Cruise Hacking – Free Cruises, Maximizing Offers, Status Matching & CRAZY Prices Right Now
In this episode of the Miles to Memories podcast Shawn will discuss all of the craziness in the cruise industry and some amazing deals you don’t want to miss out on before the cruise industry returns to normal. Recorded from his Transatlantic cruise somewhere in the middle of the ocean, he discusses strategies for saving on the 3 major mass market cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL) plus how you can utilize casino and hotel status to get free cruises & more. Plus Ellie joins in to review the Carnival Pride from a kids perspective. Enjoy!
Episode Notes
- 01:55 – Why Shawn has 6 cruises booked right now
- 02:38 – Carnival Fun Match – Status match for free cruises
- 06:18 – Types of Carnival offers & what to do if they don’t offer you a free cruise
- 08:39 – Carnival casino match on board experience – How it works
- 10:51 – Maximizing Carnival free cruise offers
- 11:16 – Carnival Pride mini review
- 16:42 – Ellie’s review of Carnival Pride from a kid’s perspective
- 18:40 – Maximizing gift cards, cashback offers & more
- 20:00 – Saving big on Royal Caribbean & being opportunistic
- 20:52 – Utilizing Royal Caribbean & MGM Rewards partnership
- 22:21 – Transferring a cruise to a travel agent for free
- 23:28 – Royal Caribbean’s RoyalUp. Amazing upgrade opportunities
- 27:04 – Cruise line past guest offers are amazing right now
- 32:06 – How NCL is pricing their cruise deals
- 33:22 – Comparing Carnival, Royal Caribbean & NCL
- 34:43 – One last way to get casino offers on cruise ships
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 at a huge discount.){kind=link}
I wish you would mention the Roll Calls on CruiseCritic.com
Roll Calls are individual online forums for every sailing of every major cruise ship. The Roll Call I’m on, for the Carnival Pride cruise next month to Norway, currently is up to 393 posts. Through it I’ve learned about a recommended operator for land excursions in almost all the ports we will visit…I would never have heard of her otherwise.
I hope the remainder of your transatlantic cruise is enjoyable, and I appreciate all the good information in the podcast.
IS the fun match still a valid offer??? My understanding is that ended months ago.
Seems maybe so many people aren’t cruising at this time