Bingo Questions on the Joy RT NYC 5/26/24-6/2/24

[expectthebest]

Hello Fello Cruisers,

it’s been a couple years since we have sailed NCL. Our (2) kids (14) and (6) have discovered Bingo and asked if they can play bingo on a sea day on our upcoming Bermuda cruise..

My Questions:

is it still $20 per person to play? Can you charge it to your room or cash only?

how many games do you get for said entrance fee?

 

do you win actual cash? Or is it ship board credit?

 

do they still do a progressive ‘cover all’ with the numbers slowly increasing each day?

 

is it a complete money grab and should be avoided at all cost?

 

can you still win a free cruise if you win the final cover all ?

 

has anyone on this sub ever won the free cruise? How was it? Did they make you have an inside cabin on deck 4 or can you pick location if you are the lucky winner? Does NCL still eat all the taxes and port fees including gratuities..so you are granted an actual free Cruise?

 

we are 110 days out so we are getting excited!!

 

Any advice on this would help!!!

[FLAHAM]

On an NCL cruise last year, while sitting in our balcony girlfriend asked for $50 to go play bingo.  With my usual tact, I told her bingo was a no-skill game for complete idiots.  She said she wanted to play anyway.  I gave her the $50.  Two hours later she came back with 12 crisp $100 bills.

[expectthebest]

8 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

On an NCL cruise last year, while sitting in our balcony girlfriend asked for $50 to go play bingo.  With my usual tact, I told her bingo was a no-skill game for complete idiots.  She said she wanted to play anyway.  I gave her the $50.  Two hours later she came back with 12 crisp $100 bills.

Thank you Flaham!!! 

[ready2cruzagain]

It is NOT $20 anymore, at least not on the Epic. I believe cards started at $45.

 

[cincicruisers]

12 hours ago, expectthebest said:

Hello Fello Cruisers,

it’s been a couple years since we have sailed NCL. Our (2) kids (14) and (6) have discovered Bingo and asked if they can play bingo on a sea day on our upcoming Bermuda cruise..

My Questions:

is it still $20 per person to play? Can you charge it to your room or cash only?

The price is now around $50.

how many games do you get for said entrance fee?

4-5

 

do you win actual cash? Or is it ship board credit?

winnings are in cash

 

do they still do a progressive ‘cover all’ with the numbers slowly increasing each day?

yes

 

 

is it a complete money grab and should be avoided at all cost?

it’s entertainment.  Someone’s got to win, it ,may be you.  Your kids can play but if they win something you have to claim it.

 

 

can you still win a free cruise if you win the final cover all ?

There is a free cruise round, An upgrade to a suite round, (not on every cruise, and the cover all finale round.

 

has anyone on this sub ever won the free cruise? How was it? Did they make you have an inside cabin on deck 4 or can you pick location if you are the lucky winner? Does NCL still eat all the taxes and port fees including gratuities..so you are granted an actual free Cruise?

 

 

we are 110 days out so we are getting excited!!

 

Any advice on this would help!!!

 

[JamesIowa]

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

It is NOT $20 anymore, at least not on the Epic. I believe cards started at $45.

 

Iirc it’s like $49 for 1 multicolored set of cards. Each color represents a game (eg 1 line anywhere, etc) and has 4-5 play areas per card. So you get to play a handful of games with a few cards. There’s also a $90 package. 
[s]If you go with the cheap package, it only cost like $1 per person per minute to attend a session [/s]

Edited February 7 by JamesIowa

[Balconygirl9]

16 hours ago, expectthebest said:

Hello Fello Cruisers,

it’s been a couple years since we have sailed NCL. Our (2) kids (14) and (6) have discovered Bingo and asked if they can play bingo on a sea day on our upcoming Bermuda cruise..

My Questions:

is it still $20 per person to play? Can you charge it to your room or cash only?

how many games do you get for said entrance fee?

 

do you win actual cash? Or is it ship board credit?

 

do they still do a progressive ‘cover all’ with the numbers slowly increasing each day?

 

is it a complete money grab and should be avoided at all cost?

 

can you still win a free cruise if you win the final cover all ?

 

has anyone on this sub ever won the free cruise? How was it? Did they make you have an inside cabin on deck 4 or can you pick location if you are the lucky winner? Does NCL still eat all the taxes and port fees including gratuities..so you are granted an actual free Cruise?

 

we are 110 days out so we are getting excited!!

 

Any advice on this would help!!!

 

[Balconygirl9]

My experience winning the “free cruise”.
When you purchase Bingo card$ during the cruise you are given a raffle ticket. You can accumulate these tickets during the entire cruise.  They are also given out when you buy pull tab games while waiting for shows to begin.  I believe maybe they are also given when playing trivia and such but not 💯 sure about that.  

The last night of the cruise I played one game/one board of bingo.  I had 2 red tickets. You need to wait for all the Bingo games to be played and then they pull a ticket from a barrel for the “free” cruise winner.  People had strips of red tickets. 
My ticket was pulled! 

I had to wait for the cruise director to go and get my certificate.  When he returned he explained the process of redeeming it and made it clear to me that it was a 5 night, inside cabin and I was responsible for the taxes and port fees.  
Found a 5 night from NY to Bermuda on the Getaway.  Booked it and tried to pay for an upgrade.  Was told it wasn’t eligible. Had to pay tax and port fees

However, I was able to do an upgrade bid and did get that a few days before sailing

You are not eligible for the FAS, so no drink package unless we wanted to buy it   
Didn’t do that 

Cruise was changed to New England and Canada the night before.  (Hurricane). Most people didn’t find out till they were on the ship. We froze our rears off.  The shops in Newport made a killing selling sweatshirts!!   (It was our worst cruise ever.  🙁.)
Free cruise - a bust in our opinion. 

Our experience just for info. 

[laudergayle]

At a minimum, It is now $49 for one strip which is 3 games.  They typically start with basic bingo, next is 4-corners and last game is cover-all.  The pot for game 1 is typically $125-175, Game 2 pot is around $250ish, Game 3 is $750-1000.  The free cruise is done by raffle as Balconygirl9 described.  We used to love playing bingo, but since the cost is so high now, I’d rather drop $50 in the slots.

 

I will say that on the Bliss in November we played on the last sea day.  It evidently was a “kid’s special” where I think they said kids cards were $10 per game card (not the series) and parents had to collect the winnings.  It was fun to watch the kids get so excited when a number was called and they had it on their card.

[expectthebest]

10 hours ago, JamesIowa said:

Iirc it’s like $49 for 1 multicolored set of cards. Each color represents a game (eg 1 line anywhere, etc) and has 4-5 play areas per card. So you get to play a handful of games with a few cards. There’s also a $90 package. 
[s]If you go with the cheap package, it only cost like $1 per person per minute to attend a session [/s]

Thank you for this info.. it sounds like the $20 price is only seen in the rear view mirror.. they were some fun times!!!

I guess I will try my best to steer the kids to doing something else while at sea.. I can’t imagine the room would be full at $50 per person but it has been a couple years and I guess everything must go up.

[expectthebest]

7 hours ago, laudergayle said:

At a minimum, It is now $49 for one strip which is 3 games.  They typically start with basic bingo, next is 4-corners and last game is cover-all.  The pot for game 1 is typically $125-175, Game 2 pot is around $250ish, Game 3 is $750-1000.  The free cruise is done by raffle as Balconygirl9 described.  We used to love playing bingo, but since the cost is so high now, I’d rather drop $50 in the slots.

 

I will say that on the Bliss in November we played on the last sea day.  It evidently was a “kid’s special” where I think they said kids cards were $10 per game card (not the series) and parents had to collect the winnings.  It was fun to watch the kids get so excited when a number was called and they had it on their card.

I will keep an eye out in the dailies for “kid specials’ and see if we can do that at least 

[ggTexasGal]

On 2/6/2024 at 4:50 PM, expectthebest said:

Hello Fello Cruisers,

it’s been a couple years since we have sailed NCL. Our (2) kids (14) and (6) have discovered Bingo and asked if they can play bingo on a sea day on our upcoming Bermuda cruise..

My Questions:

is it still $20 per person to play? Can you charge it to your room or cash only?

A $20 play would be a single game, which may or may not be offered on any cruise.

Yes, you can charge it to your room.

how many games do you get for said entrance fee?  There will be a sign showing costs and inclusions!

 

do you win actual cash? Or is it ship board credit? You will be given a receipt to take to the casino to cash-out!

 

do they still do a progressive ‘cover all’ with the numbers slowly increasing each day?

Usually that is what happens!

 

is it a complete money grab and should be avoided at all cost? Many say Yes, some still like the "gamble"!

 

can you still win a free cruise if you win the final cover all ?  The Free Cruise is still part of the lure.

 

has anyone on this sub ever won the free cruise? How was it? Did they make you have an inside cabin on deck 4 or can you pick location if you are the lucky winner? Does NCL still eat all the taxes and port fees including gratuities..so you are granted an actual free Cruise?  (No experience with winning the cruise!)

 

we are 110 days out so we are getting excited!! 😀

 

Any advice on this would help!!!  Good luck!!!

 

[Bob the picky eater]

 

Hello Everyone

Just finished my 100th cruise day on NCL ships.

Just got off the NCL Escape first week of March. 

 

Cover All Bingo was set at 47 Numbers or less for $5000.  As far as I know NCL no longer raises the black out number of balls as the cruise progresses.  Cards were very expensive.  I suspect NCL makes a big bundle everytime they roll out the money games Deal or No Deal, Cover All Bingo and the New Wheel of Fortune. 

 

The Wheel of Fortune. needs work.  Several rules are very different.  If a contestant calls a letter that has already been called no problem just try again.  On the real game you do that your turn is over.  Could be so a contest who is winning the game still holding the free cruise wedge can't duck spinning the wheel to hit the bankruptcy removing the free Cruise.  Plus there are 4 puzzles and the game ends.  The bonus puzzle for the champion is not in the played after the regular games.  A contestant can take all the time they want to pick a letter.  WOF is disappointing at this point.  

 

Bet you didn't know that the Odds of getting a cover all bingo in 49 numbers or less on one bingo card is somewhere around 1 in 450,000.  So NCL probably does not give away the $5000 very often.  Got money for those games keep it and go to the Casino you might win something.  My wife Debbie was on a lucky streak the first day and hit $450 betting $1.80 on one of the slots.  It was her last bet of the day. 

 

On this cruise the Escape was over booked by around 350 passengers.  Very crowded.

 

BK