Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale: What Cruisers Need to Know

Royal Caribbean has a fairly straightforward casino program that rewards cruisers for gambling on board. But the system also has a lot of quirks, and the cruise line's passengers can miss out on some of the program's bigger benefits.

It's possible to parlay a single Royal Caribbean (RCL) - Get Free Report cruise into multiple free cruises. That may require a bigger budget than many passengers have, but even small-time gamblers with limited bankrolls can earn perks. It's important, however, to understand how the cruise line's Club Royale Rewards Program works.

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Every Royal Caribbean ship offers a casino with table games, slot machines, and video poker. The exact makeup of games offered varies by ship, and some casinos are bigger than others, but the overall setup is roughly the same.

All of Royal Caribbean's casinos also include bars and they have both smoking and smoke-free areas. Unfortunately, the smoking areas are actually adjacent to the smoke-free ones. 

(One exception is Wonder of the Seas, which offers a stand-alone Golden Room smoke-free casino. And speculation has it that Royal Caribbean plans to turn "Jazz on 4" into a smoke-free secondary casino on Wonder's Oasis-class sisters ships.)

You can earn a lot of perks as a member of the Club Royale Rewards program, but there are a lot of things you need to know.

How do I join Royal Caribbean's casino rewards program?

Royal Caribbean makes joining the Club Royale Casino Rewards program very easy. In fact, every passenger -- even those sailing for the first time -- is automatically enrolled. The cruise line's website spells out how it works:

When enrolled in Crown & Anchor and with using your SeaPass card while gaming, guests will be auto enrolled into the Club Royale Rewards Program. To ensure that you receive Club Royale information and offers, please ensure your marketing permissions are active and your email address is updated.

Your SeaPass card is your room key, and it plays an incredibly important part in earning status and free play in the cruise line's casinos.

ALSO READ: How To Join Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society

To track your play in Casino Royale, you log in to either the website or the cruise line's app and click on your profile. If the numbers don't add up, or if you have a question about them, you can check what you have been awarded under the "Past Cruises" tab on the main page. That will show each cruise you have taken and how many points you have been awarded for it.

If you have checked and still see a problem, the easiest way to fix it is to email [email protected] for assistance. You can also call the cruise line, although wait times are sometimes very long.

"You can contact Crown & Anchor Society at (800) 526-9723. If you are outside the U.S. and Canada, call (541) 285-9723. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. through 9 p.m. [U.S. Eastern], and Saturday through Sunday 9 a.m.-6 p.m [U.S. Eastern]. Please be sure to have information about your previous cruise(s) on hand: ship name(s), sail date(s), and booking number(s)," the cruise line says on its website.

How do I earn Casino Royale points?  

Unlike Crown & Anchor Society points and status, casino status is earned on an annual basis -- but read carefully here: Casino Royale's year begins April 1 and ends March 31. And if you earn any status level in the current casino year, you hold that status for the remainder of the current casino year or calendar year? and the entire following year.

Points are earned for gameplay. It's not about how much you win or lose. Rather, it's how much cash you cycle through slot machines or put at risk at table games.

• 1 point for $5 wagered in slot machines.
• 1 point per $10 wagered at video poker.
• 10 points per hour playing $10-$15 blackjack.

Points earned for table games are less specific, and people playing table minimums are not likely to earn a lot of points.

To earn the points, you have to either insert or tap your SeaPass card on slot machines and video poker machines. (You generally can tap on newer ships.) At table games, you must hand your SeaPass card to the dealer or person running the game. 

ALSO READ: How Do I Earn Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Points?

How do the Royal Caribbean casino tiers work?

Earning Casino Royale points helps you build your tier status, and higher status levels come with bigger perks. The cruise line has the following tiers:

• Choice: 0-2,499 points.
• Prime: 2,500-24,999 points
• Masters: 25,000-99,999 points
• Signature: 100,000 points and up. 

The Choice level comes with essentially no perks. Meaningful benefits kick in when you hit Prime. 

"Once you hit 2,500 points, you've reached Prime status, which unlocks new perks like a waived casino convenience fee, drinks on us at Casino Royale, discounts on Voom high-speed internet packages, exclusive rates for family and friends, and a complimentary interior stateroom on one cruise each year."

The free-drinks perk hits as soon as you reach 2,500 points in a single cruise year. Once you hit that milestone, you can go to a casino host, who will place a sticker on your card. That sticker will enable you to drink free at the casino bar while the casino is open. You don't need to be playing to drink, and you can order a drink and then take it elsewhere on the ship.

Masters members also get "free WiFi for one device, a $350 EFFY boutique credit, and a complimentary balcony stateroom on one cruise each year," according to the cruise line. 

Signature members get all of those benefits plus "a welcome lunch, access to Coastal Kitchen (on ships that have that suites-only restaurant), onboard credit to use any way you choose, and a complimentary Grand Suite on one cruise each year."

ALSO READ: How Do You Earn Prime (and Free Drinks) in Royal Caribbean's Casino Royale?

How does annual Casino Royale status work?

This can confuse some players because of how points get tracked. 

During a cruise you can see your point total on that cruise in one of two ways: Insert your card in a slot machine or ask the casino host, who has a desk on most ships but is often roaming the casino floor.

Checking on a slot machine is imprecise and the total won't include any points you have redeemed for free play (you still have those points toward earning tier status, but you'll no longer see them in your total). The casino host can tell you your current total for the cruise you are on and your overall total for the year.

If that's not your first cruise this casino year, you can also see your total from past cruises on the Casino Royale Offers website. Status is awarded based on total points awarded between April 1 and March 31. 

Unlike Crown & Anchor status, your Casino Royale status gets upgraded for some perks as soon as you hit the next level. If you move from Choice to Prime, for example, you can go to the casino host to get a sticker put on your SeaPass card so you can immediately start taking advantage of free drinks in the casino. 

It's important to remember that your status in Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society -- the cruise line's loyalty program -- and your status in Casino Royale have nothing to do with each other. 

Crown & Anchor status is forever, while Casino Royale status must be earned each year. (But as we noted above, once you earn it during a casino year, you keep it for that year and the next.)

ALSO READ:  What Are Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Tiers (and Perks)

What is an Instant Certificate versus a cruise offer?

There are three ways to get a free Royal Caribbean cruise:

• Instant Certificate: This is earned based on points on your current cruise.
• Cruise offer: This comes to you via email, through the Casino Royale offers site, or sometimes on a printed postcard that gets mailed to you.
• Free annual tier cruise: This is sent to you in April (dates vary) from earning at least Prime status in the previous year.

What is a Casino Royale Instant Certificate?

An Instant Certificate can work a little differently on each cruise. 

You'll find a list of point totals at the casino cage -- where you cash in tickets -- and on the casino host desk. That list will show what you earn for hitting different point totals.

In some cases, as few as 1,200 Points will get you an Instant Certificate offer for a free room on a select list of sailings (the casino host can print that list for you). On some cruises, the lowest free-cruise offers kick in at 1,500 points or even as many as 2,500..

As you earn more points, you unlock better offers (and sometimes free play). It's important to know what the tiers are, as the lowest-level offers are generally for fairly close-in sailings, those leaving fairly soon after the one you're on. In most cases, hitting 2,500 points gets you access to a very broad list that extends throughout the year.

You will need to make a Next Cruise booking, after which you can apply your casino offer to get free play. In some cases, usually for the lowest-tier offers, you will need a Next Cruise offer to get the free cruise as it's a "bonus" only given to people who do that.

Next Cruise bookings can be made via the app. The cruise line will charge you $200 which will be applied to your port fees and taxes when you use the number they send you to book your free cruise.

Instant Certificates are generally redeemable for 30 days after your cruise. In some cases, the casino will have an actual certificate with a partial list of available cruises sent to your room. In other cases, you won't get the offer until after your cruise.

And since the offers are usually delivered around dinner time on the last night of the cruise, your offer will upgrade if you've earned enough points to reach the next level.

What is a Royal Caribbean cruise offer? 

Once you have played in a Royal Caribbean casino, you may get offers for free cruises. The cruise line does not disclose how these offers are awarded, but it's somewhat based on how many points you earned on your most recent cruise and how valuable the cruise line's computer system thinks you will be if it offers you a free room.

These offers can vary greatly and it's very hard to predict who will get them. In most cases, when you get an offer, it's best to book it as soon as possible as the casino allots only a certain number of rooms for these offers. 

That's especially true when you are offered a junior suite or higher as those room classes are grabbed quickly. And when the casino allotment is gone, you will be assigned a lower-tier room.

If you aren't getting such offers, Royal Caribbean will not tell you why, but it does make sense to make sure the cruise line has your correct email. 

If you literally have no offers on the Casino Royale Offers site, there's a button you can click to have the cruise line check to make sure it has your correct info. Mistakes are quite common, so it's worth checking.

What is a Casino Royale annual tier cruise?

Any player who hits Prime or higher status in a casino year gets awarded a free cruise. The actual certificates appear in your online Casino Royale account somewhere toward mid-April, but the date can vary. 

Your free cruise can be used on more or less any seven-night or shorter cruise that does not fall on a major holiday. And you can't book on any ship that's less than one year old.

What type of room you get offered varies by your earned status level:

• Prime: Interior
• Signature: Balcony
• Masters: Grand suite

These offers are valuable because while you have to sail before March 31 of the following year (so the free cruises offered in April 2023 must be used by March 2024) you have the entire year to make your choice. There's also a cash value assigned to these offers that can be applied to cruises that are not eligible.

And while the cruise line says it blacks out major holidays, past practice has generally shown that older ships can be an exception to that rule.  

Other Things Royal Caribbean Casino Gamblers Should Know

Ship-based casinos work a little bit differently than land-based ones, so people playing in Royal Caribbean's Casino Royale should also be aware of the following things:

• Your earned free play expires at the end of your cruise, so if you don't use it, you lose it.
• All casino vouchers must be redeemed before the casino closes on the last night of your cruise. They cannot be redeemed on a later sailing.
• Prime and higher can draw casino funds from a credit card attached to their room without being charged for it, but at least half the money taken must be played before the ticket can be cashed in (the casino does not want players using slot machines like ATMs). Lower-tier players drawing casino funds from a credit card pay 5%. 
• You may get sent a bottle of wine or some chocolate-covered strawberries in your room based on your status, but there seem to be no official rules as to when that happens.
• Casinos on Royal Caribbean ships are open to guests ages 18 and over.   
• All Royal Caribbean casinos have smoking sections.
• Oasis-class ships have small smoke-free secondary casinos.

When will Casino Royale be open on my cruise?

Casino Royale opens when Royal Caribbean ships hit international waters. That's usually about an hour after the ship leaves port, but it can vary. 

In most cases, the casino is closed when the ship is in port, but there are exceptions to that including when Royal Caribbean docks at its CocoCay private island and in certain cases when a ship has an overnight in certain ports. The casino will also be open when the ship docks in Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private destination in Haiti.

In a broad sense, the casino stays open all night, but how late that actually is varies and there are sometimes brief periods where it closes before the ship reaches a port.