How to earn a free cruise

Most cruisers don't realize that the casino isn't just about winning money - it's about winning free cruises. There are actually three distinct ways to earn complimentary sailings, and some require far less gambling than you might think.

TravelHost's Come Cruise With Me Editor in Chief Daniel Kline and his travel agent partner, Postcard Travel Planning's Dennis Post, recently broke down the casino system aboard Utopia of the Seas. They explain which methods work best for different types of players and share the secrets the cruise lines don't advertise in the video below.

A full transcript follows below.

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How to Get Free Cruises: 3 Ways to Earn Complimentary Sailings

Transcript:

Dan Kline:Hey there, cruisers. Dan and Dennis, your travel hosts. We are at the casino on Utopia of the seas. I point out that it's closed. We are not allowed to shoot here when the casino is open, but the casino is closed. And we're going to talk today about how you get free cruises. Now, one of the ways is on your cruise, you can earn what's called an instant certificate.

If you go up to the host desk, there will be a QR code. You can shoot that QR code and it will show you all the levels and it can vary. We're on a four day sailing. There are a handful of free cruises at like 600 points, but the real ones kick in about 2000. Sometimes 3000 tends to be very good.

And on Royal Caribbean, if you hit those levels, you're going to want to make a next cruise booking. So that is a $200 booking and that sort of just pays in advance your taxes and fees. You'll get anything back that it doesn't cover as free play. But what that does is there'll be a bonus for every level of cruise.

Now, some of the lowest ones, you actually have to book that to get a free cruise. I'll probably get 4000 points on this cruise, which that'll give me that extra $500 in free play. So it's really worth it to book that. Dennis, what's the second way you can get a free cruise?

Dennis Post:Well, when you're building your tier status, the amount of points, like we use Royal Caribbean, just as one example. 2500 points will get you Prime status and get you an annual tier offer which has many, many cruises-

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Kline:Let me explain. A point is $5 through a slot machine win or lose, or $10 through video poker. On tables it's much lower and it's sort of vague how it works, but those are points that could be earned across multiple cruises. So you might not be a big gambler again, I'll use my mother as an example.

On Celebrity she might earn that annual cruise over 3 or 4 cruises, and it's really valuable because it is, for her case, it'll be a free interior cruise on almost any seven day or less sailing. There will be a small list of inclusions. On Royal Caribbean the list of exclusions will be a little bit longer, but we're actually going on Icon of the Seas next week-

Post:Right.

Kline:Using our annual. And for $32 this guy got his upgraded to neighborhood balconies. So our level only got us an interior. But for very little money, we got upgraded and Dennis. There is one last way. This is the biggest of all ways. And this is where I really think you need a travel agent. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity both send emails and they could be emails.

I get postcards in the mail. You can go into your account and see them and they'll just be random offers. It'll be like, January winter mix. It'll be, hey, you can get a balcony on these, an interior on these. Sometimes it's a buy one, get one. We get one person for free, but one person has to pay.

I get a ton of these, but they go missing a lot. So when they go missing, I call him. And Dennis calls the cruise line and says, hey, this guy gambles. He gets 4000 to 6000 points a cruise. He doesn't even see the offer he earned, let alone the random ones. That always takes a few weeks, but eventually they come back.

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So there is no rhyme nor reason how these get sent out. They could not send them to you if you have too many booked. If they decide you didn't gamble enough in your last cruise. If you cancelled a cruise, there's a lot of reasons, but in general, if you're a steady gambler, you will gamble them. And Dennis, how do they track your points?

Post:So they do it several different ways, but as you put your card in you're going to start adding up the points, and those points get tracked for hours of play, how much money you spend in the machine, and

Kline:To be fair, points are all based on how much money you spent.

Post:Right.

Kline:Whether you get free offers or not, how long you play matters.

Again, my mother doesn't play or she plays very low limits on slots, but she'll play all night and she's getting free offers, so they want you in the casino. Now look, if you come in and drop 20 grand, they're going to give you free stuff. But if you if you don't, if you're just a regular player, make sure you are tapped in and make sure you stay tapped in.

Every now and then your machine will just go from green, which means in to blue or red. You really need to be aware of that because there's no way for them to give you back lost points. I am Dan, he is Dennis. Come cruise with us soon.

(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
Make a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel , or email Amy Post at amypost@postcardtravelplanning.com or call or text her at 386-383-2472.

This story was originally published by TravelHost on Feb 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Come Cruise With Me section. Add TravelHost as a Preferred Source by clicking here.