If you’ve ever walked past Casino Royale on a Royal Caribbean ship without going in, you may have unknowingly walked past hundreds of dollars in future cruise savings. Here’s what Casino Royale actually is – and why our family of four now plans every cruise around it.
If you enjoy cruising with your family and also enjoy playing casino games, you can copy our strategy to cruise more often for less.
DISCLAIMER – Always be responsible with casino play, and never bet more than you can afford to lose or have planned to spend for in your entertainment budget. See our Responsible Gaming Page.
What you’ll learn in this Article
This Plain-English Guide covers a lot of ground at a high level. In depth articles links are provided on many topics, but this overview covers:
- What is Casino Royale on Royal Caribbean?
- What is Club Royale – the Royal Caribbean Casino Loyalty Program?
- The Three Ways to earn free cruises – Instant Certificates, Marketing Offers, and Annual Benefits
- Does this work for Families? (Spoiler Alert: YES!)
- How to Get Started
- FAQs
- Join our Email List!
What Is Casino Royale on Royal Caribbean? The onboard casino brand, games, and ship location
The Royal Caribbean casino – branded as Casino Royale – is a staple on every Royal Caribbean ship. It’s offered as another entertainment option beyond the pools, shows, and ocean views that cruises are known for.
Just like land-based casinos, Casino Royale offers a large variety of slot machines and table games like Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, and Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em.
Unlike land-based casinos, however, the games are offered at lower table limits to entice general travelers to play. For example, I love to play Craps but I’m simply unwilling to play the $25 minimum bet tables that you find at land-based casinos during peak hours. In a welcome change from this norm, Casino Royale has $10 minimums on their Craps. This level doesn’t change as the casino gets full. Instead it holds steady throughout the whole cruise whether the casino is slow or busy, and I have the opportunity to play a game I enjoy at limits I’m comfortable with.
Another difference between Casino Royale and land-base casinos is that the casino can afford to be more generous with the “Comps” that it offers its players. More on that later!
When you’re looking for Casino Royale or any other cruise line casino – go low! To prevent any rough weather from knocking over chips or disrupting the Roulette wheels, casinos are typically located on a lower deck of the ship – Deck 6 or lower for Royal Caribbean. On many of the larger Royal Caribbean ships it will be Deck 4, right below the Royal Promenade and often with a staircase straight down into the Royale Promenade to the casino floor.
And don’t forget to keep a lookout for Smoke Free Casinos too. In a welcome development – all of the big ships and many medium ships are being upgraded to also offer fully separate Smoke Free areas. These are often near the main casino, but up or down a deck.
What Is Club Royale? The loyalty program inside Casino Royale
Club Royale is the casino-specific loyalty program on Royal Caribbean. Other cruise lines also offer casino programs – Carnival Players Club, Norwegian Cruise Lines Casinos at Sea, etc. Our family focuses on Royal Caribbean, Casino Royale, and their award winning programs, due to the overall fit of Royal Caribbean’s with our family interests.
Enrolling into the program is automatic – scan your Seapass at any slot / video poker machine when you play, or provide your Seapass to the dealer when you play a table game, and you’re enrolled and earning points in the program.
Just like other loyalty programs you may be more familiar with – think about those for Delta Airlines or Enterprise Rental Cars – your points matter for both your current sailing and for future sailings.
Current sailings earn points and can land you offers for free or discounted cruises. On our first family cruise my 800 points earned free cruise fare for 2, which let us take a very nice and very affordable couples trip.
Points and overall status also apply to future sailing. Points add-up during the Club Royal Casino Year, which runs from April 1 – March 31. Points earned (called “Tier Points”) from each cruise throughout the casino year add to your overall “Tier Status” and generate perks for players.
For example, “Prime” status is very reachable for low-rollers who take 3 – 4 cruises per year, and once reached you receive perks such as an annual Cruise Fare for 2 and Free Drinks in the Casino any time that the Casino Bar is open. The best part is – once you achieve a status level in a Casino Year (the levels with Perks are Prime, Signature, and Masters) you keep it for the following year as well! Some strategizing is required, because Tier Points reset every March 31.
Points from recent sailings also open up Casino Marketing Offers that can be seen on the Royal Caribbean website, app, or delivered straight to your inbox. More on that in the next section.
How much do points cost? This is a little bit tricky, because the way points are earned depends on if you’re playing slots, video poker, or table games. We’ll explain this in greater detail in another article, but for now a common “target” is to earn 1 point per 1 dollar lost to the casino. Gaming can have wide swings, however, and you can earn several thousand points while ending your trip “up” with winnings, or you can go through money much faster than expected and fail to earn the points you’ve targeted. We provide strategies to help players manage their casino budget to maximize point earnings.
What are “Comps” and how can Casino Royale be so generous? Casinos are famous for giving players complimentary perks, or “Comps.” Perhaps you’ve heard of someone having their room “comped” (paid for by casino management) in Las Vegas, or having a casino supervisor offering you a free Steak Dinner.
A note on the business side of Comps:
Casinos have a marketing budget to attract players, and “Comps” are covered by that budget to keep loyal players coming back. While each casino will choose its own details, it’s thought that most casinos reinvest 20% – 30% of a player’s estimated value into Comp offers and Loyalty Programs. By way of an example – if a land-based casino incurs a cost of $50 to provide you a free room (note – this is THEIR cost of labor, cost of washing sheets, etc. and not what you might see rooms listed for), you may get hotel room Comp offers if they estimate that they stand to win $250 when you come back. While this might sound bad for you, you may be very pleased with the offer to receive a free room that might be listed at $150 per night for paying customers. This $150 value – on top of the fact that you enjoy gaming – may lead you to go ahead and book that trip. It’s a $350 win-win: you get $150 in value and the casino gets $200 in expected profit. And without getting too in the weeds, it’s worth sharing that the value split depends on things like competition, a company’s profit margin, and the marginal cost of servicing one more customer.
But hotel rooms are typically MUCH cheaper than cruises. So how can Casino Royale offer such valuable perks?
There are three reasons that Casino Royale can be so generous:
- When you’re on a cruise boat – there’s no competition. If a Las Vegas hotel invites me to stay free at their hotel, then I’m sure I’ll play in their casino. For some of my trip at least. But I’ll also want to walk to any number of other nearby casinos to try them out, and I’ll try a variety of restaurants, many of which will not be at hotel. So the casino only counts on capturing SOME of my vacation spend. Cruises, however, capture nearly every dollar I spend on board. They own the bars, the wifi, the specialty restaurants, and the spas. They even make commissions on things like Excursion sales. Except for the short stays at ports, there are no streets for me to walk down and spend my money elsewhere. Since cruise lines can count on capturing more of my and other loyal players’ vacation spend, their casino programs can invest more in getting us back on board.
- Cruise lines have other profitable ways to recoup their money. There are many free things to do on a cruise, but for anything you pay for you can be sure of one thing – it’s VERY profitable! When my family sails cheap via Comps, we sometimes splurge on fun experiences. We may book specialty meals at the Hibachi restaurant, buy tickets to the Coco Cay water park, or book an excursion. We’re happy to reinvest our savings in creating more family memories, and that helps Casino Royale recoup their investment in us.
- Cruises have very low operating costs on the NEXT room. It takes a lot of money to operate a cruise – buying amazing ships, filling them with diesel, and providing staff and entertainment to keep customers happily engaged. However, most costs are FIXED. Think of it – the crew is under contract, payments on the boat are due each month, and the diesel tanks are going to be filled at each stop anyway. Whether they sail with empty rooms or whether they offer my family of 4 a huge discount to fill that room, the difference in their cost is surprisingly small. Sure, there’s some extra food costs they’ll incur, but compared to the price of advertised fare this price is MINISCULE. So when Casino Royale considers which “Comps” to offer, the cost they have to cover is remarkably low.
These three points add up to one result – the Casino Royale program can afford to run a great program for cruisers who know how to use it. That’s also how 800 points on the Adventure of the Seas led to more than $1,000 in fare discounts for my wife and I, and kicking off our Cruising Royale approach to vacations. And that’s how our family is able to enjoy balcony cabins on some of the biggest boats for little out of pocket costs.
NOTE: At the time of this writing, I am Prime status and we are budgeting to get my wife to Prime on our next sailing (Symphony of the Seas out of Galveston – a booking made with our casino offers). My Prime status has given us many terrific perks, and when we both have Prime many additional cost-saving strategies open up. Make sure to read related articles learn more!
The Three Ways to Earn a Free Cruise — Instant certs, targeted offers, annual tier benefit
Playing at Casino Royale on Royal Caribbean opens up three avenues towards free cruises – Instant Certificates, Targeted Offers, and Annual Tier Benefits.
Instant Certificates – are Free Fare offers that you receive and can book before you even leave the ship. These are based on points earned on your current cruise, and Club Royale does an amazing job of transparency for these. From the moment you board the ship, the Casino posts a QR Code that allows players to review the cruise fare offers available at the various point levels (and you can find them online ahead of your cruise if you know where to look – links coming soon!).
This feature allows you to tweak your budget – if there’s a very attractive cruise available at a higher point level than normal, you may adjust to playing a little bigger to target that sailing. Or if there doesn’t seem to be good value for your family, you can focus on slowly building towards your Casino Year Tier target and shoot for a lower Point Target for your current cruise.
And it’s worth knowing – at higher point levels, these Instant Certificates include not just Free Fare, but On Board Credit and/or Casino FreePlay on offered sailings.
Targeted Offers (sometimes called “Marketing Offers”) – These offers arrive in your email inbox or on your Royal Caribbean app, and are based on sailings that Royal Caribbean is trying to fill or to add casino players to. At certain times I’ve had 6 or more active Targeted Offers, each with different focuses of sailing port, room type, and even Free Play offers. These offers can be very attractive, but the algorithm can be fickle – if Royal Caribbean shifts their opinion of your play, they can dry up in an instant.
Annual Tier Benefit – For all Tiers above the entry “Choice” Tier, you earn a free cruise each year. This year, the Prime Tier offerings were mostly for Interior rooms, but there were HUNDREDS of sailing options. I have found that some Targeted Offers will be better than this benefit, but the guaranteed value is worth a lot – target your favorite itinerary and use the Annual Tier Benefit if a targeted offer doesn’t come up.
A note on offers – All casino offers are for “Free Cruise Fare” for 1 or 2 guests, and the fares specify if they’re for Interior, Oceanview, or Balcony rooms. Higher point offers get higher value rooms. Be aware each guest will still have costs on these cruises. “Taxes and Fees” usually run $100 – $200 per person depending on sailing and itinerary, and Gratuities typically run at $18.50 per person per day.
So on an upcoming Couples-Cruise (Jewel of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale) my wife and I will pay $266.54 in Taxes/Fees and $148 in Gratuities. But the value is huge – for a combined $414.54 out of pocket we have room, dining, and entertainment for 4 nights – about $104 per night. Since we’re each booking our own room (if it sounds surprising – read on! It’s a huge part of our overall strategy) we are receiving at least $1,500 in cruise-fare discounts.
Does This Work for Families? Our Simplified Strategy
So how does our family use this strategy to go on 3 to 5 cruises per year, but pay the cost of only 2 retail cruises?
Cruises are a special family time for us. We love the variety of things to do, endless ocean views, and making memories away from our day-to-day routine. Below is a quick overview of the strategy we’ve perfected over the last two years, with more detailed articles on this coming soon.
Selecting Cabins: We combine our offers to get 4 Free or Reduced Fares on our targeted sailing date. We’ve done this multiple ways, including paying a little extra to upgrade two offers into a single four-person cabin. Our favorite cost-saving strategy, however, is to book two 2 Person cabins. We love it because it’s cheaper and can unlock some more premier ships and itineraries than we might normally target. Nearly every cabin on a cruise ship can support double-occupancy, but much fewer can fit four and these are priced accordingly. Therefore booking two different cabins is more economical whether you or Club Royale foots the bill.
This strategy won’t work for every family. Booking two separate cabins can sometimes lead to cabins being far apart from each other. We often also price check the “best of both worlds” strategy of booking connecting cabins. It’s more expensive than the basic two-cabins approach, but can be more affordable than the 4-person cabin while still having everyone in a connected space. But no matter the details we choose on any sailing, the two-room strategy is a major part of making cruises more affordable, and we’ll write more about it very soon.
Family Togetherness. Finding time to enjoy the casino doesn’t mean we neglect family time! We eat together for all meals, spend hours at the pool (including kid-friendly Movies Under the Stars events!), enjoy excursions at CocoCay and more. But we also make sure we plan in personal time. For my wife and I this means gym time and for the kids this means enjoying the complimentary Adventure Ocean kids club where they make new friends and play games. The adults find time for gaming entertainment, but we work it around the family schedule.
Gaming. On each sailing, my wife and I each play at the casino. We target 800 – 1,200 points between us per sailing. Sometimes we each play on our own, and other times we strategically focus on one partner’s play to trigger Targeted Offers or progress towards Prime status. The math works for our strategy at this level, and we typically play about 2 hours on each full day. Sometimes this will be during the high energy hours after the evening shows, and sometimes it will be on lazy sea days when the kids are at Adventure Ocean.
If we lose at the casino. No ifs ands or buts – we have losing sessions at the casino. Casinos only offer games with a house edge, and over time you are guaranteed to lose more money than you win. However, our strategies include budgeting, using gaming guardrails, and a purposeful approach to ensure that our expected losses are more than offset by perks earned through the Club Royale programs. Future articles will explain each of these elements.
If we win at the casino. Great! We include gaming money in our entertainment budget, and we expect to spend all of it. If good luck means that our gaming entertainment is “cheaper” than expected, however, we have a plan for that too. On occasion we’ll play extra or splurge on an excursion with the unexpected funds. But since our program is designed around spending more family time on cruise ships, winnings mostly go to future cruise budgets.
How to Get Started — Create Club Royale account and Check your Targeted Offers
To get started, follow the steps on your next cruise:
While On Your Cruise:
- Visit Casino Royale and use your Seapass when you play. Congratulations, you’re a Club Royale member!
- Visit the Casino Host desk and make sure that they have your preferred email tied to your Club Royale membership. This ensures that you receive any Targeted Offers that you’ve earned.
- Study the Instant Certificates on offer and determine your point Target based on your budget.
- OPTIONAL – if you plan to book a cruise in the next 60 days, visit Next Cruise and put a $200 deposit down for a future cruise. You don’t have to lock in a sailing while on board, but so long as you finalize a booking within 60 days after your cruise, reservations booked via Next Cruise will come with benefits on that booked cruise, starting with $25 of onboard credit for Interior and Ocean View rooms. You can use your Next Cruise reservation up to 1 year after booking, but the bonuses expire after 60 days.
After Your Cruise:
- Visit https://www.royalcaribbean.com/club-royale/offers and log in with your Crown & Anchor number.
- Wait 2 – 3 weeks for your Casino Royale Tier Points to be applied to your account.
- Watch out for Targeted Offers, and take advantage of Ships, Sailing Dates, and Itineraries that maximize the value for your family!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I have to be a big gambler to get a Casino Royale offer for free cruise fare?
No! While “big gambler” is relative and means different things to different people, we’ve met many cruisers using this strategy with a $100 – $200 daily slots budget. With the right strategies, these “low rollers” still get plenty of offers without putting thousand of dollars at risk. - Is the casino appropriate to play at with kids on board?
Yes! You should never mix Family Time with casino time (you’re on board for a family vacation after all) but we find that there’s plenty of time to work with. Casino Royale is adults-only, which keeps it completely separate from Family activities. And Royal Caribbean has TONS of Family and Kid activities, including the complimentary Adventure Ocean kids club. We find that it’s not too hard to find windows to play. - How much money do I need to spend to earn a free cruise?
You may be surprised to learn that how much you win or lose doesn’t matter when it comes to the offers you get, which makes this hard to answer. What the casino values is steady play and total money wagered.
To give readers a general idea, we share that when playing slots, $1 – $2 per targeted point is a good bankroll. If you’re targeting 500 points – enough to get the most basic Instant Certificate, trigger Targeted Offers, and earn Prime over 5 sailings – a total bankroll of $800 – $1,000, 1 – 2 hours of daily play, and our strategies to stretch your betting dollar is a solid approach. - What’s the difference between an Instant Certificate and a Targeted Offer?
An Instant Certificate is something you can see and book before you even leave the ship – it’s based on the points you just earned on your current cruise. A Targeted Offer shows up later, by email or in the app, and is Royal Caribbean inviting you back based on your play history. Instant Certificates are predictable; Targeted Offers can be more generous but are less consistent. - Can I combine two casino offers to cruise as a family of four?
Yes! There are multiple ways to combine offers. Many couples will combine their own offers to get a better double-occupancy room (for example, two Fare for 2 Interior Room offers from the same promo can be combined into an Oceanview for 2… and two Oceanviews can make a Balcony). For families, we recommend either our two-cabin strategy, or simply working with the Casino Royale team or your travel agent to apply your casino offer as a discount to the 4 person room you’d like to book.
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