3% fee in casinos - read & contribute if you JUST got back from a cruise

[Kay_O]

I'm not surprised they instituted the fee. Prior to my first cruise, lots of friends and co-workers told me that I could get cash for free in the casino and avoid ATM charges on the ship and on shore. At the time I was surprised that the cruise ship did not charge for cash advance/withdrawls. Why should RCI eat these fees?

 

I completely agree. I'm a newbie and my parents (also new to cruising) are cruising in January. I did a search on cruise critics about where you can get money on the ship as they do not want to bring a lot of cash with them. I was quite shocked (and in some cases appalled) by some of the posts I've been reading. People bragging about beating the system and taking out exorbitant amounts of money so by the end of the cruise they walk away with more money, people advising others to just take out the hundreds they need for their shore excursions from the casino, and various other questionable advise. RCI as a company does incur fees for giving you cash advances. Your bank charges you for their services, atms charge you, if I was gambling in Vegas I would be charged to withdraw money in the casino. Unfortunately those people taking out the $1000 a day have ruined it for everyone.

[Alexis]

On the Mariner, on the September 21 and 28, 2008 cruises, there was a 3% fee charged in the casino if you put it on your Sea Pass.

It was posted so everyone could see in advance.

[pcur]

I posted this a while back, maybe on this thread:

 

You can still cash a personal check at the Customer Relations Desk. Maximum is $200, and there is no fee. Driver's License is required for ID.

[Host Karen]

On the 11/8/08 Liberty OTS sailing, a 3% fee was being charged for cash taken from your Sea Pass card in the casino.

[vtoria98]

Hi , on the 10/12 sailing of the Freedom, I had quite a lot of OBC and went to the Pursers desk to try to get some of it with no 3% charge and was told that they DO NOT do that. I could not get access to any of my OBC from the pursers desk, I was told nicely that I could go to the Casinoa dn get cash there, of course for a 3% fee.

[NorbertsNiece]

Back in September I was able to get cash from the casino on Independence with no charge. The cashier said that the 3% charge was going to be implemented but they hadn't set up the billing for it as yet..... don't know if the situation has changed since.

[GiaGia]

We cruised EOS this Oct. and the 3% applied to any charges or cash withdrawals in the casino which were applied to Sea Pass card. We used to charge cash to our card just to get the rewards on our credit card. It is no longer available. Best bet is to use cash only in the casino.:D

[Love2Cruise081382]

Fair is fair. Actually, getting cash against your SeaPass Card at 3% is better that the ATM Fee of $6.00! (I used the ATM this past week on the Mariner):(

[Merion_Mom]

Fair is fair. Actually, getting cash against your SeaPass Card at 3% is better that the ATM Fee of $6.00! (I used the ATM this past week on the Mariner):(

 

Actually, that depends on how much you withdraw.

 

3% of $200 is $6. If you withdraw more than $200, you are better off at the ATM.

[Aggie71]

I got off Liberty on Nov 1 & on our cruise they did charge the 3% for any withdrawl in the casino. We had a $200 shipboard credit & would have put the tips on our account but we did not want to tip the head waiter in our area of the dining room. He was horrible. We were told that we could only charge tips if we paid the set tips to everyone. So we paid the 3% to get our unused credit.