In January, Laura Butler, a traveler in her mid-50s, left the "corporate grind" behind to live on cruise ships full-time for around $200 per week.
"The first reason, and to me one of the biggest reasons [for this lifestyle change], is [the] cost," she said in her first YouTube video, "I have been able to figure out how to travel on cruise ships as [my] home base being less expensive than it is to live on land."
Considering she just began cruising two years ago, her transition to full-time ship life is incredible. Not only did she fall in love with life at sea, but she also became adept at navigating loyalty programs and other budget strategies.
"Back in 2023..., I was working in Amsterdam and had never been on a cruise. It was my birthday, and I thought, 'How fun would it be to extend this work trip...and take a cruise?'"
She boarded a 14-night cruise on Holland America Line's Rotterdam to the Baltic, visiting countries like Sweden and Finland. During that time, she fell in love with the region and cruising itself.
While on the ship, she visited the casino and played Blackjack:
"I played Blackjack on this cruise, not knowing anything about the casino point system. Nothing was posted. It was unclear what it took to earn free cruises. I just gambled because it was fun," she explains in a recent video on her YouTube channel, Living on Cruise Control.
Butler continues, explaining how she would play at tables with a minimum bet of $25 for hours at a time.
At the end of the cruise, however, she received an offer for a free cruise in an interior cabin and a little freeplay to spend in the casino.
Read more: A woman who has chosen to live on a cruise ship shares 6 reasons why she's doing it
"I thought, 'Free cruise? Amazing!' So, I asked my son the following year if he wanted to come on a cruise...[H]e wanted to go to Asia, so we wound up doing another 14-night cruise on Holland America. We started in Hong Kong and ended in Singapore," Butler says.
During that sailing, she gambled similarly to how she did while on Rotterdam the previous June and got another offer for a free cruise in an interior cabin.
Although she appreciated the gesture, she was curious as to what other opportunities were out there in the cruise world
Butler had been following Grounded Life Retirement Life on YouTube and was excited when they planned a group cruise for everyone to meet and come together. The 7-night cruise left in November 2024 and sailed from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera.
However, before the cruise, she began researching on her own and discovered that Princess Cruises posts its casino loyalty program's point system online.
"On that 7-day cruise, I wound up just playing the slot machines – I didn't play any Blackjack at all – and I was able to get the 20,000 points needed on a 7-day cruise to earn the mini-suite offer," Butler explains.
The offer also included the Princess Plus package, which bundles alcoholic drinks, Wi-Fi, gratuities, and other perks to make the cruise experience feel more inclusive compared to the base fare, as well as $2,000 in casino freeplay.
After the sailing ended, Butler began receiving email offers from Princess Cruises, which were even better than the one she received on board the weeklong Mexican Riviera voyage.
They include sailings beyond just the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, and Alaska. With Princess' email offers, Butler could plan voyages to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and more.
Butler, who has become a savvy cruise deal hunter in less than two years, emphasizes strategy when it comes to capitalizing casino offers:
"If you're going to go into the casino and get into their comped cruise program, you need to make sure you are losing as little money as possible."
It's important not to gamble money you aren't willing and able to lose
None of the "free" cruises are actually free. Butler says, "The casino house will always win...At the end of the day, the more time you spend in the casino, the house will always win."
The goal, however, is to lose as little money as possible to get to the level of perks and cruises you want.
Casinos are in business to make a profit. They rely on repeat players who dream of winning big to keep guests engaged and boost their earnings.
"Do this for entertainment purposes only," she emphasizes, "If you're going [to] the casino banking on getting a certain offer, that's a dangerous way to start."
How Princess' casino program works
Butler received a "Sea You Soon" offer on her first-ever Princess cruise. This meant that the night before disembarkation, she got a special offer for another Princess cruise because of her overall casino spend.
On this particular sailing, she strayed from Blackjack and tried her luck at the slot machines. When playing slots, it doesn't matter how much you win or lose. It's all about money cycling through the machines.
"Except for video poker, on Princess..., every $2 you put into the machine, you get 1 point," she explains. However, since the odds in video poker slightly favor the player, you have to wager $5 through those machines to earn just one point.
As such, when thinking about her initial 20,000 point Sea You Soon offer, this meant she cycled $40,000 through the slot machines.
During which, she got lucky, claiming she got two hand pays, or jackpots of $1,200 or more. These jackpots require all U.S. citizens to fill out a special tax form.
"You win, you lose, you win, you lose," Butler continues, "During the 7-day sailing, I ended up losing just over $1,500...I could have lost a lot more."
You don't have to aim for 40,000 points to stay in a mini-suite. There are lower tiers that award players with free cabins.
For instance, at just 2,000 points, Princess offers a complimentary cruise in a standard inside stateroom.
However, the offer doesn't include a bundled package with drinks and Wi-Fi, just $100 in freeplay to spend in the ship's casino.
"The point systems will vary based on the length of the sailing," Butler adds, "So, the longer the cruise..., it's going to take more points to get the same exact offer. It's really important to share with you that the offers aren't any better on a longer cruise; you just have to earn more points."
For that reason, she suggests beginning with a 4- to 7-day cruise and stopping once you’ve earned the number of points you’re aiming for.
Points stop accumulating at midnight before the last sea day
So, if you are on a weeklong cruise sailing from Saturday to Saturday and the last sea day is on Friday, the cutoff is Thursday night. Continuing to play after that won't increase your points for that sailing.
Points don't roll over, either. If you are on a back-to-back cruise, the points reset at the end of each sailing. That means you’ll start from zero on the second leg. You can ask for clarification about the end date and time once onboard if you're confused.
"I have met people [who] kept gambling on the last sea day...and didn't realize that the cutoff was midnight...[B]e aware of that, even set your alarm maybe for 9:00pm or 10:00pm, just to be sure you don't run out of time if you're trying to get to a certain level," Butler suggests.
Read more: I got a free cruise in the ship casino. Here's what it really cost me
The email offers are better than the Sea You Soon offers
According to Butler, the Sea You Soon offers are pretty limited. Typically, they can be redeemed for just one sailing. It also has a shorter deadline for when you can return. Plus, you can't book the cruise until about 10 days after disembarkation.
Roughly 4-6 weeks later, however, you'll likely start to receive special email offers. As such, you'll want to make sure you have opted into Princess' email communications. Otherwise, you might miss out on the best casino deals for future sailings.
Not all offers are created equally, though. For example, Butler got one offer that was limited to 8 sailings, while another included over 200.
Another perk to email offers is that you can book them yourself, rather than calling Princess Cruises. Plus, Butler has booked multiple cruises with the same email offer, sometimes reserving as many as three cruises at once.
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she traveled frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas during her freshman year of high school. Having sailed on over 30 cruises across different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Margaritaville at Sea, and Princess, she loves sharing her insight and expertise on all things cruising!
