Casinos At Sea Players Club

[junieh]

First time on NCL and just trying to understand how things at the Casino work. From what I have read, it sounds like you get an actual, physical players card which you need to insert / swipe, rather than your players card number being linked to your room key / onboard profile like some other cruise lines:

Just sign up for your complimentary players card onboard at the Casino host desk and start playing your way to freebies. Use your players card whilst playing your favourite slot machines and table games.

 

How does that work if you are playing cashless and charging to your onboard account and therefore need to have your room card inserted? 

 

Also, I read that convenience fees apply to using the onboard account; is that correct? How much do they actually charge?

[SomewhereGirl]

8 hours ago, junieh said:

Also, I read that convenience fees apply to using the onboard account; is that correct? How much do they actually charge?

 

3%

[JGmf]

Your player's card can sit in the room, untouched, where they have it all ready for you in an envelope when you embark.  It looks pretty, but you don't ever need it.  Your room card works just the same. 

 

In that same envelope you will also get a drink card from the casino.  That drink card you may want to bring with you:

 

- If you have no drink package, then the drink card from the casino can get you alcohol, beer, soft drinks, and even bottled water or sports drinks from the casino bar (which is only opened when the casino is).

- If you have the basic FAS drink package, in addition to the same stuff on the drink package, the drink card entitles you to water and sports drinks -- a nice perk as the FAS drink package doesn't include these two items.

- If you are a higher tiered casino player, your drink card can get you premium spirits from the casino bar, better stuff than the basic FAS drink package.

 

Paying the 3% fee is a loser proposition if you plan on accessing, say, $300 or more over the course of your cruise.  Better to go to the ATM if you have enough in your account at home.  If not, then maybe you are playing over your head.

[julig22]

14 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Your player's card can sit in the room, untouched, where they have it all ready for you in an envelope when you embark.  It looks pretty, but you don't ever need it.  Your room card works just the same. 

 

In that same envelope you will also get a drink card from the casino.  That drink card you may want to bring with you:

 

- If you have no drink package, then the drink card from the casino can get you alcohol, beer, soft drinks, and even bottled water or sports drinks from the casino bar (which is only opened when the casino is).

- If you have the basic FAS drink package, in addition to the same stuff on the drink package, the drink card entitles you to water and sports drinks -- a nice perk as the FAS drink package doesn't include these two items.

- If you are a higher tiered casino player, your drink card can get you premium spirits from the casino bar, better stuff than the basic FAS drink package.

 

Paying the 3% fee is a loser proposition if you plan on accessing, say, $300 or more over the course of your cruise.  Better to go to the ATM if you have enough in your account at home.  If not, then maybe you are playing over your head.

Only people with status in the casino get a drink card. Unlikely for a new cruiser.

 

In the past, using the casino card made it easier if you were getting drinks from your FAS package because otherwise you had to pull your room card from the machine.  However, they are in the process of changing machines so you tap your card, not sure there are player's card anymore.

 

The 3% fee is a wash if your CC gives 3% or more in points for travel. If you are using the NCL card and travel balcony or less, those points can go towards a room upgrade that can be worth considerably more than the $300 in credits.

[dbrown84]

11 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Only people with status in the casino get a drink card. Unlikely for a new cruiser.

 

In the past, using the casino card made it easier if you were getting drinks from your FAS package because otherwise you had to pull your room card from the machine.  However, they are in the process of changing machines so you tap your card, not sure there are player's card anymore.

 

The 3% fee is a wash if your CC gives 3% or more in points for travel. If you are using the NCL card and travel balcony or less, those points can go towards a room upgrade that can be worth considerably more than the $300 in credits.

you will also get the drink card if you book thru CAS, even as a new player.  You'll get the house card.  Status gets you a higher level drink card.  The OP doesn't say whether they are booked thru CAS or not, so the drink card discussion may be moot

[junieh]

Thank you all for your replies. We are relatively new to cruising and this will be our second cruise. Our first was on MSC and we managed to build up a nice amount of points on our account to qualify for future cruise discounts, treats etc but we have no status with NCL - yet :) I don't remember paying the 3% fee on MSC and we never bothered with cash there. I just like the freedom of not having to carry cash or cards with me onboard and settling my bill in total, hence why we prefered to play on the onboard account. But it's not a big deal, and like you say there is always the ATM.

[smillerholmes]

2 hours ago, JGmf said:

- If you have no drink package, then the drink card from the casino can get you alcohol, beer, soft drinks, and even bottled water or sports drinks from the casino bar (which is only opened when the casino is).

I'm sure it depends upon the ship, but for my recent cruise on the Breakaway, Bar 21 was open many times when the Casino was not and they were very liberal with the spirit(s)😁

 

Maybe because both Breakaway and Getaway use the Casino bar for Shanghai's?  Just a thought.

[dbrown84]

9 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

I'm sure it depends upon the ship, but for my recent cruise on the Breakaway, Bar 21 was open many times when the Casino was not and they were very liberal with the spirit(s)😁

 

Maybe because both Breakaway and Getaway use the Casino bar for Shanghai's?  Just a thought.

yeah, this is unusual.  was it open while in port?  I know they use this bar for Shanghai's, but Shanghai's isn't open much more than the casino, right?

[smillerholmes]

4 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

yeah, this is unusual.  was it open while in port?  I know they use this bar for Shanghai's, but Shanghai's isn't open much more than the casino, right?

Definitely not open while we were in port.  It may have just been a coinky dink, but I sat at Bar 21 several evenings waiting for the Casino to open on at least 2 occasions well after opening was expected.

 

On a separate note, Shanghai's was by far the most crowded restaurant every night on the ship.  That restaurant needs more/better spacing.  Also, on the Getaway it was open for lunch on sea days - not so on the Breakaway.

[dbrown84]

44 minutes ago, smillerholmes said:

Definitely not open while we were in port.  It may have just been a coinky dink, but I sat at Bar 21 several evenings waiting for the Casino to open on at least 2 occasions well after opening was expected.

 

On a separate note, Shanghai's was by far the most crowded restaurant every night on the ship.  That restaurant needs more/better spacing.  Also, on the Getaway it was open for lunch on sea days - not so on the Breakaway.

yes, Shanghai's stays crowded.  I'm on the Getaway next month, and we have 4 sea days.  I'm sure I'll hit it up for lunch on each of those days.  and now that I think more on it, I guess it's not unusual that Bar 21 is open when the casino isn't.  I think they just won't process free casino drinks until the casino opens

[smillerholmes]

2 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

yes, Shanghai's stays crowded.  I'm on the Getaway next month, and we have 4 sea days.  I'm sure I'll hit it up for lunch on each of those days.  and now that I think more on it, I guess it's not unusual that Bar 21 is open when the casino isn't.  I think they just won't process free casino drinks until the casino opens

Ah, but they did process free casino drinks.  It may have just been a weird one off, but I had no problem getting free drinks any time they were open.  I didn't realize I could get espresso as part of my casino drinks package until several days in, but after that I stopped in nearly every morning.

[dbrown84]

4 minutes ago, smillerholmes said:

Ah, but they did process free casino drinks.  It may have just been a weird one off, but I had no problem getting free drinks any time they were open.  I didn't realize I could get espresso as part of my casino drinks package until several days in, but after that I stopped in nearly every morning.

I like the sound of that.  I will press my luck.  thanks

[BirdTravels]

16 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

I'm sure it depends upon the ship, but for my recent cruise on the Breakaway, Bar 21 was open many times when the Casino was not and they were very liberal with the spirit(s)😁

 

Maybe because both Breakaway and Getaway use the Casino bar for Shanghai's?  Just a thought.

The casino bar is open for players free drinks only when the casino is open. On a recent Alaska cruise, we had late port calls leaving at night. The Bar was open, but you could only get casino drinks whilst the casino was open. 
 

On the Prima and Viva, the casino bar is the atrium bar. So the level of drinks you can get and whether you can get bottled water depends on whether the casino is open (for those above house drinks)  

[BirdTravels]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:05 AM, junieh said:

First time on NCL and just trying to understand how things at the Casino work. From what I have read, it sounds like you get an actual, physical players card which you need to insert / swipe, rather than your players card number being linked to your room key / onboard profile like some other cruise lines:

Just sign up for your complimentary players card onboard at the Casino host desk and start playing your way to freebies. Use your players card whilst playing your favourite slot machines and table games.

 

How does that work if you are playing cashless and charging to your onboard account and therefore need to have your room card inserted? 

 

Also, I read that convenience fees apply to using the onboard account; is that correct? How much do they actually charge?

On most ships, they tell new players to use their room keys. Even casino guests (with players cards) often don’t bother with carrying an extra card around. 
 

There is a 3% service charge for charging to your room. Kinda makes sense that if the cruise line is paying credit card fees, they pass it along to you. 
 

But consider that $500 advance would incur a $15 service charge. If you use the ATM, you only have a $6.99 service charge. Yeah, some credit card companies give you cash back, so it may pay for the 3% fee. 
 

Btw: Royal has a a 5% fee. 

[junieh]

That's good to know, thank you.

 

This may be a bit of a silly question but do we still need to go and set up a casino account before we start playing or if the casino card is linked to our room key, does it automatically get created for us when we swipe / enter our card and start playing?

[smillerholmes]

18 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

18 hours ago, julig22 said:

Only people with status in the casino get a drink card. Unlikely for a new cruiser.

 

In the past, using the casino card made it easier if you were getting drinks from your FAS package because otherwise you had to pull your room card from the machine.  However, they are in the process of changing machines so you tap your card, not sure there are player's card anymore.

 

The 3% fee is a wash if your CC gives 3% or more in points for travel. If you are using the NCL card and travel balcony or less, those points can go towards a room upgrade that can be worth considerably more than the $300 in credits.

They are still providing the player's card.  Both the player's card and your room key work for "tap to play".  There were a few machines that still required the insert so I carried all 3 cards around for the first few days.

Once I found my favorite machines no need for that.  A curious thing about the drink card...I showed it to the bar waiters, but they always wanted my room key card.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, smillerholmes said:

They are still providing the player's card.  Both the player's card and your room key work for "tap to play".  There were a few machines that still required the insert so I carried all 3 cards around for the first few days.

Once I found my favorite machines no need for that.  A curious thing about the drink card...I showed it to the bar waiters, but they always wanted my room key card.

On Pr1ma last week, well it was two weeks ago now, the casino host kind of snickered when I handed over my player's card from another ship. I asked her for a new player's card, but she just said to use my keycard. I didn't see anyone else with a player's card onboard. May be just that Pr1ma has new machines? They are definitely the tap to play, not insert card to play type. Earned a whopping almost 1,000 points from hosting the slot pull. Not sure those are good for anything. 🙂 

 

Happy sailing! 

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, junieh said:

That's good to know, thank you.

 

This may be a bit of a silly question but do we still need to go and set up a casino account before we start playing or if the casino card is linked to our room key, does it automatically get created for us when we swipe / enter our card and start playing?

No. Just tap your room key. Like a land based casino, you will see your tier points accumulate. If you gamble a decent amount, call CAS direct next cruise and see what they have to offer. You may never pay for a cruise again 🙂 

[smillerholmes]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

On Pr1ma last week, well it was two weeks ago now, the casino host kind of snickered when I handed over my player's card from another ship. I asked her for a new player's card, but she just said to use my keycard. I didn't see anyone else with a player's card onboard. May be just that Pr1ma has new machines? They are definitely the tap to play, not insert card to play type. Earned a whopping almost 1,000 points from hosting the slot pull. Not sure those are good for anything. 🙂 

 

Happy sailing! 

Maybe just Pr1ma because I went from Sapphire to Ruby and they made a big deal out of giving me both the new players card and new drink card even though I used by room key card for everything.  The new cards aren't as pretty.  They aren't a solid color anymore they are white with green/blue/red etc. markings based on your level.

 

Those points are good to "utilize" until March 31, 2024 - you can just "spend" them on a machine.  Should get you a few pulls/button pushes. You never know.  

[dbrown84]

4 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

They are still providing the player's card.  Both the player's card and your room key work for "tap to play".  There were a few machines that still required the insert so I carried all 3 cards around for the first few days.

Once I found my favorite machines no need for that.  A curious thing about the drink card...I showed it to the bar waiters, but they always wanted my room key card.

if you don't have the FAS drink package, be careful with just handing over your key card for drinks.  You may end up getting charged for drinks because they don't take the time to punch it in against the casino card.  Guest services will promptly remove it, but it's a pain to have to keep going back there.  To the point that I stopped ordering from servers and just went to the bar myself.

[julig22]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

On Pr1ma last week, well it was two weeks ago now, the casino host kind of snickered when I handed over my player's card from another ship. I asked her for a new player's card, but she just said to use my keycard. I didn't see anyone else with a player's card onboard. May be just that Pr1ma has new machines? They are definitely the tap to play, not insert card to play type. Earned a whopping almost 1,000 points from hosting the slot pull. Not sure those are good for anything. 🙂 

 

Happy sailing! 

New machines on the Jewel in August, Sky in September. Some worked, some would not read my card no matter how much I tried.

I got the "snicker" response when I asked for a new player's card on the Star last February.  I'm guessing they are just phasing out the cards (at least for those of us that don't really have any casino status), so the response would depend on how many blank cards they have left...

[BirdTravels]

51 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

if you don't have the FAS drink package, be careful with just handing over your key card for drinks.  You may end up getting charged for drinks because they don't take the time to punch it in against the casino card.  Guest services will promptly remove it, but it's a pain to have to keep going back there.  To the point that I stopped ordering from servers and just went to the bar myself.

Or the casino hosts can have a drink price removed. 

[smillerholmes]

52 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

if you don't have the FAS drink package, be careful with just handing over your key card for drinks.  You may end up getting charged for drinks because they don't take the time to punch it in against the casino card.  Guest services will promptly remove it, but it's a pain to have to keep going back there.  To the point that I stopped ordering from servers and just went to the bar myself.

Yeah, that happened.  The host took care of it for me, but you are right there were a few charges in there.  They blamed it on "newer" bar staff.  

[dbrown84]

thanks, @BirdTravels and @smillerholmes.  I never thought of going over to the host desk.

[Ellis1138]

I can't answer about playing cashless, since I used cash, but the casino host on the Escape told me they don't give Players Cards anymore and to use my room key. It did wind up being tied to my account, so they do track that.