What is Casino's at Sea

[CruisnGram]

Anyone who doesn't gamble reading this thread is gonna think we all need help! :D

 

CG

[terrymtex01]

LMAO you guys all sound like me. I have the same kind of luck usually. But I have one that to this day makes me cry.

 

We took my two aunts and uncles to Vegas for their 40th anniversaries a few years back. Now they don't really gamble, and my hubby is one of those guys that "dabbles". So we are gathering for dinner (staying at the Venetian) and while waiting, just standing there, hubby drops $20 into some quarter machine, spin, spin, win - hand pay about $1500. While waiting for his hand pay, he drops another $20 into a dollar machine like 2 away and WHAM, first spin gets $2000. He is known to have luck like that, so I was not surprised - it keeps me playing and keeps my losses manageable. But that's not what got me...

 

On our way back from dinner, hubby walks by the dollar WOF, points one out and says "I Have a feeling about that one". As you can guess, I trust his intuition. So we sit down, the two of us sitting next to each other, we play and play and finally go to bed exhausted about 4am, up about $300-400 each. We were thrilled. On the way upstairs, hubby says "That was fun, that machine is HOT, lets play again tomorrow." I was just thrilled to be UP and that hubby would sit and play with me for so long.

 

Here's where the story ends. Get up very late, and go back to the machines. There is a crowd, a BIG crowd. Some guy hit that same machine for the progressive, over $3 mil IIRC, just minutes before we get up. ARRRGHHHH!

 

That's what keeps me poor lol. Always afraid to get up and leave a machine, and letting the cash flow outward! :D

 

Robin

 

Ok Robin.. I bow to you and your husband. I think I would have gone up to my room, pushed the window out and jumped.. LOL

 

Anyone who doesn't gamble reading this thread is gonna think we all need help! :D

 

CG

 

LOL.. true.. so true..

[goldmom]

I know we all go crazy when someone else wins on "our" machine. But, if you know anything about slot machines there is this thing called a RNG(random number generator) which is cycling through possible payouts constantly.

 

In order for you to have the same winning result as the person who sat down after you, you would have to have pressed the spin button at the exact same second as that person did.

 

I know, we still all feel that we missed the big payout. But I keep telling myself that the chance of me getting the same results would be almost impossible. It doesn't help completely, but it does help to make me a bit less frustrated.

 

Happy gambling to all my fellow slot junkies!

[pcreek]

Goldmom - you beat me!

I was going to say almost exactly the same thing! GMTA!

 

I ALWAYS tell myself that just because someone sat down at a machine I just get up from - and they win - that even if I sat there for hours more, doesn't mean I would get the same result.

 

I truly believe that some people have more of a 'magnetic' field in their systems - and when they touch the machines, (push the button / pull the lever) it triggers more wins. Probably not true..but that's what I believe.

 

Someday...sometime...when I least expect it...big $$$ will be mine! ROFLMA:D

[goldmom]

I think you may be right about the "magnetic" personality or something. It makes me crazy. Everytime I read about someone who hit a huge win either they've never gambled before or just sat down to kill time and put in a $20 bill and hit on the first or second spin!

 

Just once I'd like to hear that someone was sitting at the machine all day and was down $500 in the machine and then they hit. At least then I'd feel as if they deserved the big win! LOL!

 

Here's hoping Lady Luck (who I think is as elusive as the upsell fairy) visits all of us on our next trip!

[Fishbait17]

Just once I'd like to hear that someone was sitting at the machine all day and was down $500 in the machine and then they hit. At least then I'd feel as if they deserved the big win! LOL!

 

 

I'm soooo with you on that. And enough with those people who complain "I've been in this casino for only 2 hours and I already lost $40". In the meqantime, we are all simply making deposits on a future withdrawal, right??

 

Robin

[terrymtex01]

I'm soooo with you on that. And enough with those people who complain "I've been in this casino for only 2 hours and I already lost $40". In the meqantime, we are all simply making deposits on a future withdrawal, right??

 

Robin

 

LOL.. so true.. One time DDP and I were at an indian casino about an hour from our home..I hit a nice payout.. like.. $500.00 on a quarter machine but I had been playing it for hours. Right as I hit it this lady came and sat down next to me and said.. "Please tell me your secret.. how do you hit those kinds of payouts... We have been here an hour and already lost $30.00. ".. Of course I was nice to her and chatted with her for a while.. but what I wanted to scream to her was.. "Lady.. we lost $30.00 within minutes of walking in the door.. lol".

[bjohio]

I'm glad someone mentioned about the random continually cycling of the slots-so you may not have won the big jackpot had you been there anyway.

 

Another question- on ship may a husband and wife share a card, but each have a card to use and thereby combine their points? We do this at our local casino and allows us comps we would not earn probably separately- maybe one of us would get a free meal, but not the other!

 

Loved the comment about non-slot people thinking we need help! All in moderation and all is fun.

[Fishbait17]

Another question- on ship may a husband and wife share a card, but each have a card to use and thereby combine their points? We do this at our local casino and allows us comps we would not earn probably separately- maybe one of us would get a free meal, but not the other!

 

Yes, my husband and I are on the same account. As long as we share a cabin, we combine points and cashback. What does kinda stink, though is that all the offers seem to come in his name (like the slot tourney offers over the summer) - even though my first two cruises were without him and I established my CAS history long before he came along with me. Still haven't tried to book without him since, so don't know how that will go - but I somehow need to let them know that it's my spending history, not his. His name got to the top only because of the way the cabins were booked!

 

Robin

[terrymtex01]

Yes, my husband and I are on the same account. As long as we share a cabin, we combine points and cashback. What does kinda stink, though is that all the offers seem to come in his name (like the slot tourney offers over the summer) - even though my first two cruises were without him and I established my CAS history long before he came along with me. Still haven't tried to book without him since, so don't know how that will go - but I somehow need to let them know that it's my spending history, not his. His name got to the top only because of the way the cabins were booked!

 

Robin

 

They have always combined my points with my DDP's I guess because we are in the same cabin,of course.. however I was always the one that got the offers from CAS, until this year. This year we both started getting the same exact offers from CAS. I don't know if they have changed something or what. Hope you and your hubby start seeing that too. It's only fair.. 8-)

[4evrwild]

Hey fellow gamblers guess what? I called CAS and was told that I cannot get a "drink card" because I did not book through CAS. Well, I guess I can pay for drinks with the $$$ I saved by booking elsewhere but it kind of bumms me out. Do they not realize that by providing "free" drinks, we gamble more?

 

I love Freestyle but it's things like this -- constantly changing the rules--that upsets me about NCL. Even if the casino is a separate entity, NCL is making a fortune off of our gambling and if they gave you a limited # of drinks per hour it would be better than nothing. Maybe they will give better pay outs! Ha, ha, ha!

 

Ruth :eek:

[terrymtex01]

Hey fellow gamblers guess what? I called CAS and was told that I cannot get a "drink card" because I did not book through CAS. Well, I guess I can pay for drinks with the $$$ I saved by booking elsewhere but it kind of bumms me out. Do they not realize that by providing "free" drinks, we gamble more?

 

I love Freestyle but it's things like this -- constantly changing the rules--that upsets me about NCL. Even if the casino is a separate entity, NCL is making a fortune off of our gambling and if they gave you a limited # of drinks per hour it would be better than nothing. Maybe they will give better pay outs! Ha, ha, ha!

 

Ruth :eek:

 

That is true about having to book through them to get the VIP drink card.... but... get to know the casino management.. you might be surprised how many free drinks you end up with if you get to know them and they see you gambling a lot. I do agree that they should give you the drinks if you gamble there if you booked with them or not, but I also see how it could be a lot of issues with them doing that. Last May/June they had a trial deal going where if you were playing slot machines and using a players card you got free drinks. It was a nightmare. They could not keep those of us serviced who were in there to really gamble because of all of those that were in there sitting at a machine, putting a $20.00 bill in it and hitting a one bet spin every time their staff walked by. Unfortunately people abused it so they had to take it away.

 

One tip that I learned from Toyz... and I am ashamed I had to come on here and learn it rather than coming up with it myself, but.. when you are a guest of CAS and have the VIP card, they do have to get the number off of your players card every time you order a drink. As guest of CAS your players cards will be waiting for you in your stateroom when you board. As soon as the casino opens, ask for another players card and keep that one where you can give it to the servers to get your number rather than having to pull yours out of your machine all the time. I know it sounds trivial, but I would get ticked cause I had to either stop playing while they took my card and got my drink OR I had to miss out on accumulating points while they had my card and was getting my drinks. Maybe no big deal when we are on quarter machines, but it is a big deal to me when we are on $5.00, $10.00 or $20.00 machines. Each pull is quite a bit to go towards your points.

[4evrwild]

That is true about having to book through them to get the VIP drink card.... but... get to know the casino management.. you might be surprised how many free drinks you end up with if you get to know them and they see you gambling a lot. I do agree that they should give you the drinks if you gamble there if you booked with them or not, but I also see how it could be a lot of issues with them doing that. Last May/June they had a trial deal going where if you were playing slot machines and using a players card you got free drinks. It was a nightmare. They could not keep those of us serviced who were in there to really gamble because of all of those that were in there sitting at a machine, putting a $20.00 bill in it and hitting a one bet spin every time their staff walked by. Unfortunately people abused it so they had to take it away.

 

One tip that I learned from Toyz... and I am ashamed I had to come on here and learn it rather than coming up with it myself, but.. when you are a guest of CAS and have the VIP card, they do have to get the number off of your players card every time you order a drink. As guest of CAS your players cards will be waiting for you in your stateroom when you board. As soon as the casino opens, ask for another players card and keep that one where you can give it to the servers to get your number rather than having to pull yours out of your machine all the time. I know it sounds trivial, but I would get ticked cause I had to either stop playing while they took my card and got my drink OR I had to miss out on accumulating points while they had my card and was getting my drinks. Maybe no big deal when we are on quarter machines, but it is a big deal to me when we are on $5.00, $10.00 or $20.00 machines. Each pull is quite a bit to go towards your points.

 

You're right about people sitting around having drinks and not playing. That was a pet peeve of mine on last sailing. My DH is not a big gambler but evertime he sat at a machine --- maybe just to talk to me about our plans for later --- a waiter/waitress came offer to get his drink order! I would be playing my brains out and have to hunt for a server. After several days, and lots of tips later, they know my order. There were some "ladies" who would come into the casino before dinner and get a glass of wine and take it to dinner. They maybe spent $2.00.

 

I didn't like when they took my card out of the machine either. Then, I realized that you don't loose your points so it didn't bug me so much besided I just memorized my number for them. With all prior info being said about random selection of the computer generated turns of the spin wheel I wonder if I am missing out on the big hit?

 

Thanks for feedback. Maybe I can get comped or sit by someone with a drink card that doesn't use it much.

 

Ruth ;)

[goldmom]

Is this something new with having to show them your players card when you order a drink? Maybe that was only when they had the "free drink trial"

 

I've always just showed them the drink card attached to my players card and always got a free drink. I never had to take my card out of the machine. If I do, then I'll definitely steal that great idea and get a second card.

 

Ruth- I'll buy you a drink onboard. See you tomorrow!

[terrymtex01]

Is this something new with having to show them your players card when you order a drink? Maybe that was only when they had the "free drink trial"

 

I've always just showed them the drink card attached to my players card and always got a free drink. I never had to take my card out of the machine. If I do, then I'll definitely steal that great idea and get a second card.

 

Ruth- I'll buy you a drink onboard. See you tomorrow!

 

Funny you say that... Our first cruise with NCL was on the Sun and we were not guest of CAS. However on occasion the staff of the casino would buy us a drink or we would just buy our own. When I say that, 99% of the time I mean a soda or coffee as neither of us really drink alcoholic beverages that much. Maybe a couple or three times a year. Our last two cruises have been on the Star and we were guest of CAS. I do not remember having to pull out our players club card every time I ordered something to drink but do remember having to do it like the first time a particular server waited on me/us. Then this last cruise, again on the Star, was in the middle of that "use your players club while you are playing and get free drinks" nightmare, and every time, even with our VIP card showing, I had to pull out the players club card from the machine and give it to them while they got the drink. In fact, I couldn't believe it, but the servers did not even know what the VIP card was for. So it could change ship to ship or moment to moment.

[goldmom]

Funny you say that... Our first cruise with NCL was on the Sun and we were not guest of CAS. However on occasion the staff of the casino would buy us a drink or we would just buy our own. When I say that, 99% of the time I mean a soda or coffee as neither of us really drink alcoholic beverages that much. Maybe a couple or three times a year. Our last two cruises have been on the Star and we were guest of CAS. I do not remember having to pull out our players club card every time I ordered something to drink but do remember having to do it like the first time a particular server waited on me/us. Then this last cruise, again on the Star, was in the middle of that "use your players club while you are playing and get free drinks" nightmare, and every time, even with our VIP card showing, I had to pull out the players club card from the machine and give it to them while they got the drink. In fact, I couldn't believe it, but the servers did not even know what the VIP card was for. So it could change ship to ship or moment to moment.

 

Thanks for the reply. We'll be on the Jewel tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes on there.

[bjohio]

At our local casino coffee, soda, water are all comp- from reading here it sounds like on ship they charge in the casino for non-alcoholic drinks? Is this correct?

[CruisnGram]

One tip that I learned from Toyz... and I am ashamed I had to come on here and learn it rather than coming up with it myself, but.. when you are a guest of CAS and have the VIP card, they do have to get the number off of your players card every time you order a drink. As guest of CAS your players cards will be waiting for you in your stateroom when you board. As soon as the casino opens, ask for another players card and keep that one where you can give it to the servers to get your number rather than having to pull yours out of your machine all the time..

 

Or you can do what I did. I wrote my number on the paper drink card that came with my players card. I just showed them that and they could read the number off of it and I didn't have to remove my players card.

 

CG

[CruisnGram]

At our local casino coffee, soda, water are all comp- from reading here it sounds like on ship they charge in the casino for non-alcoholic drinks? Is this correct?

 

I've never ordered coffee or water but I would think that they might be free. Other then that yes, all are charged for....even soda.

 

CG

[jagergirl55]

Just got off the Star and I really enjoyed the CAS program. They advised us we were one of the top 10 players on the ship, and invited us to a cocktail reception and treated us great! The casino hostess knew us by name and took care of anything we needed.

 

For the VIP card for free drinks, they put a little key chain type thing on our players club card, and attached a paper that said VIP for the waiters to see. We never once had to pull out our card to show them our number. The CAS program was great.

[Katriniakat]

Does anyone know if we booked a free cruise through the Harrah's promotion but are currently not a member of the CAS program ,will we automatically receive the drink card in our room? If not, will they give us a card when we sign up in the casino? From reading the prior posts, I am thinking that for my Sky cruise next week, we would not qualify but might qualify if and when we take another cruise? I'd love to get my hands on one of those because my husband really enjoys his rum and cokes while in the land based casinos! :)

[meiyakim]

we booked and received the full CAS discount. Have any of you had luck with the new specials getting a further obc booking through CAS we are sailing dec 08 and already payed in full

[Fishbait17]

we booked and received the full CAS discount. Have any of you had luck with the new specials getting a further obc booking through CAS we are sailing dec 08 and already payed in full

 

I do know that if you cruise is fully comped, they will not provide the OBC for any current offer. If your cabin is simply discounted, I would call and ask before the offer has expired - I would think it would be applicable.

 

Robin

[Katriniakat]

It was fully comped for a balcony cabin(I paid taxes,fuel charges and port fees). I do not think it is connected to CAS as that seems to be in question if Harrahs and CAS or seperate entities or joined as partners. Since the goals are the same, to get you into NCL casinos, one would think they offer the same type of benifits to those they are bringing on board. Thats why I was wondering if the card might be in the room. Thoughts?

[garycarla]

we booked and received the full CAS discount. Have any of you had luck with the new specials getting a further obc booking through CAS we are sailing dec 08 and already payed in full

 

OBC is just another way to discount a cruise. OBC is real money, so if you already have a free cabin, there is nothing left to discount.???