I got a mailer the other day from CET for a free cruise voucher. Since I get SO much casino mail every day, I barely glanced at it, assuming that I would have to go to Vegas to pick up the voucher. Good thing I glanced at it before I tossed, as I only have to go to Harrah's Joliet next Friday - Sunday to pick up the voucher, which is no big deal. They are also offering "gifts" that if you earn like 150 tier credits, you get a pair of binoculars, and if you earn 5500 tier credits, you get a set of luggage, American Tourister, which I could probably buy at Kohl's for less than $100. So I'm not planning on actually playing there, just stopping in on Friday and picking up my voucher. I don't even know if we will be able to use the free cruise this year, as my job situation is fluid, and also I know it's not truly "free" as you have to pay taxes and we'd most likely upgrade to a balcony cabin. But since it's only an hour away to get it, I might as well, right? (even my husband is excited that I got this!)

If I did go I can only use the free cruise up until the end of this year. I was excited to see the new ESCAPE is available, but they only have the Carib itinerary, which I know my hubby is not crazy about. If we were going to use it, we'd most likely do an Alaskan cruise or something more exotic.

Anyone have any recs on which would be a good other ship/itinerary for me to pursue? I can post more details on what's available to me if you'd like.

Also if anyone has any hints/tips on how good of a deal this really is, I'd appreciate it! I've gotten the cruise voucher offer only once before, but I had to fly to Tunica or somewhere to get it, so I've never actually taken advantage of it before.