Is there a way to get CASH with non refundable OBC in casino?

[Grandma Petania]

I think I read that I can add money to a slot machine using my room key, and then cash it out after a play or two.  If so, will  the amount I deposit to the machine be charged to my room, which will then be deducted from the OBC on my account before charging my credit card?  

 

I swear I read this, but I searched for this info without success.  TIA to anyone who can help.  I have only about $35 left, but nothing I want to spend it on.

[sailor05]

You can do it at a slot machine. You will have to setup an account on the machine with a pin number which takes a couple minutes, ask for help if needed. Then just do a room charge for $35 and once it's loaded on the machine, cash out and take the slip to the cashier.

[LilBlackDress]

Make sure to play a little... They don't want you to treat it like an ATM

Edited November 17, 2022 by LilBlackDress

[DaKahuna]

My experience has been that the non-refundable stays in your onboard account and only anything beyond that can be cashed out.  

 

Why not use it for extra gratuities.  There is a form you can get from Guest Services that will allow you to assign all or part to any individual on the ship, by name and position.  

 

 

[Tlbecker1]

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

My experience has been that the non-refundable stays in your onboard account and only anything beyond that can be cashed out.  

 

Why not use it for extra gratuities.  There is a form you can get from Guest Services that will allow you to assign all or part to any individual on the ship, by name and position.  

 

 

We’ve cashed out all of our non-refundable OBC many times in the casino.

[DaKahuna]

Just now, Tlbecker1 said:

We’ve cashed out all of our non-refundable OBC many times in the casino.

 

 Good to know.  The last time I used OBC in the casino, was on Allure, when I would print out the ticket, the ticket would only be what winnings I had and remaining OBC would be credited back to my account.

 

[ticketsunlimited]

I am pretty sure that if you are prime you can just go to the casino cashier and ask them for it in cash.  Am I wrong?  I believe their is a percentage fee if you are not prime.

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We’ve cashed out all of our non-refundable OBC many times in the casino.

We do as well. 

And every once in a while, we do play a few spins and cashed out more money.

 

* We give it back as tips.

[LeeW]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Good to know.  The last time I used OBC in the casino, was on Allure, when I would print out the ticket, the ticket would only be what winnings I had and remaining OBC would be credited back to my account.

 

We've never had cash go back on an account on a Royal ship (at least 10 years).  Ticket is always for the full amount on the machine.   We do room charges quite often on slots in the casino and have never been charged either a fee or had a warning about it being OBC.  OBC gets credited against the cruise ship account and the casino doesn't even know if you are taking out OBC or money you will eventually pay with a credit card.

[Basketball wife]

Does anyone know if the procedure is the same on Celebrity ships?

[celoplyr]

No of course you can't load the money onto the casino (limit of $500 per 24 hours) and use it, or cash it out immediately... Why would you think such a question... /s

 

I will say that my dad got in trouble because the machine didn't print out the tickets so he was like $1000 in for the day, and he didn't spin the slots at all, and they banned him from the casino because they expect you to play "at least 10% of the money"...However, that's to start, so spin 50 times on a $1 pull and whatever you win can be cashed out as well. And they won't know unless you need their help.

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, Basketball wife said:

Does anyone know if the procedure is the same on Celebrity ships?

Following this info too.

[Bluemymind]

50 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Following this info too.

Yes its the same on Celebrity. 

 

[LilBlackDress]

On 11/17/2022 at 12:40 PM, celoplyr said:

No of course you can't load the money onto the casino (limit of $500 per 24 hours) and use it, or cash it out immediately... Why would you think such a question... /s

 

I will say that my dad got in trouble because the machine didn't print out the tickets so he was like $1000 in for the day, and he didn't spin the slots at all, and they banned him from the casino because they expect you to play "at least 10% of the money"...However, that's to start, so spin 50 times on a $1 pull and whatever you win can be cashed out as well. And they won't know unless you need their help.

I know I am tired but I am so confused by your post. 

Are you replying to the OP or a specific post?  

What does your post even mean? 

[poocher]

Glad I wasn’t the only one confused.🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
I had $110 in OBC due to a specialty dining cancellation.  Went to the casino following instructions just like the ones posted by LilBlackDress, immediately cashed out, took the ticket to the cashier & got the cash.  Did not have to actually play nor did I get the stink eye from anyone.

[sandebeach]

5 hours ago, poocher said:

Glad I wasn’t the only one confused.🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
I had $110 in OBC due to a specialty dining cancellation.  Went to the casino following instructions just like the ones posted by LilBlackDress, immediately cashed out, took the ticket to the cashier & got the cash.  Did not have to actually play nor did I get the stink eye from anyone.

You wouldn’t know it was a problem until the next day or the next time, that you tried to charge money to your room at the slot machine. That’s when the “casino lockout” would occur and you would not be able to charge money at the slot machine. 

[PWP-001]

If anyone wonders why cruise lines may "put on a smiley face" when speaking of this website but internally hate the site, consider this thread to be good justification.  

 

Non-refundable OBC is intended to be used for PURCHASES of good and services onboard including food, beverage, merchandise, and excursions.  Anyone who believes otherwise is just kidding themselves.

 

Furthermore, I think everyone should understand and agree that RCI -- nor any other line --  provides the Room Charge function in the casino for passengers to use it as an ATM.  Again, if you think that's their intention, ask the casino manager:  "Is it okay if I just charge money to my room and then immediately cash out so I can have cash, rather than using the traditional ATM?" -or- "I have non-refundable OBC that I want to take home in cash, so is it okay if I do a room charge for that amount, then cash out the ticket to get the cash in here?"

 

For those unaware, RCI -- just like every cruise line -- pays a fee to process your credit card transaction.  And that's why they mention a convenience fee assessed for room charges, to help offset what it costs to process the credit card transaction.  YES, most casinos waive that convenience fee for their big players:  it's a business decision, knowing the house odds mean that credit card fee the line pays will probably be much smaller than the gambler's losses.

 

So the ability to make a Room Charge in the casino is to facilitate gamblers in their casino.

 

Place yourself in the shoes of a cruise line executive, reading this discussion.  How would you feel about passengers sharing information on how to cheat your company, and how would you feel about the website that allows this type of discussion?

[brillohead]

9 hours ago, PWP-001 said:

For those unaware, RCI -- just like every cruise line -- pays a fee to process your credit card transaction.  And that's why they mention a convenience fee assessed for room charges, to help offset what it costs to process the credit card transaction.  YES, most casinos waive that convenience fee for their big players:  it's a business decision, knowing the house odds mean that credit card fee the line pays will probably be much smaller than the gambler's losses.

Royal is ALREADY going to be processing my card at the end of the week for the daily service charge. 

If I go into the casino five times and cash out $500 each day, they are still only processing a SINGLE charge at the end of the week -- not five charges from the casino plus a sixth for my daily service charge.

 

[CFLRetired]

So I totally confused.  Can someone answer this?  Would I be okay to follow the steps to charge $500 to my room at a slot machine by setting up my account and playing 10% or so of my $500 then cash out?  If so, can this be repeated daily?

 

Thank you in advance.

[PWP-001]

28 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Royal is ALREADY going to be processing my card at the end of the week for the daily service charge. 

If I go into the casino five times and cash out $500 each day, they are still only processing a SINGLE charge at the end of the week -- not five charges from the casino plus a sixth for my daily service charge.

 

RCI pays anywhere between 1.34% to 3% of the value of the transaction.

 

So on the low end, $16/day gratuity on a 5 day cruise = $80.00 for a fee of $1.07

 

5 days of gratuity for $80 plus 5 days of $500 room charges = $2,580 for a fee of $34.57

 

On top of that, most card issuers charge a flat fee between $0.05 to $0.50 per authorization.

 

So if your account was only the $80 gratuity, the initial authorization of approx $100 is the only fee.

But if you charge $500 each day, they will take an additional authorization each day for $500 more as your balance grows, so there would be five additional authorization fees.

 

RCI is a high volume merchant, so that's why I used fees at the lower end, but that would apply to bank cards (MC/VS and their counterparts worldwide, while American Express is know for it's higher fees, probably in excess of 2%.)

 

Above and beyond the fees, RCI is subject to the risk of chargebacks/disputes and the labor associated with defending themselves.

 

Credit card fees and the risk of chargeback are reasons why some merchants discourage credit card usage by offering a cash discount or marking up the bill when a credit card is used.

 

 

[PWP-001]

2 minutes ago, CFLRetired said:

So I totally confused.  Can someone answer this?  Would I be okay to follow the steps to charge $500 to my room at a slot machine by setting up my account and playing 10% or so of my $500 then cash out?  If so, can this be repeated daily?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

For the best advice, when in the casino, ask for the casino manager, explain what you want to do, and ask for them to help you.

[Stealthdog]

10 hours ago, PWP-001 said:

Place yourself in the shoes of a cruise line executive, reading this discussion.  How would you feel about passengers sharing information on how to cheat your company, and how would you feel about the website that allows this type of discussion?

 

 

They make so much money on passengers with lower odds and worse payouts than landbased casinos, i dont think they are sweating a handful of people who discovered a loophole.

 

Besides, id rather see some regular people like those of cruise critic get some benefit than care about what some executives in a $B company thinks.  Fortunately they have zero capability to censor our speech here.  😀

[karena1]

On 11/17/2022 at 5:40 AM, LilBlackDress said:

Make sure to play a little... They don't want you to treat it like an ATM

This!  We do it all the time, great way to get OBC out of your account if you don't use it all.

[PWP-001]

I can tell you first hand that at another cruise line, they did care about this issue.  They discovered that  their members at the highest level of their loyalty program discovered they could stack OBC's for shareholder benefit, veteran/military OBC, on top of the generous OBC offers at the time just to sail.  They would spend absolutely NOTHING on board, then cash out all the OBC through the casino, disembarking in some cases with MORE MONEY that what they laid out for the cruise.

 

Why do I speak out against the practice?  Because it threatens to restrict my legitimate use of Room Charging to gamble. 

[mac_tlc]

On 11/17/2022 at 1:16 PM, Basketball wife said:

Does anyone know if the procedure is the same on Celebrity ships?

We have done it on Equinox, Edge and Apex.