Boyd cruise reward

I would like to know if anyone has redeemed a cruise from Boyd.  The ususal Emerald perk is a cruise on Holland and now they are giving away an additional cruise(with an ocean view) on Carnival.  I've never been a cruise before and am quite uninformed.  So I would like to know the pros and cons of using these certificates.   Do they really save you money?   I would like to use one before I stop attaining emerald status.  

Short answer: no huge benefit. What you get is a respite from paying "rack rate," or full retail. That's what you normally have to pay if you want to lock down a cruise, say, a year in advance. However, there are approximately forty-three zillion ways to evade this fare, including joining the cruise line's "loyalty club" online, using a consolidator such as vacationstogo.com, or having a credit card that grants you bennies in the form of discounts.

Now, that said, the "free" cruise is still better than paying the heavily discounted rates you can maneuver as above. But regardless of how and how much your "base" fare is, you still have to pay:

Port fees

Taxes

Port taxes

Forced gratuities

Fee taxes

Tax fees

State tax

Local tax

Planetary tax

Floaty boaty tax

Surprise! fees for no particular reason

Bottom line: as an example, my "free" cruise to Alaska from Seattle (7 days) still cost $1069. And that's before I spent a dime onboard. And that's hard to avoid, especially when you find out what your cruise fare DOESN'T include.

Now, all that said--there are worthwhile destinations that can only be visited, as a practical matter, by ship. Greek islands, Norwegian coast, Caribbean, southeast Alaska, etc. So I would grab the best offer you see; just be aware that even with a "free" cruise, you'll still have to fork out major dough. And there are also the expenses of getting to and from the embarkation point.

There's a reason why the primary cruisers are old people with money. An exception might be Carnival's short cruises (basically "get stinking drunk on a boat") and Disney's floating theme park cruises (bring LOTSA money, just as if you were taking the family to Disneyland).

My wife got a random cruise reward from Bally's, we rarely play there, but they sent her a letter about it and we went and picked it up. It was an inside cabin on Princess Cruises, I priced a balcony cabin on the Princess website, and then my wife called the phone number on the certificate and priced the same cruise. For us it was a $1,100 discount off the balcony cabin if I were to book it online, the only catch is that they require a $400 deposit that is converted to onboard credit, I believe we can reasonably spend that onboard on things we would probably buy anyway. From what I've seen on YouTube, they do the same $400 deal on offers they send out from your play in the ship casino.

I hope that helps.

Update: I spoke with my wife and she thinks that if we had taken the base offer it would have been around $800 for port taxes including the $400 deposit/onboard credit. Kevin is correct about daily gratuies added to your account that will be charged at the end of the trip, usually around $15 per day per person.

You'll want to investigate the drink packages, even if you don't drink alcohol, and any upcharges at some of the restaurants, I hear Carnival has an upcharge for just about everything on board. Make sure you know what is covered in terms of food and beverage in the base package.

In July I returned from an 11-day Holland America cruise of Denmark, Norway, Faroe Islands, and Iceland - they had to cancel Greenland on us - courtesy of the Wynn. Over the last four years, I've booked thirteen casino-comped cruises from four different cruise lines, so I'm pretty experienced at this stuff.

Holland America charges you the port fees ONLY, which came to about $370 on my recent cruise. All cruises automatically tack on daily tips, but if some ingrate protests it they will remove them - as if the waitstaff service three times a day plus maid service isn't worth $14 per day per person. Obviously, you can choose to spend a lot more money, on alcohol or drink packages, room upgrades, excursions, upscale dining opportunities, wi-fi, and so on.

But if you drink moderately and resist some of the very tempting upsells, you'll spend less money than if you had stayed home. And if my experience with Holland America is any indication, you'll enjoy excellent food, even better service, and surprisingly good musical acts.

So yes, it's a real comp.

And by the way, I've never actually earned these cruises with gambling. I've done it with a combination of credit card benefits, hotel benefits, and casino tier matching, and it all begins with one credit card, the Wyndham Business Earner from Barclay.

If you are interested, here is the master class on the subject: https://milestalk.com/the-status-match-merry-go-round-explained-using-both-hotel-and-casino-status-match-opportunities-year-after-year/

Thanks for the info.  Holland looks like a better fit for us so I'll skip the Carnival offer. 

Sailed Holland ten times now and I would suggest you stick with larger ships, Rotterdam, Niuew Statendam,Konningsdam. Food top notch along with entertainment. Then Eurodam, Niuew Amsterdam. Smaller ships are fine but less bang for your buck.

This is good info, anyone used the cruise coupon from The Plaza?

I think the word "Carnival" in the name is a clue that the cruise line more or less caters to families with children on board.  I've not done a cruise, but I used to hear that.  

It refers to the fact that two hours after departure, all passengers will be drunk.

Thanks for the ship info, that will help!