Casino and Rebooking OBC

[kids-in-2-centuries]

I am wondering how this is working now, and only reading bits and pieces of what people think or what they have heard, but I haven't seen any actual experience posted yet.  I plan to use some of our rebooking OBC in the casino.  I have heard that Carnival is not allowing OBC to be cashed out, which is understandable and fine by me.  So, If I add $100 of my OBC to my card for the casino, play on it and win some...say my balance is $120 when I go to cash out...How is that going to be handled?  Will they give me $20 and leave the $100 on my card?  Can I move that $100 back to my regular account to be spent somewhere other than the casino?  What if I lose on the initial $100?  Ugg! How is this working?  It seems like it would be complicated for Carnival to sort it out.  I'm not a big gambler, but I do like to do a little bit and I don't want to lose my OBC if I decide not to use it all in the casino.  Who has first hand experience that can share info about it, OR who would you suggest I ask onboard that can explain it clearly and correctly? Casino host? Guest Services?  We are sailing on the Horizon 9/4.

[firefly333]

8 minutes ago, kids-in-2-centuries said:

I am wondering how this is working now, and only reading bits and pieces of what people think or what they have heard, but I haven't seen any actual experience posted yet.  I plan to use some of our rebooking OBC in the casino.  I have heard that Carnival is not allowing OBC to be cashed out, which is understandable and fine by me.  So, If I add $100 of my OBC to my card for the casino, play on it and win some...say my balance is $120 when I go to cash out...How is that going to be handled?  Will they give me $20 and leave the $100 on my card?  Can I move that $100 back to my regular account to be spent somewhere other than the casino?  What if I lose on the initial $100?  Ugg! How is this working?  It seems like it would be complicated for Carnival to sort it out.  I'm not a big gambler, but I do like to do a little bit and I don't want to lose my OBC if I decide not to use it all in the casino.  Who has first hand experience that can share info about it, OR who would you suggest I ask onboard that can explain it clearly and correctly? Casino host? Guest Services?  We are sailing on the Horizon 9/4.

I dont have experience other than what it says and what they do is not the same. I have not read faqs lately but you might do a search. It used to say you cant use obc for gratuities but we all know you can.

 

There is a difference in going to the casino and trying to cash out obc than winning on a slot machine and cashing that out. I have not read one post saying they couldnt cash out and if that happened it would be headlines. It hasnt happened imo. 

 

Yes I know John said you cant cash out obc, what else would you expect him to say. I'd wait for a actual report of it happening.

[UpstateCruizer]

I’m following this as well since we have a ridiculous amount of OBC and we enjoy the casino. It would seem that things would be quite complicated trying to keep track and move money back and forth. 
 

I think we are going to have to wait until actual cruisers return and share their experiences with us. It’s never been allowed to move OBC to the casino bank and then cash out what’s left ….but it’s always been done without any issue. 

[i00762]

In the past, OBC was simply a bottom line deduction from your total Sail & Sign bill you received at the end of the cruise.  They don't move it between the casino and your account.  Any money you put on your S&S card for the casino, be it via cash into a slot machine or via a charge to your S&S, will be given back to you when you cash out at the Casino cage the last night of your cruise.

 

So, say you charge a few drinks to your S&S, go to one of the specialty restaurants, and have the gratuities added to your bill on-board (not pre-pay them before sailing), and your total S&S bill at the end of the cruise was $500.  If you had $100 of OBC, this would be deducted from the bill and you would owe $400.

 

When we have OBC, we don't pre-pay our gratuities so we can use the OBC (at least some of it) to cover them.  The OBC will also cover any drinks we don't get while paying in the casino and will cover the tips we give for the drinks we do get in the casino.

[MrMarc]

Because they now have millions of dollars in OBC that they have given away, I would not be surprised to see them close the casino loophole.  I would be sad, because I too was planning to use most of my OBC for the casino and possibly gratuities.  However, I will not be upset if they change the rules, because I can see a rational reason they would do so.  At $600 per cabin rebooked, that's a lot of free play in the casino, and potentially a huge cash loss.

[mollygirl]

You can use your OBC in the slots.  The catch is you need to play through whatever amount you charge to your room before you can cash out any winnings.  Before COVID you could do this and almost immediately cash out and walk away with the OBC in cash.  They have put a stop to that practice.  Or at least that is what the boards are saying.  Guess we’ll find out when we get on our first cruise.

[babyclaytonmom]

Anyone cruise in the past couple weeks and can verify or negate this? Have $600 OBC on our 4 night cruise this week. No way will be spend that much even using with gratuities.

[Bases5]

The issue here is terminology 

The difference is Casino Cash and OBC 

Carnival closed the loop hole on Casino Cash both on the slots and table games. 
OBC can still be converted to real cash in the casino. 

[Brkintx]

53 minutes ago, babyclaytonmom said:

Anyone cruise in the past couple weeks and can verify or negate this? Have $600 OBC on our 4 night cruise this week. No way will be spend that much even using with gratuities.

I actually tested this, partly.  
I sailed on the Breeze end July/beginning Aug. I had $100 OBC for my half of the deposit and $1k in free play. In the casino, playing slots, my options were to: 

• Download free play to the machine (preset or other amounts)
• Charge to S&S account 
• Download from my casino bank (which was $0 at first)

I downloaded $100 on the first machine I played through that $100 and won about $80 from that. I decided to change machines, pulled my card. The $80ish went back into my player bank. 
Next machine, I charged $100 to my S&S account. —> $100 on machine. Played one spin, pulled card —> $94 back into bank. Checked my S&S account, balance = $0. 

I feel very confident that I could have cashed out that bank, but I did not try at thar point as I still had $900 in free play available. 

I also didn’t test whether pulling my card before playing thru whatever free play was downloaded would result in it returning to free play or player bank. On land casinos, free play downloaded to a particular machine stays on that machine if you cash out, so I assumed this is the case on ship as well. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Brkintx
Typos

[arkaine23]

My wife played $50 OBC on slots and won/cashed out about $15.

 

I paid a 3% service fee and turned $150 OBC into chips at a roulette table.  I played for a couple of hours spread out on 3 different days and made outside bets.  I turned that $150 into about $450.  I even won a side bet my wife proposed about tripling my bankroll from $50 to $150 one night.

 

Ultimately, I didn't walk away as soon as I should have, and spent a little into my winnings.  After service fees, 3 drinks, and a few dealer tips all spent while gambling, I walked away with $200 cash plus the $15 my wife won.

 

 

The real win will be if those hours and $'s spent at table games might result in us getting casino rate offers and drinks on us offers in the future.

Edited September 6, 2021 by arkaine23

[Elaine5715]

John has no accurate information about what works or does not work in the casino because the casino is not operated by Carnival.  

[babyclaytonmom]

3 hours ago, arkaine23 said:

My wife played $50 OBC on slots and won/cashed out about $15.

 

I paid a 3% service fee and turned $150 OBC into chips at a roulette table.  I played for a couple of hours spread out on 3 different days and made outside bets.  I turned that $150 into about $450.  I even won a side bet my wife proposed about tripling my bankroll from $50 to $150 one night.

 

Ultimately, I didn't walk away as soon as I should have, and spent a little into my winnings.  After service fees, 3 drinks, and a few dealer tips all spent while gambling, I walked away with $200 cash plus the $15 my wife won.

 

 

The real win will be if those hours and $'s spent at table games might result in us getting casino rate offers and drinks on us offers in the future.

But were any of these OBCs from cancelled cruises? The 300 or 600$ for rebooking?

[Bases5]

41 minutes ago, babyclaytonmom said:

But were any of these OBCs from cancelled cruises? The 300 or 600$ for rebooking?

Yes and yes   

[arkaine23]

6 hours ago, babyclaytonmom said:

But were any of these OBCs from cancelled cruises? The 300 or 600$ for rebooking?

Yes, the $600 2020 rebooking credit that followed us across 4 rebookings, until we finally sailed.  It got split between us 300/300 on our sail and sign accounts.

Edited September 7, 2021 by arkaine23