Most modern cruise ships have casinos featuring a selection of slots and table games that rival what you might find in a land-based gambling establishment.
And just like land-based casinos, cruise lines often give free cruises, called comps, to cruisers who gamble a lot when they sail. (Other perks, such as free play and complimentary drinks, are also regularly awarded.)
However, different cruise lines have different ways to determine who gets a free cruise and which sailings are offered.
Related: Royal Caribbean makes casino change non-smokers will love
At Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale, you have three ways to get a free cruise.
If you reach an elite status tier over the course of a year, you’ll get an annual free cruise. If your play reaches a certain level (a well-kept secret), you might receive Casino Royale targeted offers in your email and mailbox.
And, last but not least, you can earn a free cruise based on your play on a single sailing, known as an Instant Cruise Reward Certificate.
Instant Cruise Reward Certificates are perhaps the most straightforward of the three to understand and to take advantage of, so here’s a look at how they work.
Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale on the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship.
Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com
How Royal’s Instant Certificates work
The basics: To earn an instant certificate on Royal Caribbean cruises, you accrue points as you gamble. If you are playing slot machines, you earn one point for every $5 of bets you make. So, if you play $5 per spin and hit the button 500 times, you’ll earn 500 points. (How much you win or lose does not matter.)
If you play table games, you earn points based on your average bet and length of play.
When you board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and head into Casino Royale, the host desk will have a list of Instant Cruise Reward Certificates, ranked by point level. (It’s a sign with a QR code that you can scan to bring up the lists).
These range from 400 points, which will get you a $100 coupon toward your next cruise, all the way to 70,000 points on some cruises, which will earn you a free trip in a very nice suite.
As of January 2025, the standard point thresholds for North America cruises are:
400 points 600 points800 points1,200 points1,500 points2,000 points3,000 points4,000 points6,500 points9,000 points15,000 points25,000 points
As you move up the list, the rewards get better, but they can vary from month to month.
The lowest two levels will get you a coupon to use toward your next booking. At the 800-point level, you get access to a selection of free cruises in interior staterooms if you make a NextCruise booking before leaving the ship.
(A NextCruise booking is a $200 deposit on a future cruise. You can make it in the app or at by filling out a form and dropping it off at the NextCruise office.)
You don’t need to pick a specific sailing to do this, but making this reservation locks in the bonus part of any Instant Certificate you earn (freeplay at higher levels, and the small list of free cruises at the lower levels).
As the point values go higher, the room types get better and the list of cruises to choose from gets longer. Some of the lower lists offer a discounted fare, essentially a buy-one-get-one, but once you hit 3,000 points the offers are for fully-free cruises, often in a balcony room.
There are three separate sets of lists. One is for cruises from European ports. One is for North American sailings of five nights or less. And the third is for longer North American sailings.
With the latter two, the short-sailing list tends to have a better selection of cruises for any given point level. After all, it’s easier to reach, say, 2,000 points, on a seven-night cruise than on a three-night weekend trip.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or your first) cruise.
The best ways to use Casino Royale free cruises
The best way to get Royal Caribbean cruises for free varies depending on how often you cruise and your level of play.
For example, if you achieve the lowest elite tier (Prime) by accumulating 2,500 points over five or six cruises throughout the year, you aren’t likely to get many targeted offers and you aren’t likely to earn an instant certificate for a completely free cruise. But you will get a free cruise in an interior room that can be used on most sailings over the next year.
More Royal Caribbean casino news:
3 Ways you can earn a free Royal Caribbean cruiseRoyal Caribbean makes small casino change gamblers will likeRoyal Caribbean passengers angry over big casino change
On the other hand, if you cruise infrequently but play quite a bit when you do sail, your targeted offers might be better. For example, I cruise on Royal Caribbean two or three times a year, and I book nearly all my trips with the targeted offers I get.
When it comes to instant certificates, the biggest benefits are that you can get rewarded for your play on a single cruise, regardless of how much you typically gamble, and you can have a specific trip in mind that you want to take.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise).
Have questions about booking a cruise? Schedule a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me’s Travel Agent Partner Postcard Travel Planning.
Casino Royale updates the lists for each instant certificate level each month, and you can view each list as soon as you get on the ship by walking by the casino host desk and scanning a QR code.
Are you taking a cruise or thinking about taking one? Visit our Come Cruise With Me website to have all your questions answered.
