Cashing out gift cards in casino

[Galatz]

I have seen this talked about several times over the years, went back and searched and cannot really find concrete answers so I am hoping someone can help me on this.

 

I have a large amount of gift cards over what I need due to changes, so I want to cash them out on my next cruise.

 

My understanding is I go into the casino, create a players account and select I want to transfer money from OBC to the casino. This is where things get grey to me. I have seen people say they could do $100 at a time, some say $50 and I have seen others say they were limited to $10.

 

Let's say I transfer whatever the limit is over, I play 1 quarter, and then can cash out and get a slip for cashing out. Once thats done I can go through the same process again. Once I have enough slips (lets say $2,000 worth) I go and get $2,000 in cash, and I walk away correct?

 

If I wanted to do all $2,000 at once how long will this process take? I don't want to sit there for hours while on vacation. My wife and I sit for hours in the lobby playing scrabble listening to the violinists play, and if I know what is good for me, I can't cut too much time out of that to cash out these gift cards.

 

Thanks

[mommyof3texans]

I do not remember all the denominations available to charge to my sign and sail card but I know it was at least $100 available but I think there were even higher denominations. The slots on the Dream did not provide slips, you just cash out to your sign and sail card and take that to the cashier to cash out. Rinse and repeat as often as you need to. 

[BTHodgeman]

You should be able to download what you want as a room charge - up to either $3k or 5k per day. On many ships, once you remove your card, any amount that you downloaded to the machine will "cash out" to a separate account tracked by your S&S card. You can go to the cashier at any time to cash out that separate balance.

 

I have heard of scenarios where they will restrict you from charging to your room account without playing, but as a player have never experienced that myself. To be on the safe side, I would download $500 at a time, play a few spins, and repeat. 

[Organized Chaos]

I'm not sure what the limit is, I haven't actually done this myself. I was going to earlier this month when I had a little bit left on my account from a gift card, but we're going again in March, so I just elected to have them mail us a new gift card. But like you, I've seen a lot of talk about it. Typically, you want to play once or twice so as not to make it blatantly obvious that all you want to do is cash out gift cards. I think they know this happens, but people are encouraged to play a little bit so Carnival doesn't put a stop to this method. If you're looking to cash out a large amount like $2,000, I would definitely play more than once or twice. You could also spread it out throughout your cruise. It'd be somewhat inconvenient, but would keep you from being there for a long period of time all at once. If you have to lose $10-$20 bucks in order to cash out the rest and not look like you're trying to blatantly "game the system," no pun intended, that might be best.

[bluesman0711]

I can't say what the highest amount you can charge from your account is, but I charged $300 at one time to use my remaining gift card obc on the Magic a couple weeks ago. A couple spins on a Hot 21 machine and I won $68, cashed out to my player bank, and then went to the casino cashier and cashed out. No problem. Can't guarantee you'll be lucky though.

[Galatz]

Thanks all, sounds like its worth the work and hopefully not too much work