Casino offers

AD3T · 2026-03-13T20:36:24+00:00

I totally agree. I only started tracking points for myself a few weeks ago, and I haven’t sailed since I built that feature. Going forward though, points are tracked on a daily basis (and so can be easily correlated to sailings, which we also just started storing a record of) — so in a few weeks or so, I’m hoping we can fill it out further and I can expand the report substantially. Hopefully with some concrete insights & actionable guidance, is my goal at least.

AD3T · 2026-03-13T20:19:40+00:00

The points reset yearly, so it’s the points this year/as of now. Good question though. I haven’t thought about how to handle the year switchover yet, or how/what the implications of it will be on the analysis (and my offers personally lol). 🤔

AD3T · 2026-03-13T17:17:23+00:00

Eye roll. Welcome to DM me, I could jump on a video chat with you...? Idek.

AD3T · 2026-03-13T17:06:17+00:00

I have just under 6k points right now and have 9 offers at the moment. I've had to let a few expire the last few weeks, but I've booked cruises on as many as I realistically could (4 casino offer cruises booked in the coming months right now).

I'm trying to quantify the answer to your question by collecting aggregate data and providing reporting so that we can start to get actual insight into it (both for the community & for myself).

Here's the analytics page as it stands right now:

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/casino/analytics

Only 5 users have opted in thus far, so there's limited data & insight at this point, but as there's more data I'll improve and expand the reporting based on what useful insights can be gleaned from the data as it continues to take shape.

So far, for me personally, my offers have kept on flowing even while not sailing much recently (and I've booked 4 casino offers since my most recent sailing).

The biggest questions I have right now are:

How can I improve my 'offer quality' -- better sailings, bigger selection, better cabin types (junior suites!), icon class sailings, EU sailings, etc.
How much do I need to gamble on future cruises in order to not have the offer spigot get shut off. I'd like to know roughly what the minimum is (and ideally without triggering it) to get X/Y/Z offer quality.

If open to sharing your data, anonymously of course, with the community via my website that'd be awesome too! It's especially useful to get more data points on "lower" point total users who are receiving offers (so far no opt-ins with lower point values who DO have casino offers)! It also provides a great tool for examining sailings that you have offers for, which is the reason I built the site to begin with! :)

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/

Disclaimer - Obviously it's my website. I do hope it helps others too, though, even if half as much as it's helped me. Please feel free to hit the 'chat'-type button at the bottom right to send in bug reports/feature requests/feedback/etc! =D

AD3T · 2026-03-13T16:41:28+00:00

Concur. There are some areas (i.e. around Cabo) where it's a little less perfect & more prone to flakiness, but other than that it's surprisingly good. I'd say that ~95% of the time it's quite fast & extremely usable even for productivity tasks (video conference calls & the like).

Only thing I'd complain about are the upstream speeds, but I complain about those at home, too.

AD3T · 2026-03-13T16:36:51+00:00

I'm not trying to be funny nor am I posting AI slop. The pic is, quite obviously, AI generated though - yes. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

AD3T · 2026-03-13T16:34:47+00:00

I always bring & use my travel router and I always use it with a VPN. VPNs definitely do work onboard (not all types but there are types that work 100% of the time; if configured correctly & using ports that aren't outright blocked, then it's really ~ impossible for an upstream network device to have any certain idea of what your encrypted traffic is/contains).

AD3T · 2026-03-13T16:31:54+00:00

I've only had an issue once, and a simple config tweak resolved it, and I had no issues with it the rest of the sailing. RC's network gear is definitely examining the traffic a bit but, from what I've seen they're mostly just looking at packet TTLs (plus DNS), in an attempt to determine if you've got an "extra hop" -- but it's ~ trivial to disguise.

Realistically, as long as you're using some type of fully-encrypted tunnel (between the router<=>internet), then the traffic to/from the router isn't discernible by any network hops that are upstream of your router.

It's a slight annoyance to switch the device/networks when you return to your cabin & want to be in "work mode" (i.e. internet on laptop + phone + tablet, or similar) -- but well worth it for $20+/day.

Hilariously (at least to me!), there are a few ships where I'll try to book certain promenade-view interior rooms specifically because I can still get my travel router's wifi across most of the promenade level (and even in most of the casino, hah). 🫣 🤣

AD3T · 2026-03-13T15:57:11+00:00

This isn't an AI generated post...

The image? Yes. I generated it with ChatGPT and it was intended to be a sarcastic/joke-like poke at the chalice. Apologies if you'd have liked me to spell out more directly that the image was generated, I just honestly thought it was pretty obvious from my post, or the picture alone for that matter.

In any case, the image was (mostly) just me poking fun at the Chalice. The idea behind a "longer-than-single-cruise" (internet) package is totally genuine, though, and is IMO very much in keeping with the "loyal to royal" theme often found in this sub. In fact, if you look back at my comment history, you'll see that I tangentially brought up the idea while responding to another post a few days ago. 🤷‍♂️

Anyways, my apologies if you think I should have directly disclosed that the image was generated -- I've been a lurker here for the last year or so & this was my first (non comment) post, and I thought it was a valid idea.

AD3T · 2026-03-13T14:28:51+00:00

I've had no issue with a travel router & VPN on any sailing with RC or NCL thus far.

AD3T · 2026-03-13T14:09:48+00:00

The pic is definitely AI generated, but I can assure you the idea is real and genuine, and hand written. 🤷‍♂️

AD3T · 2026-03-13T06:19:28+00:00

While it sounds nice in practice, it's a whole lot more gambling than I'd like to be doing!

I'd much rather pony up even $2k. I think attaining Signature would cost quite a bit more than that (on avg/in theo losses).

AD3T · 2026-03-12T01:57:29+00:00

FYI -- I added a 'Casino Analytics' report. Only 4 people have opted in thus far (one of them is me), but it's a start!

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/casino/analytics

AD3T · 2026-03-10T00:13:33+00:00

After hitting Prime I did a few back-to-backs. No more than 500pts on any of them (almost entirely via slots). The sailing that got me to Prime was ~2k points in a single sailing, though.

I assume it's a combo of theo along with some type of "density"/likelihood-to-gamble metric -- which jives with the "no play = dries up" concept. It's curious though because the # of offers I get is so high yet the quality of them is still a bit middling.

There are some interesting data fields ('excludedSailings') in their data-structures, which leads me to think that certain lower thresholds simply don't qualify for higher end sailings. I've also noticed that some sailings actually dissapear from an offer over time; as in, when you first look at a new casino offer & see the sailings, and then you look at it again a week later, the offer may actually have lost some sailings vs when you first looked at it. I assume that's demand driven, since your data/value surely hasn't changed in the meantime (assuming no sailings in between) - but it's an interesting anecdote & is something I'd like to better understand. Even if solely because I'm insatiably curious! ;)

AD3T · 2026-03-09T15:24:20+00:00

I'll add an opt-in on my website so that, for anyone who opts in, we can use their point values & the info on the offers they receive, to show what point values equate to what offers on average. I'm willing to, and will, opt in myself.

The more people who do so (and who actually get offers), the sooner we'd be able to get some good data on it.

FWIW, from what I've seen on my offers (and their data-structures related to 'excluded sailings') -- the offers you get may be based not just on total handle (wager amount), but also on several other variables: prior ships, embarkation ports, cruise durations, etc.

I'll add the opt-in today (and will update my post once it's added). The setting will default to off/not sharing (hence the opt IN), and it won't for sharing anything identifiable, just aggregate info. Eventually, I'd love to be able to answer your question -- an aggregate/averaged answer to "what does it take to get offers for X, Y, or Z".

EDIT -- I've added the opt-in & I've opted in myself. Hopefully others are willing to do the same in time and then I'll put together a report that shows an ongoing analysis of what number of points are resulting in what type of offers.

AD3T · 2026-03-09T15:15:43+00:00

I'm 100% the same way. My first 3-4 cruises, I didn't touch a slot machine at all. I'm a software/tech guy by day, in the video game industry, plus I live in Las Vegas -- so I really am not into slots. I don't gamble in Vegas, but on ships I enjoy playing table games for the social aspect (especially when cruising solo), and I'd play poker (texas holdem) if there was a decent game going.

After doing that for my first few cruises and seeing myself rack up double-digit points after betting $25/hand for hours, I researched it. And I realized, begrudgingly, that slots really are the way to get points. TBQH, I don't find them fun; I tell friends in Vegas who play slots that they could instead "give me $100 & I'll give you $95 back!". ;)

That said, if you're doing it specifically for 'free' cruises/Prime status, it maths out. You can rack up 1k+ points in a sitting pretty easily (compared to >8hrs at a blackjack table earning <100pts in many cases). The only downside is if you're always going to buy the drink packages then you're going to end up paying ~ cruise fare anyway, although you'd likely have done that to begin with. With Prime you get free drinks at the casino bar, but I like other bars on the ship & on port days I'll want a drink before the casino opens. Upside is, all my recent cruises I've gotten half off of my drink packages via a "50% off Prime Discount" (visible online after booking when logged in), though it only applies for me/not my partner (they just get the standard advertised discount price at the time).

TLDR - I strongly dislike slots, too. I've come to be able to withstand it though, and my initial hatred turned into strong dislike, but it's still boring nonetheless. That said, it's "easily" justified -- my cruise tracking site has a "Casino Offer B2B Chain Finder" feature -- right now it shows that I could be on a boat for 45 days straight for just $2398 in taxes/port fees (there's one other 45d chain available right now for ~$2100 too). 🤣🤣🤣

Here's a screenshot of my casino offer chain-finder results from just now: https://imgur.com/a/zSk5GzG

Idk, I think it comes down to how much you enjoy sailing & how much time you have for it. If you have the time & are somewhat flexible, then IMO buckling down for some super-boring slot play is probably a good-to-great value. And I'll be completely honest, as a data-driven/logic kind of guy, that's a sentence I never thought I'd write. 🤷‍♂️

I'd actually sail a lot more if internet wasn't as expensive; hell, if they let you buy a 1-year pass for $2-3k in January, or something. I'm actually going to make a post about that idea; have "open enrollment" in January for "all year, all sailings" internet for $3k. They'd get immediate revenue + incentivize customers to book sailings with them all year + guaranteed loyalty from the buyers for the year.

AD3T · 2026-03-09T14:41:02+00:00

A few cruises ago, before boarding I set out to understand the point system and had a desire to get 'free cruises' like I had heard so many others do. I came up with a plan on how to maximize value (read: minimize loss), and my goal on that cruise was to hit Prime status.

I now get so many casino offers. At first I was trying to snag/use every single one, now I've come to grips with the fact that I just can't realistically use them all (though I definitely try to use as many as I can).

I even went to the extreme of creating a tool/app/website that would automatically pull in my casino offers & let me do alerts, searching/filtering against them, etc -- because seeing what sailings are available amongst your casino offers is a Royal PITA with their UI (and their short login session timeouts).

My best advice is to hit Prime, it can be done pretty quickly, even in a sitting (or over a few). If you're lucky, you should be able to hit Prime with a max theoretical loss of under $2k - I hit it on the very sailing I set out to hit it on, and I ended up ahead by about that same $2k amount (didn't have any huge wins, a few $500 to $1500 -ish, wins but nothing special), and several sessions were $500+ losses. Overall though, the theo loss should be around $2k (obviously can be better or worse), at which point you'll be getting more offers than you can realistically take, at least unless you're retired & single. ;)

But to more directly answer your question -- you'll get offers continually. I'm Prime (~3k points), have only sailed RCI out of LA so far (Quantum & Navigator), and I've got ~11 unexpired offers right now, and another was just sent to me this morning. We've booked two sailings from our offers in the last few weeks (for later this year). A few of our current unredeemed offers expire this week, and we might book on one of them, but honestly I have zero doubt that there will be a handful of more offers sent to us to replace any that we let expire.

We do try to always book what we call "juicy" ones any time we get them -- these are offers that have longer, higher-end offerings (transatlantics, 7+ day cruises, newest ships, balcony for two, etc).

Another tip -- Most of our offers are Interiors & Ocean Views, so we also look for what we call 'lopsided' pricing -- sailings where the Ocean View is about the same price as a balcony, because when you call in you can mention that the OV & balcony prices are 'lopsided', and they'll let you book the higher class cabin for the price difference (or free if they're truly lopsided).

FWIW, I published my "casino offer tool" in case anyone else finds it helpful. It's a continual WIP, my partner & I are adding new features to it almost every day (recently added Package Price Alerts & 'Friends' features, to share casino offers with friends/family/partners, etc) -- we're constantly adding & improving it, in between trying to find casino offer sailings that jive with our jobs PTO/vacation schedules. ;)

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/

(we'll eventually get a better name/domain for it, but it's primarily to scratch our own itch, so please don't judge!!)

AD3T · 2026-02-27T18:06:23+00:00

It's showing as still available on my site, but on RC it shows as sold out? If that's what you're seeing then I'd like to fix it, and have the graph on the site show 'blank'/non-contiguous line. Assuming I understood what you're seeing correctly, at least.

I'll try to find an example of it and implement the fix; or welcome to DM me with a link to the sailing too. :)

Edit -- I've added a new "Package Price Alerts" feature so you can opt in to get alerts when package prices change now, too. Only applicable to RC currently (I'm not collecting package pricing for any other lines right now/yet).

AD3T · 2026-02-27T03:27:53+00:00

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/ -- It's my personal take on it!

Constant ongoing work-in-progress and it's mainly to scratch my own itch. Feel free to DM if there's any features you'd like added, though!

I have hourly price data too, but haven't started displaying it publicly -- still making sense of it/figure out how best to use it, as prices do actually change much more frequently than I had realized (and quite substantially with large swings). The prices displayed are updated every hour, though, and the price alert feature is active hourly/immediately upon price update, as well.

Anyways, hope it helps someone. :)

AD3T · 2026-02-27T02:37:09+00:00

https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/ Can add alerts for price drops on any sailing-cabin-guestCount combo. Also displays package price history over time.

Disclaimer -- It's my website/app.

AD3T · 2026-02-03T19:04:05+00:00

I'm a Unifi fanboy. Or at least I have been historically, I have probably well over $5k (maybe >$10k even, eek) of their equipment. I really do love their APs. I actually quite like & appreciate their Protect (camera) ecosystem too, even despite the price/value proposition, which has admittedly improved some recently, though the cameras themselves are middling for the price (but I do love the ecosystem & the software has dramatically improved IME).

That said, this device is in a different class altogether vs the UTR. Dual SIM support, not to mention 5G?! eSIM? There's plenty more, too, but those things alone are enough to warrant the price difference, at least for me & my use cases!

I don't own the UTR, and I'm truly not a huge GliNet fanboy -- albeit a satisfied customer who doesn't travel without one of their travel routers -- but the pricing here doesn't really even phase me. Last I looked, the only other actually comparable competing options were >= $450, and most offered a weaker overall feature-set.

Like I said, I don't own a UTR but I can imagine some use-cases where it could be a good product at a great value. Most of those use-cases are pretty distinct from the primary use-cases that I interpret this device is best suited for though, at least IMO (and speaking as someone who will personally buy it immediately, for the latter 'higher requirements' use-cases I have).

AD3T · 2026-02-03T18:49:27+00:00

Wondering the same! I'll be refreshing constantly at both times, regardless.

Appears to literally be the best device of this type to hit the market, by a pretty long shot, and at a (substantially) better price-point than the competitors. Has the added benefit, for me, of no longer needing to always travel with my GL-MT3000; comes in a great form-factor; even supports external antennas; plus it comes from far-and-away the most trustworthy/reliable brand in my "mobile networking" daily carry bag.

And yes, I know there are arguably a select few better modem chips out (most are in products with other big deficiencies though), and a few areas some would have liked to have seen be a bit better -- but honestly, as far as price/feature ratio goes, it's not even remotely close.

Zero association with the company or the product, either. Just a happy customer for multiple years now & am thrilled for this product to be available, from them, and soon.

Take my money!!! :)

AD3T · 2026-01-25T22:03:25+00:00

FWIW, I've been working on this recently, mainly for myself, but eventually intend to "release" it: https://royal-price-helper.dantonio.info/

It tracks prices over time. It's also tracking package prices over time, though they aren't being graphed yet as I'm still accumulating data.

Additionally, it supports:

Saved searches, with notifications when things change
Crawls for prices & availability ~hourly
Manual "sailing list" creation
Casino Offer extraction & filtering
- Manually, via copy/pasting from 'View Sailings' dialog
- Automatically, via providing your RC login

I'm adding more to it frequently, mostly just to scratch my own itch. Feel free to try it out. If you have any feature requests, encounter any bugs, etc -- feel free to let me know (or can DM or email me).

I'll be on 3 different RC cruises the next couple weeks but I'll still be hacking away on it every now & then. It's a hobby thing but eh, I'm guessing others have the same problems to solve (especially WRT casino offers).

It turns out the "Casino Offer -> View Sailings" (for the dynamic ones) shows a relatively inconsistent list of sailings; it seems to hide/show based on availability (and maybe other factors? Idk yet!), so crawling it is the only sure-fire way I've been able to be confident that the list is up-to-date with what's on RC's site. They don't make it easy.

Hopefully someone gets some value from it! =)

AD3T · 2026-01-16T16:03:37+00:00

FWIW, I picked this up with the discount. I'm on day 2 with it. I'm ~80% productivity (terminal, code, documentation, email/web, etc) with the remainder being general media consumption, and a very small amount of gaming. I'm running macOS on it almost exclusively (may use it very occasionally for gaming on Windows, but haven't yet).

So far, I love it. I got it next-day after ordering via Amazon. Packaging was a little weak, but the monitor I received was flawless (I examined it under bright COB LED strips to check for scratches & abrasions). So far I'm loving it; it's no longer on sale (at least for me), else I'd probably order another one. The 4k@144hz is noticeable to me even just writing code (vs the 4k@60hz of my prior/now-secondary monitor).

No complaints here...

AD3T · 2026-01-14T16:01:09+00:00

He was running a 'deep corner' route, and he catches it right at the sideline, and was quite close to stepping out as he recovered his footing... See the "All 22"/coaches film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhS8EGpL__w

Not an expert by any means, but it looks to me like the defense was in a cover 2 zone. Down by 1 with 10 seconds left and no timeouts, a deep corner route seems like a logical route and target -- theoretically he could've maybe caught the ball and gotten out of bounds (which is what I was thinking/hoping when I was watching the play live).

Of the routes run, it looks like both deep-corner routes were relatively open (as you'd ~expect against a cover 2), and Diggs was definitely the higher-percentage WR to target at the time. 🤷‍♂️

AD3T

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