Pre-purchase casino credits

[FireEMT978]

2 hours ago, Uniqeni said:

How would I find out if my sailing has this option. I would love to do this. Sailing on Serenade in October this year. I don't see it in my cruise planner.

I'd suggest to keep checking under the "Internet and more" section of the cruise planner while you wait for your cruise to sail.

 

[Casino Comp Chick]

On 12/24/2018 at 7:37 PM, WahtDa said:

 

I just got off the Navigator - promo chips remain promo chips when bet is won (not replaced) - all table games can be used.  Playing 25+25 a hand I burned through all 2,200 in the first night.

 

That is such crap because if that bet was played and won, and I double up my bet I would be earning more points on the higher bet. I would not recommend this promo to anyone if they are capped at only banking 400 points total. 

 

[WahtDa]

5 hours ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

 

That is such crap because if that bet was played and won, and I double up my bet I would be earning more points on the higher bet. I would not recommend this promo to anyone if they are capped at only banking 400 points total. 

 

I'm not sure what you mean they play as cash as far as I could tell.  I usually earn around 10K points a cruise and it turned out around that for me this trip even playing the 2200 promo.

[Wally Alligator]

On 1/6/2019 at 9:30 AM, clean1owner said:

 

If you're worried about getting mugged, that is very unlikely to happen. I would be more worried about dropping 4 racks of chips on the floor and having to play 400 chip pick up. 

On Symphony they gave me what I asked for in red ($5) and green ($25) chips which added up to $600 to get me started.  The rest of the $2200 came in black ($100) with instructions to return to the cashier to exchange black for red or green promo chips.  Also found the table would break down green or black for red promo chips if they had them in the tray.  Took around 8 hours of playing UTH at $10 minimum to play through all $2200 of the promo chips.  After that I have been losing real chips.  UTH has been brutal to lots of us this trip.  George

[clean1owner]

22 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

If it’s not in your cruise planner it’s not offered.  Keep checking though as it may get added closer to your sail date.

 

 

It was available on my cruise planner for about a week, then disappeared.

[Casino Comp Chick]

7 hours ago, WahtDa said:

 

I'm not sure what you mean they play as cash as far as I could tell.  I usually earn around 10K points a cruise and it turned out around that for me this trip even playing the 2200 promo.

 

It means if that same chip is played over and over again when you win, your only getting the value of those points once instead of multiple points with the replays.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Casino Comp Chick

[tekguy26]

Here’s an example of why prepaying may end up being s bad idea. We’re currently on Oasis Jan 6 sailing from Port Canaveral, and norovirus broke out. My brother is quarantined in his cabin. I wonder if they would refund unused or partially used credits under those circumstances where you can’t physically be at the casino to use your credits. We did not buy the credits, but was tempted.

[FireEMT978]

3 hours ago, tekguy26 said:

Here’s an example of why prepaying may end up being s bad idea. We’re currently on Oasis Jan 6 sailing from Port Canaveral, and norovirus broke out. My brother is quarantined in his cabin. I wonder if they would refund unused or partially used credits under those circumstances where you can’t physically be at the casino to use your credits. We did not buy the credits, but was tempted.

I would have to believe, that because he is quarantined by this ships staff, that it would be refunded.

Just because, it is Royal Caribbean that is "Preventing" him from gambling the funds. Sorry to hear that he is sick. That would really suck. I couldn't even imagine being in that scenario. 

[clean1owner]

5 hours ago, tekguy26 said:

Here’s an example of why prepaying may end up being s bad idea. We’re currently on Oasis Jan 6 sailing from Port Canaveral, and norovirus broke out. My brother is quarantined in his cabin. I wonder if they would refund unused or partially used credits under those circumstances where you can’t physically be at the casino to use your credits. We did not buy the credits, but was tempted.

 

 

And now, due to the Noro outbreak, Oasis is headed back to port!  

 

How is that going to affect those who have purchased the package?

[suesnake2002]

Someone in my roll call for granduer 4/6 pointed out that you can purchase slots and or chips prior to the cruise. It is found in the internet and more section. 

For $500 you get $25 in free play and a $5 scratch off. They start at $500. 

 Now the catch, you can not share. And you can not cash any leftover credits in for money. 

I have two questions:

 1) any one done this??

 2) Does any one know positively if they have let it ride on granduer

[dodgestang]

I was very unhappy with this program.  I bought free play casino chips and it was explained to work one way when I purchased and worked different in action on the ship.

 

The crux of this issue is....if you buy free play chips....say you buy $500 in free play for table games....you get $525 in free play chips and you have to bet it all till it is gone....not bet it once and if you lose you lost, but if you win the free play is replaced with real chips....NO

 

You bet free play chips....and if you win....you still have your original bet in free play chips that you have to bet again, and again, and again until they are gone.  So if you are thinking...I can run through $500 pretty quick and convert it all to regular chips you are mistaken....you are basically saying when you buy into the free play program that you will lose $500....not that you will wager $500.

[bowler15547]

Seems as the promo slot play works the same as a land casino, you cash out actually won. Now my question is, is the machine smart enough to play through the promo play first before using up the winnings or should you cash out every time you win? That could potentially be a lot of vouchers. 

[Wally Alligator]

58 minutes ago, bowler15547 said:

Seems as the promo slot play works the same as a land casino, you cash out actually won. Now my question is, is the machine smart enough to play through the promo play first before using up the winnings or should you cash out every time you win? That could potentially be a lot of vouchers. 

Transfer $100 onto the machine and push the $3 button 34 times ($3 X 34 = $102).  Then cash out to a voucher.  Repeat 21 more times to use up the $2,200. 

George

[RC_Cruisers]

1 hour ago, bowler15547 said:

Seems as the promo slot play works the same as a land casino, you cash out actually won. Now my question is, is the machine smart enough to play through the promo play first before using up the winnings or should you cash out every time you win? That could potentially be a lot of vouchers. 

 

Yes they are, it will play through your promo amount before using anything you've won on that session on that machine.

[ZoeyVictoria]

On 1/10/2019 at 1:59 PM, tekguy26 said:

Here’s an example of why prepaying may end up being s bad idea. We’re currently on Oasis Jan 6 sailing from Port Canaveral, and norovirus broke out. My brother is quarantined in his cabin. I wonder if they would refund unused or partially used credits under those circumstances where you can’t physically be at the casino to use your credits. We did not buy the credits, but was tempted.

 

That was my concern, way back on the first day of this thread.  If not quarantined but still sick, would you be stuck with chips you cannot use, since they cannot be transferred to another player?

[Drunken Crab]

I just got off the Harmony and bought $2,000 slots for the wife and I.  I also did $500 in table games for me.

 

With the table games you play the promo chip until you lose it.  They pay the "win" on the chip in real chips.  On day one I went to the cage and our slot play was loaded to our card and they gave me 5- $100 chips and 5- $5.  When I wanted to play table games I cashed in the $100 chip for a smaller denomination.  As far as someone else playing the chips you bought, not sure how they track it.  All the promo chips are the same, so unless it is noted and look for when they plug your card in at the table, that's the only way I think they could track it.

 

On the slots, you do lose the money you pull off your card and don't play.  I counted my button pushes and would cash out when I used the free play.  I'd take more promo money out on the next machine, count the pulls, and before I cashed out I'd plug the first winning ticket in and then cashed out.  That way I wasn't carrying  around 20 cash tickets and I could easily track my winnings.  It was a pain counting, but the 10% extra promo was probably worth it.

 

I cruise about once a year on whatever ship/cruise line that fits my needs so I didn't track my comp play too much.  Although, I did get a balcony certificate and my wife an interior certificate for a free cruise.  I was really impressed with the Harmony and will probably take them up on their offer in the near future.

[RC_Cruisers]

9 minutes ago, Drunken Crab said:

I just got off the Harmony and bought $2,000 slots for the wife and I.  I also did $500 in table games for me.

 

With the table games you play the promo chip until you lose it.  They pay the "win" on the chip in real chips.  On day one I went to the cage and our slot play was loaded to our card and they gave me 5- $100 chips and 5- $5.  When I wanted to play table games I cashed in the $100 chip for a smaller denomination.  As far as someone else playing the chips you bought, not sure how they track it.  All the promo chips are the same, so unless it is noted and look for when they plug your card in at the table, that's the only way I think they could track it.

 

On the slots, you do lose the money you pull off your card and don't play.  I counted my button pushes and would cash out when I used the free play.  I'd take more promo money out on the next machine, count the pulls, and before I cashed out I'd plug the first winning ticket in and then cashed out.  That way I wasn't carrying  around 20 cash tickets and I could easily track my winnings.  It was a pain counting, but the 10% extra promo was probably worth it.

 

I cruise about once a year on whatever ship/cruise line that fits my needs so I didn't track my comp play too much.  Although, I did get a balcony certificate and my wife an interior certificate for a free cruise.  I was really impressed with the Harmony and will probably take them up on their offer in the near future.

 

You actually don't have to count your button pushes, if you cash out before you've played through the promotion play deposited into each slot machine the ticket prints only what you've won and leaves the remaining promotional amount that still has to be played.

Edited January 14, 2019 by RC_Cruisers
response

[PigsCanFly]

On 1/14/2019 at 10:46 AM, suesnake2002 said:

Someone in my roll call for granduer 4/6 pointed out that you can purchase slots and or chips prior to the cruise. It is found in the internet and more section. 

For $500 you get $25 in free play and a $5 scratch off. They start at $500. 

 Now the catch, you can not share. And you can not cash any leftover credits in for money. 

I have two questions:

 1) any one done this??

 2) Does any one know positively if they have let it ride on granduer

We just got off GotS last Saturday.  I did $1000 (+$75) and my son did $500(+$25).

I played thru the 1000 on 3 card poker and left tht day with ~1000 "real" chips.  My son ended with ~$250 "real".  Neither scratch paid.  GotS knew how to deal with the Promo chips.

I wish they did have LIR, but, alas, they did not.

[big-j1]

I did not read through all the 400+ posts, so much of this is redundant, but here are my thoughts.

 

Just back from Harmony Jan 6-12th. Wife and I did the slots. My parents did the tables. My two cents, slots are worth it, table games are not. My parents wanted a refund after they extensively questioned the casino manager about Blackjack, which the manager would not give them a refund. My father disputed the charges with American Express and got his money back.

 

We saw the entire list of people playing the promo for slots and tables. There were 38 people in total that did any of the promos on our cruise. Not a big number.

Right off the top with slot play, two people can play at the same time with promo money. Once my wife went through her promo money, she used my seapass card at the same time I did playing on the promo money. We were both logged in to two different machines in different areas of the casino at the same time on my seapass card and pulling promo money off the account. So, go for the bigger promo, get more of a benefit and put it on one card. We put $1000 on my card. and $500 on hers. We got the extra money, plus the travel points on the credit card as the credit card charge is from Royal Caribbean. It’s better than playing cash, as you get additional money and credit card points. Had I known we could both play the promo money at the same time I would have put it all on one card and got a bigger promo.

I am going to post this in any post about the promo as I see people saying they ‘converted’ their promo chips to real chips. There is no way to ‘convert’ promo chips to real chips as in the table games where your winning bet stays on the table and that winning bet stays as promo. The additional money won are real chips, but the promo money originally bet stays as promo money. They only way to get rid of the promo chips is to lose the bet.

Slots you cash out your winnings with a paper ticket or transfer them to your room account. You have three separate accounts on your seapass card, promo cash, room credit, and points accumulated. The amount of promo money you put into a machine you must play. What we did was put $10 on the machine each time. We played slots and video poker. We played $10 and what was there after playing that $10 we cashed out. Then we put another $10 in promo in to always be playing the promo money. We would up with a load of paper slips at the end of each night. If we played $100 in promo money and we had $100 in paper slips at the end of the night, we broke even. We could have transferred that to our room account and played it later or collected it in cash at the end, but it was kind of fun to cash in the tickets each night and walk away with cash. If we originally bought $1000 in promo money and we converted that into a real $1000 at the end of the cruise, we broke even. If we have less, we lost. If we have more, we won. We kept our casino cash separate from our spending cash to see where we were after the promo money was gone.

Why I say slots are worth it and tables are not. With slots, when you win you do not keep your original promo bet, but you get the full win in real money. In tables when you win your promo money stays and you also get real money. So, on tables you must LOSE all of your original promo buy. With slots you must PLAY all of your original promo buy. With tables your bet stays when you win, and you additionally get more real money. With slots your bet is gone when you win, and the payout is all in real money.

Again, (I know I am being repetitive) the way I see it is with the slots promo you are guaranteeing that you must PLAY the promo money and you are never paid with promo money and/or your bet does not stand. When you play a slot, your initial bet is gone, and your win gets paid in full with real money. With tables you are guaranteeing that you must LOSE the promo money, as any win you still have your promo money as your promo money bet stays. Very basic table idea, If I bet $10 in promo and won, now I still have $10 in promo and whatever additional in real. Your original bet does not convert to real money, it stays on the table as $10 in promo. You must lose that promo money bet for it to go away. Now in the end you may come out ahead, but there is no way to 'convert' the promo chips to real money. You must lose the promo money.

With that let me say that the slots all were tighter than anything I have ever seen. We spent at least two to four hours a day in total in the casino. My wife smokes, so when she wanted a smoke if we were closer to the casino than the top deck, we went to the casino and played a little. We had a lot of gambler friends with us on this cruise also, so we all hung out there every evening. We watched a lot of slot play and never saw anyone win anything substantial. We never won anything substantial and, in the end, we lost $400. I am fine with that as we probably played about $3000 through the machines and tables. So, around 48 hours of entertainment for the two of us and we paid $400 for that 48 hours of entertainment. Obviously, we would like to go to the casino to win, but also, we go to the casino to have a good time. If we lose, but not lose our butts, we still had a good time in the end.

[later]

8 hours ago, big-j1 said:

I did not read through all the 400+ posts, so much of this is redundant, but here are my thoughts.

 

Just back from Harmony Jan 6-12th. Wife and I did the slots. My parents did the tables. My two cents, slots are worth it, table games are not. My parents wanted a refund after they extensively questioned the casino manager about Blackjack, which the manager would not give them a refund. My father disputed the charges with American Express and got his money back.

 

We saw the entire list of people playing the promo for slots and tables. There were 38 people in total that did any of the promos on our cruise. Not a big number.

 

 

Right off the top with slot play, two people can play at the same time with promo money. Once my wife went through her promo money, she used my seapass card at the same time I did playing on the promo money. We were both logged in to two different machines in different areas of the casino at the same time on my seapass card and pulling promo money off the account. So, go for the bigger promo, get more of a benefit and put it on one card. We put $1000 on my card. and $500 on hers. We got the extra money, plus the travel points on the credit card as the credit card charge is from Royal Caribbean. It’s better than playing cash, as you get additional money and credit card points. Had I known we could both play the promo money at the same time I would have put it all on one card and got a bigger promo.

 

 

I am going to post this in any post about the promo as I see people saying they ‘converted’ their promo chips to real chips. There is no way to ‘convert’ promo chips to real chips as in the table games where your winning bet stays on the table and that winning bet stays as promo. The additional money won are real chips, but the promo money originally bet stays as promo money. They only way to get rid of the promo chips is to lose the bet.

 

 

Slots you cash out your winnings with a paper ticket or transfer them to your room account. You have three separate accounts on your seapass card, promo cash, room credit, and points accumulated. The amount of promo money you put into a machine you must play. What we did was put $10 on the machine each time. We played slots and video poker. We played $10 and what was there after playing that $10 we cashed out. Then we put another $10 in promo in to always be playing the promo money. We would up with a load of paper slips at the end of each night. If we played $100 in promo money and we had $100 in paper slips at the end of the night, we broke even. We could have transferred that to our room account and played it later or collected it in cash at the end, but it was kind of fun to cash in the tickets each night and walk away with cash. If we originally bought $1000 in promo money and we converted that into a real $1000 at the end of the cruise, we broke even. If we have less, we lost. If we have more, we won. We kept our casino cash separate from our spending cash to see where we were after the promo money was gone.

 

 

Why I say slots are worth it and tables are not. With slots, when you win you do not keep your original promo bet, but you get the full win in real money. In tables when you win your promo money stays and you also get real money. So, on tables you must LOSE all of your original promo buy. With slots you must PLAY all of your original promo buy. With tables your bet stays when you win, and you additionally get more real money. With slots your bet is gone when you win, and the payout is all in real money.

 

 

Again, (I know I am being repetitive) the way I see it is with the slots promo you are guaranteeing that you must PLAY the promo money and you are never paid with promo money and/or your bet does not stand. When you play a slot, your initial bet is gone, and your win gets paid in full with real money. With tables you are guaranteeing that you must LOSE the promo money, as any win you still have your promo money as your promo money bet stays. Very basic table idea, If I bet $10 in promo and won, now I still have $10 in promo and whatever additional in real. Your original bet does not convert to real money, it stays on the table as $10 in promo. You must lose that promo money bet for it to go away. Now in the end you may come out ahead, but there is no way to 'convert' the promo chips to real money. You must lose the promo money.

 

 

With that let me say that the slots all were tighter than anything I have ever seen. We spent at least two to four hours a day in total in the casino. My wife smokes, so when she wanted a smoke if we were closer to the casino than the top deck, we went to the casino and played a little. We had a lot of gambler friends with us on this cruise also, so we all hung out there every evening. We watched a lot of slot play and never saw anyone win anything substantial. We never won anything substantial and, in the end, we lost $400. I am fine with that as we probably played about $3000 through the machines and tables. So, around 48 hours of entertainment for the two of us and we paid $400 for that 48 hours of entertainment. Obviously, we would like to go to the casino to win, but also, we go to the casino to have a good time. If we lose, but not lose our butts, we still had a good time in the end.

 

How did you have 2 cards under one person.  If your card is not in the machine after you load the money you won’t receive any points for your play.

[proggieus]

N

On 1/6/2019 at 8:39 AM, clean1owner said:

 

 

That is very typical of cruise ship slots. They get tighter as the week goes on. By the end of the week, they squeek.

No, its not.

 

The odds can only be changed by having new factory ROM chips installed,

 

they do not change at any time of the week.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

Bummer my Serenade 10 night cruise in March is NOT offering the prepay casino offer. 😞

[RC_Cruisers]

5 minutes ago, scorpluvsdolphins said:

Bummer my Serenade 10 night cruise in March is NOT offering the prepay casino offer. 😞

 

Check back closer to your sailing date, some have commented it was added 6 weeks or so prior to their cruise.

[clean1owner]

15 hours ago, proggieus said:

N

No, its not.

 

The odds can only be changed by having new factory ROM chips installed,

 

they do not change at any time of the week.

 

And those chips can be changed in a minute.

 

Some machines have software that can be adjusted remotely. 

 

So, unless you are watching any particular machine 24/7, you have no idea whether or not it has been adjusted.

[FireEMT978]

9 hours ago, clean1owner said:

 

And those chips can be changed in a minute.

 

Some machines have software that can be adjusted remotely. 

 

So, unless you are watching any particular machine 24/7, you have no idea whether or not it has been adjusted.

They are called "Central Server" machines. They have been out for quite a few years now. Pretty much all "New" style slots, can be changed "On the fly". They can change the odds at any time, any day. Even while you are playing. The odds are changed by a central computer. A sign of the times. So yes, now they can actually tighten the odds on the machines as the cruise progresses. Just another "Tool" that they have in their pocket to change our outcome. I would NEVER guess that they would change them per player. But, definitely by the day, and the amount bet, in order to win the progressives (by level).