Is there a fee to get money from casino?

[Fishbait17]

Just got off of the Epic on September 25th and they allowed up to $2000 per day to be charged to your Sail and Sign card with no fee.

 

Not sure if it's a fleetwide change, but it was offered. I did one transaction myself, and was not charged.

 

Oops, just realized my own error... There is no 3% fee charged on cruises in Europe, which is where I think you were on the Epic that date.. Sigh, too bad :(.

 

Robin

[Fishbait17]

Agreed, I would like to hear other reports on if there is a 3% fee or not. BTW, I looked at my welcome brochure for my upcoming cruise and it mentions that there is not a fee for casino charges to OBC.

 

3% fee still active on all but European sailings. At least, as of last week. But I am very interested in whether the fee is still charged for OBC withdrawals (as opposed to standard cash advances from your onboard account). It has been a while since anyone has posted about OBC withdrawals here.

 

Robin

[wellington28]

3% fee still active on all but European sailings. At least, as of last week. But I am very interested in whether the fee is still charged for OBC withdrawals (as opposed to standard cash advances from your onboard account). It has been a while since anyone has posted about OBC withdrawals here.

 

Robin

 

Bummer, no casino for me then. Probably a good thing given the piss poor odds anyway but a 3% fee will prevent me from even considering it.

[gliles]

Adding 3% to the house edge is not right. I will just gamble less, so it's NCL's loss, not mine.

 

It's just a way to get a little more revenue and I like it in that it's only getting more revenue from people who would use that service - not from those who don't. That said, I am one who would use that service and pay for it. :o I like when companies try to get extra $$ from those who use things. Just like jacking up the price of drinks - only impacts those who drink, dammit again that's me!

 

Do what you want to the price of spa treatments.... ;)

[Pokeraddict]

I too have stopped gambling on NCL ships just on the principle. It's not as if they don't make enough money off the clientele in the casino.

Its another reason why I like cruising Hawaii as there is no casino so even though I'm spending more on the cruise we are saving thousands by having no casino to entice us.

[Richie2pies]

The casino on a ship, (not only NCL) is a trap. The slots are a rip because they know you can't go next door or down the street. The winners on slots are few and far between.

[wellington28]

The casino on a ship, (not only NCL) is a trap. The slots are a rip because they know you can't go next door or down the street. The winners on slots are few and far between.

 

Exactly, so why not eat the transaction fee and entice people to come in. The cruise line would easily make that fee back but hitting me with a transaction fee before I even start. No thanks.

[FEckeT]

NCL like any other business pays transaction fees to the credit card company (American Express, Discover, Master Card and Visa, etc.). NCL pays an agreed upon percentage of the transaction amount as well as a very small charge per transaction, usually around 25 cents give or take 10 cents. These are negotiated, predetermined fees.

 

Therefore, NCL is NOT being charged by the credit card companies an additional 3% fee as the consumer would pay an ATM machine. NCL is charged the same fee that the credit card charges NCL when you make a purchase in the ship's store or purchase a drink.

 

In the end, NCL pays one transaction fee per on board account (my husband and I use the same credit card for both of our on board accounts, therefore NCL would only be charged one transaction fee AND a percentage of what we charge.

 

Just my opinion.

 

:eek:

 

I do not like carrying cash anywhere. We purchase our gas, food, etc. on a credit card and I can usually account for every penny we spend each month. (We pay the credit cards off in full each month.)

 

We sail as casino guests, therefore we have every intention of gambling in the casino. We usually go to the cashier and place several hundred dollars on our on board account each time we enter the casino.

 

Now, that we are forced to bring cash (because I do not use ATM machines to get cash, ANYWHERE, why would I pay NCL 3% to get cash) to use in the casino?

 

NCL is actually limiting us as to how much we could lose to them. When we had the ability to access the thousands of dollars that's on our credit line availability, we could decide what we wanted to spend while on the ship.

 

I know while at home, before we sail, I always anticipate not spending as much as I usually end up spending, so if NCL continues this practice of charging us 3% percent, I win because I will NOT be spending a penny more than I predetermined BEFORE I left home.

 

ON THE OTHER HAND ..... to take NCL's part, too many people were using the casino as a "free" ATM machine. If possible, NCL should allow their gambling guests to place a "free charge" onto their OB account and maybe instead of the cashier giving them "cash" they could give them a slip of paper to use at the table to give to the dealer to buy chips or on their casino card for slot players. This would end up being a win-win. It would make the gamblers happy and at the same time the people that were only using the cashier for a "free" ATM machine, would be forced to either gamble or get their money just like an ATM machine.

[SuiteCruiser]

Any company that accepts credit cards pays between 1.7 and 2.4% back to their credit card provider plus the per transaction fee. It's not just "found money" for NCL. I think the problem is just as you mentioned, too many people took advantage. Lots of schemes out there to take the max per day, get the points on your credit card and take the money home to pay off your bill.

 

BTW on the Epic, the transactions were done at the table in form of chips, but the cheats would just have left and cashed them out.

 

I do believe that people sailing with Casinos at Sea should not have to pay the fee, we've shown how much time and money we'll spend in the casino, so should be offered that as part of the package.

[cdnsteelman]

I was on the Jewel last Friday (Oct 7) and charging $500 at casino wicket to my room account cost me $15 (3%) so there is one real-time example. The ATM happened to be down at the time so I'm not sure how much the comparable fee would have been for a simple w/d from my chequing account.

[fridaythe13th]

Do they let you cash a check at guest relations?

[sjbdtz]

Do they let you cash a check at guest relations?

 

 

No.

 

 

 

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