Buying casino chips

[George C]

Unfortunately celebrity no longer gives you a discount to prebuy chips , can I use my card to get chips without an additional charge ? I rather not bring a lot of cash, thanks.

[kwokpot]

5 minutes ago, George C said:

Unfortunately celebrity no longer gives you a discount to prebuy chips , can I use my card to get chips without an additional charge ? I rather not bring a lot of cash, thanks.

No, unless you're part of Celebrity's Blue Chip Club casino program and you're at Onyx level and above, which then the fee is waived. Your best bet is if you have an ATM card the waives/reimburses ATM withdrawal fees then use it to withdraw cash from the onboard ATM. 

[Texed]

11 minutes ago, George C said:

Unfortunately celebrity no longer gives you a discount to prebuy chips , can I use my card to get chips without an additional charge ? I rather not bring a lot of cash, thanks.

 

The 5% surcharge is also waived if you are in a suite or Zenith.

Edited February 16 by Texed

[DingoMom]

Hi George,

You will be in an RS, so the fee will be waived for you. Alternatively, you can use your card to put cash on slot machines, cash that out and get chips with the cash. I will help you with all the casino hacks!

Dawn

[Tyler414]

59 minutes ago, Texed said:

 

The 5% surcharge is also waived if you are in a suite or Zenith.

I guess this kinda answers my question of what the fees are… I get 2% back on my credit card, so would cost me 3%.  Carry around thousands in cash pre and post cruise or pay, in my case, a 3% fee to not risk carrying large amounts of cash. 

[DingoMom]

I need @kwokpot to back me up on this, but thus far I think all the answers so far pertain to a ‘cash advance on your credit card.’ HOWEVER, I do know you can spend up to $3000K per day on your Sea Pass card from the casino if you have a credit card on file for the cruise. 

[Tyler414]

55 minutes ago, DingoMom said:

I need @kwokpot to back me up on this, but thus far I think all the answers so far pertain to a ‘cash advance on your credit card.’ HOWEVER, I do know you can spend up to $3000K per day on your Sea Pass card from the casino if you have a credit card on file for the cruise. 

If true does this apply for non suite cruisers?

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Texed said:

 

The 5% surcharge is also waived if you are in a suite or Zenith.

Learn something new every day.   I'm not a big Gambler but somehow reached Onyx, a Zenith and a Suite Guest so wasn't sure why I had never been charged.

[DingoMom]

So this is currently on the Celebrity FAQs:

 

[PTC DAWG]

I just roll with green…too easy to just put it on the card and take losses.

5k plus, I would probably arrange a line of credit pre cruise.

 

 

Edited February 17 by PTC DAWG

[DingoMom]

@PTC DAWG, I understand! I HAVE set myself a limit, but do get the $$ daily on my Sea Pass for slots or tables. Why not get the credit card points on my Sea Pass account for $ I was going to spend anyway? As long as I have my limit, and pay off the credit card immediately thereafter, I, personally, don’t have a problem. YMMV.

[kwokpot]

22 hours ago, DingoMom said:

I need @kwokpot to back me up on this, but thus far I think all the answers so far pertain to a ‘cash advance on your credit card.’ HOWEVER, I do know you can spend up to $3000K per day on your Sea Pass card from the casino if you have a credit card on file for the cruise. 

My husband, who is the gambler in the family, says it's $5,000/day. We double dip buy either using the AMEX Green or Chase Sapphire Reserve credit cards which gives 3X points on travel related charges.I think the most he ever charged was $10.000 so we got 30,000 points to use for travel just for getting money on the cruiseship to gamble!

 

[sixpackeddie]

I have always just taken an advance on the stateroom which is linked to your credit card on your onboard account. I don’t think I have ever been charged fees? 

[PTC DAWG]

15 hours ago, DingoMom said:

@PTC DAWG, I understand! I HAVE set myself a limit, but do get the $$ daily on my Sea Pass for slots or tables. Why not get the credit card points on my Sea Pass account for $ I was going to spend anyway? As long as I have my limit, and pay off the credit card immediately thereafter, I, personally, don’t have a problem. YMMV.

I’m talking mainly to myself…re limits etc…

[cmaleblanc]

Hey I may be misunderstanding the question. But I just got off the Apex today. I played in the Casino. I'm also Canadian and the exchange rate is crap, so I didn't bring cash. Instead I went to the cage at the casino and charge the cost to my stateroom, it was a 1:1 to fees, I took out $200, and $200 showed up on my account statement. I mange to win money this time, so the last night of the cruise I went and paid back the $200 and pocketed my winnings. Never paid anything more or less. I do it this way because I use a no FX card for purchase in the US, in this case I just cashed out my winnings at the cage and paid the balance st customer service. I was in a regulated veranda this time no suite and I'm only Select/Pearl on Celebrity so outside of a match play I'm not getting anything special from them.

[NMTraveller]

So if you charge it to your onboard account,  can you get cash out when you cash out?

[sixpackeddie]

15 minutes ago, cmaleblanc said:

Hey I may be misunderstanding the question. But I just got off the Apex today. I played in the Casino. I'm also Canadian and the exchange rate is crap, so I didn't bring cash. Instead I went to the cage at the casino and charge the cost to my stateroom, it was a 1:1 to fees, I took out $200, and $200 showed up on my account statement. I mange to win money this time, so the last night of the cruise I went and paid back the $200 and pocketed my winnings. Never paid anything more or less. I do it this way because I use a no FX card for purchase in the US, in this case I just cashed out my winnings at the cage and paid the balance st customer service. I was in a regulated veranda this time no suite and I'm only Select/Pearl on Celebrity so outside of a match play I'm not getting anything special from them.

I am also Canadian and do the same thing. Agreed about the exchange rate too. Worse case scenario if I loose I get points on my visa…

Edited February 17 by sixpackeddie

[DingoMom]

@NMTraveller, Yes! You get cash from the casino if/when you win. Then you can either pocket the cash, and leave the charge on your Sea-Pass-Backed-Credit-Card, or you can take the cash and go down one deck to Guest Services and pay off what you charged (or more, or less).

@kwokpot, Thank you!

@PTC DAWG, It’s all good!

Edited February 18 by DingoMom

[Accatty]

On 2/17/2024 at 11:11 PM, cmaleblanc said:

Hey I may be misunderstanding the question. But I just got off the Apex today. I played in the Casino. I'm also Canadian and the exchange rate is crap, so I didn't bring cash. Instead I went to the cage at the casino and charge the cost to my stateroom, it was a 1:1 to fees, I took out $200, and $200 showed up on my account statement. I mange to win money this time, so the last night of the cruise I went and paid back the $200 and pocketed my winnings. Never paid anything more or less. I do it this way because I use a no FX card for purchase in the US, in this case I just cashed out my winnings at the cage and paid the balance st customer service. I was in a regulated veranda this time no suite and I'm only Select/Pearl on Celebrity so outside of a match play I'm not getting anything special from them. Also, if you're looking for ways to get more out of your casino experience, check out https://playsafecasino.ca/casino-bonuses/free-spins/ with the list of the best free spins casinos. I used it and found some great offers that made my time at the casino even more enjoyable. Hope this helps!

Nice workaround with the no FX card! Good to hear it worked out without extra fees. I’d definitely keep an eye on the statement just in case something slips through. Always better to be safe!

[NCTribeFan]

Just to be sure I'm clear on this since I've only sailed X once.

 

I typically just charge to my onboard account at the slots (except on Virgin where they charge 7% fee!!  Which I didn't know prior to my 14 + 10 night sailings this past spring.  The ATM fee on the ship was much less). 

 

But at the roulette wheel, I use cash, because every line I've sailed charges a fee to charge your card.

 

Are you saying I can get chips at the cage, backed by my onboard account, and not be charged a fee?  Or use my card at the table, w/o a fee?  Or does this lowly Pearl player get charged for buying chips on my card?

 

I'll be on a side-to-side, spending 2 nights post-cruise in FLL, then board HAL for another week, so I'm trying to figure out how much cash I actually need to carry with me.  I do not like travelling with a wad of cash.