[Dead] “Free” Royal Caribbean cruise match offer & kids sail free stack (parlay that Carnival offer)

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If you previously followed along and turned your Wyndham Diamond status into a “free” Carnival cruise in a balcony room, it’s time to parlay that into another “free” cruise offer — this time with Royal Caribbean — and with the chance for a couple to combine forces to get up to a junior suite (and with a great stack for family travelers!).

Last year, I wrote about how to turn your Wyndham Diamond status into a “free” (or more accurately a deeply discounted) Carnival cruise (See: Status cruising: Saving $2K+ on a cruise to Europe, Alaska, etc with a match). Now Royal Caribbean is out with a match offer that could get you a “free” cruise of up to 5 nights on their Caribbean itineraries (as well as a couple of options out of Los Angeles). Better yet, if you act fast, family travelers might be able to get this match done in time to stack the free cruise offer with a current “kids sail free” promotion that’s valid until the end of the month. Once again “free” doesn’t really mean no cost, but it certainly does mean low cost relative to the cash prices in several instances — low enough to entice me to check out what Royal Caribbean has to offer.

a cruise ship in the water

The Deal

  • Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale loyalty program is running an offer match program whereby you may be able to qualify for a free cruise for two (potentially in a balcony room or even higher if you combine offers)
  • Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

  • Terms indicate that you are not eligible for this offer if you have sailed with Royal Caribbean since January 2018
  • Terms indicate that you can submit a match request only once
  • Cruise must be booked within 14 days of receiving your offer
  • Terms say you need to call to book, though there is also an online booking request form (though confirmation is not immediate)
  • You still pay taxes and port fees. On dates I checked, these appear to be $400-$500 total for 4 passengers on the 4-5 day itineraries, but YMMV depending on your itinerary
  • You may have to pay an upgrade fee for a larger room if sailing with a family
  • Kids sail free promo has some blackout dates (see this post for more detail)
  • Cruises based on availability (and my offers only apply to cruises through 3/31/23)
  • Interestingly, a couple playing in two-player mode has the option to combine offers per the terms: “Qualified Recipients within the same household from the same promotional event may combine their complimentary stateroom offers on the same sail date for one (1) category upgrade, not to exceed a Junior Suite or redeem their individual offers”
  • See more casino promotion terms here

Quick Thoughts

See that previous status cruising post for details on how to get the Carnival match offer. I used that offer to book a 10-night European cruise that I took earlier this month, but my wife has yet to book her Carnival offer (she had booked a cruise and then cancelled and hasn’t yet rebooked despite receive the free balcony offer from Carnival monthly ever since).

A comment recently came in on my old post about the Carnival offer from reader Mary indicating that Royal Caribbean has a similar offer.

For the purposes of this offer, Royal Caribbean will accept a competing cruise line offer or proof of your land-based casino status. Pro tip: you want to submit the Carnival free balcony room offer, not your Caesars Diamond status (Caesars status alone will only qualify you for a discounted cruise rather than a free cruise. Ask me how I know).

a screenshot of a casino
Royal Caribbean allows you to upload your current casino offer from a competing cruise line or your players card from a land based casino, but I recommend submitting a free room offer from a competing cruise line.

My wife pulled up her most recent Carnival free balcony room offer on the Carnival website and submitted a copy of it to Royal Caribbean. Turnaround time was very fast for her.

a screenshot of a web page

A friend of mine submitted for the Royal Caribbean match on Sunday and received an offer from Royal Caribbean on Tuesday afternoon. My wife submitted for the offer Wednesday morning and received an offer for a free balcony room on select Royal Caribbean cruises within a couple of hours (the offer arrived in her inbox early afternoon on Wednesday):

a screenshot of a casino advertisement

After clicking through the link in the email, her offer type showed up as “up to a balcony stateroom – 5 nights”.

a white text with black text

The list of free sailings she was provided run from next week through the end of March (I didn’t quite fit all of them in this screen shot).

a table with a list of names and numbers

As you can see, the eligible cruises range from 3-5 nights and are mostly visiting either the Bahamas or the Eastern or Western Caribbean (with a couple of Los Angeles cruises). The most expensive cruise I price-checked at normal rates is the one that departs San Juan the week before Christmas. That cruise stops at a port every day (St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Croix, and Tortola). I assume because of the timing, a balcony room on that cruise is currently running north of $3,500 before taxes (or about $4,000 with taxes).

a screenshot of a website

My understanding based on a friend who has already booked the offer is that you’ll be on the hook for the port taxes (which look like they run around $400 to $500 for a family of four depending on itinerary or less for two passengers). That’s a pretty substantial discount over prevailing rates on a lot of routes (though note that you should shop around because some of the “free” cruises on offer can be inexpensive).

What’s more interesting for family travelers is that through October 31st, Royal Caribbean is offering a “kids sail free” promotion where you don’t pay an additional fee for the kids. Contrast that with my free Carnival offer, which only applied to two adults; I paid about $280 per child for my two kids on my “free” Carnival cruise (plus gratuities). Kids sailing for free right now with Royal Caribbean potentially sweetens the deal a bit here.

All that said, there is a potential wrinkle and a potential bit of intrigue here.

The potential wrinkle is that a friend who booked a room for 3 passengers had to pay a $220 upgrade fee to get a room big enough for 3 passengers. Kids were “free”, but the upgraded room that fits three passengers was not. That’s kind of a bummer, though if the upgraded room is big enough for four passengers, I won’t complain too much about the additional $220 (I’m still waiting on final pricing confirmation on our booking). Note that I’m not sure if this was a function of the specific ship / dates chosen (I see that there are some blackout dates on the “kids said free” promo).

 

Update: I was not charged any upgrade fee for a room with 4 passengers. I imagine this must vary by sailing and cabin availability. Some balcony cabins on my sailing (noted as “spacious balcony” rooms) are marked to sleep 4 and that’s what I got. I only had to pay taxes ($108 per person) and will owe gratuities later.

The bit of potential intrigue comes in the terms. According to the terms, if two people in the same household have free stateroom offers, you can combine them for a 1 category upgrade up to a junior suite. While on the one hand I’d probably rather take two cruises than have a junior suite, on the other hand with the window to use the cruise here (you must book within 14 days of receiving the offer and sail by the end of March), you may only find one set of dates that works for you — in which case, having a larger room might work out. I checked out YouTube videos of a junior suite on one of the ships we were considering and the junior suite had a walk-in closet, a bathroom with a bath tub / shower, and a lot more space to lounge than I had in my extended balcony cabin on my recent Carnival cruise.

I noted above that matching from Caesars Diamond only led to a cruise discount rather than a free cruise. Despite the terms saying that you can only submit a match one time, I tried again with my Carnival balcony offer and haven’t heard back. I’d definitely suggest using the Carnival offer if you can get a screen shot of it.

Before this year, I thought I would probably never take a cruise again. I took one years ago, but boats tend to make me seasick and cruising just didn’t seem to fit my style or interests — I thought it just wasn’t for me. However, Carnival won me over with the family-friendly nature of a cruise and the ease of being able to visit multiple places without needing to pack up and move all of our stuff (which is a lot more stuff now that we travel with kids). I said afterwards that I would definitely do it again. Now I’m excited to check out Royal Caribbean and see how it compares to my experience on the Carnival Pride.  If I can keep parlaying these free cruise offers with different lines, maybe I’ll get used to this whole cruising thing after all.

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rebecca

I sent in my match for this many months ago and finally got an offer in my email yesterday. I had written it off as not happening. So there is hope for people who applied but havent heard from them yet.

Grant

Same thing just happened to me too! Mine offer says to book by August 8 and has select cruises through October 2023.

, do you think there is any hope that I can wait after August 8 and see if they send me another set of qualifying dates? Do you think proactively calling to request a specific cruise after October 2023 would work either?

Josh

Same here! Applied months ago. Never heard anything. Got an email today with the free cruise for 2 with free drinks in the casino. Some are interior/window/balcony rooms.

Dodd

Same here, just got an offer last week. Have until Aug 3 to book

Bagira

A question for those who got finally matched recently, did the offer get regenerated if you did not book by initial dates?

Susan

Link is no longer valid.

Andrew

Dang, yea looks like it is gone now

Andrew

Interestingly though, it is still showing up on their main page. The link is definitely broken though:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/cruise-casinos

Mark D

I just called Royal Caribbean and they said the offer is suspended for now but may be back in the future.

Champz

Thanks for the article. It seems the link “https://www.clubroyaleoffers.com/TierOfferCruiseMatchRequest.asp” not active any more. Is there any new link? Thanks

Stevenson

finally got my free offer after months of waiting ……

it must be booked by 3/16 and only has 5 options to choose from.

what a waste.

Navigator Of The Seas April 24, 2023 Los Angeles, California 4 Night Catalina & Ensenada Balcony
Radiance Of The Seas May 06, 2023 Los Angeles, California 5 Night Pacific Coastal Cruise Balcony
Navigator Of The Seas May 08, 2023 Los Angeles, California 4 Night Catalina & Ensenada Cruise Balcony
Anthem Of The Seas May 12, 2023 Southampton, England 2 Night Weekend Getaway Cruise Balcony
Navigator Of The Seas May 15, 2023 Los Angeles, California 4 Night Catalina & Ensenada Cruise Balcony

Val

Has anyone done the Carnival to Royal Caribbean match lately? We are looking at a cruise at the end of November and wondering if I should wait to submit the match until April or May if the availability to book is only 6 months at at time.

Kelsea

I’m very interested in doing this status match offer. I have offers from Vegas, both Caesars and MGM. I’m wondering how far out (in months) do these free cruises go out for? I’m hoping to go in September. Should I wait to submit my offer or do it now?

John B

I have finally received a Carnival Balcony offer. But for the life of me I can’t find a balcony that is available. They all say sold out. All interior or a few ocenviews and thats it. I’ve looked at hundreds of cruises out of florida.

nnd1306

There are few available but all these balcony rooms are on deck 2. Not sure if there is any workaround to book higher deck balcony rooms. Going to try calling and see if it helps.

nnd1306

Got one for Deck 8. 🙂 Also, do not miss checking Chase’s offers. I had two cards where the offer was “spend 100 get 35 back offer on two cards”.

Andrew

Did you have to call to get the Deck 8 balcony, or did it just show up in availability when you checked again later? I currently have a free balcony cruise offer, but there is almost no balcony availability. Wondering if it would make a difference at all if I called and asked about any additional availability.

Josh

let me know if you ever called, seeing same thing on my end!

Stevenson

Is any gambling required when taking advantage of this program? Any other hidden fees or rules buried in their Terms & Conditions?

Stevenson

– Send your Carnival/RC offer to URcomped.com and they will send you even more offers with much later expirations.

I know nothing about how reliable these people are, except that this group seems to be at least semi-connected to RC’s casino royale program. I found this out when RC reached out to me after submitting my Carnival offer, saying that I already have a profile.

If anyone knows anything about URcomped, would love to hear about it.

Last edited 1 year ago by Stevenson
Forest

Got the Carnival free balcony offer for myself and my P2. Timeline:
10/31: joined Carnival Players club and submitted Caesars diamond status using Nick’s trick of sending screenshots of the digital card in the Caesars app
11/10: both of us received free interior room offer
11/11: both of us received free balcony room offer
(did not respond)
11/17: both received free interior room offer again (wondered if this was a downgrade?)
11/18: both received free balcony room offer again
Eligible cruises through August, but most of them (Alaska, Hawaii, fjords) have sold out of the balcony rooms
One question: hoping to do a cruise in June or August, but Nick’s eligible cruises only went through the end of March – think I could wait for a bit and submit the Carnival offer to Royal Caribbean later to get summer cruises to appear? Does RC usually have an active match offer or is this a new thing?
Thanks, Nick, for the really useful post! Love your work!

steve

Finally got our “two player” offer. i had provided a single image with all my best casino loyalty cards (via Wyndham merry go round). my wife submitted her carnival balcony offer. we were both offered oceanview instead of balcony. submitted this morning for “LAX port , 2 rooms, 3 nighter” in january, but waiting to hear back. hoping to upgrade one room to balcony but have the rooms next to each other connected, if thats even an option.

steve

Thx. btw, took about 18 days to get the offer.

Stevenson

thanks for letting us know. i submitted mine 3 days ago and was getting a little worried as hadn’t heard anything.

John B

Nick,
I submitted Ceasars Diamond and MGM gold to carnival. Received free interior offer back on 11/05. I’ve been waiting for a balcony. But around 12/15, the offer went away and now there is only a discount.
Should I expect another offer to pop up? Or was the free interior probably going to be the only one?

Stevenson

if have 2 separate offers for free rooms, why not combine them for an upgrade to jr suite as Nick suggested?

steve

Extra privacy among friends

Grant

Just got an email from Carnival Cruise Line (funships@carnivalcruiselineemail.com):

CARNIVAL FUN MATCH: FREE* INTERIOR ROOM + FREE DRINKS + MORE

  • Get a Free* Interior Room
  • Plus, $100 in FunPlay® Credits
  • And Free Drinks On Us! for you and one travel companion while playing in the casino
  • Eligible VIFP Club® Member must sail to qualify for this offer
  • Hurry, book soon
  • Rate Code FS1 will be automatically applied at checkout

Still holding out for the balcony room offer.

Stevenson

Enjoy!!!

Does Carnival’s offer specify when you need to book the cruise by? per – RC gives you only 14 days from receiving an offer to do so.

Does the offer also mention when you have to cruise by? per – his offer only applied to cruises thru 3/21/21.

Last edited 1 year ago by Stevenson
Grant

Here are the complete terms of the offer: https://www.carnival.com/cruise-deals/vifp-club/past-guest-offers-FS1/terms.aspx/

Offer is applicable to new bookings only. Offer is available on select sailings through December 31, 2022.” – Looks like you have to book and complete travel before 12/31/22, which isn’t much time.

Grant

I noticed the same thing. Looks like I can book sailings through June / July 2023 and still get the discounted price. The cruises out of Dover / London look enticing 🙂

Last edited 1 year ago by Grant
Grant

I’m debating between those European cruises and the Alaska cruises from Seattle or SF. I don’t think I’m ready for a 30 day transpacific cruise…

Stevenson

Even after taking the Carnival cruise you’re still getting free balcony offers, or only your wife has been as cruise was booked under your account?

Has RC been constantly sending you new ones? you mention above how the terms specify that you only have 14 days to book?

Stevenson

Just got my Carnival offers (posted about it in the Carnival thread) and thinking about holding off on submission to RC until Black friday deals and/or Amex returns with their cruise spend offers, because of RC’s “book within 14 day language”. Thanks again for your help

Derek

I got that email at first too. Then after a few days, I got an email with a free Balcony offer. I am booking the England Dover to the Norwegian Fjords!

steve

Got offer back in May, booked fjords with dates spanning july 4th 2023. Be mindful of London airport taxes for flights back home and transport needef to/from Dover. Otherwise terrific offer.

Mike

I’ll be on that one too! And yes, the airport taxes and flight availability with miles is eye opening for peak summer travel to Europe. Any tips for cheaper LHR-Dover travel other than the Carnival bus, by any chance? Thanks.

Grant

Awesome, I was looking at those London / Dover cruises too. Have an awesome time 🙂

Casey

Thanks for this post! Such a great deal.

Posting a data point.
I submitted Caesars Diamond to both the Royal and Carnival offers on 30 OCT.
I received a Carnival offer for $500 off on 2 NOV, select free rooms on 3 NOV, free interior on 4 NOV and free balcony on 5 NOV, with sailings into FEB 2024.
Still no offer from Royal, but I went to re-submit through Royal using my Carnival offer and received a notice basically saying we got your submission last week be patient, it could take 10-15 days to receive an offer.

Stevenson

@Casey Good for you. How did Carnival’s “select free room” email offer look? I submitted my Caesars Diamond before you did and only received the $500 offer.

Did you submit a digital or physical Caesars card?

Last edited 1 year ago by Stevenson
Casey

The “select free rooms” email below
subject:
Choose from select FREE Rooms on your next cruise!
body:
We would like to extend you a special Carnival Players Club® offer available on select sailings through May 2023. Book your cruise by November 30, 2022 and you’ll get:

SELECT FREE* ROOMS
Excludes taxes, fees, port expenses and deposit

+ DRINKS ON US!†
included for you while playing in the casino
Book Now button

*Pay from $50 per person for sailings 5 days or shorter and you’ll get $50 Onboard Credit per person

Want to take a longer vacation?
No problem!

*Pay from $100 per person for sailings 6 days or longer and you’ll get $100 Onboard Credit per person

As for the Caesars card, I used Nick’s advice. Downloaded the app, screenshot the digital card and submitted the same image for both the front and back.

Sydney

Can you book a cruise for later than March? Thank you for all the great tips!!

Craig

Has anyone gotten a response since this got posted? I did it the same day, so I would have expected an answer by now.

Dusten

My wife submitted hers a day after this post came out and got a reply within 24hrs. Seems there system is a little messed up and does not always go in order.

Craig

Strange, maybe if I don’t hear from them by Monday I’ll see if I can follow up. Thanks.