the theatre with me, which was a great perk.
I only knew about the free drinks perk because a fellow gambler told me. Nothing happened when my points ticked over to 1,500. But when I went to see the casino host, she put a special sticker on my card and explained that from now on, all my drinks in the casino were complimentary.
A tactic that I was told that some cruisers do is to gamble a lot on the first night, to quickly reach the free drinks threshold.
1,500 region should cost you in the region of $300.
The Signature Beverage Package costs $60 per person, per day.
So if you’re taking a two-week cruise, then you should definitely get your money’s worth on the drinks.
Of course the temptation is that each time you visit the casino to get your free drink, you’re then likely to then end up gambling even more.
Free Cruise Offers
Free cruise offers, also known as ‘casino comps’, are usually delivered in one of two ways.
Firstly, you may get a letter in your cabin on the last night of your cruise, inviting you back to sail again for free. The cruise isn’t 100% free, as you’ll still have to pay port fees and taxes. But it’s a pretty sweet deal.
Additionally, after the cruise you may get an email with a list of cruises that you can book for heavily discounted rates. Again, you’ll have to pay the port fees and taxes, but for many of the offers that’s all you’ll pay. You may get other perks too, such as free casino credit or free drinks.
Some cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises and Carnival make it clear exactly how many points you need to get to earn yourself a free cruise.
For example, on Sun Princess, I saw this board, which said that you would need 2,000 points to get a cruise in an interior stateroom with $100 of free play (casino credits).
Holland America Line, however, is different in that they don’t publish how many points you need to get invited back for free.
Instead, cruisers like me are left to trawl forums like Reddit, to see how many points other people had, and what reward they got.
Why I Didn’t Get A Free Cruise
Sadly, despite my 5,000 points, I never did receive any casino offers from Holland America Line. It’s been 8 weeks since my cruise, and so I don’t think it will happen.
So what went wrong?
Well, I do have a theory…
While my cruise was a 7-night cruise, most guests onboard were actually doing a 14-night sailing. I just did the first 7-nights because it was a press trip.
The points threshold on a 14-night cruise will be higher than on a 7-night cruise. So perhaps, for this sailing, the threshold was actually double what I thought it was.
I can’t be sure, but that may be it.
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What Now?
I don’t regret my decision to test out the casino, even though I ended up out of pocket. I enjoyed stepping into the ‘other world’ that so many cruisers are obsessed with.
I do still think that getting into a casino rewards program is a good idea. Once you’re in, there are schemes you can join where you can then also get complimentary cruises on other lines you haven’t sailed with. Like a status match thing.
Also, UK-based cruisers have a couple of advantages when it comes to casino perks.
Firstly, we don’t have to pay tax on our winnings. In the USA, gamblers have to pay taxes on any winnings over $1,200. So us Brits are better off there.
And also, many Americans only get two weeks on annual leave per year. This makes it difficult cruise regularly, even if the cruises are free. For us Brits that usually get more paid time off work, cruising more often is more achievable.
I probably will have another go at getting enough casino points to cruise for free. It has to be with the right line though.
Usually, if I’m with other people, then I’m too busy having fun to spend hours in the casino.
And one things for sure, I’d want to know exactly how many points I need before I start next time!
Related Posts:
- Carnival’s New Casino-Themed, Adults-Only Cruises
- Victory Casino Cruises – Everything You Need To Know
- What You MUST Know Before Hitting Any Cruise Ship Casino
