14 Ways to Get Cruise Credits, Discounts & FREE Cruises Without the Casino
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I'm Laura and welcome to Living on Cruise Control where 1 year ago I left the corporate grind to pursue my dream of living full-time on cruise ships.
With that $100 deposit, you also get on board credit and that on board credit can vary depending on the length of your cruise.
If you own 100 shares of Carnival stock as of now, you are eligible for shareholder on board credit perks.
I do use stock perks, shareholder benefits. I purchased 100 shares when I first started cruising and back then the price was a little lower than it is right now.
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Want to earn onboard credit, discounted cruises, and even free cruises without stepping into the casino? In this video, I’m sharing 14 non-casino cruise tips and strategies that can help you save money, unlock extra perks, and stretch your cruise budget further. I also share the exact ways I stack benefits to help me cruise full-time while still living bougie on a budget. From future cruise deposits and shareholder onboard credit to gift card deals, loyalty perks, travel advisor benefits, and more, these are the cruise strategies worth knowing before you book your next sailing. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛍️ Shop My Cruise Essentials (Amazon Storefront) From cabin must-haves to travel gear I use living full-time on cruise ships — these are my go-to items. → https://www.amazon.com/shop/livingoncruisecontrol (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💌 Cruise Control Postcards Receive a real handwritten postcard from the cruise ships and ports I visit around the world. Each postcard is hand-selected while I’m exploring a port, personally written, and mailed as part of my journey living full-time on cruise ships. → https://www.jotform.com/form/260955535571060 (Every postcard is unique and designs will vary based on what I find in each destination.) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌎 JOIN THE COMMUNITY ▶️ YouTube Membership → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCezCmLQfm5m1a-8cefMAWhA/join 🅿️ Patreon (Cruiser Casino Comp Community) → https://www.patreon.com/LivingOnCruiseControl ⓕ Facebook Page → https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572283514391 ⭐ Star Princess 2026/2027 FB Group → https://www.facebook.com/groups/1164071521929221 ☀️ Sun Princess 2026–2027 FB Group → https://www.facebook.com/groups/824496840358572 📷 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/LivingOnCruiseControl CHAPTERS 00:00 14 ways to earn OBC, discounts and free cruises 00:21 Welcome to Living on Cruise Control 00:54 Future cruise deposits 02:31 Shareholder onboard credit 07:07 Military onboard credit 07:52 First responder onboard credit 08:28 Cruise line credit cards 09:48 Discounted cruise gift cards through Newegg 11:31 Lead a group cruise and earn perks 14:03 Become a travel advisor 17:07 Become an enrichment speaker 20:22 Become a destination expert 22:14 Cruise line loyalty programs 23:38 Cruise sweepstakes 24:37 Casino drawings 24:57 Bingo free cruise opportunities 25:47 Deal or No Deal free cruise possibility 26:28 My exact strategy for cruising bougie on a budget 31:02 Share your best non-casino cruise tips Cruise perks and policies can change, so always verify current terms directly with the cruise line before booking or purchasing anything. ➡️ Primary Speaker Agencies Compass Speakers and Entertainment Application Form: Lecture Application Request Form. Contact: info@compassspeakers.com. Note: They are currently prioritizing Destination and Destination-Related Speakers. Sixth Star Entertainment & Marketing Application Page: Apply with Sixth Star. Contact: info@sixthstar.com. Requirements: You will need to submit a professional headshot, a 250-word biography (written in the 3rd person), and a video of your presentation. Starboard Speakers Application Process: You must email for a registration form. Contact: Miranda@StarboardSpeakers.com. Note: Openings are often posted on their private Facebook group once you are registered. Peel Talent Application Page: Apply | Peel Entertainment. Contact: info@peeltalent.com. Crest Cruise Speakers Application Form: Speaker Application Form. Contact: Lauren@crestcruisespeakers.com. Past Preservers Application Page: Cruise Speaker Database (No Fees). Contact: casting@pastpreservers.com. Application Essentials To increase your chances of being hired, ensure you have the following ready: Professional Video: A high-quality clip (or YouTube link) of you speaking to a live audience, showing both you and your visual aids (i.e. slides/photos). Specialized Resume: A CV highlighting your expertise in a specific region (e.g., Mediterranean history, Alaskan wildlife) rather than just general knowledge. Topic List: A list of 4–6 specific 45-minute presentation titles with brief descriptions. High-Demand Destination Topics Agencies are currently looking for "Destination Enrichment"—topics directly tied to where the ship is docking. Alaska: Glaciology, Gold Rush history, whale migration, and Native Alaskan culture. Mediterranean: Roman/Greek mythology, the Renaissance, the history of the Knights of Malta, or "The Secrets of the Vatican." Northern Europe/Baltics: Viking lore, the Romanov dynasty, or the construction of the Norwegian fjords. Caribbean: Piracy in the 1700s, the engineering of the Panama Canal, or tropical reef ecology. South Pacific: Polynesian navigation (star-mapping) and WWII Pacific Theatre history. how to earn onboard credit, free cruise without casino, cruise discounts