Ep 004 | Part 2: How I Make Cruises Work For My Family: The Smart Dad's Guide to Rewards, Perks, & Strategies

In this episode of the Smart Dad Podcast, Derek Moore discuss how families can enjoy cruising without breaking the bank. He shares insights on leveraging casino rewards, maximizing loyalty programs, and understanding the costs associated with free cruises. The conversation emphasizes the importance of planning and strategy in making family vacations both enjoyable and affordable.

To hear about why I cruise with my family, listen to Part 1 of this conversation in Ep 003.

Chapters

00:00 Cruising as a Family: An Introduction

01:35 Making Cruises Affordable

02:45 Leveraging Casino Rewards for Free Cruises

11:53 Maximizing Family Benefits through Status

20:54 Understanding the True Cost of Free Cruises

29:24 Long-Term Strategies for Family, Fun, and Finances

Takeaways

• Cruising can be affordable with the right strategies.
• Casino rewards can lead to free cruises for families.
• Understanding loyalty programs is key to maximizing benefits.
• Planning ahead can save money on family vacations.
• Kids can sail free during specific promotions.
• Combining offers can enhance cruise experiences.
• Tracking points and status can lead to significant savings.
• Investing in service staff can improve your cruise experience.
• Long-term loyalty can yield lifelong benefits for families.
• Researching and planning can lead to rewarding family adventures.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Smart Dad podcast where we help you lead well at home, in business and in life. I'm your host, Derek Moore. Smart dads are intentional, engaged and ever learning. Whether you're a seasoned dad who's been through it all a new dad, still figuring it out, a supported dad with a great woman at your side, or a solo dad carrying the load alone, this podcast is for you, no matter your background, your challenges or your goals. Fatherhood is a journey of growth and we're here to do it together. Each week I'll share insights that I've garnered throughout my life of raising kids, building businesses and leading others. I'll definitely share some failures, some successes, and I'll even be able to show you tools and strategies that you can use to become a smart dad in your own life.

Today's episode is about how we actually pull off cruising as a family. This is part two of my cruising episodes. If you missed part one, which is why we cruise, go back and listen to that before you listen to this. This is the nitty gritty of rewards, perks, and strategies.

So we need to make cruises affordable. I have a lot of kids and I decide I'm going to figure out how to do this. friend of mine introduces me to Royal Caribbean cruise lines and it just opens my eyes to something I didn't even know existed before. A lot of people assume cruising is expensive. Maybe it's once a year, once in a lifetime. It's reserved for people who can afford to, but in reality,

It can be pretty affordable if you know how to work the system. So in this episode, I'm going to break down exactly how my family and I cruise multiple times a year, sometimes multiple times a month without breaking the bank. We'll cover how I went from having never played in a casino to leveraging casino rewards for free cruises and how I stack the loyalty perks.

and then how you can maximize those savings on everything from accommodations to dining to photos and beyond.

So I was talking to a buddy of in 2022, the pandemic had just ended and he told me, man, some cruise lines own their own casinos and Royal Caribbean is one of those. And he told me he had just been on a cruise and he did a little bit of playing cards and they offered him, gave him another free cruise before he got off the ship. I should say another, it was the first free cruise he'd ever gotten before he got off the ship.

He went on a second free cruise and earned a free cruise from that cruise that stacked up some points and we were having lunch one day and he was excited to tell me about it. So let me pass on to you what I've picked up on in these past two and a half years and look, you need to do your research terms and conditions have changed a lot from pre 2020 through 2020 2021 2022 and

just check out where everything is now there are a lot of YouTube videos there are lot of websites there are blogs on each cruise line Royal Caribbean is what I'm talking about because that's really all I know in terms of this experience but they have a three tiered reward system that I want to cover so first of all very simply stated every cruise you go on whether someone gifted it to you you paid full price or it was a free cruise

you can earn through playing in the casino another free cruise. So that's the first thing. Each cruise you go on, can earn a subsequent free cruise, sometimes as early as the next week or two weeks away. Oftentimes it goes years, excuse me, months into the future. The second thing is the annual fiscal year

of the cruise lines stacks and accumulates all these points you earn throughout the year and you can have status from year to year. Again, that's through the casino. And then the third way is Royal Caribbean itself as every other casino and cruise line does, as I understand hotels do it as well. You have lifetime status. So every night you sleep on a ship goes toward your crown and anchor society. That's

outside the casino that's irrespective of the casino. So let me dive in real quick. The casino offer. Every cruise you go on, the first thing I do when I go on a cruise is I go to the casino, I find the host stand, the host table, and there are usually little placards there and they tell you what the breakdown is for what it takes to earn your next free cruise.

It tells you about interior rooms. tells you about balcony rooms, tells you about suites, junior suites, grand suites, and so on. the longer cruises have more days in the casino. It takes a few more points to get to your interior room or your balcony room. The shorter cruises, you can get there a little faster. So 1200 to 2000 points, that kind of range per cruise will get you oftentimes a balcony.

room for two guests on limited subsequent cruises, which you can print out or you can get the QR code and look on your phone. To me, that's phenomenal. You can just be a casual player. And in fact, I was talking to a gentleman and his girlfriend on this last cruise I was on and we talked to them at the pizza bar or in front of the theater. And I said, we're going to go to casino later. And

told him there some offers there. Well, he told me a couple nights later when I saw him, man, we've already got 300 points or 400 points. I think we're going to be able to get a free room. And by the end of the, of the cruise, because they had stuck their card in every time they played or because they tapped every time they played, the casino was tracking all their points. And by the way, I'm very libertarian minded. I don't want people tracking my calls, my texts, my locations.

But this is the time where you need to put that to the side and say, I want you tracking everything because I want to maximize my perks on your cruise ship. So that's every cruise you go on. The annual casino status is kind of the middle tier and that resets every year. April 1st to March 31st is the fiscal year. So if you go on a cruise in April and you hit, let's say prime status, which is 2,500 points,

immediately on the ship you're on and then for the remainder of the year, right till March 31st of the next year, cause it'll be a partial year and then the full following year. So it's one full year plus whatever is remaining in your year. You'll have prime status, which means anytime you're actively in the casino plane, you can have a free drink, a free margarita or free Jack and Coke or free

a vodka, you can have a free Coke, you can have a free coffee, whatever you're drinking, that's going to be included in the casino. You don't have to drink unlimited, but you can. And then if you get 25,000 points over the same fiscal year, that's called signature status. You get free drinks in the casino still. And then on every cruise you go on, have free wifi, surf and stream for one device.

And then masters adds the free drinks, adds wifi, but it's for two devices for every cruise you go on for the next year plus. So that is interesting because every year you're accumulating your casino points to try to maintain your status. So again, if you've traveled, flown, hotels, done casinos, done airplanes, this is a similar thing. And the biggest advantage is

is that it's gonna be the remainder of the year and then an entire full year. And that's April 1st to March 31st. Okay. And then the final layer, if you will, has nothing to do with the casino, but the Crown and Anchor Society for Royal Caribbean essentially counts the number of nights you've slept on their ships. And as you go from different statuses and it's gold and it goes all the way up and there's the emerald.

There's, I think there's a platinum, there's diamond, there's diamond plus, and then there is pinnacle, which is the ultimate lifetime status. So every night you go, they track your nights and within two weeks when you get off a cruise ship, you go into your app and it'll be updated. But a couple things, if you travel alone or you're on your itinerary alone in your room, you're gonna get credit for double nights.

So a five day cruise will count 10 nights toward your lifetime status on your crowd and anchor society. Or if you have a junior suite or higher, you get double night's credit. And for a while, I don't know if they still do it. If you were alone and in a suite, you got triple. So it stacks up and that gets you to your lifetime status faster. So

When I realized that I was going to achieve diamond and that Kelly was going to be granted diamond because we're married and all seven of my kids who had been on cruises with me the ages of 17 and under, we're going to have diamond status for the rest of their lives. I realized that this is really good intergenerational marketing and

I didn't ever think that Royal Caribbean had this in mind, but when I realized that, I thought, man, that's fascinating, because you go with your grandparents on a cruise, or you go with your kids on a cruise, you go with your nieces, your nephews, your cousins. This intergenerational marketing is phenomenal. And so I'm encouraging young folks I'm mentoring, talking to, hey, try the cruise world. It's really popular with the Gen Z, with the 20-somethings. And if you can hit status in your 20s,

You get that the rest of your life. You get married, your spouse gets it. You have kids, they travel with you at least once before they turn 18. They have the same status. So again, this is a lot of nuance, but I want you to know how much I think through and explore things before I share them with you. Okay. So how do we use this casino rewards system to benefit my family? You know, this might not be for everybody.

I'm not a gambler. I didn't even start drinking coffee till I was 30. I didn't start drinking wine and any sort of alcohol till I was 35. I enjoyed my first cigar at 41 and I started really playing in the casinos at 48. I've just begun to explore this and I do a lot of math. So to me, I have the ability to pull this off. If you're interested in it,

explore it, look at it. But my point for telling you all this is it's possible to be creative, have fun doing it and add a lot of value to your family. This is about family. This is about finances. This is about fun. Keep that in mind that today we're talking about family finances and fun. So simply stated, it's a math game. Every $5 that's played

on slots in the casino earns one point toward this status. Every $10 played on video poker, because it's a different kind of system, earns a point. And then the table games, it's a pretty complicated formula. And I don't play table games where you play blackjack and, and you play Texas Hold'em or three card poker or whatever.

You can even play all the craps of those games. They count points differently there. I'm talking about pretty simple. You sit down at a computer, you push buttons. And just before I start, I've done a lot of math on this. I can earn about 240 points per hour that I play. Doesn't matter if I'm winning or if I'm losing. That's about how much time they're going to get me in the casino.

So for 2500 points, I need about 10 hours, 11 hours to get there. For 25,000 points, obviously, I'm sorry, yeah, and for 25,000 points, right, I need 10 times that. So 100 hours, 110 hours over the course of a full year. You might say, hey, I'm going on a cruise, I don't wanna spend that much time doing it. That's okay, I'm just letting you know the math, you make the decision if it works for you. I've learned that

I'm pretty good at video poker. I had never played really poker or video poker before, but it's a very systematic approach. If you see these cards, you see this combination, you choose to hit or to stay or to trade cards in. You can do whatever you want. My wife likes slots. It's shiny. It's fun. So it's kind of like playing a video game along the way. We might win, we might lose, we might break even, but we're gaining points.

So remember this, the whole point is to get into the system. The first time I went on a cruise, the goal was to achieve prime status. I hit prime status. I looked at the little payouts and I realized if I can get to 3000 points, my next cruise will be a balcony for two. So I hit 3000 points and then I knew I could pick essentially over the next 11 or 12 months, a balcony for two. And it was

free from that one ship. So then I worked to earn Kelly the same thing, Prime, and then the 3000. So we were at the same status and that was a great place to start. We overspent, we quote unquote lost money and we did it on purpose. We were trying to achieve status quickly on a four day cruise. I'm not going to go into all that, but the point is, that what it did is it, it got us signed up for these incredible

incredible offers. They just kept coming and coming and she and her inbox and I in my inbox received the same offers with the same code which is important because if you have the same code, you know RCL 1004 RCL 1003 X or whatever the code is with the same code you can combine offers. If she has a balcony offer, I have a balcony offer.

we can combine that into a junior suite. So we get a bigger room. We are each only taking up right two spots and rooms and we also get double nights toward our crown and anchor. So there's a lot of games going on here. But the point is, is that I wanted Kelly to have the same status I had so that when we cruise together, right, she gets the benefits. I get the benefits. We can combine offers. Interestingly,

In 2023, I had a couple of cruises, one in particular where my boys ended up not going. And on that cruise, I earned 9,000 points in one week on the allure. And that really pushed me toward signature status. And I actually broke even on that cruise. I didn't lose anything. I didn't gain anything. But my time, right.

240 points per hour, let's say on average, so about 36 hours in the casino over the course of a week I was by myself because they didn't show up, they didn't want to go, they had work. I was able to really crush 9,000 points in one week. So then of course I easily hit signature 25,000 points for the year. So it's a lot of numbers. My point for telling you this is that doesn't usually happen.

But the fact that I did, took advantage of it and I kept playing. So if you want to get to status for yourself or for your partner, your spouse, your kids, that's fine. There's a way to do it. Okay. So let's talk about why I do this. I do this so that I can get into their system and I want to enter their system, not as a beggar hoping for an interior room.

I want to get in at a balcony status and every offer they sent for a year for two years was balcony, balcony, balcony, balcony, I started at the balcony status level in their system and I would renew and I would keep playing because they're calculating, they're tracking. They know that I spend money over here and I spend money over there. I might not spend money on the casino, but this is simply a marketing arm for the cruise line.

So they own the casino. this is simply a marketing channel for the cruise line, just like the log in and get the last minute deals, just like the, Hey, let's book our family reunion for 50 people and you get maybe a free room. Hey, let's book our corporate convention. All of those are marketing channels. So if this fits you, if this marketing channel is beneficial for you and your family, well,

Why not take advantage of it? You're not stealing. You're not taking advantage of them. They have it in place. They want the Moore family hooked on Royal Caribbean. And I've been on 40 plus cruises in two and a half years with only one cruise line. So like my friends in Tex-Mex who have half price fajitas on a Wednesday night and you know, seems like everybody fills their restaurant on Wednesdays.

They might break even they might not, but they said butts in seats means the patrons are in our restaurant and they're not down the street at the other Tex-Mex restaurants. Cruise lines are the same way. If they have a ship that's not full, they know they're losing money. So they will do everything in their power to fill every ship up. That's your benefit. That's my benefit, whether it's a last minute cruise or casino offer. And by the way,

The casinos do have limited numbers of rooms on various ships. So I've called before to the casino line and say, Hey, I need to get a room. And they say there are no more casino rooms available on the November 1st or the January 3rd or whatever the date is for whatever reason, whether it's a holiday, whether it's popular with a crowd or whatever, it's, it's overbooked. They've all been spent. So they have an allotment that they, that they,

used to draw you and me in. Okay, let's talk about a little monetary caveat. What's a free cruise mean? Right? Free is an interesting definition. Port fees and taxes are like all other taxes. They're unavoidable. They're inevitable. And by my estimation, it's about $20 per person per night. And that's just a tax.

What can you do about it? Nothing. Put in your math and say, Hey, a five day cruise still costs me a hundred dollars per person. Anything you do on the ship, your cost, it's going to have an 18 % gratuity, right? Automatically added. Okay. Any extra tip you do, that's up to you. If you're like I am, and you're starting to invest in people,

having a couple bucks in your pocket or a $5 $10 bill or add that to your check at the end of each meal. That really builds rapport. goes a long way. You learn somebody's name, you give them a few dollars, they remember you, your smiling face, your kids. If you need anything, which is a likelihood you will. It's nice not to be anonymous among thousands of people, because you've thrown a couple bucks at them, you've taken their hand, looked them in the eye and said, thank you so much.

for your service. Hey, thanks for being here away from your family for seven months. Hey, thanks for always smiling and making it a good time for my kids. So if you're going to do this and you're going to go out of the same ports, I recommend intentionally investing. If you're not, obviously it's still generous, but you're not going to necessarily see the return right away. Okay, if I'm going to book a free cruise,

I will actually call and make sure I know when the kids sale free promotions are, because we're talking about a month to a year away. Spring break, kids don't sale free. Thanksgiving, Christmas, kids don't sale free. Summer, kids don't sale free. Outside of those windows, if you're homeschooling, if you have remote education, if your job allows you to work remotely, you're flexible, you have a week off every month.

I liked a book where my kids sell free. Now you do have to upgrade your room. Let's say I had a room for two. I say I took my wife and two kids. Well, I have to upgrade that from a room for two to a room for four. So even though the kids are free, there might be a $75 upcharge or a hundred dollar upcharge for the kids or per person. And again, everyone has port fees and taxes. Those are things you can't avoid. A little pro tip here.

If you do take a baby with you, you don't have to get a room for three. You can just ask for a pack and play or a toddler little bed and they'll still have to pay for a person. It's a soul on board in terms of port fees and taxes. Kids will be free, but you don't have to go to a room for three people. So a room for two is what you win in the casino. If you add a third and it's a child, let's say two or under, you can do a pack and play.

If you add a five or six or seven year old, you need another room, another bed, pull out couch or whatever. If you keep them in your room, they're going to upgrade you from a room for two people to a room for three people. That's going to be a little bit of an upcharge, but just know your numbers. What happens if you're going with the Moors and we're taking four or five, six, seven kids? Well, the way to do that is my crews room.

Balcony or interior for two people I can add two more kids to so that's a room for four so me myself I'll be in a room plus three kids and Kelly has her offer She's right next door right across the hall in a room with three kids And if I have more than six kids going which I often do I can Essentially pick a room across the hall with an adult in the room. Maybe if there's a 14 year old they have some sort of rules and

and can put them close to you so I can have three rooms and up to four people in that room. So I can have really 10 kids and two adults in three rooms if I get far enough ahead of it. So I know I'm in the weeds here and I'm sorry, but my point for showing you all this is I've lived it. I've thought about it. I've mapped it out. I've been on the phone for hours. It takes at least one hour for me to book every cruise because I have to

think and plan and they have the entire map. How many rooms are available? Hey, seventh deck, ninth deck, first, not the first deck, second deck, 12th deck. And we start to think and talk and settle and say, okay, well, it's only three months or six months or nine months away. I guess that's the best we can do. Let's try to do this. We come up with a strategy, we book it, we lock it in.

Let's, let's, let's move for a moment to the Crown and Anchor society. I've talked about each cruise. I've talked about every year you get bonuses and rewards for casino before go to Crown and Anchor. If you make, prime status, then you get one free cruise per year with no restrictions. It's an interior room for two. Of course you can upgrade it and they'll apply the credit toward, you know, whatever you're upgrading toward.

Think about it, a full unrestricted room for two every year. That's phenomenal. If you hit signature status, you get a room for two, but it's a balcony every year. If you hit master status, it's a room for two. And I think it's a suite or something. So that's a really cool thank you from the casino. But the Crown and Anchor Society, it counts all of your nights. Like I said, as you work your way through, you get a lot of perks. Let me just tell you where I like the perks to kick off. The Diamond Plus,

is where we already are and we're gonna be here for a while. Five free alcoholic drinks or specialty coffees per day for me, for Kelly, but all my kids are Diamond Plus now. The ones that are 14 and under. If they were 17 and under, it works, but I don't have any of those who've gone with me on cruises. So I have seven children, 14 and under, who each get free drinks every day. I surely temple.

They want a specialty coffee. They want a special blended strawberry daiquiri mocktail. All those are included. then Kelly and I can each have five drinks. So we go to a nice wine bar, get a nice drink. We can go to our dinner and have them bring us a glass of wine. Now outside the casino is what I'm talking about. The casino status that's free drinks when we're at sea and the casino is open and we're actively playing. So this to me is great because

If I want coffee in the morning or I want sugary drinks for the kids or alcoholic drinks for the adults, those are included five per day per person. What a deal. Also, if you're on a cruise and you're Diamond or Diamond Plus, you get a free photo of you. If you're with your family, every cruise, you can get one free professional photo done. I think that's a really cool, just little keepsake. And if you're Diamond Plus,

and you're going to cruise five days or longer, they'll do a bag of laundry, a full stuffed bag of laundry for you for no charge. So these are little perks and they have them all online. You can look on the app and it's all laid out there. What I have found is I actually forget and even don't cash in all the benefits from all the Crown and Anchor and all the casino every time. It just...

There's so many things they're so generous and they're so good at rewarding loyalty that they want us to come back. When I realized that my kids could have unlimited drinks, I mean five a day, we don't drink that much sugar. I watched my buddy and his, his kids each got a coffee in the morning and then they did this and they did that, you know, one in the morning, one or two at lunch, you know, two at dinner every day that just

takes the pressure off because I'm following a budget but I want to have fun so I don't need to buy the drink package I don't need to buy the Coca-Cola package I don't need to buy anything extra I can just go on the ship and the longer I go the Wi-Fi becomes free the casino drinks become free the portrait becomes free the coffees and in the alcohol it just keeps stacking up and I just think that

people don't realize how nice it is. And let me just say, this is the nitty gritty. And the reason we do it is I don't want to start something and then not be able to finish it. Jesus said, who's going to build a tower without first counting the cost? So if I want to take a kid on the cruise every year for their birthday and I say, Hey, a hundred bucks for her, a hundred bucks for me. We can get by on the cruise ship for a couple hundred dollars.

I can do a $400 getaway one on one with a kid for a birthday once a year. To me, that's worth less than $100 bucks per day. For you, maybe it's not. But I want you to think about what you're doing in your life that is financially rewarding both short term, mid term, and long term. And that's again the point of this. Every cruise short term, I can win a free cruise.

Midterm each year accumulates benefits and Longterm over the lifetime I accumulate status. And all I'm telling you is keep your eyes open for things like this in your life. So the bottom line is this episode exists just so I could open your eyes a little bit to how.

How do I cruise 40 times in two and a half years? How did I take 10 cruises in four months in 2024? I maximized the casino rewards. Okay. I stacked the perks on top of each other. I know that little children are essentially free for everything they do. I know that my wife and I can combine things and

If you will take a little bit of time and whether you go to your local restaurant and they have a rewards program, if you buy your tennis shoes at the same place, if you do any business with a small independent, you can even ask them, Hey, if I come back every week or I come back every month or I come back twice a year, can I get a discount? I wish I had asked for a volume discount at the hospital for all these babies I paid for.

I never thought about it. I was just busy trying not to die, trying to survive, but a little bit of planning and maybe you could have some fun. You can maybe get the owners know them. If it's a small business, if it's a big corporation, Hey, find out their marketing channels, see what aligns with you and put your family in a position where they can benefit. So whether you're new to cruising or you're an experienced traveler, these tips, tricks, pro hacks will save you.

literally thousands of dollars in your lifetime. And the earlier you start, the more you're going to save. So I want to challenge you. Your takeaway this week is listen and figure out what in your life can you hack so that your family plus your finances plus your fun is a little more rewarding. Start small, do your research and let me know how you do.

Let's do this. I can't wait to hear your responses.

Thank you for joining us on the Smart Dad Podcast. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. For resources, links, and more, check out the show notes. Also, if you like what you heard today, please leave us a five star review so other dads can find the podcast and be the dad they are meant to be. Now go out and be a smart dad today.