Fees in the casino?

[Eskwire]

I keep reading on other posts that there is a 3% fee in the casino. Is this fee universal? Or does it only apply when certain types of payments are used (e.g., cash vs. cruise card vs. credit card). My husband has gambled on every cruise and never once mentioned a fee. Is this new?

[peterv]

Only if you try and charge your gambling stakes. No fee for using cash!

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Toto2Kansas]

The 3% is charged when you charge gambling money to your shipboard account.

[JTJ]

They are recouping the charge the credit card company is charging them. It is short sighted given the house odds in the Casino. RCCL does not charge extra. If you are gambling a lot you can get it comped

[Lady Vidora]

The one time I used my room card to get 20.00 I was charged a 3-percent fee. But I didn't get much and didn't want to wake up hubby, so it wasn't a problem. Most of the time we went to the pursar's desk, traded in travellers checks for no fee, then just used cash in the casino. no fees that way.

[TexasMom2]

Depending on how much cash you want to get, it could be cheaper to use the ATM machine. The fee was $5.50, so using the ATM to withdraw anything over around $180 is cost effective.

 

We will be gifting ourselves with casino credit and taking plenty of traveler's cheques with us on our next Princess cruise. We love to play blackjack and sometimes you need a sizable stake to stick around long enough to win, then hightail it out of the casino. :)

[serene56]

Depending on how much cash you want to get, it could be cheaper to use the ATM machine. The fee was $5.50, so using the ATM to withdraw anything over around $180 is cost effective.

 

Sometimes the ATM is empty midweek through your cruise. You also have to add on what your bank charges for using a universal ATM.. it can all add up

3% of the 180 woulda been 10 cents cheaper to use a sign and sail card.

[TexasMom2]

My credit union charges me to use other ATMs, but the charges are refunded back to my account if I submit the ATM receipts. I usually do this once a month with any other deposits I have to make.

[robtulipe]

The one time I used my room card to get 20.00 I was charged a 3-percent fee. But I didn't get much and didn't want to wake up hubby, so it wasn't a problem. Most of the time we went to the pursar's desk, traded in travellers checks for no fee, then just used cash in the casino. no fees that way.

I believe the casino treats traveller's checks as cash ( no fee ) as they have done so for me on my previous cruises but I didn't cash any in at the casino for my Regal cruise last month.

[jak378]

When you take an advance on your cruise card, is it given in cash, or is it some kind of credit that you can only use in the casino? It strikes me that a 3 percent fee is not unreasonable if it converts to cold cash, and precludes carrying a lot of cash with you. I would sooner carry a small amount of cash, and be able to obtain cash as needed when onboard. I suspect all the fee does is recoup the discount that Princess pays to the credit card company, which is built into the cost of merchadise that is purchased.

[jak378]

Whoops double post

[jak378]

Whoops, whoops-triple post.

[jak378]

I sure messed that up didn't I?

[cruiseco]

Remember that the casino is a concession operated by an outside company. So Princess understandably has a problem with paying the credit card fee (somewhere around the 3% probably) for passengers to get money to spend with someone else. I've known passengers to use the casino as an ATM for cash to spend in the ports of call. Why pay a 3% fee to dispense cash that will be spent in town?

[jak378]

Remember that the casino is a concession operated by an outside company. So Princess understandably has a problem with paying the credit card fee (somewhere around the 3% probably) for passengers to get money to spend with someone else. I've known passengers to use the casino as an ATM for cash to spend in the ports of call. Why pay a 3% fee to dispense cash that will be spent in town?

 

I agree. Princess probably pays somewhere around 3 percent discount when they redeem credit card charges. Remember that discount is builit into the cost of merchandise sold on the ship, or anywhere that accepts credit cards for that matter. Obviously, they cannot build the charge into a cash advance, so they add it on. That seems fair to me. Three percent is not an unreasonable charge if you can retrieve cash when you need it. It is a lot better than carrying a thousand or more dollars in cash with you, with all the risk that entails. Remember if you take a cash advance on a credit card there is a transaction fee along with interest from the date of the advance until paid. A debit card would probably have an ATM fee charged, possibly from the ATM and from you home bank. Besides, ATM's have been known to run out of cash. I don't know what the fees are for the purchase of travelers checks, but probably at least 1 percent, and they have some hassle associated with them. Thirty dollars on a thousand does not seem exorbitant to me to avoid carrying large sums of cash.