Considering Leaving NCL for another line

[clcjdn]

Brush off or not the points will roll over for 18 months so you do not lose them though if under 2500 points that will greatly affect your next comp as insides generally start around 2700-2800 points, though if you travel with another gambler they will take that into account.

I like you have always been hot or golden but I have never felt like I gotten the brush off from any of the hosts from the moment I walk in the casino. They will check on me multiple times a day to see if I need anything. When close to tiering back up they will come and let me know how short I am so I can make sure to bank the points. I find the hosts very attentive, especially on the BA.

 

As I think on it more, maybe the brush off was more specific to the Epic in 2015. Had good results on the Breakaway and Getaway the last couple of times. The Jewel was probably in between. The Epic sticks out, so it probably jaded my previous comments.

[Sand and Seas]

As I think on it more, maybe the brush off was more specific to the Epic in 2015. Had good results on the Breakaway and Getaway the last couple of times. The Jewel was probably in between. The Epic sticks out, so it probably jaded my previous comments.

 

The Escape casino was great too. As busy as they are, Christina was really nice and easy to talk to. If you didn't 'spend' your points from a prior cruise, make sure you stop at the desk early in the cruise and tell them what ship and when you cruised. They will then check and transfer your unused points over to current cruise.

[Casino Comp Chick]

The Escape casino was great too. As busy as they are, Christina was really nice and easy to talk to. If you didn't 'spend' your points from a prior cruise, make sure you stop at the desk early in the cruise and tell them what ship and when you cruised. They will then check and transfer your unused points over to current cruise.

 

Christina is on the BA now along with Alexandria, Shamma just left for vacation and will joining the Getaway on her next contract.

[tel2]

As I think on it more, maybe the brush off was more specific to the Epic in 2015. Had good results on the Breakaway and Getaway the last couple of times. The Jewel was probably in between. The Epic sticks out, so it probably jaded my previous comments.

 

My experience on the Epic this summer was the same as yours.... I earned just short of 15000 points on that cruise, and was never once approached by anyone, even though I was in a comped suite. No one checked on me, sent me anything, asked if I needed anything. It was a stark contrast to how I have been treated on every other NCL ship, and like night and day from the Breakaway, which I've cruised on 4 times, where the hosts and manager are on the floor, constantly checking on you, asking if you need anything.

 

I am usually VIP or Golden, but based on the timing of my last cruise, when I boarded the Epic late this spring I had dropped down to Hot because of the timing issues. The timing was that I took a 14 day cruise in January 2015, and then April 2016 was my next NCL cruise. So, I lost my status. But I knew I was gambling enough that it would likely get back to golden. But there was a problem on the last two nights with the reader screens, where point totals would not come up -- they said there was a software problem and they were working on it.

 

When I went to speak to the casino manager on the Epic, on 2 different occasions about the status of the reader screens and my point total (they could see it, we just couldn't), he continued working on his computer until he was ready to speak to me, leaving me standing there without even an acknowledgement, although he clearly saw me. And, when I approached him on the final night and requested that they comp off $240 or so dollars in 3% convenience fees, he first said no and told me I was just short of golden status, (14428 points) and they only did that for golden and above. I basically threw a hissy fit, and there were people behind me and all around. They couldn't have told me I was that close?????? NOOOOOO. In any event, I was bitchy enough I guess that he eventually comped off both the 3% fees and a few hundred more in spa services. But he clearly was not going to do it until I pressed the issue in a not so pleasant manner.

 

Again, the contrast to how I was treated on the Breakaway, Jewel, Gen and Pearl was like night and day compared to this experience....

 

 

Terry

[gl1200a]

I have thought about switching to another cruise line but I would have to pay for the first cruise and the cost can really add up when you factor in airfare and hotel. I've been Golden for the past couple of years on NCL and I usually get decent offers from CAS for balcony or mini suites and some with slot tournaments or other incentives. My last offer is for a European cruise that includes airfare, hotel and transfers. It's only an inside cabin but I was pleasantly surprised that I got the offer at all. We're thinking about upgrading to a balcony but that would cost more than the cruise itself. We also got the UBP and free internet. All in it cost us $483.00 pp. including the gratuities for the beverage plan. This offer was too good to pass up, so I'll be sticking with NCL as long as they keep sending offers like this one.

 

I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk of this offer.

It's by far the best offer I have ever received from ANY casino. When I called about it I was offered a mini like usual.

So for around 900 bucks total, going to Europe. Airfare, hotel, transfers taken cared of. Had no real desire to go to Europe, but with an offer like this, it's a no brainer.

 

I agree that the perks of CAS are not what they once were, however for me the cruise comps remain the same. Now with the previous posts about the Epic, I'm curious to see how it goes with the hosts. :D

[CTSandy]

Back from my Bermuda cruise on the Summit and, as promised, commenting with a few thoughts. We were comped an Aqua cabin on the 11th deck - loved it! Casino paytables (I play video poker) were the same as on NCL, bad! The slot club is not as transparent as NCL, where the different levels are defined by the number of points earned. Apparently you have to be rated on Celebrity, I never bothered to check my rating with the casino manager. I did talk to someone who told me he was the third highest player on this cruise, he had spoken to the casino manager about some adjustments on his bill and the manager had told him they don't really do that, but eventually said they would look at his bill before the end of the cruise.

 

Several people I talked to that had sailed other lines (and played in their casinos) commented that they were used to receiving bottles of wine sent to their staterooms or comped dinners at specialties, but it apparently doesn't happen on Celebrity. That may have been because we were first time players/cruisers on their line.

 

It was wonderful to play in a casino that was smoke free and that was a big plus for me. I thought it was odd that there was no floor cocktail service early in the day - I'm used to having coffee or cappuccino while I'm playing in the morning on NCL, floor service appeared later in the afternoon.

 

Food was very good - our assigned dining room was Blu, great staff, enjoyable meals, pleasant people dining in our proximity - loved this. If I cruise Celebrity again, I would definitely want to upgrade to Aqua Class to enjoy this benefit.

 

Cruised out of NJ for Bermuda, we're from CT so terminal location was perfect for us. No traffic to speak of early on a Sunday, so we zipped over the George Washington and were at port in two hours. We had to leave Bermuda nine hours early because of Hermine, sail back was a little rough on Friday, we docked at Bayonne on Saturday night and disembarked doing walk off on Sunday morning at a little after 7 AM.

 

I really enjoyed this cruise - not as much to offer in entertainment as a ship like Breakaway, but a beautiful cabin and large balcony compensated for that. We had breakfast on the balcony one morning, no charge for room service and an extensive menu. I'm not sure if regular cabins were offered the same menu - I read somewhere about Aqua having "enhanced" menus, so there may be some differences there. About 300 kids on board, but not that visible and I didn't perceive any problems. Breakaway had over 1200 kids the same trip and we talked to some passengers that were complaining about that.

 

One of the least expensive cruises ever for me - no NCF charge, only port fees and taxes, plus the regular gratuity/daily service charges. If offered another cruise on Celebrity, I would take advantage of it.

 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us CTSandy!

 

You said your assigned dining was at Blu. Was it an assigned table with assigned table-mates, etc?

 

Please let us know if they start offering you more cruises. I guess one of the reasons we have stuck with NCL is the ease of getting the 'comped' cruises....that cost us a little;)

[CTSandy]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us CTSandy!

 

You said your assigned dining was at Blu. Was it an assigned table with assigned table-mates, etc?

 

Please let us know if they start offering you more cruises. I guess one of the reasons we have stuck with NCL is the ease of getting the 'comped' cruises....that cost us a little;)

 

We didn't have an assigned table, but pretty much got seated in the same section with the same waitstaff each night. We did choose to dine fairly early - 6 to 6:30 each evening, and the dining room wasn't full at that time.

 

If I get any offers for reduced or free sailings, I'll share the info. I have a pretty good idea of play required to qualify for a comped balcony cabin on NCL. I played approximately the same on the Summit, so we'll see what happens with offers.

[WonderMan3]

Back from my Bermuda cruise on the Summit and, as promised, commenting with a few thoughts. We were comped an Aqua cabin on the 11th deck - loved it! Casino paytables (I play video poker) were the same as on NCL, bad! The slot club is not as transparent as NCL, where the different levels are defined by the number of points earned. Apparently you have to be rated on Celebrity, I never bothered to check my rating with the casino manager. I did talk to someone who told me he was the third highest player on this cruise, he had spoken to the casino manager about some adjustments on his bill and the manager had told him they don't really do that, but eventually said they would look at his bill before the end of the cruise.

 

Several people I talked to that had sailed other lines (and played in their casinos) commented that they were used to receiving bottles of wine sent to their staterooms or comped dinners at specialties, but it apparently doesn't happen on Celebrity. That may have been because we were first time players/cruisers on their line.

 

It was wonderful to play in a casino that was smoke free and that was a big plus for me. I thought it was odd that there was no floor cocktail service early in the day - I'm used to having coffee or cappuccino while I'm playing in the morning on NCL, floor service appeared later in the afternoon.

 

Food was very good - our assigned dining room was Blu, great staff, enjoyable meals, pleasant people dining in our proximity - loved this. If I cruise Celebrity again, I would definitely want to upgrade to Aqua Class to enjoy this benefit.

 

Cruised out of NJ for Bermuda, we're from CT so terminal location was perfect for us. No traffic to speak of early on a Sunday, so we zipped over the George Washington and were at port in two hours. We had to leave Bermuda nine hours early because of Hermine, sail back was a little rough on Friday, we docked at Bayonne on Saturday night and disembarked doing walk off on Sunday morning at a little after 7 AM.

 

I really enjoyed this cruise - not as much to offer in entertainment as a ship like Breakaway, but a beautiful cabin and large balcony compensated for that. We had breakfast on the balcony one morning, no charge for room service and an extensive menu. I'm not sure if regular cabins were offered the same menu - I read somewhere about Aqua having "enhanced" menus, so there may be some differences there. About 300 kids on board, but not that visible and I didn't perceive any problems. Breakaway had over 1200 kids the same trip and we talked to some passengers that were complaining about that.

 

One of the least expensive cruises ever for me - no NCF charge, only port fees and taxes, plus the regular gratuity/daily service charges. If offered another cruise on Celebrity, I would take advantage of it.

 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Just to clarify how Celebrity's Blue Chip Club works, you are correct in that you need to be rated. If it's your first cruise with them they will monitor your play and at some point during the cruise if they feel your play is rated high enough they may make an offer for you to join the club. I'm not clear on how that rating works exactly. On our first Celebrity cruise in 2013 we played every day in the casino for a few hours at a time but did not rate enough apparently to be invited to join. In 2014 we did a similar amount of play and by the end of that cruise the host approached us and gave us invites into the club.

 

The club membership will get you expedited boarding, treats in your cabin and free drinks in the casino. (All of that is pretty useless to us as we travel in suites which include priority boarding and in-cabin treats and we always get a beverage package) The main benefit though is that at the conclusion of each cruise your play will be rated and you earn comp money to put towards your next Celebrity cruise departing within one year of the end of your previous cruise. For example, on our cruise this past January my husband and I earned a combined $6000 in comp money which we put towards a cruise this coming January. Depending on the cabin category we could've basically had a free cruise, but we travel in suites on 14 day itineraries so it just reduced the price of our cruise. You also will get offers for free or reduced price cruises throughout the year, sometimes including slot tournaments. Those are on specific ships and dates though so they've never worked for us. On those I've never seen an offer higher than a concierge class cabin. They do not offer any reduction off the bill of the current cruise like some of the other cruise lines do.

 

There is a special warning though. Beware of comps that the casino host may offer you during the cruise. They might offer you free meals in specialty restaurants, massages in the spa, bottles of wine, etc. On our 2015 cruise we accepted several of these free offers and it wound up impacting the discount we received for our next cruise. We played about the same amount in 2015 as 2016 but got around $2000 less in comp money from the 2015 cruise because we accepted comps onboard. The agent I spoke to at Blue Chip did not say that definitively happened to our account but she did confirm that comps accepted on board generally will impact the amount of money you receive from them post-cruise. The value of the free items we got were in no way near the value of comp money that we lost. So on our 2016 cruise we declined numerous offers from the casino host for free stuff and then saw our post-cruise benefit increase.

 

Overall the hosts onboard don't have much interaction with the players. We found the hosts onboard NCL and Princess to be much more interactive and personable (except for Epic - they were totally unfriendly and non-interactive to the point that we stopped cruising with NCL after 2011). But we love the overall Celebrity cruise experience so the casino works for us enough.

[luvcruzing]

Well, I still don't get it.

 

I've taken 14 NCL cruises, first with CET certificates, and then by directly calling CAS upon the recommendations of posters on CC. I mostly play video keno -points earned the same as vp. I am Hot and sometimes Golden. My points are usually between 5,000 and 6,000. I never come home a winner even after a couple of W2Gs. My cabinmate also ends up accumulating about 5,000 points each cruise. And yet I am always only offered an inside or ocean view. I have three cruises booked, upgraded to balconies, all off season on three different ships, and the final cost is within a few dollars of each other. How some posters here get offers for suites, or Europe with air, blows my mind.

 

And, goldenrod, why are you here?

[Sand and Seas]

Well, I still don't get it.

 

I've taken 14 NCL cruises, first with CET certificates, and then by directly calling CAS upon the recommendations of posters on CC. I mostly play video keno -points earned the same as vp. I am Hot and sometimes Golden. My points are usually between 5,000 and 6,000. I never come home a winner even after a couple of W2Gs. My cabinmate also ends up accumulating about 5,000 points each cruise. And yet I am always only offered an inside or ocean view. I have three cruises booked, upgraded to balconies, all off season on three different ships, and the final cost is within a few dollars of each other. How some posters here get offers for suites, or Europe with air, blows my mind.

 

And, goldenrod, why are you here?

 

I earn the same points you do per cruise and get offers of insides or ocean views. (CET usually gives me balcony certificates.) I was told by a nice agent at CAS a year sgo that it isn't based on points earned, but amount you played in actual or theoretical losses.

 

The play requirements might have changed since then, but he said that generally for 2000 to 2900 actual or theoretical loss you would be offered an inside. For 2900 to 3500 an ocean view. It was over 3500 for a balcony and I didn't ask for above that. Since then I call them a few days after I return home from a cruise and my offers seem to follow these guidelines. I have had a couple of 'winning' trips, but most are not. For the winning trips my theoretical loss usually gave me an inside offer. For the others a ocean view offer.

 

And I'm not going to worry about Goldenrod's point of view.....we like to gamble and can afford to at these levels for our 'free' cruises;)

[goldenrod]

I agree it's your money to spend as you like. I only shot back when the poster was wineing NCL treating her unfairly, and then saying goldenrod why are here? I used to like to gamble and still play poker once a week with several other friends. And play the lottery when the jackpots become high. It's kind of like when I was in my 30's I loved video games, have not touched one in 20 years! But please enjoy your Casino play hope you do well!

 

 

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Edited October 28, 2016 by goldenrod

[Mikkar]

My experience on the Epic this summer was the same as yours.... I earned just short of 15000 points on that cruise, and was never once approached by anyone, even though I was in a comped suite. No one checked on me, sent me anything, asked if I needed anything. It was a stark contrast to how I have been treated on every other NCL ship, and like night and day from the Breakaway, which I've cruised on 4 times, where the hosts and manager are on the floor, constantly checking on you, asking if you need anything.

 

I am usually VIP or Golden, but based on the timing of my last cruise, when I boarded the Epic late this spring I had dropped down to Hot because of the timing issues. The timing was that I took a 14 day cruise in January 2015, and then April 2016 was my next NCL cruise. So, I lost my status. But I knew I was gambling enough that it would likely get back to golden. But there was a problem on the last two nights with the reader screens, where point totals would not come up -- they said there was a software problem and they were working on it.

 

When I went to speak to the casino manager on the Epic, on 2 different occasions about the status of the reader screens and my point total (they could see it, we just couldn't), he continued working on his computer until he was ready to speak to me, leaving me standing there without even an acknowledgement, although he clearly saw me. And, when I approached him on the final night and requested that they comp off $240 or so dollars in 3% convenience fees, he first said no and told me I was just short of golden status, (14428 points) and they only did that for golden and above. I basically threw a hissy fit, and there were people behind me and all around. They couldn't have told me I was that close?????? NOOOOOO. In any event, I was bitchy enough I guess that he eventually comped off both the 3% fees and a few hundred more in spa services. But he clearly was not going to do it until I pressed the issue in a not so pleasant manner.

 

Again, the contrast to how I was treated on the Breakaway, Jewel, Gen and Pearl was like night and day compared to this experience....

 

 

Terry

 

This was my experience also on the Epic last week. Never even saw the casino manager although there was a man in a suit that avoided eye contact and was always rushing here and there but never slowed down long enough to look at his name tag and the 2 hosts were terrible. I don't want to mention their names, but the man could never check anything on his computer and had to have the woman check everything and she had such a bad attitude every time you asked a question. It was so obvious that she just wanted you to go away.

[Sand and Seas]

The casino staff on the Escape were great. They kept asking me if there was anything I needed or if there was something they could help me with like booking a dinner. And I'm not the biggest player in the casino. Christina is the executive host. She told me she will be leaving Escape in January for her break and then will move to the Epic.

[Sandybea]

What kind of comps do you get from the casino at the end of your CAS cruise? What stuff do they pay for off your bill? And do they always do this or just if you lose a lot? Do the casino drink cards only cover water, soda, beer, and wine? Any other perks one can expect?

 

I'm taking my first comped CAS cruise this December and want to know what to look forward to.

 

Thanks!

 

~ Nancy : )

 

 

Hi Nancy...which cruise are you on in December?

 

Sandy...[emoji907][emoji485][emoji907]

 

 

 

 

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[nancydow]

It was last December - I went back-to-back on the Getaway from December 4-18 and it was amazing!

 

~ Nancy : )

 

 

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