When you sail on a cruise ship, your room key oftentimes is also your key to the casino. Modern cruise ships often aim to be as cashless as possible, so instead you’re able to create a room charge to load a slot machine, with the cashed out balance loaded back on your card as a credit.
One reader was curious about how that translates to benefits:
I am new to slots. I would like to know if I use my carnival sail and sign card, and will it track all of the money I “deposit” in the players bank, all the money I “load” in the slots and all the money I cash out? Do they track this information to provide me with perks or discounted offers? Does this help increase my comps?
Griffin E.
They’ll actually be a bit more precise than those numbers, Griffin, especially with slots, where they can get precise information on:
- The exact amount you wagered
- The setting the machine has in terms of long term payback percentages
- Your theoretical loss and your actual loss
Casinos, including those on cruise ships, can use that data to determine how much revenue you generate for them in the casino, and based on that will then extend offers to you, which can include perks like a complimentary cabin (although items like port taxes, fees, deposits and optional add-ons/upsells can still apply), free play, drinks in the casino or even throughout the ship, etc.
In the case of Carnival Cruise Line, they previously announced a new rewards program that, when live later this year, will also give you earned comps as you play – each point you earn in the casino will count as a point in comps, and with that the ability to also be able to redeem those points for perks above/beyond the offers. A cool element is that you can redeem for experiences like shore excursions, so it can enhance your vacation beyond just the cruise and the casino time. You also will earn points for other spend with Carnival, not just in the casino.
This sort of structure is very familiar to those who play slots in casinos, because offers and earned comps are both key benefits of many players club programs, so Carnival is basically bringing theirs in line with what many casino players know and understand.
So yes, the data is captured, and effectively in exchange for that data you become eligible for perks. Of course, the more they expect to win off you, the more valuable those perks can be, but even getting discounted or free cabins for play you’d have done anyway can be a nice tradeoff, with the benefit of having access to the cruise ship amenities for the duration of your cruise as well!
And of course, if you have offers or higher tier cards from physical casinos, don’t forget to look into Carnival Fun Match, which can get you an initial offer for an initial offer to introduce you to Carnival Cruise Line, and then establish yourself for more fun cruises to come!
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