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Blue Chip Club - Free Play based on Prior Sailing’s Gaming Activity?


SoFlaAtty
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The last time I called BCC earlier this year they were able to tell me my free play amount based on my prior cruise play. Because my tier level was in limbo (they had reactivated and then extended my Sapphire status a few times due to the Covid shutdown but it was unclear if it would still be extended through my June 2022 cruises) she gave me the free play amounts I would get based on Amethyst and Sapphire. The amounts were both above the minimum $500 or $100. She did caution me though that the amount I get onboard might be a little different as the casinos onboard she said sometimes calculate things a little differently than at BCC Miami but it should be in the same ballpark. Not sure why that is.

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Updating from my experience on Apex 12-4-2021. First time sailing since the end of 2019. All tiers extended through December 31, 2022. All prior points were reset to zero when the ships started sailing again,  and you retained your prior tier status.

For every dollar played through a slot machine, 1 point for the count towards BCC status, video poker $5 to get 1 tier point. So if you played 100 dollars on the slots, and you won 50 dollars and played it through, you would have 150 points.  You need 25,000 points for amethyst,  100,000 points to get sapphire, 500,000 for sapphire plus, 1 million for Ruby, so if you sail 4 times before the end of 2022, your accumulated points will determine the next year’s status of your tier.

For every 5 dollars cycled through a slot machine ( more for video poker $10) you earn 1 dollar of free play that must be used and played off on a slot machine or video poker machine before the end of the cruise. So if you played through 15,000 dollars on a slot machine, it equals $300 of free play, which is in addition to your tier free play guarantee on the BCC chart.

 

No access for higher level players to the Retreat, also Zeniths excluded, due to having fewer people in the lounge due to Covid policies for lessening crowds,  unless already staying in a suite. 
 

No casino reception event, no free slot tournament entry fee waived, no bottle of wine or treats sent to the room, no offers to pick up a specialty dinner or take something off for shipboard or spa charges as they would do in the past if your level of play warranted it, just going by the benefits per the chart on Celebrity’s website. I do realize that all of the budgets have been trimmed, so this did not surprise me, just stating this for others who have not been back onboard a  Celebrity ship yet under the new BCC guidelines.

 

So for some BCC players, there was a test promotion on Apex  for our sailing at Future Cruise Sales, where you could book most sailings up to a sky suite in 2022 at a discount percentage. Friends that I was traveling with who are Sapphire, received a 30% discount off their base casino fare, and they booked  a sky suite for a 2022 12 night European cruise on Apex. However, when I wanted to do a future booking, Future cruise sales could not do it, as no rate discount code was in their system for Ruby players. So Celebrity missed an opportunity for a new booking.

 

Both the Apex casino host and  casino manager sent emails to BCC management  shoreside to try and get the rate code opened, and it never happened.  I also called BCC when we were in port to try and get it resolved. The BCC staff are all really nice on the Apex, so clearly a kink in the system to be worked out shoreside.

When I got back from the cruise , I did call BCC to see what the dollars off per night to be applied to a brand new booking that was earned and received 2 different answers. I am waiting on an email response now.

 

We like Celebrity , and sail on different brands for itineraries or different experiences.

I am holding a neutral position on the BCC restart of the program. There needs to be clarity  and consistency in the program, and people can decide to participate , try and maintain, increase or decrease their tier level if it is a benefit to them.

Happy sailing everyone, and best of luck and good health for all.

 



 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by kk99
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8 hours ago, kk99 said:

There needs to be clarity  and consistency in the program, and people can decide to participate , try and maintain, increase or decrease their tier level if it is a benefit to them.

100% agree.  I like Celebrity too but this is what frustrates me about the BCC.  Having to make repeated 'in the dark' calls to inquire just ends up taking up everyone's time and not always to anyone's benefit.

__________________________________________________

Edited by poffles
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On 12/18/2021 at 7:29 PM, kk99 said:

Updating from my experience on Apex 12-4-2021. First time sailing since the end of 2019. All tiers extended through December 31, 2022. All prior points were reset to zero when the ships started sailing again,  and you retained your prior tier status.

For every dollar played through a slot machine, 1 point for the count towards BCC status, video poker $5 to get 1 tier point. So if you played 100 dollars on the slots, and you won 50 dollars and played it through, you would have 150 points.  You need 25,000 points for amethyst,  100,000 points to get sapphire, 500,000 for sapphire plus, 1 million for Ruby, so if you sail 4 times before the end of 2022, your accumulated points will determine the next year’s status of your tier.

For every 5 dollars cycled through a slot machine ( more for video poker $10) you earn 1 dollar of free play that must be used and played off on a slot machine or video poker machine before the end of the cruise. So if you played through 15,000 dollars on a slot machine, it equals $300 of free play, which is in addition to your tier free play guarantee on the BCC chart.

 

No access for higher level players to the Retreat, also Zeniths excluded, due to having fewer people in the lounge due to Covid policies for lessening crowds,  unless already staying in a suite. 
 

No casino reception event, no free slot tournament entry fee waived, no bottle of wine or treats sent to the room, no offers to pick up a specialty dinner or take something off for shipboard or spa charges as they would do in the past if your level of play warranted it, just going by the benefits per the chart on Celebrity’s website. I do realize that all of the budgets have been trimmed, so this did not surprise me, just stating this for others who have not been back onboard a  Celebrity ship yet under the new BCC guidelines.

 

So for some BCC players, there was a test promotion on Apex  for our sailing at Future Cruise Sales, where you could book most sailings up to a sky suite in 2022 at a discount percentage. Friends that I was traveling with who are Sapphire, received a 30% discount off their base casino fare, and they booked  a sky suite for a 2022 12 night European cruise on Apex. However, when I wanted to do a future booking, Future cruise sales could not do it, as no rate discount code was in their system for Ruby players. So Celebrity missed an opportunity for a new booking.

 

Both the Apex casino host and  casino manager sent emails to BCC management  shoreside to try and get the rate code opened, and it never happened.  I also called BCC when we were in port to try and get it resolved. The BCC staff are all really nice on the Apex, so clearly a kink in the system to be worked out shoreside.

When I got back from the cruise , I did call BCC to see what the dollars off per night to be applied to a brand new booking that was earned and received 2 different answers. I am waiting on an email response now.

 

We like Celebrity , and sail on different brands for itineraries or different experiences.

I am holding a neutral position on the BCC restart of the program. There needs to be clarity  and consistency in the program, and people can decide to participate , try and maintain, increase or decrease their tier level if it is a benefit to them.

Happy sailing everyone, and best of luck and good health for all.

 



 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$15 000 play through  is $3000 in free play not $300. No one would play 15,000 unless there was a huge reward, your post said $300 (1$ freeplay for every $5 spent).

 

Also, who are you kidding to get 25,000 points just for lowest status? Most people only sail on 1 or 2 cruises a year, and from those people they have fun in the casino with $100 daily slot budget. You are kidding your self yo think anyone is spending $25,000 in a year on a cruise gambling..  get real.

Edited by MarinerBoy
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5 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

 

$15 000 play through  is $3000 in free play not $300. No one would play 15,000 unless there was a huge reward, your post said $300 (1$ freeplay for every $5 spent).

 

Also, who are you kidding to get 25,000 points just for lowest status? Most people only sail on 1 or 2 cruises a year, and from those people they have fun in the casino with $100 daily slot budget. You are kidding your self yo think anyone is spending $25,000 in a year on a cruise gambling..  get real.


I think MarinerBoy just forgot to add a 0 onto that 5. It's actually 50 points to earn $1 in casino free play. 

 

In regards to your 25,000 points to earn the lowest status, that doesn't necessarily mean they spent $25,000. Many gamblers don't cash out as soon as they win, so if that win amount is played back into the slot machine it also goes to your point balance. Example: You put $10 in a slot machine press spin and win $10, but instead of cashing out $20, you put it back into the machine and lose it all. You've now earned a total of 20 points.

 

The BCC is geared towards larger gamblers, just like hosts at land based casinos. The incentive just isn't there for casual gamers. You have to pay to play.

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Mariner Boy, I mistyped the play rate on the points additional free play on the machines. 15,000 dollars played through the machines through the machines is 300 dollars of additional free play  so 50 points equals one dollar of free play.

The 25,000 point tier is actually the third tier, amethyst. Anyone who has played one dollar on slots in the casino is the pearl tier, 2500 points  is onyx, amethyst at 25,000 , sapphire at 100,000, sapphire plus is 500,000 and ruby at 1 million points.

For those players who are Ruby, and most of them are table players, they cruise quite a bit during the period of one year to 18 months for each qualification period, and their rooms are "free" other than taxes and port charges, and they start with free play money of a minimum of $2500 given by the casino.

 

On our cruise, I saw a few jackpots in the 7500-10,000 dollar range for players. For winning that amount,  they earned on a slot machine at a dollar a point for the tier club points they have a sizable start towards the 3rd tier. Also there are quite a few junkets, where they offer players from land based casinos free  cabins except for port taxes or greatly reduced  in price trips based on their gaming history.

 So if someone wanted to cruise, and would have spent $3000 for the cabin, plus taxes, I think that most people who gamble would be willing to spend up to the amount of the value of the discount they received on a particular sailing and play knowing they would probably lose it, but could  break even or win.  I do know one table player who is a Ruby player, and  he cruises at least 12 weeks a year because he and his family love cruising. He obviously can afford it, and he enjoys the tables.

 

Some people are not shoppers, drinkers,  spa people, and everyone has to decide what their budget is or if they even play, or what they spend their funds on.  Just reported on the cutbacks on the program in place. Happy cruising.

 

 

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On 12/21/2021 at 5:38 PM, kk99 said:

Mariner Boy, I mistyped the play rate on the points additional free play on the machines. 15,000 dollars played through the machines through the machines is 300 dollars of additional free play  so 50 points equals one dollar of free play.

The 25,000 point tier is actually the third tier, amethyst. Anyone who has played one dollar on slots in the casino is the pearl tier, 2500 points  is onyx, amethyst at 25,000 , sapphire at 100,000, sapphire plus is 500,000 and ruby at 1 million points.

For those players who are Ruby, and most of them are table players, they cruise quite a bit during the period of one year to 18 months for each qualification period, and their rooms are "free" other than taxes and port charges, and they start with free play money of a minimum of $2500 given by the casino.

 

On our cruise, I saw a few jackpots in the 7500-10,000 dollar range for players. For winning that amount,  they earned on a slot machine at a dollar a point for the tier club points they have a sizable start towards the 3rd tier. Also there are quite a few junkets, where they offer players from land based casinos free  cabins except for port taxes or greatly reduced  in price trips based on their gaming history.

 So if someone wanted to cruise, and would have spent $3000 for the cabin, plus taxes, I think that most people who gamble would be willing to spend up to the amount of the value of the discount they received on a particular sailing and play knowing they would probably lose it, but could  break even or win.  I do know one table player who is a Ruby player, and  he cruises at least 12 weeks a year because he and his family love cruising. He obviously can afford it, and he enjoys the tables.

 

Some people are not shoppers, drinkers,  spa people, and everyone has to decide what their budget is or if they even play, or what they spend their funds on.  Just reported on the cutbacks on the program in place. Happy cruising.

 

 

Everything you wrote is the perfect truth. Just off the Apex and Sylvia the Casino Host was very, very nice. My husband went from Amethyst to Sapphire on this cruise and she graciously gave us the Sapphire benefits to use on the cruise since he made the tier upgrade on Day three of a nine night cruise! 

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3 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Everything you wrote is the perfect truth. Just off the Apex and Sylvia the Casino Host was very, very nice. My husband went from Amethyst to Sapphire on this cruise and she graciously gave us the Sapphire benefits to use on the cruise since he made the tier upgrade on Day three of a nine night cruise! 

 

Was on that same sailing! Earned about 150k tier points and loss less than $2000. Sylvia took off a decent amount of my charges and gave me streaming internet for a 2nd device. With this trip, I was able to get a comped celebrity suite for my next trip. 

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23 hours ago, KXZ1498 said:

I was able to get a comped celebrity suite for my next trip

Did you book that since you got home? We usually wait a week after disembarkation before calling BCC to see what comps were earned for a future cruise. 

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1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Did you book that since you got home? We usually wait a week after disembarkation before calling BCC to see what comps were earned for a future cruise. 

 

I booked on the 22nd so 3 days after the sailing ended. Looks like they could see my activity from the ship already. 

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On 12/19/2021 at 6:04 AM, poffles said:

100% agree.  I like Celebrity too but this is what frustrates me about the BCC.  Having to make repeated 'in the dark' calls to inquire just ends up taking up everyone's time and not always to anyone's benefit.

__________________________________________________

Agree.  I find it strange there's no way to see what tier points you have earned while on board Celebrity. I wonder if Royal is the same? 

 

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9 minutes ago, Islandhop9 said:

Agree.  I find it strange there's no way to see what tier points you have earned while on board Celebrity. I wonder if Royal is the same? 

 

 

Strange that there isn't a website dedicated to offers and points. I hate asking the casino host to see how much I've earned.

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On 12/28/2021 at 2:31 AM, KXZ1498 said:

 

Strange that there isn't a website dedicated to offers and points. I hate asking the casino host to see how much I've earned.

BCC uses two different tracking systems to track casino play, one for slots and one for table games and they don't talk to each other. It has been mentioned by BCC executives that the new year will bring some upgrades and enhancements so hopefully more players access to account status and information are in the cards.

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/22/2021 at 10:06 PM, KXZ1498 said:

 

Was on that same sailing! Earned about 150k tier points and loss less than $2000. Sylvia took off a decent amount of my charges and gave me streaming internet for a 2nd device. With this trip, I was able to get a comped celebrity suite for my next trip. 

That’s an incredible loss to tier points ratio. What games did you play, or was it mostly machines (slots/video poker)? Do you mind sharing what kind of bankroll you brought? I’m trying to figure out what kind of bankroll I need to earn the 25k points for Amethyst on slots. 

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On 2/15/2022 at 11:53 PM, KXZ1498 said:

I played Ultimate Texas Hold'Em at $100 blinds. I don't play slots but it's usually $1 per point. You would need to spin $25k if I remember correctly.

I’m interested in Ultimate Texas Hold’Em now. Do you remember roughly how many hours you played? Were you using any kind of strategy? Thanks in advance!

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3 hours ago, noobcrooser said:

I’m interested in Ultimate Texas Hold’Em now. Do you remember roughly how many hours you played? Were you using any kind of strategy? Thanks in advance!

 

I played optimal strategy except my cut-off was K7 and above. I think I played about 20-25 hours over 9 days. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great thread folks!

 

I also play UTH with $100 blinds and a quarter on the bonus, I play the K6 cut line however. I will move from Amethyst to Sapphire during the 12 night cruise (Connie) boarding 3/7 (got my negative test this AM). This will be the third trip on the Connie for me so far this year (she is relocating to Europe soon so that will come to an end).

 

Love the casino manager (Sol) and casino host (Cesar) looking forward to this trip as no mask required in casino this time. KK99 is correct about how X is handling the restart with regard to points and tiers.

 

Moving back to Royal for three cruises in the next 2 months and am wondering how they handled the interruption in play. I get on the Oasis 3/27 and the Mariner for a couple of cruises in April so I will report back on this thread for inquiring minds. 

 

Bankroll is usually a personal matter as it all depends on how long you are in the casino, length of cruise and personal circumstances. I usually budget 1K a day and do keep records. Gambling at sea is a blast however as mentioned above you  are "paying" for your comped suite, just in a different manner!

 

72 cruises across all lines (NCL, X, Royal) and have walked off the ship with more $ than I took on 19% of the time. Average 1 Royal Flush every 11.3 sailing days and 1 straight flush every 5.4 sailing days. Seems to make no difference if hand shuffled or machine shuffled.

 

I average 4 hours a day in the Casino on 5-7 day cruises, 5 hours a day on longer cruises. Don't even ask me about the transatlantic cruises 🙂  

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On 3/5/2022 at 12:50 PM, Bead Pirate said:

Great thread folks!

 

I also play UTH with $100 blinds and a quarter on the bonus, I play the K6 cut line however. I will move from Amethyst to Sapphire during the 12 night cruise (Connie) boarding 3/7 (got my negative test this AM). This will be the third trip on the Connie for me so far this year (she is relocating to Europe soon so that will come to an end).

 

Love the casino manager (Sol) and casino host (Cesar) looking forward to this trip as no mask required in casino this time. KK99 is correct about how X is handling the restart with regard to points and tiers.

 

Moving back to Royal for three cruises in the next 2 months and am wondering how they handled the interruption in play. I get on the Oasis 3/27 and the Mariner for a couple of cruises in April so I will report back on this thread for inquiring minds. 

 

Bankroll is usually a personal matter as it all depends on how long you are in the casino, length of cruise and personal circumstances. I usually budget 1K a day and do keep records. Gambling at sea is a blast however as mentioned above you  are "paying" for your comped suite, just in a different manner!

 

72 cruises across all lines (NCL, X, Royal) and have walked off the ship with more $ than I took on 19% of the time. Average 1 Royal Flush every 11.3 sailing days and 1 straight flush every 5.4 sailing days. Seems to make no difference if hand shuffled or machine shuffled.

 

I average 4 hours a day in the Casino on 5-7 day cruises, 5 hours a day on longer cruises. Don't even ask me about the transatlantic cruises 🙂  

Thanks for all the info. Do you happen to know how X rates table play, especially for UTC? Do they rate the blind, ante, and trips? I’m trying to figure out how many tier points you would earn at 100 blinds. 
 

On a side note, what effect does a K6/K7 cutoff have on play? This is more conservative than basic strategy, does it make the swings less volatile? When I practice basic strategy I notice that swings (up and down) can be pretty dramatic. 

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Generally speaking I use the more conservative K/7 cutoff for tournaments and the K/6 at the table in normal play.

 

My experience with X as far as rating, is that more table time "trumps" all other variables (average bet, etc.). They do not share the exact formula but I notice that they do not track unit bet as much as landside casinos. Last night I noticed they were updating the unit bet about every 45 minutes.

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On 3/8/2022 at 11:36 PM, noobcrooser said:

Thanks for all the info. Do you happen to know how X rates table play, especially for UTC? Do they rate the blind, ante, and trips? I’m trying to figure out how many tier points you would earn at 100 blinds. 
 

On a side note, what effect does a K6/K7 cutoff have on play? This is more conservative than basic strategy, does it make the swings less volatile? When I practice basic strategy I notice that swings (up and down) can be pretty dramatic. 

 

K6/K7 is marginal % wise. Volatility is still huge since it is UTH. 

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9 hours ago, KXZ1498 said:

 

K6/K7 is marginal % wise. Volatility is still huge since it is UTH. 

Thanks - yeah I’ve seen recommendations for a 100-200x ante bankroll to weather all the volatility.

 

When you guys say K6/K7 does that still include all pocket pairs (except 2’s)?

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On 3/10/2022 at 10:17 AM, noobcrooser said:

Thanks - yeah I’ve seen recommendations for a 100-200x ante bankroll to weather all the volatility.

 

When you guys say K6/K7 does that still include all pocket pairs (except 2’s)?

 

Yes

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/9/2021 at 11:52 PM, janbear said:

I have found if you call into Blue Chip first thing in the morning, they answer right away! Good luck!

I had 3 call into the casino last week all between 3-4 pm est.  maybe I was just lucky but longest wait was about 6 minutes.

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I just got off Equinox and I play slots.  The points that show on the machine while you are playing are only for the free play at the end of the cruise.  The points are multiplied by 5 for Tier status.  The casino host was very helpful and friendly.

 

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