Carnival Cruise Status Match Free Cruise
Who doesn’t love to go on a cruise? Okay fine there are definitely people who don’t, but most of the criticism I hear of cruises and cruise ships just doesn’t ring true to me. Sure there are people who only cruise and thus their experience in certain countries is a few hours in a port which is a travesty, but outside of that cruising provides an interesting way to get a taste of destinations while having a ton of fun.
Over the years I have cruised up and down the Pacific Coast and Mexican Riviera, through the Caribbean and even in the Mediterranean taking advantage of deals along the way. Our 21 day Mediterranean cruise in 2013 cost almost nothing thanks to the Arab Spring causing cancellations. That ship’s Egypt stop was cancelled but we still visited places like Pompeii, Olympia, Athens, Istanbul, Cypress, Ephesus and more. All for about $2K in a balcony room including taxes/fees. Crazy.
How to Match for a free Carnival Cruise
Right now there is an interesting cruise deal that I think many of you should look at as well. Carnival is offering to match casino status and potentially giving free cruises to people who do it. Nick at FM wrote about his experience and I thought I would share mine here. While people love to hate on Carnival, their new ships aren’t bad and this offer is quite interesting.
While I could write many thousands of words about the match and all of the details, Mark and I recorded an episode of MtM Vegas that I think does a better job (see above). I suggest watching it, but let me also break down what you need to know about this free cruise offer from Carnival Cruise Line. It really is one of the better status match opportunities we have seen in awhile, especially for a cruise ship.
To match your casino status to Carnival:
- Visit the Carnival cruise line status match page
- If you have cruised with Carnival before enter your VIFP number or look it up. If you haven’t cruised with Carnival before you can create an account
- You’ll want to upload as many casino cards with status as you have. Carnival allows you to upload multiple statues and asks you send the front and back of your cards to them
- The base offer for everyone is $50 in credit and $500 off, but you’ll likely receive a better offer for a free Carnival cruise within a few days
- After matching (I uploaded Mlife Gold gained from Hyatt Globalist, Caesars Diamond from Founderscard and Wynn Platinum from their recent status match) I received a free Ocean View cruise for 2 people within a day and a free balcony cruise for 2 a few days later
Where Can You Go with Your Free Cruise
Thankfully Carnival seems to be allowing these matched free cruise offers to be redeemed just about anywhere. While more busy itineraries/dates can be restricted, my free cruise offers work on Hawaii, Alaska, Panama Canal, repositioning and European cruises in addition to the vanilla Caribbean variety. Keep in mind you will have to pay your taxes and fees so the longer the cruise and the more ports you visit, the more the cruise will cost. That said, I am able to book cruises as long as 16 days with this offer.
More Carnival Status Match Free Cruise FAQs
Here are a few more things I think you should know about this Carnival status match offer:
- Carnival has a ton of older ships with less than ideal decor/setups, but their newer ships are very nice
- This offer allows you to book on their newest ship Mardi Gras which is very nice and even has a roller coaster
- Adding additional people is possible, but you’ll have to pay their fare plus taxes. 3rd and 4th guests often pay reduced fares though, so it still often comes out cheap
- There is also a Carnival Amex Offer for $400 off $1500+. It could be possible to add packages, gratuities and additional guests to hit the $1500 number plus save even more
Carnival Cruise Status Match Issues
As I said previously, I matched and almost immediately received a free Carnival cruise in an oceanview room followed by a free Carnival cruise in a balcony room, however my wife wasn’t so “lucky”. Initially I did the match for her using the same email address as I used which I think caused an issue, because I never received any confirmation. I later re-registered her with a new email and did get a confirmation, but no offer other than the base $500 off came.
She recently called the Carnival players club and asked them about it and was told to fill out a form for a host to contact her. We are waiting for that response and I will update this to let everyone knows how it goes. She matched Mlife Gold, Caesars Diamond and Wynn Platinum status the same as me, so it doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t receive any offers.
Carnival Cruise Status Match Free Cruise – Bottom Line
Carnival is currently offering a very lucrative free cruise offer for people with casino status. Thankfully many in the hobby have Mlife and Caesars status through matches and many other statues as well. Considering you can book their newest ship and crazy itineraries to Europe, etc. this is a deal well worth considering, especially if you are comfortable on a cruise ship or want to book a cruise vacation in the future.
Did you get a free Carnival cruise with this match? Share your experiences in the comments!
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Any update on your wife’s offer situation? I did the match for both me and my husband using our Caesar diamond, MGM Gold and Ocean Prime cards but never got a single email? How do I contact a Carnival casino host?
She was able to get an offer manually. Here is the place I used to contact the players club. http://oceanplayersclub.com/contact/
How long did it take for them to respond? I got a ticket assigned to me but it has been two weeks and no response for manual offer. Did you have a contact there that helped your wife?
Thanks!
It took about a week to get an initial response. Then the person forwarded it to someone else and it took another week or so to get the manual offer.
[…] check out this post on Miles to Memories and this post on Frequent Miler about getting a discount or even free cruise from status matching […]
When will these offers expire? After one year?
Thanks for going over the details with this offer. I am hoping to get in on this as I have elite Grazie, diamond caesar, elite (?) Wynn, and gold mlife. Wish me luck!
Is it possible they are only sending males the good offers? I did the same for me and my husband and only he got the free cruise offer, I just got the same offer your wife did.