Pre-purchase casino credits

[nivek82]

Too bad they aren’t clear if you will earn points on the initial amount. As others state if you wouldn’t get points on the initial amount then it’s really a non deal. 

[Robinhill]

you do get credit for them- when i sat down with some of these special chips on my last cruise that i had won at a raffle or something they put the amount of the chips in that little device that they swipe your sea pass card and enter the amount of your chips with

[itsmeagain]

24 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

This capability is on older Royal ships?  I thought the machines had to print cashout tickets to move money to another machine.

 

Enchantment has had it for years so it has been on the older ships.  I would also guess that with the change out of the machines they have been doing it would be an easy thing to turn on for the ships that have not yet activated it.  We have been on a couple of them that did not use it yet, but more seem to have it than those that don’t.

[tekguy26]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

However if they did that then many people would be doing that just to get the free money to gamble with no intention of gambling another nickel.  Not a very good business decision.I still stand by what I stated that the entire amount will be promotional and must be played through.

I think that's why they up then bonus amount exponentially. They have you at sea for 7 days. If you have to sit to play the bonus, you're probably going to reach in at some point and play your own money. They aren't giving you "free money" because bonus money is only paid if you win. This really should be a Gambler Critic post rather than a Cruise Critic one now I think about it...

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, tekguy26 said:

I think that's why they up then bonus amount exponentially. They have you at sea for 7 days. If you have to sit to play the bonus, you're probably going to reach in at some point and play your own money. They aren't giving you "free money" because bonus money is only paid if you win. This really should be a Gambler Critic post rather than a Cruise Critic one now I think about it...

 

With this program being new I would be waiting until we had first hand reports from the ship before committing any money (unless you are 100% certain you will gamble it).  Even then I’m sure that with 20+ ships in the fleet there will be 40+ different ways they implement this and control it on the ships.😁

 

i just see this as too easy a way for people people to pick up $200 free gambling money with no restrictions on the original amount..

[itsmeagain]

2 minutes ago, Robinhill said:

you do get credit for them- when i sat down with some of these special chips on my last cruise that i had won at a raffle or something they put the amount of the chips in that little device that they swipe your sea pass card and enter the amount of your chips with

I have won promo on some of the nightly things they do and that did not give me points on the slot machines. 

[tekguy26]

Well I'm going to find out first hand in January. So I guess this is brand new since nobody had purchased this first hand yet. I'm a gambling man, I'm going all in for $2000 and see where it goes. In the past I've just charged chips to my room because the 5% fee was waived. I've taken out more than $2000 before and just paid it back to my account. Stay tuned...

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, tekguy26 said:

Well I'm going to find out first hand in January. So I guess this is brand new since nobody had purchased this first hand yet. I'm a gambling man, I'm going all in for $2000 and see where it goes. In the past I've just charged chips to my room because the 5% fee was waived. I've taken out more than $2000 before and just paid it back to my account. Stay tuned...

 

Looking forward to hearing the outcome.

[lazydayz]

28 minutes ago, tekguy26 said:

Well I'm going to find out first hand in January. So I guess this is brand new since nobody had purchased this first hand yet. I'm a gambling man, I'm going all in for $2000 and see where it goes. In the past I've just charged chips to my room because the 5% fee was waived. I've taken out more than $2000 before and just paid it back to my account. Stay tuned...

What ship are you sailing?

[tekguy26]

6 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

What ship are you sailing?

Oasis Jan 6. Will be my third time on this ship. This will just be our second guys trip, no wives or kids. So I'm sure there will be more gambling and drinking than usual 🙂

[lazydayz]

1 minute ago, tekguy26 said:

Oasis Jan 6. Will be my third time on this ship. This will just be our second guys trip, no wives or kids. So I'm sure there will be more gambling and drinking than usual 🙂

Have a great time. We love the Oasis and I will try to find the deal for my March 31 cruise. 

[Ourusualbeach]

21 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

Have a great time. We love the Oasis and I will try to find the deal for my March 31 cruise. 

 

If available it is listed under internet and more in your cruise planner 

[ZoeyVictoria]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

If available it is listed under internet and more in your cruise planner 

 

Thanks, that is exactly what I needed to know.  The offer wasn't there just a couple of days ago for the Symphony on 3/9/19, but I have it this morning. The choices are $500, $1,000 and $2,000.  I am going to wait and see what the first players report.

[tekguy26]

 

Got off the phone with Casino Royale and they're giving such inconsistent information that I asked to have my inquiry sent to the department that handles this offer. I think what everybody wants to know is, can we take the prepaid credits off the table at anytime. I suspect the answer is yes. The girl I spoke to was trying to be helpful, but I told her the language in the T&C was a bit elusive to what the actual bonus was.

 

From what I could see, it says if you purchase $2000, it would be $2200 worth of credits. Instead I would expect it to say $2000 + $200 bonus credits. They need to be distinct from one another. I'll share when I get a response. Also I just wanted something in writing incase the story changes later.

 

 

[ZoeyVictoria]

The more I think about this, the less interested I am.  If I obligate $500, the benefits would be $10 in credit card rewards and $25 bonus chips.  That would cover less than one hand of 3-card poker with a $10 minimum bet, so after that two minutes of fun, I would have to keep track of $500 in play chips.  I realize that might be the hand that is a royal flush, but I am doubtful that would really happen.

 

I normally enjoy getting a deal (love that $10 gift card at Publix for getting my flu shot at their pharmacy, etc.), but this just doesn't seem that appealing after thinking about it for a while.  If I was unlucky enough to get sick at the beginning of the cruise, I couldn't cash out the chips or have my SO play them for me, so I would have to choose between forfeiting or dragging myself to a table and infecting others.

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

The more I think about this, the less interested I am.  If I obligate $500, the benefits would be $10 in credit card rewards and $25 bonus chips.  That would cover less than one hand of 3-card poker with a $10 minimum bet, so after that two minutes of fun, I would have to keep track of $500 in play chips.  I realize that might be the hand that is a royal flush, but I am doubtful that would really happen.

 

I normally enjoy getting a deal (love that $10 gift card at Publix for getting my flu shot at their pharmacy, etc.), but this just doesn't seem that appealing after thinking about it for a while.  If I was unlucky enough to get sick at the beginning of the cruise, I couldn't cash out the chips or have my SO play them for me, so I would have to choose between forfeiting or dragging myself to a table and infecting others.

 

Thankfully, I have never been too sick to gamble on any cruise. Since I normally gamble that much, I think it is a good buy. 

[Wally Alligator]

Thinking of doing the $500 table play for my 01/05/2019 Symphony sailing just to see how it works on the UTH table.  I am assuming that after each hand won, dealer will exchange all the "bonus" chips remaining on the table for real (cash able) chips.  If so, it will be very easy to churn $500 at the UTH table even if table minimum is $5.  Ante, Odds, & Trips is $15 before cards are dealt.  Figure an average $10 on the Play and it is $25/hand.  $500 pre-buy / $25 / hand = 20 hands which is less than an hour at a full table with a slow dealer.  This assumes that after each hand won, dealer exchanges all the "bonus" chips remaining on the table for real (cash able) chips.

 

Not too concerned about points this cruise as already have Prime for next year and even with 24 nights sailing this program year, I will not come half way to Signature.  Therefore if we do not get casino points for the "bonus" chips played, this is the cruise it would mean the least.

[tekguy26]

6 minutes ago, Wally Alligator said:

Thinking of doing the $500 table play for my 01/05/2019 Symphony sailing just to see how it works on the UTH table.  I am assuming that after each hand won, dealer will exchange all the "bonus" chips remaining on the table for real (cash able) chips.  If so, it will be very easy to churn $500 at the UTH table even if table minimum is $5.  Ante, Odds, & Trips is $15 before cards are dealt.  Figure an average $10 on the Play and it is $25/hand.  $500 pre-buy / $25 / hand = 20 hands which is less than an hour at a full table with a slow dealer.  This assumes that after each hand won, dealer exchanges all the "bonus" chips remaining on the table for real (cash able) chips.

 

Not too concerned about points this cruise as already have Prime for next year and even with 24 nights sailing this program year, I will not come half way to Signature.  Therefore if we do not get casino points for the "bonus" chips played, this is the cruise it would mean the least.

From what I've know about bonus wagers is, you don't actually get the wager back. You only get the winners. So if you place a $25 bonus bet and win, they take away the voucher and you get $25 for the win. If you lose they just take away the voucher. That's why there's a rule about contra betting. In roulette when you win, they take away the bet instead of leaving it in play for the next spin.

[somerandomidiot]

8 hours ago, tekguy26 said:

From what I've know about bonus wagers is, you don't actually get the wager back. You only get the winners. So if you place a $25 bonus bet and win, they take away the voucher and you get $25 for the win. If you lose they just take away the voucher. That's why there's a rule about contra betting. In roulette when you win, they take away the bet instead of leaving it in play for the next spin.

I don't see how there's a benefit at all to buying these chips. Say you wager your 1000 promo chips on red and it hits. They take your 1000 in promo chips and pay you 1000 in real chips. You need to bet the whole amount and win just to break even. This only works if they give them to you 2 to 1.  

[Racer26]

I have used the chips that this offer will be giving you before for free play earned from points.  They work like any other chips - if you win, they pay the win with cash chips from the tray, and you keep the promotional chip that won and can wager it again on the next hand.  If you lose, they take the losing promo chips and drop them in the table's cash box.

 

In the past they told me I was only able to use them on even-money bets.  On my last voyage 2 weeks ago, that restriction seems to be gone, and I was allowed to play my promo chips on roulette numbers. YMMV on this.

 

Interestingly, the terms excluding contrabetting call out roulette and baccarat, but do not call out pass/don't pass or buy/laying the same number on craps.

 

My biggest concern is the single denomination rule - I want to buy this offer, but I don't want to play $25-100/play - I just want to prepay for 2200 in $5 chips.  Thats 440 chips, or 4 and a half of those clear plastic chip trays they use.  That's an awkward amount of chips to manage, if they even have enough chips to satisfy my request - what would I do, store them in my cabin safe taking out a couple hundred at a time?  I'm not even sure the cabin safe is large enough to accommodate 4 chip trays.  It would be more sensible if they let me take $100 promo chips for storage purposes and then let me break them down to $5 promo chips at the cash cage each day.

 

[Wally Alligator]

11 hours ago, somerandomidiot said:

I don't see how there's a benefit at all to buying these chips. Say you wager your 1000 promo chips on red and it hits. They take your 1000 in promo chips and pay you 1000 in real chips. You need to bet the whole amount and win just to break even. This only works if they give them to you 2 to 1.  

I cannot for the life of me imagine such a payout when you have purchased the freeplay chips.  The freeplay chips must be played through but to use your example - 1000 in freeplay chips on red and it hits, I would expect the 1000 chip win paid out in regular chips plus the 1000 freeplay chips replaced with regular chips.  Now you have played through your 1000 in freeplay chips and have a total of 2000 regular (cash able) chips (plus you still have the 75 in bonus freeplay chips you received for pre-purchasing the chips).  This scenario is the only one that makes sense to me and I certainly hope it is accurate.

[Racer26]

Many land casinos have similar promotional chips, sometimes referred to as "sticky" chips.

 

They have a value, and wagers made with them pay as normal, leaving the wagered chips on the betting spots but you can't ever cash them - play them until you lose them, basically.

[MonaCK]

I will be very curious to know how this works out - i hope folks who do this report back ... 

[tekguy26]

21 minutes ago, Racer26 said:

I have used the chips that this offer will be giving you before for free play earned from points.  They work like any other chips - if you win, they pay the win with cash chips from the tray, and you keep the promotional chip that won and can wager it again on the next hand.  If you lose, they take the losing promo chips and drop them in the table's cash box.

 

In the past they told me I was only able to use them on even-money bets.  On my last voyage 2 weeks ago, that restriction seems to be gone, and I was allowed to play my promo chips on roulette numbers. YMMV on this.

 

Interestingly, the terms excluding contrabetting call out roulette and baccarat, but do not call out pass/don't pass or buy/laying the same number on craps.

 

My biggest concern is the single denomination rule - I want to buy this offer, but I don't want to play $25-100/play - I just want to prepay for 2200 in $5 chips.  Thats 440 chips, or 4 and a half of those clear plastic chip trays they use.  That's an awkward amount of chips to manage, if they even have enough chips to satisfy my request - what would I do, store them in my cabin safe taking out a couple hundred at a time?  I'm not even sure the cabin safe is large enough to accommodate 4 chip trays.  It would be more sensible if they let me take $100 promo chips for storage purposes and then let me break them down to $5 promo chips at the cash cage each day.

 

 

This guy gambles people 🙂

I'm working under the assumption of buying $2000 credits for $200 bonus chips. I dont think you can do a call bet with them on craps, because they can't make change for the promo chips (6 and 8 are $6 increments and $1 per $25 if you buy the 4 or 10) and also if I call a line bet and someone throws craps, I would put up my promotional chips of real chips to lose.

 

That's why I think this is so unclear because doesn't seem that even the casino is familiar with the rules. If anything, they would probably give you your chips in large like 4 purples for $2000 and you just change them at the table as required. Its the bonus chips that seem to be a mystery.

 

What you said about leaving the promotional bet after paying out isn't consistent with how promo play works. The promo bets are one time play only, win or lose. That's how they expect you to play through the entire bonus amount. If you keep it, then you would essentially be playing wagering more than $200.

[Racer26]

I was on a ship 2 weeks ago playing with the chips.  They definitely do leave the promo chips in play on a winning wager. It's not like the old match play coupons where they took the coupon win or lose.