Using OBC to buy table/slots freeplay on cruise planner

[MarinerAlex]

Anyone have experience with this, and is there any drawback to going this route? I have a lot of OBC on an upcoming cruise and I figure I can buy some now and get 10% of the amount in free play.

 

Let's assume I buy $500 in table chips, so get $500 regular and $50 free play chips. I'll have to play the $50 free play chips, but assume I can cash out the $500 regular chips at any point. I don't see any drawbacks with this, but don't have experience either so please enlighten me! 

[wrk2cruise]

That's the disadvantage.  They will all be promo chips and I don't think any of it accumulates Blue Chip points.

[Smmessineo]

Like Wrk2cruise said, it's all given to you in promo chips. And for slots, it is loaded on your card and you have to play through it before getting it back as cash. 

 

[FirstTeacher]

We did this on our last cruise, and it worked great for us. We would have spent that much anyway (12-night cruise) on the slots so it was all “gravy” for us. You do have to go to the Cashier desk to get it officially loaded on your card. (Doing this for the first time, we were nervous about having a record of the transaction, so I took a screen shot to show we had the extra credits loaded.)

[wrk2cruise]

57 minutes ago, FirstTeacher said:

we were nervous about having a record of the transaction

 

We were the first time as well as their is a bug in their booking system where the emailed receipt only lists qty of 1 $50 credit.  Done this many times and the proper amount is always on the system at the casino cage and loaded properly.

 

I reported the receipt bug multiple times over several years and it has never  been addressed.

[MarinerAlex]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

That's the disadvantage.  They will all be promo chips and I don't think any of it accumulates Blue Chip points.

So in my example above for a $500 chip transaction, I would receive $550 in promo chips? That would not be ideal at all

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, MarinerAlex said:

Anyone have experience with this, and is there any drawback to going this route? I have a lot of OBC on an upcoming cruise and I figure I can buy some now and get 10% of the amount in free play.

 

Let's assume I buy $500 in table chips, so get $500 regular and $50 free play chips. I'll have to play the $50 free play chips, but assume I can cash out the $500 regular chips at any point. I don't see any drawbacks with this, but don't have experience either so please enlighten me! 

My experience has been that if using NR OBC you are given Promotional Chips and if you win you are paid in regular chips.   The regular chips can be cashed out but if you retire your Promotional Chips they go back in your account as NR OBC. 

[MarinerAlex]

Thanks JIm, I guess I’ll have to follow one of the other OBC cash out strategies others have posted

[Andrewgary]

I do it all the time for my wife and me. I get slots for her and table chips for myself. If you know you're gonna play through the chips/slots at least once it's a no brainer. Free money should never be turned down.

[MarinerAlex]

17 minutes ago, Andrewgary said:

I do it all the time for my wife and me. I get slots for her and table chips for myself. If you know you're gonna play through the chips/slots at least once it's a no brainer. Free money should never be turned down.

Andrew, let’s say I get the chips offer and get all $550 in promotional chips. If I’m playing blackjack, and first bet is $25 using the promotional chips - what happens if I tie? Do they take the chips and give me back $25 in real chips? What happens if I win the bet? Do they take the chips and give me back $50 in real chips?

 

Thanks

[wrk2cruise]

If you lose they take your bet.   If you win they leave the promo chips on the table and pay the winnings in real chips.   In your last example you would be left with $25 in promo chips and $25 in real chips.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, MarinerAlex said:

Thanks JIm, I guess I’ll have to follow one of the other OBC cash out strategies others have posted

Me too.

[Cruise Gopher]

12 hours ago, MarinerAlex said:

Thanks JIm, I guess I’ll have to follow one of the other OBC cash out strategies others have posted

Can you post a link to those other strategies?

[Mark_K]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Can you post a link to those other strategies?

The main one is that on certain ships, not sure exactly which ones,  you can load the OBC from your account to a slot machine and immediately cash out.

[Cruise Gopher]

11 hours ago, Mark_K said:

The main one is that on certain ships, not sure exactly which ones,  you can load the OBC from your account to a slot machine and immediately cash out.

Thanks, I was thinking that is what it is. Does anyone know what ships? And what are the instructions for loading it to the card?

 

I would hate to load 100s of dollars to a slot and then not be able to cash out and be stuck spending all of it on slot play. 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Cruise Gopher

[Andrewgary]

23 hours ago, MarinerAlex said:

Andrew, let’s say I get the chips offer and get all $550 in promotional chips. If I’m playing blackjack, and first bet is $25 using the promotional chips - what happens if I tie? Do they take the chips and give me back $25 in real chips? What happens if I win the bet? Do they take the chips and give me back $50 in real chips?

 

Thanks

In blackjack if it's a push they simply leave the promotional bet up there as if it were a no bet. You can leave it or add to it as you please. If you win they'll take your $25 promotional chip and give you $50 in real casino chips. Craps works the same way-you lose they take your promo chip, if you win they take your promo chip and replace it with a real chip plus your winnings. 

[Andrewgary]

2 minutes ago, Andrewgary said:

In blackjack if it's a push they simply leave the promotional bet up there as if it were a no bet. You can leave it or add to it as you please. If you win they'll take your $25 promotional chip and give you $50 in real casino chips. Craps works the same way-you lose they take your promo chip, if you win they take your promo chip and replace it with a real chip plus your winnings. 

Gonna correct myself. If you win at blackjack they will give you your winnings in real chips and leave the promo chip there to be played again till its lost.

[MarinerAlex]

44 minutes ago, Andrewgary said:

Gonna correct myself. If you win at blackjack they will give you your winnings in real chips and leave the promo chip there to be played again till its lost.

Thanks, that confirmed my concerns. With a low house edge game like BJ, I may be stuck playing with promo chips for a while, all the while not getting tier points credit for my play.

[baytraller]

How does promo work with slots.

 

[Mark_K]

13 hours ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Thanks, I was thinking that is what it is. Does anyone know what ships? And what are the instructions for loading it to the card?

 

I would hate to load 100s of dollars to a slot and then not be able to cash out and be stuck spending all of it on slot play. 

The cashier had instructions on how to access and load your account.  I tried it with a small amount first, then loaded $100-150 at a time over the next few days.