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Casino and OBC

pbenjamin

By pbenjamin,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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rhcp901

rhcp901

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, pbenjamin said:

I have read that you can take NCL-supplied OBC, exchange it for chips (or whatever they use in the casino), play a couple of hands and cash in, receiving cash, not OBC.  With a 1% fee.  Can anyone confirm that that works?

This is true except it is 3% charge. Just off the Breakaway on 1/27. I had $425 OBC and went to the casino one night, used room key to get $400 for craps and it came out of my OBC. I lost $50 real quick and decided to call it quits and cash out and put their money in my pocket. 

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pbenjamin

pbenjamin

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3 hours ago, Georgie562 said:

The fee is 3% and your casino account is actually locked from making any casino transactions if you don't have a registered credit/debit card with guest services.

 

How and when would I do that?  Is that just the Onboard Payment Preference that's part of the check-in process?

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Casino Comp Chick

Casino Comp Chick

Posted
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10 hours ago, jessykaw said:

I am using cash to load my account and not giving them my credit card. Am I going to have any problems in the casino as far as using my onboard account to pay for my gaming?

 

Yes, they will not allow you to download money when you have a cash account, that happened to me on the Escape last year. I went backdownstairs and added a credit card to my account and was able to download cash after that.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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14 hours ago, rhcp901 said:

This is true except it is 3% charge. Just off the Breakaway on 1/27. I had $425 OBC and went to the casino one night, used room key to get $400 for craps and it came out of my OBC. I lost $50 real quick and decided to call it quits and cash out and put their money in my pocket. 

that is what we do as well, only hubby stays away from the crap table on cruises: he sticks with slots and we do not play nearly as much as we did 10 or 20 years ago. We will usually play for an hour or so in the evening.  And yes, when we lose more than a few $$s we cash out. 

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Georgie562

Georgie562

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11 hours ago, jessykaw said:

I am using cash to load my account and not giving them my credit card. Am I going to have any problems in the casino as far as using my onboard account to pay for my gaming?

 you must have a debit/credit card registered at guest services in order to access your cash loaded on your account for casino purposes. This was my experience on Bliss in November and Epic in December 

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shout19661966

shout19661966

Posted
Posted (edited)

what I do is bring a certain amount of cash, everyone's amount will differ, to use for just the casino. 7 nights is a lot of nights to be gambling so you must have a budget and discipline. I have personally witnessed a family of 4 hard core gamblers go thru a ton of money using their key card and paying the 3%, thats not for me. Hate to get that statement at the end of a 7 day cruise.

Edited by shout19661966
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DeltaOne

DeltaOne

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On 1/29/2019 at 2:58 PM, pbenjamin said:

I have read that you can take NCL-supplied OBC, exchange it for chips (or whatever they use in the casino), play a couple of hands and cash in, receiving cash, not OBC.  With a 1% fee.  Can anyone confirm that that works?

 

I tried this last March on the Breakaway.  It did not work.  I tried several different days and was told that any chips would be charged against my credit card on file...not debited from my OBC.  Returned chips would result in a credit to the credit card.

 

I ended up using the OBC for a few purchases...jewelry, liquor...a few other things that we could take home with us.

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jessykaw

jessykaw

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Well, it looks like NCL won’t be seeing much of me in the casino then.

 

I learned a lesson the hard way on my first cruise by using my debit card for my onboard account. All my other cruises I have started my onboard account with cash, gift cards, or prepaid OBC. I could transfer money from my onboard account to my player’s account or receive cash advances at the casino cashier. It just reduced the amount of available onboard funds on my account. If my onboard account got low, I would add more cash to my onboard account.

 

I plan on starting my onboard account with $600 and I have $50 OBC from NCL. We have a drink package and will have service gratuity paid prior to the cruise. We really don’t spend any money on the ship besides the casino. If they will not allow me to use my cash funded onboard at the casino, it looks like they will be cutting me a check for a refund at the end of the cruise.

 

I don’t have high limit credit cards and the holds eat up all the available credit. This is why I use cash.

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ferg42995

ferg42995

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1 hour ago, jessykaw said:

Well, it looks like NCL won’t be seeing much of me in the casino then.

 

I learned a lesson the hard way on my first cruise by using my debit card for my onboard account. All my other cruises I have started my onboard account with cash, gift cards, or prepaid OBC. I could transfer money from my onboard account to my player’s account or receive cash advances at the casino cashier. It just reduced the amount of available onboard funds on my account. If my onboard account got low, I would add more cash to my onboard account.

 

I plan on starting my onboard account with $600 and I have $50 OBC from NCL. We have a drink package and will have service gratuity paid prior to the cruise. We really don’t spend any money on the ship besides the casino. If they will not allow me to use my cash funded onboard at the casino, it looks like they will be cutting me a check for a refund at the end of the cruise.

 

I don’t have high limit credit cards and the holds eat up all the available credit. This is why I use cash.

Have you considered keeping the cash you want for the casino in your room safe and then paying the cash directly to the casino? No fees and no credit card but you still get to play. 

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jessykaw

jessykaw

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Posted

I usually start with some cash, but move to my onboard account to fund my gaming. Since there is a minimum needed for our onboard account, a good chunk of my cash will be sitting in our onboard account, not being used. Most gambling sites prefer cash to credit, so not withdrawing funds you know are there is odd to me.

 

I don’t like the 3% transfer fee, but I could deal with it as long as I could use my onboard account.

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Georgie562

Georgie562

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, jessykaw said:

Well, it looks like NCL won’t be seeing much of me in the casino then.

 

I learned a lesson the hard way on my first cruise by using my debit card for my onboard account. All my other cruises I have started my onboard account with cash, gift cards, or prepaid OBC. I could transfer money from my onboard account to my player’s account or receive cash advances at the casino cashier. It just reduced the amount of available onboard funds on my account. If my onboard account got low, I would add more cash to my onboard account.

 

I plan on starting my onboard account with $600 and I have $50 OBC from NCL. We have a drink package and will have service gratuity paid prior to the cruise. We really don’t spend any money on the ship besides the casino. If they will not allow me to use my cash funded onboard at the casino, it looks like they will be cutting me a check for a refund at the end of the cruise.

 

I don’t have high limit credit cards and the holds eat up all the available credit. This is why I use cash.

Not a good idea.... from what i was told it will take weeks to months to get your check. They don’t give it to you at cruise end. The hold they put is for $300 on your card 

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Casino Comp Chick

Casino Comp Chick

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Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, jessykaw said:

Well, it looks like NCL won’t be seeing much of me in the casino then.

 

I learned a lesson the hard way on my first cruise by using my debit card for my onboard account. All my other cruises I have started my onboard account with cash, gift cards, or prepaid OBC. I could transfer money from my onboard account to my player’s account or receive cash advances at the casino cashier. It just reduced the amount of available onboard funds on my account. If my onboard account got low, I would add more cash to my onboard account.

 

I plan on starting my onboard account with $600 and I have $50 OBC from NCL. We have a drink package and will have service gratuity paid prior to the cruise. We really don’t spend any money on the ship besides the casino. If they will not allow me to use my cash funded onboard at the casino, it looks like they will be cutting me a check for a refund at the end of the cruise.

 

I don’t have high limit credit cards and the holds eat up all the available credit. This is why I use cash.

 

Use a card to set up account and midweek throw cash down to pay off balance and then reactivate the credit card and pay off the rest of the balance in cash at the end of the week. The prior holds from the beginning of the week will drop off though the last hold will remain a few days after. 

Edited by Casino Comp Chick
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