Casino Host

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

I never got anything on board. No comps of any onboard charges and they can keep their merchandise stuff. I have no space in my baggage anyway.

Did you ask the casino host if they could have taken any onboard charges off your onboard account? if you don't ask you don't get.

[Fly and Sail]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

That's highly unusual for BCC. My husband has been with BCC for years and has NEVER received any kind of onboard offer for a free cruise on a Celebrity ship. That's not how they do things.  Also maybe you didn't explain it thoroughly but I'm not understanding what exactly was the offer on the card? Your statement is a bit contradictory and maybe for brevity sake you omitted some details. Can you explain further? Did you meant to imply the card said you had a comped cruise offer and you went down to the Next cruise office and got a quote on a specific cruise you wanted to go on and it was a good discount but not fully comped? 

 

Not that unusual. This is how I starting my journey down the cruise casino rabbit hole. I believe it was on EDGE in DEC 2021. Got an offer for a free cruise in my cabin, then the cruise desk offered me TWO cruises, one within 90 days and one outside 90 days. Decided to book a B2B for that same cruise and Alaska for the following season.

[Cruising89143]

10 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

I keep hearing more and more things that make RCL sound extremely positive to me. I might have to give it a try because I'm getting increasingly annoyed with X and their annoying antics. Not saying I haven't gotten value out of them but if something bugs me too much I'd rather try some other options.

 

By the way, check out Youtube there is a new interview online that URComped did with a Blue Chip Club manager. Thank god the decided to not have that shifty guy Patrick Jacquot (Head of BCC) on again after he promised people plenty of things 18 months ago and none of it came to fruition.

The biggest issue with RCI’s casino is the smoke. It’s the only area inside the ship where RCI allows smokers and many non casino smokers use this area as a smoking space. It’s not uncommon to see a person sitting at a slot machine puffing away and not playing the machine. The crew simply ignores it. Last year the face masks actually came in handy. 🙂

[Fly and Sail]

7 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Did you ask the casino host if they could have taken any onboard charges off your onboard account? if you don't ask you don't get.

 

I did ask on the three particular cruises where I knew the total onboard loss was $2k+. The answers were:

 

• We don't do that ;
• The host who calculates that is sick/isolated because of Covid;
• You don't qualify (on that cruise I earned 17k points and incurred a $2,170 loss);

 

Go figure...

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Not that unusual. This is how I starting my journey down the cruise casino rabbit hole. I believe it was on EDGE in DEC 2021. Got an offer for a free cruise in my cabin, then the cruise desk offered me TWO cruises, one within 90 days and one outside 90 days. Decided to book a B2B for that same cruise and Alaska for the following season.

Were you already an established BCC club member? I wonder if that's how they do it for new BCC members are players that don't have any tier status but earned enough points on that cruise for a free cruise. 

[Nado44]

Kwokpot is correct. Accrued casino comps is a thing and is not to be confused with onboard credit or freeplay. It exists on both RCL and X and is based on play. At the end of sailings, the casino host, upon request, will evaluate your play and remove certain charges, i.e. drinks, meals and spa.

 

However, Kwotpot is incorrect too. X and RCL casino hosts do issue free cruise certificates and comped specialty restaurant meals.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Nado44

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

I did ask on the three particular cruises where I knew the total onboard loss was $2k+. The answers were:

 

• We don't do that ;
• The host who calculates that is sick/isolated because of Covid;
• You don't qualify (on that cruise I earned 17k points and incurred a $2,170 loss);

 

Go figure...

This goes back to our experience where each of Celebrity's casino hosts are so entirely different. Carnival has the best onboard casino hosts. Their program is great with future cruise offers EXCEPT they don't publish player level tiers, so you don't know what your rating is nor can you play to attain  a certain tier level that has outlined benefits. You know what they are offering you by going into your online account and seeing the casino offers they give you. Based on the freeplay amount, comped cabin level, and types of comped cruises with varying levels of benefits is the only way you can estimate what level you're at with Carnival's Casino program.

[AlbertaCruisers]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

That's highly unusual for BCC. My husband has been with BCC for years and has NEVER received any kind of onboard offer for a free cruise on a Celebrity ship. That's not how they do things.  Also maybe you didn't explain it thoroughly but I'm not understanding what exactly was the offer on the card? Your statement is a bit contradictory and maybe for brevity sake you omitted some details. Can you explain further? Did you meant to imply the card said you had a comped cruise offer and you went down to the Next cruise office and got a quote on a specific cruise you wanted to go on and it was a good discount but not fully comped? 

 

Maybe this has changed since the pandemic.  We used to only gamble in Vegas and very little on any cruises (as we had no luck).  Then, on our December 23, 2021 cruise my husband had a good win and we played a lot (hours each night), still went home up and made it to Sapphire.  On our next cruise on April 24, 2022 (or it may not have been until the summer cruise, I don't remember for sure?), we both received postcards in our room on the first night noting that we could go to the Future Cruise Desk to book free cruises, they were both for free cruises up to veranda cabins.  We got postcard offers like that again on our July, September, October and November 2022 cruises.  The more recent ones said they were for verandas, but when I asked for the price to upgrade to Aqua it ended up Aqua was included for the same price.  All of the onboard bookings included a $10 per person per night booking fee (it shows as cruise fare, but they called it a booking fee).  We booked 8 cruises so far through the onboard process all the way out to November 2023 (most were 10 or 11 day sailings) and all the most recent ones are now in Aqua.  Each time, I had called Blue Chip club before leaving for our cruise, and our offers through Blue Chip were for 7 day cruises only leaving in about 6 months from the call (most recently they will only book out to June 2023) and if I wanted anything further out or a longer cruise they would give me the Net 60 deal plus an extra discount based on our play on the last cruise.  For me, even with the $10 per person per night booking fee, the onboard offers were much better and more flexible.  I'm hoping they keep providing the onboard offers as I have cruises booked in 2024 with refundable deposits that I would like to replace with the comp'd ones!!

Edited February 7, 2023 by AlbertaCruisers

[kwokpot]

14 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

 

Maybe this has changed since the pandemic.  We used to only gamble in Vegas and very little on any cruises (as we had no luck).  Then, on our December 23, 2021 cruise my husband had a good win and we played a lot (hours each night), still went home up and made it to Sapphire.  On our next cruise on April 24, 2022 (or it may not have been until the summer cruise, I don't remember for sure?), we both received postcards in our room on the first night noting that we could go to the Future Cruise Desk to book free cruises, they were both for free cruises up to veranda cabins.  We got postcard offers like that again on our July, September, October and November 2022 cruises.  The more recent ones said they were for verandas, but when I asked for the price to upgrade to Aqua it ended up Aqua was included for the same price.  All of the onboard bookings included a $10 per person per night booking fee (it shows as cruise fare, but they called it a booking fee).  We booked 8 cruises so far through the onboard process all the way out to November 2023 (most were 10 or 11 day sailings) and all the most recent ones are now in Aqua.  Each time, I had called Blue Chip club before leaving for our cruise, and our offers through Blue Chip were for 7 day cruises only leaving in about 6 months from the call (most recently they will only book out to June 2023) and if I wanted anything further out or a longer cruise they would give me the Net 60 deal plus an extra discount based on our play on the last cruise.  For me, even with the $10 per person per night booking fee, the onboard offers were much better and more flexible.  I'm hoping they keep providing the onboard offers as I have cruises booked in 2024 with refundable deposits that I would like to replace with the comp'd ones!!

This is an example of how annoying Blue Chip Club is. We've been sailing on BCC comped cruises since before the pandemic and on Celebrity never received any onboard card to book a free cruise. He does get all the emails and paper mailings from BCC and that's how we book our Celebrity comped cruises.  In fact we booked the Inaugural sailing in Dec. 2018 of the Edge based on a last minute BCC email that came less than two weeks before the cruise date! In fact we had to apply for downlining to disembark the cruise early since we had other Christmas plans but we wanted to be on the inaugural cruise of this new ship. 

Edit: This BCC email came December 10,2018 for a December 16 inaugural Edge sailing. we were so happy we were able to make it and it was free!

Edited February 7, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

16 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

 

Maybe this has changed since the pandemic.  We used to only gamble in Vegas and very little on any cruises (as we had no luck).  Then, on our December 23, 2021 cruise my husband had a good win and we played a lot (hours each night), still went home up and made it to Sapphire.  On our next cruise on April 24, 2022 (or it may not have been until the summer cruise, I don't remember for sure?), we both received postcards in our room on the first night noting that we could go to the Future Cruise Desk to book free cruises, they were both for free cruises up to veranda cabins.  We got postcard offers like that again on our July, September, October and November 2022 cruises.  The more recent ones said they were for verandas, but when I asked for the price to upgrade to Aqua it ended up Aqua was included for the same price.  All of the onboard bookings included a $10 per person per night booking fee (it shows as cruise fare, but they called it a booking fee).  We booked 8 cruises so far through the onboard process all the way out to November 2023 (most were 10 or 11 day sailings) and all the most recent ones are now in Aqua.  Each time, I had called Blue Chip club before leaving for our cruise, and our offers through Blue Chip were for 7 day cruises only leaving in about 6 months from the call (most recently they will only book out to June 2023) and if I wanted anything further out or a longer cruise they would give me the Net 60 deal plus an extra discount based on our play on the last cruise.  For me, even with the $10 per person per night booking fee, the onboard offers were much better and more flexible.  I'm hoping they keep providing the onboard offers as I have cruises booked in 2024 with refundable deposits that I would like to replace with the comp'd ones!!

Nope, we have never received anything like that. On Royal and Carnival, yes, but never on Celebrity. 

[AlbertaCruisers]

4 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

This is an example of how annoying Blue Chip Club is. We've been sailing on BCC comped cruises since before the pandemic and on Celebrity never received any onboard card to book a free cruise. He does get all the emails and paper mailings from BCC and that's how we book our Celebrity comped cruises.  In fact we booked the Inaugural sailing in Dec. 2018 of the Edge based on a last minute BCC email that came less than two weeks before the cruise date! In fact we had to apply for downlining to disembark the cruise early since we had other Christmas plans but we wanted to be on the inaugural cruise of this new ship. 

As a note, you can check while you are on the cruise. On the one cruise last year, we didn’t get a postcard in the room, but we went to the future cruise desk and we were on their list and could both book cruises and they told us what we were eligible for. 

 

We are getting lots of emails from them, but those cruises are all in the next 6 months and I like to plan further ahead. 
 

As a note, not really relevant, but we were already Elite plus before the pandemic on fully paid for cruises and we did gamble some and got nothing for that. 
 

 

[kwokpot]

24 minutes ago, Nado44 said:

However, Kwotpot is incorrect too. X and RCL casino hosts do issue free cruise certificates and comped specialty restaurant meals.

I know Royal's Casino Royale does, but I'm wondering why my husband never received a free cruise certificate onboard from Celebrity? Additionally, as I alluded to, my husband always makes himself known to the Celebrity casino hosts. Why haven't they automatically sent a bottle of wine or an automatic offer of a specialty dinner?  Carnival does that without fail on every cruise we're on. On our last Virgin we had to tell the Sommeliers of each restaurant we didn't need another complimentary bottle of wine from the casino (my husband doesn't drink, just me). They literally told us just to order a bottle and give it away to someone since the casino is offering it to you.  But on Celebrity, even the nicer hosts never did anything unsolicited. 

[kwokpot]

6 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

As a note, you can check while you are on the cruise. On the one cruise last year, we didn’t get a postcard in the room, but we went to the future cruise desk and we were on their list and could both book cruises and they told us what we were eligible for. 

We will do that on the Solstice next week. This might be something else that we've been missing!

[kitkat007]

We have found it's best to book BCC offers while onboard.  I am Amethyst and my husband is Sapphire.  We have 7 comped cruises in Aqua this year including 2 to Europe for 10 and 12 days.  The Future Cruise desk on board will tell you how many cruises you have available to book and they are happy to book them for you.  

[kwokpot]

12 minutes ago, kitkat007 said:

We have found it's best to book BCC offers while onboard.  I am Amethyst and my husband is Sapphire.  We have 7 comped cruises in Aqua this year including 2 to Europe for 10 and 12 days.  The Future Cruise desk on board will tell you how many cruises you have available to book and they are happy to book them for you.  

We would have done that in the past if we were given the opportunity. Now we know!

We're doing Apex to Iceland in July comped. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

It's something else. On Celebrity you earn onboard comps that must be used by the end of the cruise. There's no way of knowing how much you've earned unless you speak to the casino host on the LAST day of your cruise. They will tell you how much accrued comps you have earned which can be used to offset onboard charges from the spa, specialty restaurants, bar bill (not gratuities),excursions, gift shop purchases. The reason we wait until we know what the amount is before buying anything is we want the lowest bill possible, so we wait until we know what amount we can spend. Of course if I want to go to the spa for a treatment or we do want to go to a specialty restaurant we'll just put it on our account and let the casino host offset it. 

Thank you for this! I have truly learned something today. Can’t wait to report out on our comps in March 😍

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Thank you for this! I have truly learned something today. Can’t wait to report out on our comps in March 😍

Welcome. As experienced I thought we were with Celebrity casino comps I too learned something new about the program. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

15 minutes ago, kitkat007 said:

We have found it's best to book BCC offers while onboard.  I am Amethyst and my husband is Sapphire.  We have 7 comped cruises in Aqua this year including 2 to Europe for 10 and 12 days.  The Future Cruise desk on board will tell you how many cruises you have available to book and they are happy to book them for you.  

So do you just ask if you qualify for a comped cruise at the host desk?  I was under the (mistaken?) impression that we had to wait for an offer via email/main from BCC. 

[kitkat007]

13 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

So do you just ask if you qualify for a comped cruise at the host desk?  I was under the (mistaken?) impression that we had to wait for an offer via email/main from BCC. 

Yes, at the future cruises desk, just let them know you are a BCC member and ask if you have any available cruises to book.

[dlh015]

This might just be one of the best threads I've come across on CC!

Thanks to everyone for all the great info.

 

Yep, I've been missing out on just a few things...lol...

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

This might just be one of the best threads I've come across on CC!

Thanks to everyone for all the great info.

 

Yep, I've been missing out on just a few things...lol...

As we all know we gamblers only want whatever is due to us. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

We will do that on the Solstice next week. This might be something else that we've been missing!

Yes, note that they don’t get the gambler comp list until (usually very late in the) day 2.  If you get offers, like your free play amount, its solely based on your last sailings gaming which also ignores the current sailings play.  Seems like, their lowest offer is for only a comped balcony for a 2023 for the Millie while in Puerto Rico or the Mexican Rivera

[LaCal]

46 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

As we all know we gamblers only want whatever is due to us. 

Please post how it goes on your upcoming Solstice cruise and how the casino host is 

 

We’re taking our first Celebrity cruise on 4/1 on the Solstice

 

Long time cruisers and gamblers and looking forward to trying Celebrity…..Plus we got a casino deal for a comped balcony from Urcomped 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Anyone correct me if I’m wrong as I’ve only had host interactions after the cruise restart…Since the restart, hosts can’t do anything for you besides adding a credit on sign and sail account on the last night.  They announce promos, deal in tournaments, have conversations with players and I’m sure a ton of behind the scenes admin work.  No one in the casino, host or otherwise, can offer you a free specialty dinner, free Wi-Fi, etc.; no perks, no apparel, nothing.  If you don’t have the premium drink package and order a premium drink, they won’t even comp the difference

[denuzzo]

It has been so interesting reading all these amazing Blue Chip hacks!  Thank you for all the info and keep it coming!

I still don't seem to grasp the comp points concept for some reason.  😞

We have always got our "free play" (based on BCC status or previous play) and have had a few free specialty dining or laundry charges removed but I have never known I had "points" I could redeem on the last day????  We have sailed 18 times, over 140 days with Celebrity....better late than never I guess lol