Is it best to bring cash on board for the casino?

[itzkelly]

I've read on here some people bring traveler's checks to cash for the casinos, or just get money taken off their credit card (for a fee). Do others simply bring cash to gamble with? I don't want to have to pay a fee in order to pull money out to gamble with, nor hassle with traveler's checks....just curious what y'all do.

 

Thanks!

 

Kelly :)

[cb at sea]

We always bring cash for gambling...when it's gone, it's gone...we are NOT paying a "fee" to gamble!

Gambling money should be funds that you are readily prepared to lose...because that's the most usual outcome.

We will try and "spread out" our gambling expenditures...so that we have some for everyday....

I would NEVER put my gambling onto my credit card...not EVER!

You should have a safe in your cabin to store excess money...if not in your room, then at the desk...they will have safe deposit boxes....make use of them!

[sailor_jimc]

cb at sea gave good advice. I bring cash or traveler's checks. The casino already has the best of it. I refuse to give them a "free" 3% for using my sail and sign card or credit card...

 

I know Carnival ships will cash travelers checks at the casino cage AND at the purser's desk if you don't want to carry cash. I saw someone in this casino section talk about a limit to the amount of travelers checks the casino would let them cash in a day, but I have not hit that limit.

 

I always bring "trip" money and "casino" money. I keep them separate and never take trip money to the casino, but I HAVE used casino money for the trip.

[Casino Player]

I've read on here some people bring traveler's checks to cash for the casinos, or just get money taken off their credit card (for a fee). Do others simply bring cash to gamble with? I don't want to have to pay a fee in order to pull money out to gamble with, nor hassle with traveler's checks....just curious what y'all do.

 

Thanks!

 

Kelly :)

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO itzkelly: I always bring cash to gamble with. If I lose I lose. If I win then I have more money. There is no reason to go into debt to gamble. It is just another activity.

Some days you will lose regardless of what you do. Other days you will win regardless. It happens. That is the nature of gambling. A few years ago I was up on the House. One night I lost even though I was making the best bets a player could make. Some would say it was a lot of money, however, I was still up. What did I do? The next night I went back to the casino, bought in for the exact same amount I bought in for every other night. Made the bets in the exact same way. And I walked away with House money several times my buy in amount. Gambling has it's ups and downs.

[HoneyDad]

I've read on here some people bring traveler's checks to cash for the casinos, or just get money taken off their credit card (for a fee). Do others simply bring cash to gamble with? I don't want to have to pay a fee in order to pull money out to gamble with, nor hassle with traveler's checks....just curious what y'all do.

 

Thanks!

 

Kelly :)

 

It used to be a great deal to put the casino monry on the CC but I agree the 3% fee puts a stop to that. Bring Travelers checks.

[bambidrummer]

Royal does not charge for room charges and that is what you do when you use your room key card to get cash at the casino. it looks like you just spent a lot of cash on entertainment just the same as you spent on drinks. plus you get the cash back or points on your credit card.

[Yo Eleven]

I've read on here some people bring traveler's checks to cash for the casinos, or just get money taken off their credit card (for a fee). Do others simply bring cash to gamble with? I don't want to have to pay a fee in order to pull money out to gamble with, nor hassle with traveler's checks....just curious what y'all do.

 

Thanks!

 

Kelly :)

Traverler's checks are beginning to become a real pain in the arse now. Cash daily limits are being enforced (on RCCL) and take forever for them to verify them.

 

Now that AAA is doing away with them, how will you get them without a fee now? I suppose if you have an account with a bank that has them maybe you can get them there. But without that, you will be paying a fee for traverler's checks now.

 

For now on, I will probably bring cash. What sucks is if it is lost or stolen you will not ever see it again. Even those travel cards you can get come with a fee. What is so stupid is that these casinos should be paying you to play in their casinos and not charge you that ridiculous fees. It is just another way they found to rip off their players.

[bambidrummer]

Traverler's checks are beginning to become a real pain in the arse now. Cash daily limits are being enforced (on RCCL) and take forever for them to verify them.

 

Now that AAA is doing away with them, how will you get them without a fee now? I suppose if you have an account with a bank that has them maybe you can get them there. But without that, you will be paying a fee for traverler's checks now.

 

For now on, I will probably bring cash. What sucks is if it is lost or stolen you will not ever see it again. Even those travel cards you can get come with a fee. What is so stupid is that these casinos should be paying you to play in their casinos and not charge you that ridiculous fees. It is just another way they found to rip off their players.

I was on royal enchentment we just used our room key room charge card to get cash out of the casino every day. they did not charge a fee.

[NRWPA]

As of Feb 2009, Princess allowed you to get cash for gambling in two ways with no 3% surcharge. One way is to buy casino credit through the Princess website before leaving. Your credit card is charged immediately. They will leave a card in your room for the number of casino credits you buy and you turn them in at the cage and pick up the cash (no surcharge). The other way (I haven't tried it, but others have & posted about it) is to put your room key in a slot machine and charge credit to your sail and sign account - if you don't go to the window and make a CC cash withdrawal, you are not charged the 3%. Remember to cash out any remaining casino credit before the cruise ends!

[rossbabsy]

As of June 2009,our last cruise, NCL does not charge a fee for taking money at the casino cage. It is charged to your credit card on file. You can take up to $2,000 per day per person, provided you have enough credit on your card.

[cuyahoga11]

Carnival does not charge a fee for slots

[nancronin]

Another way to go is a line of credit that Royal Caribbean offers - we submitted the form a couple of weeks before the cruise and they checked our bank - the minimum they will do it for is $5,000 so we did it for that even though we had no intention of spending that much and didn't. If we needed cash for casino (or anything else) I went to the cashier in casino and was given the money after signing something. At end of the cruise I went to cashier and wrote one check out for what we owed - probably about $500 all total - and there was no charge to do this as opposed to the 3% they charge to put it on your seapass. Worked for us and we'll do it again on upcoming cruise.:cool:

[bambidrummer]

You know what is weird about this topic and the cruises, they charge you to use the ATM and to cash a check, but you can walk into the casino and hand them your room charge/key and get cash. They don't watch to make sure you use it in the machine. So as long as you have a credit card on file you can take out cash free. Plus, you don't get charged by the credit card company for a cash advance. The other thing is that if you have a credit card that earns points for that cruise line at 5 percent you can really make out ahead.

[AndyTheK]

You know what is weird about this topic and the cruises, they charge you to use the ATM and to cash a check, but you can walk into the casino and hand them your room charge/key and get cash. They don't watch to make sure you use it in the machine. So as long as you have a credit card on file you can take out cash free. Plus, you don't get charged by the credit card company for a cash advance. The other thing is that if you have a credit card that earns points for that cruise line at 5 percent you can really make out ahead.

Which ship/line? RCCL and Princess (and IIRC Carnival) charge 3% for cash on yout ship keycard. If you set up a "slot bank" and go through the rigmarole of sitting down at a slot machine, adding funds, cashing out from the machine, then taking the card to the cage for redemption, THEN there is no fee. BUT, you are limited to 100 dollars on each redemption. Hardly seems worth the hassle. Besides that, if for some reason you do not redeem ALL the cash by the last night (DO NOT WAIT for disembarcation day - the cage os closed) you will LOSE all the money still in the "bank". No ifs and or buts.

[bambidrummer]

this past april if you walked up to the casino cashier cage on a RC ship and asked for $200 cash you got it off your room key charge card. There was no extra fee. It just listed with cash out as an entertainment expense.

[mommyto2girls]

Hey Yo Eleven ...it has been awhile!!

I really do not like the hassle of Travelers Checks. I buy myself the gift of Casino Chips when you board the gift card is waiting in the room, you take that to the Casino and they give you cash. I get a double benefit of points on the credit card I use and not having to fly with the cash. Once I am onboard I have cash waiting for my Roulette obsession. Holland America sells casino ships on the gift page as do most other lines.

[Tisty1982]

I'm confused -

 

I hear people talking about room key/charge and sea pass cards. Are these 2 different things? I'm going on the Royal Caribbean Liberty in October for my honeymoon. My fiance loves playing poker so I had planned on putting several hundred on our OBC for him to use. It appears we are better off just bringing cash? I don't like the idea of traveling with that much cash on hand, however it is better than paying the 3%...

[nancronin]

Your seapass card is also your room key - you can also use it in the casino at cashier to charge gambling money (for a 3% fee). NOt sure how you go about putting money on OBC but was told last year that I had to pay the 3% to take the cash out of our OBC's that we already had but you can cash traveler's checks free. Happy Honeymoon!

[moonandsun]

We save all of our change for 6 months and that is his casino money. Then when we return home, we start saving again for the next cruise. Since we cruise in March and Oct it works for us. It gives him a few hundred dollars and when it is gone it is gone. Gamble it all in one night or spread it out. No worries.:D

[labrat8506]

Traverler's checks are beginning to become a real pain in the arse now. Cash daily limits are being enforced (on RCCL) and take forever for them to verify them.

 

Now that AAA is doing away with them, how will you get them without a fee now? I suppose if you have an account with a bank that has them maybe you can get them there. But without that, you will be paying a fee for traverler's checks now.

 

For now on, I will probably bring cash. What sucks is if it is lost or stolen you will not ever see it again. Even those travel cards you can get come with a fee. What is so stupid is that these casinos should be paying you to play in their casinos and not charge you that ridiculous fees. It is just another way they found to rip off their players.

 

Okay....Now I'm scared. Have carnival abandoned the travelers checks??? This is my primary source of casino money. I spread out about $750.00 over a week-long cruise. I have no idea what I'll do with cash-in-hand!!! WOE IS ME.

 

What about those little Visa gift cards??? Can these be used? I DO NOT want to use a credit card for gambling!!! I rather use it for the reasons it was intended: shopping

[Casino Player]

Okay....Now I'm scared. Have carnival abandoned the travelers checks??? This is my primary source of casino money. I spread out about $750.00 over a week-long cruise. I have no idea what I'll do with cash-in-hand!!! WOE IS ME.

 

What about those little Visa gift cards??? Can these be used? I DO NOT want to use a credit card for gambling!!! I rather use it for the reasons it was intended: shopping

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO labrat8506: Relax, bring travelers checks and cash them at the Pursars Desk. Once you cash your travelers checks you will have cash-in-hand.

[Hate2Pay4Parking]

I've read on here some people bring traveler's checks to cash for the casinos, or just get money taken off their credit card (for a fee). Do others simply bring cash to gamble with? I don't want to have to pay a fee in order to pull money out to gamble with, nor hassle with traveler's checks....just curious what y'all do.

 

Thanks!

 

Kelly :)

 

I just went on the Carnival Freedom. I brought the cash I wanted to gamble with and put it in the safe. The first night my wife hit on a slot and she got paid cash for the jackpot. She had about half of that still on her account and used that to gamble with from then on. As you can tell by my screen name, I can't stand to pay the extra charges that are out there in the world, it really is the principle of the whole thing. If you don't care about paying a 3% fee to Carnival, then all the power to ya'. I won't lecture you about gambling, you are a big girl, you know what the deal is!

[Yo Eleven]

Okay....Now I'm scared. Have carnival abandoned the travelers checks??? This is my primary source of casino money. I spread out about $750.00 over a week-long cruise. I have no idea what I'll do with cash-in-hand!!! WOE IS ME.

 

What about those little Visa gift cards??? Can these be used? I DO NOT want to use a credit card for gambling!!! I rather use it for the reasons it was intended: shopping

No need to be scared. They still take them. If you are spreading out $750.00 over a week you should be okay. They will cash it in the casino. But try cashing over $1000 per day and they make a big friggin' deal about it. Idiots. Them, not you here. LOL

 

Visa gift cards suck! You will be charged ATM fees, or equivalent on them from what I understand. If you got AAA checks (no longer available) or free checks from your bank, you ended up getting no transaction fee cash.

 

Good luck on the cruise and enjoy. :D

[nancronin]

Traverler's checks are beginning to become a real pain in the arse now. Cash daily limits are being enforced (on RCCL) and take forever for them to verify them.

 

Now that AAA is doing away with them, how will you get them without a fee now? I suppose if you have an account with a bank that has them maybe you can get them there. But without that, you will be paying a fee for traverler's checks now.

 

For now on, I will probably bring cash. What sucks is if it is lost or stolen you will not ever see it again. Even those travel cards you can get come with a fee. What is so stupid is that these casinos should be paying you to play in their casinos and not charge you that ridiculous fees. It is just another way they found to rip off their players.

 

When are they doing away with them - I just got mine for cruise yesterday from AAA!:D

[Yo Eleven]

When are they doing away with them - I just got mine for cruise yesterday from AAA!:D

AAA is phasing them out by region. They just stopped selling them in my area.

 

Expect the same where you live. Your turn will come.