How One $95 Credit Card Turned Into Six Nearly Free Cruises
A few years ago, there was a short window where casino status matching was one of the most powerful travel hacks out there.
And when I say powerful, I don’t mean saving a couple hundred dollars here and there. I’m talking about free cruises, nearly free trips to Atlantis, waived resort fees in Las Vegas, free hotel nights, free parking, and a long list of perks—all without actually gambling much money at all.
In our case, it started with a single $95 credit card and turned into six highly discounted cruises, multiple trips to Atlantis, and thousands of dollars in value for our family.
Now, I want to be very clear up front: most of this does not work the same way anymore. But understanding how it worked—and why—completely changed how I think about travel deals. And that mindset is still incredibly useful today.
If you’d rather watch the full breakdown, you can see the video version here:
How One $95 Credit Card Turned Into Six Nearly Free Cruises
And if you’re new to points and miles, grab my free Beginner’s Guide to Points and Miles to see how families are using credit card rewards to take trips like this without draining their savings.
It all started with one credit card
Everything began with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business credit card. At the time, that card came with automatic Wyndham Diamond status. And back then, Wyndham Diamond could be matched directly to Caesars Diamond.
That one match was the entry point to everything else.
Caesars Diamond wasn’t just a status symbol. It came with real, usable perks; waived resort fees, free parking, celebration dinners, and, most importantly, access to other casino ecosystems.
In June of 2023, we went to Las Vegas and matched our Caesars Diamond status to MGM Gold. Back then, timing really mattered, because there was something called a household match. That meant your spouse could get reciprocal status even if they didn’t have the original card.
My husband didn’t have the Wyndham card, so he didn’t have Caesars Diamond. But I knew that the real value of this strategy was going to be cruise offers, and those are typically meant for two people. Since we travel as a family of four, it made a huge difference if both of us had status.
So once I matched my Caesars Diamond to MGM Gold, we used MGM’s household match to give him MGM Gold as well. Then we took his MGM Gold back to Caesars and matched him to Caesars Diamond.
So from one $95 credit card, both of us ended up with Caesars Diamond and MGM Gold. Those two statuses alone were incredibly powerful.
The perks started immediately
Even before the cruises, we were already saving money.
On that Vegas trip, my Caesars card came with a $100 celebration dinner, which we used at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. We also got free High Roller tickets, free parking, and waived resort fees.
Just from that one trip, the status match paid for itself.
But that was just the beginning.
Atlantic City is where everything accelerated
A couple months later, in August 2023, we went to Atlantic City. That’s where the dominoes really started to fall.
We matched our Caesars Diamond and MGM Gold statuses to Hard Rock, which gave us Hard Rock Royalty. Then we took that status to Ocean Casino and matched into Ocean Prime.
At the time, Ocean Prime came with an incredible perk: a free 10-night MSC cruise almost anywhere in the world.
So at that point, we had Caesars Diamond, MGM Gold, Hard Rock Royalty, and Ocean Prime. That’s when we started booking cruises.
Our first cruise: MSC
MSC Cruise: Free 10 Night Cruise from Ocean Prime Status
The first thing we did was book the 10-night MSC cruise using our Ocean Prime status.
Since both my husband and I had the same status, we were each eligible for a free room, so we booked two rooms right next to each other. In practice, we put all of our luggage in one room and slept together in the other. Our kids were six months old and two years old at the time, so squeezing into one room wasn’t a problem, and having the extra space for storage actually made the whole setup feel more comfortable.
It was an ocean-view cabin, and the experience was incredible. It was a Mediterranean cruise that was round-trip from Marseille, France. My son was the youngest passenger on the ship, and the staff treated him like royalty. They remembered his name, fussed over him constantly, and just made the whole experience feel really special for our family.
I absolutely love European cruises, and I think a cruise can be a perfect family vacation. You get to unpack once, visit multiple countries, and have a familiar home base every night.
Read More: Mediterranean Cruises - A Perfect Blend of Adventure and Relaxation
Read More: Why Cruises are the Ultimate Family Vacation (Especially with Young Kids!)
All in, we paid about $70 to choose our room, and then paid gratuities. Even the port fees and taxes were covered by the status! That cruise took place in June of 2024, and it felt unreal that it all started from one credit card.
Then the cruise offers kept coming
Holland America
After that, we sent our casino cards to Holland America. They offered each of us an interior room on a sailing of up to twelve nights, along with free play and free drinks in the casino. We only had to pay port fees and taxes.
We ended up booking a seven-night Alaska cruise round trip from Vancouver. We upgraded one of the rooms to an ocean view for about a hundred dollars and stayed in that one. So again, not completely free, but unbelievably cheap for an Alaska cruise.
To be honest, this was actually our least favorite cruise out of all of them. And I know what you’re thinking… What?! It’s an Alaska cruise! What’s not to like?
Well, the problem is, we were on the Zaandam. And although the cruise ports and scenery was amazing, the Zaandam is incredibly small and old. It was launched in 2000, and although it was refurbished in 2018, we noticed that it looked and felt the oldest out of all of the cruises that we took. So this cruise taught us something that frequent cruisers likely already know…
Choose the cruise based on the best ship, not the ports.
All in all, still a good experience, but also a good learning opportunity for next time.
Princess Cruises
Then we tried Princess. Surprisingly, the status they cared most about was our Hard Rock Royalty card. That offer got each of us a balcony room on a sailing of up to 11 nights, which is a huge step up from the interior room offers that many other lines start with.
So of course, we booked a 10-night Mediterranean cruise with stops in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta. That cruise took place in October of 2024, and it was easily our favorite of all the cruises we’ve taken so far. We had side-by-side balcony rooms, which worked perfectly for our family setup, and the itinerary was incredible. Almost every port felt like a highlight, and it was one of those trips where you constantly felt like, “I can’t believe we’re actually here.”
We paid about $1,200 total for both rooms, but we received $800 back in onboard credit, which covered a big portion of our onboard spending. When you look at what a Mediterranean cruise with balcony rooms normally costs, it was one of the best travel deals we’ve ever had.
We sailed on the Island Princess, and we thought it was a great ship. Everything was comfortable, easy to navigate, and very family-friendly. Between the itinerary, the balcony rooms, and the overall value, it ended up being one of the most memorable trips we’ve taken.
Virgin Voyages
We also matched into Virgin Voyages and booked another 7 night Mediterranean cruise, this one departing from Barcelona and ending in Rome. It had entirely new stops that we hadn’t visited before, which made it feel like a completely different experience from our other European cruise.
We were given a balcony room, and one of the best parts about this cruise was how much was already included. Wi-Fi, sodas, and gratuities were all covered, which made the onboard experience feel much more relaxed because we weren’t constantly thinking about extra charges.
Virgin Voyages is an adults-only cruise line, so the vibe is noticeably different from the other cruises we’ve taken. The dining is more upscale and creative, and the entertainment is definitely geared toward adults rather than families.
We sailed on the Scarlet Lady, and it was fantastic. The ship itself felt modern and stylish, and the food was by far the best out of all the cruise lines we’ve tried so far. Instead of big main dining rooms and buffets, they have a collection of specialty-style restaurants, and the quality across the board was really impressive.
Carnival
And then there was Carnival, where we were offered an 8 night Caribbean cruise for about $100 per person, plus port fees and taxes. We ended up getting that $100 back in onboard credit, which I put towards wi-fi and drinks onboard.
We decided to turn this cruise into more of a family trip and invited my parents, my in-laws, and a few other relatives to come along. What started as just another casino offer suddenly turned into a full-blown extended-family vacation.
It ended up being a completely different kind of trip than the others we had taken. Instead of just the four of us moving through the itinerary at our own pace, we had a whole group to coordinate with. We’d meet up for dinners, watch shows together, hang out by the pool, and take turns helping with the kids. The energy of the trip was more social, more relaxed, and honestly just really fun in a different way.
And the craziest part was that the core cruise offer itself was still incredibly cheap. Most people assume cruises like that would cost thousands of dollars for a family, but because of the casino offers, we were able to turn it into a big family vacation without the big family-vacation price tag. It was one of those trips where the value wasn’t just in the dollars saved, but in the memories we made together.
And of course, Atlantis
On top of all those cruises, we also used Caesars status for Atlantis, which was one of the most exciting redemptions for our family. Atlantis is one of those resorts that almost everyone has heard of, but very few people actually book once they see the prices. It has a reputation for being incredibly expensive, especially for families, so finding a way to go there without paying full price felt like a huge win.
We ended up booking two separate stays using the Caesars partnership. The first was a five-night comped stay in 2023, and the second was a four-night comped stay in 2025. In both cases, the room rate itself was covered by the casino benefit, and we just had to pay the daily resort fees, taxes, and gratuities. So it wasn’t completely free, but it was dramatically cheaper than paying the retail price for the same stay.
Both trips were fantastic, especially with young kids. Atlantis is one of those properties where the entire resort feels like an attraction. There are beaches everywhere, multiple pools, huge water slides, lazy rivers, and aquariums built right into the walkways. Our kids were constantly entertained just by walking around and looking at the fish, sharks, and stingrays. It’s the kind of place where you don’t have to plan a complicated itinerary because the resort itself is the main event.
Of course, there were still real costs involved, especially when it came to food. Atlantis is very good at separating you from your money once you’re on property, so we had to be intentional about how we handled meals and daily spending. But even with those extra expenses, the total cost of the trip was nowhere near what it would have been if we had paid full price for the room.
And that’s really the point of this entire strategy. It didn’t just give us one discounted trip. It unlocked multiple cruises and two separate Atlantis stays that would have otherwise been out of reach or much harder to justify.
If you want to see the full breakdown of what those trips actually cost, along with the details of how the strategy worked, you can check out these resources:
Read More: Atlantis Bahamas Review: What It Really Cost Our Family (And If It Was Worth It)
Why this all worked
The reason this strategy worked is actually pretty simple once you understand how casinos think.
Casinos are almost always in aggressive customer-acquisition mode. Their entire business model depends on getting new players through the doors and keeping them there. So when they see someone who already has status at another casino, that person looks like a valuable potential customer.
But they also know that most people don’t want to start from the bottom. If you’re used to skipping lines, getting free parking, waived resort fees, or special offers, you’re not going to be very motivated to walk into a new casino where you have zero benefits.
So instead of making you start from scratch, many casinos offer status matches. They’ll look at your current tier at a competing property and give you a comparable level in their own program. The goal is simple: make the transition easy enough that you choose to gamble with them instead.
From the casino’s perspective, it’s a marketing expense. From a travel hacker’s perspective, it created a perfect arbitrage opportunity.
You could take one status, match it to another casino, then match that one to a third, and so on. Each new status unlocked more perks, more offers, and in our case, a series of cruises and Atlantis stays that would have cost thousands of dollars at retail prices.
But here’s the important part: anytime something feels that easy, it’s usually temporary.
These programs exist because casinos are trying to win market share. Once they’ve attracted enough players, or once they realize too many people are gaming the system, the rules tighten up. Benefits get reduced, matches get restricted, and the easy path disappears.
That’s exactly what happened with this strategy.
And that’s why I always say: strike while the iron’s hot.
Why it’s harder now
Today, the barrier to entry is much higher. You can’t just hold one credit card, match into Caesars Diamond, and unlock the entire ecosystem the way you could a couple of years ago.
Back then, the shortcut was simple. The Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card gave you Wyndham Diamond status automatically, and that status counted as “earned” for the purposes of the Caesars match. So one card with a $95 annual fee could open the door to Caesars Diamond, and from there, everything else.
That shortcut is basically gone now. Caesars and Wyndham changed the rules, and you can no longer match into Caesars Diamond just because you hold the credit card. The status now has to be earned through actual hotel stays, not just by holding a card.
So if you’re starting from zero today, your options look very different.
One path is real gambling, which is how casinos intended these programs to work in the first place. If you play enough, you’ll earn tier credits organically and move up the status ladder. But for most people reading this, that’s not the strategy they’re looking for.
Another option is spending your way to status through casino credit cards.
For example, the Caesars Rewards Prestige card allows you to earn tier credits through spending. With enough annual spend, you can reach higher status levels, including Diamond. But that requires serious volume. To reach Diamond purely through spending, you’re looking at around $50,000 in annual spend on that card.
MGM has a similar concept. Their MGM Rewards credit card lets you earn tier credits through everyday spending, which can help you reach meaningful status levels that might then be matchable into other casino programs, depending on the rules at the time. If you are spending in 2x categories, you should be able to hit the 75,000 tier point requirement for MGM Gold at $37,500 in annual spend on that card.
So the strategies still exist, but the cost of entry is much higher now. Instead of one low-fee credit card unlocking everything, you’re either:
Gambling more than you probably planned to, or
Putting tens of thousands of dollars in spend on a casino-branded card
And that comes with a very real opportunity cost. That same $50,000 or $37,500 in spend could be used to earn multiple large credit card welcome bonuses, which are often far more valuable and flexible than casino status.
So for most people, the math is very different now than it was in 2023.
And that’s exactly why this story matters.
The real lesson from this strategy
Learning casino status matching trained my brain to look at systems, not just perks.
Before this, I think I looked at travel deals the way most people do. I would see a benefit or a discount and think, “Oh, that’s nice,” or “That’s not really for me.” I wasn’t really thinking about how the programs worked behind the scenes or why those opportunities existed in the first place.
But going through this whole casino status journey changed that. It taught me how to spot acquisition phases, recognize temporary opportunities, and move quickly when something valuable appears. I started to understand that a lot of these programs aren’t designed to be permanent. They’re often created to attract new customers, shift market share, or promote a new product. And once they’ve served that purpose, the rules change.
That mindset carries over directly into points and miles.
It’s the same thinking I use now when I see things like transfer bonuses, sweet spots in award charts, limited-time credits, or new card offers that are unusually generous. A lot of those opportunities look small or confusing at first glance, but if you understand the system behind them, you can see when something is temporarily out of balance in your favor.
And that’s when the best deals tend to appear.
Most people don’t miss opportunities like this because they’re bad at math. They miss them because they don’t recognize what they’re looking at. By the time the strategy becomes widely known, the rules have usually changed or the value has been reduced.
So the real lesson here isn’t just about casino status. It’s about learning how to see these patterns early, understanding why they exist, and being willing to act before the window closes.
Planning a Cruise Like This?
If you’re putting together a cruise similar to the ones we’ve taken, don’t forget the pieces around the cruise itself. Those can make a huge difference in both cost and overall experience.
Search pre- or post-cruise hotels near your port
Browse top-rated shore excursions in your cruise destinations:
We often book a hotel the night before a cruise and choose a few key excursions in advance so the trip runs smoothly, especially when traveling with kids.
One thing we always think about when booking cruises, especially international ones, is travel insurance. Cruise fares are often non-refundable, and if something goes wrong with flights, weather, or illness, it can turn into a very expensive problem very quickly.
If you’re looking for a flexible travel insurance option, you can compare plans here:
Get a quote from World Nomads
Next steps
If you want to start traveling for nearly free as a family:
