Are suites worth it?

[JFontaine]

44 minutes ago, FiremedicMike151 said:

Can you play the casino trick on Celebrity?

Not sure what the casino trick is, but if you use OBC in the casino, you are given special chips or video 'coupon' that you need to play. The winnings of that play are yours to keep.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

23 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

Not sure what the casino trick is, but if you use OBC in the casino, you are given special chips or video 'coupon' that you need to play. The winnings of that play are yours to keep.

If you charge, let's say, $500 in chips at the table - that just goes onto/against your account. Would the OBC not cover that?

 

Tom

[JFontaine]

16 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

If you charge, let's say, $500 in chips at the table - that just goes onto/against your account. Would the OBC not cover that?

 

Tom

No, I don't think so. You need to specifically request OBC at the casino cage.  And those chips signed to your room has a 5% fee, with some exceptions. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

I don’t know why you would consider the obc a discount, it’s use it or lose it. It’s still money that has to be spent, not taken home. Just my take on it.

Understand. But since we would spend at the very minimum the equivalent of that nonrefundable OBC anyway on excursions, specialty restaurants and extra tips for the steward and butler, we remove it from the "pp/day" equation.

[CruiseRQA]

21 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 

 

Celebrity, at least right now, doesn't have much in the way of crowds anywhere on the ship.

 

 

We were on the Apex last week which was at about 60% capacity.   The retreat pool and hot tub area were definitely crowded most days.   In fact, the most crowed part of the ship and not a quiet crowd either.   Hence most of our pool time as at the Solarium which was not as crowded and was quieter. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

No, I don't think so. You need to specifically request OBC at the casino cage.  And those chips signed to your room has a 5% fee, with some exceptions. 

But if you simply want to convert your nonrefundable to refundable OBC by way of using the slots, would this strategy work? I saw this on a Celebrity thread a few months back, but didn't have any extra nonrefundable OBC to try it with.

 

1. Put your seapass card in the slot machine.  Your pin is your birth month and day.  

2. Go to “personal banker”, then “transfer funds”, then “room charge”.

3. Input amount of OBC.  

4. You will see this amount appear on the slot machine.  

5. Press cash out, collect ticket, bring to cashier.  

[FiremedicMike151]

On Carnival in January, we had 300 OBC per room due to 3 prior cruise cancellations.  I took $60 in chips against OBC (3% fee) and sat down at the blackjack tables.  I played slow, had a good time, cashed out daily, and ended up leaving my overall casino time with $120.  I cashed it out again at the end and didn't have a single problem.

 

Not quite the "roll one spin on the slots" method, but it was a good way to use my OBC and subsequently cash out my OBC while having fun in the process.

 

I'd bet this way is possible on Celebrity as well, but  maybe not if they actually give you different chips for your OBC.  I guess the key would be to only bet with your OBC chips until they're gone.. 

[JFontaine]

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But if you simply want to convert your nonrefundable to refundable OBC by way of using the slots, would this strategy work? I saw this on a Celebrity thread a few months back, but didn't have any extra nonrefundable OBC to try it with.

 

1. Put your seapass card in the slot machine.  Your pin is your birth month and day.  

2. Go to “personal banker”, then “transfer funds”, then “room charge”.

3. Input amount of OBC.  

4. You will see this amount appear on the slot machine.  

5. Press cash out, collect ticket, bring to cashier.  

The funds have to get to your Personal Banker.  To do that, go to the casino cage and make a request.  That would be step 1.

 

As I said, I believe (pre-pandemic, but now the casino rules have seemed to get less generous, not more) OBC used in the casino is coded so that it won't be paid out in cash.  Your winnings will be paid in cash.

 

I once took a pile of OBC chips and played both red and black roulette simultaneously to convert/monetize OBC. It worked, but  there is the possibility of the green zero, where both bets would lose. 

[JFontaine]

17 minutes ago, FiremedicMike151 said:

On Carnival in January, we had 300 OBC per room due to 3 prior cruise cancellations.  I took $60 in chips against OBC (3% fee) and sat down at the blackjack tables.  I played slow, had a good time, cashed out daily, and ended up leaving my overall casino time with $120.  I cashed it out again at the end and didn't have a single problem.

 

Not quite the "roll one spin on the slots" method, but it was a good way to use my OBC and subsequently cash out my OBC while having fun in the process.

 

I'd bet this way is possible on Celebrity as well, but  maybe not if they actually give you different chips for your OBC.  I guess the key would be to only bet with your OBC chips until they're gone.. 

That's exactly it.  Bet with your OBC chips first. They are a different color.  If you play $60 in one hand, and you win,  $120 is returned to you in chips that you can cash out the entire amount. There's no fee on Celebrity to play with OBC. 

[r2h2]

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

I don’t know why you would consider the obc a discount, it’s use it or lose it. It’s still money that has to be spent, not taken home. Just my take on it.

Not true.  OBC can be taken home is cash$$$. Just go to the casino, put in your OBC amount, play 1 game of slots and then cash out.

[George C]

If you know you have OBC credits and you gamble your crazy if you don’t take advantage of prebuying chips, I will buy somewhere between 500 and 700 in chips  and will get 550 or 770.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

10 minutes ago, George C said:

If you know you have OBC credits and you gamble your crazy if you don’t take advantage of prebuying chips, I will buy somewhere between 500 and 700 in chips  and will get 550 or 770.

 

I was looking into that. Looks like they limit it to $500 pp (which returns $550 in promo chips). Beyond that it would come down to having a spouse get some too, and then if you can play with "their" chips.

 

BTW, is there something in your cabin at embarkation which indicates the purchased promo chips, or do you just go to the cage and hope they have a record of it?  🙂

 

Tom

[George C]

2 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I was looking into that. Looks like they limit it to $500 pp (which returns $550 in promo chips). Beyond that it would come down to having a spouse get some too, and then if you can play with "their" chips.

 

Tom

I believe I did more on last cruise, I will try to order 600 later today. I update after.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Just now, George C said:

I believe I did more on last cruise, I will try to order 600 later today. I update after.

Thanks - not sure if you saw my addition/edit to my post as well. 🙂

[George C]

19 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Thanks - not sure if you saw my addition/edit to my post as well. 🙂

Just got off the phone with celebrity and ordered 600, it’s a pain to do it online since you do it 50 dollars at a time. I have done this my last couple of cruises.

[FiremedicMike151]

I can't find anywhere at all online to pre-buy chips?

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

7 minutes ago, FiremedicMike151 said:

I can't find anywhere at all online to pre-buy chips?

 

Once you're in your cruise planner, it's under INTERNET & MORE

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruiseplanner/category/2031/product/100000003628174869

[FiremedicMike151]

50 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Once you're in your cruise planner, it's under INTERNET & MORE

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruiseplanner/category/2031/product/100000003628174869

Thanks!

 

[mac_tlc]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But if you simply want to convert your nonrefundable to refundable OBC by way of using the slots, would this strategy work? I saw this on a Celebrity thread a few months back, but didn't have any extra nonrefundable OBC to try it with.

 

1. Put your seapass card in the slot machine.  Your pin is your birth month and day.  

2. Go to “personal banker”, then “transfer funds”, then “room charge”.

3. Input amount of OBC.  

4. You will see this amount appear on the slot machine.  

5. Press cash out, collect ticket, bring to cashier.  

 I have done this on Edge and on Royal ships. Basically turned $1000 non refundable OBC to cash. Easy peasy. 
 

I hope Celebrity isn’t paying attention . 
 

mac_tlc

[baldilocks]

We are on the Connie in AQ. We got AQ because we had a Veranda on a Connie cruise we cancelled due to Covid worries. The FCC was a larger amount than the Veranda on the replacement cruise we selected. The Celebrity agent said, 'Why don't you try AQ?'. It will not cost anymore since your FCC covers it. I hope we did the right thing. We are not very fancy people...especially in dining....kind a meat and potato type people with simple tastes all around.

[TeeRick]

19 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But if you simply want to convert your nonrefundable to refundable OBC by way of using the slots, would this strategy work? I saw this on a Celebrity thread a few months back, but didn't have any extra nonrefundable OBC to try it with.

 

1. Put your seapass card in the slot machine.  Your pin is your birth month and day.  

2. Go to “personal banker”, then “transfer funds”, then “room charge”.

3. Input amount of OBC.  

4. You will see this amount appear on the slot machine.  

5. Press cash out, collect ticket, bring to cashier.  

Thanks Ken.  Great tip!

[KKB]

My thoughts.

RIGHT NOW with cruises sailing half full, they are MUCH LESS of a value. In 14 days on the Edge last summer I was able to get a seat RIGHT by the pool any day, any time except once...and I had to go to the 2nd row (OH NO!) It appears the Retreat is running pretty full these days.

For the price of a suite, we can cruise take at least 2 cruises for that price.

We can eat at specialty restaurants for far less than the upgrade to suites.

Don't need streaming but if we did, again, can upgrade for far less than the cost of a suite.

 

THAT BEING SAID.

In normal times with fairly full ships, the value increases, imo. 

Sailing half full very much spoiled us.

 

But if the perks of suites is what makes your vacation for you (and you have the $)--I'm not one to judge!

I hope to sail in a suite one day...until then my need for value (and MORE cruises) prevails.

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Regarding the extra elbow room on ships of late - probably a great time to sail on Crystal, you'd almost think you had the ship to yourself !  🙂

 

Tom

[JFontaine]

10 hours ago, baldilocks said:

We are on the Connie in AQ. We got AQ because we had a Veranda on a Connie cruise we cancelled due to Covid worries. The FCC was a larger amount than the Veranda on the replacement cruise we selected. The Celebrity agent said, 'Why don't you try AQ?'. It will not cost anymore since your FCC covers it. I hope we did the right thing. We are not very fancy people...especially in dining....kind a meat and potato type people with simple tastes all around.

I'm meat and potato also and have no trouble on Celebrity.   Don't be shy telling them exactly what you want. "Simple" is easy for them. And if you don't like it (which i doubt will happen), ask to have dinner in the main dining room. You will have no problem being seated there. Go back to Blu for breakfast, it is really lovely. 

[TeeRick]

16 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Regarding the extra elbow room on ships of late - probably a great time to sail on Crystal, you'd almost think you had the ship to yourself !  🙂

 

Tom

Well you would definitely be on the Crystal ship by yourself right now.