The Travel Log · Sailed August 2026
Star of the Seas:
what the week really cost
Seven nights, four of us, a brand-new ship and a casino statement. Every dollar in, every dollar out, and what the week left us holding for next time.
The short answer
All in, the sailing cost us $12,487.27 — fare, taxes, onboard spending, the drive, and $6,994 of casino loss. What we carried home against that: $2,500 in next-cruise certificates, $1,250 in FreePlay attached to them, and 17,200 tier points.
What the Star sailing actually cost us
Our Star statement showed $7,594 routed through Casino Royale. That figure is not the same as $7,594 lost — money cycled through a slot machine comes back around many times. We brought home roughly $600 in cash, which leaves a working casino loss of about $6,994. That’s the number we hold ourselves to.
| Statement category | Amount | How we count it |
|---|---|---|
| Routed to Casino Royale | $7,594.00 | Funds put into play |
| Cash brought home | −$600.00 | Reduces the loss |
| Estimated net casino loss | $6,994.00 | Our working cost |
| Ordinary vacation spending | $2,092.59 | Dining, drinks, photos — not casino |
| Gratuities (cash) | $400.00 | Trip cost — not casino |
| Port parking | $160.00 | Trip cost — not casino |
| Fuel, drive to the port and back | $457.00 | Trip cost — not casino |
Here’s a detail people miss: the loyalty points tell you how much was played, not how much was lost. Between us we earned 17,200 tier points on this one sailing — 9,800 for Vincent and 7,400 for me — which represents roughly $86,000 of slot coin-in. Coin-in is money cycled through the machines: the same twenty-dollar bill, played and re-played. It’s a measure of time on the floor, not money gone.
What we leave out. The $2,092.59 in dining, beverages, shopping, photos and kids’ programming — plus $400 in gratuities, $160 in port parking and $457 in fuel — was ordinary travel spending. We’d have spent on a family cruise regardless, so none of it gets charged against the casino strategy. We still list it, because the honest all-in for the sailing was $12,487.27: $2,383.68 in fare and taxes, $3,109.59 in travel and onboard spending, and $6,994.00 of casino loss.
What that week left us holding
The loss is only half the ledger. Playing on the Star also produced next-cruise certificates, FreePlay attached to them, and the tier points that decide what Royal Caribbean offers us next. None of it is cash — all of it is travel we have not paid for yet.
| Earned by that week of play | Value |
|---|---|
| Next-cruise certificates$1,500 Vincent · $1,000 Heidi | $2,500 |
| FreePlay attached to those certificates$750 Vincent · $500 Heidi | $1,250 |
| Tier points earnedVincent 9,800 · Heidi 7,400 | 17,200 |
Not the same $1,100. The FreePlay in the table above came bundled with offers we had already booked. The $1,250 here is new — earned by playing on the Star, and attached to certificates for sailings we haven’t booked yet. Two things worth knowing: FreePlay tied to a certificate has to be claimed on the Book Later form before you leave the ship or it is forfeited, and the certificate delivered to your stateroom is a snapshot of the tier you had reached when it printed — Heidi finished at 7,400 points, past the 6,500 level, but the paper still shows the lower one.
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