Slot Machine Changes on HAL Ships......

[wander]

Do they really make you use your room key card for this? Casino's around here (Native American) went coinless a number of years ago, so that will not bother me. However, here you get a card and then they load however many dollars you pay them to put on it. At the end you can either cash out the card or keep it for another day. Of course, you can only lose what was on the card.

 

Much cleaner, however, with the casino system they have no way to track your gambling behaviors. (If you win a jackpot over a certain amount, you must call for help so they can report winnings. I have never won that much.

[kakalina]

Although we haven't tried the new system onboard I don't forsee a problem with it. The casinos here in Arizona haven't used cash payouts in years. They also take your cash and print out a receipt when one leaves the machine.

The casinos here all have players clubs with cards that one puts into a slot that keeps track of your points. I always assumed that they were keeping track of our playing habits with that card.

[DutchByAssociation]

The new cashless system was in place on the Westerdam last May. We are not gamblers, but like to play the quarter slots for entertainment.

 

I agree with you. We did not like the new system. It's not a big loss for us or HAL, we don't play very often.

 

BTW, the cashless system was installed at the casino we visited in New Mexico over the holidays.... must be the latest thing.

 

 

B

 

Here in the northwest over the last few years there have been some massive resort/casinos built on tribal land. Tulalip and Snoqualmie to name a couple.

 

These machines are all cashless as well, and actually print vouchers when you cash out that you take to the main cage. I think this new system, while it does eliminate some of the "clink clink clink" sounds, is much better, neater, no worries about dumping or dropping a bucket full of coins if the ship moves or you lose your footing, and no coins that are exchanged between parties (possibly handled by someone that didn't wash their hands so well after using the toilet) :D

[WriterOnDeck]

I found on the Maasdam last month that they had removed about half the slot machines, and frankly the selection they had seemed like the rejects from years ago in any decent casinos. Yes, gambling on the ships isn't much fun and you could tell by how empty the casino usually was...

[meterman2]

Although we haven't tried the new system onboard I don't forsee a problem with it. The casinos here in Arizona haven't used cash payouts in years. They also take your cash and print out a receipt when one leaves the machine.

The casinos here all have players clubs with cards that one puts into a slot that keeps track of your points. I always assumed that they were keeping track of our playing habits with that card.

 

I don't have any problem with "play tracking". Of course in most casinos, this how your comps are quantified. Maybe HAL will offer deals relating to "play". Actually it's good business. I guess if you're going to play, you might as well get something for it.

 

What I don't like is the "room key" aspect as the "players card".

[marle7]

We play in the casino a lot, on board, and once i got used to it, I have had no problem with the system. It's nice to have the money on my card and not have to worry about dirty coins. I don't mind them tracking my play and have received $10 back for every 1000 points I've accumulated.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I Love the new system!

 

Who wants a bucket full of coins.:confused:

 

 

 

 

 

ME!!

Even though I don't gamble that much -- I love to hear the coins jingling when they come out of the machine!! And I want to scoop them up in bucket to take to the cashier's window!!

[solocanadian]

Seeing as I haven't posted my review of Eurodam yet, which will be highly favorable as we had a great time, I hesitate to start with negative posting but this really bothered us, so here goes.......

 

We are not big gamblers but do enjoy playing slots a little while on cruises. We like to roam in, play a little, go have an after dinner drink etc We all form habits and patterns after we cruise enough. :)

 

We went tinto Eurodam's casino only to find the new system which requires you program your room keycard into the machine, pick a pin number and play cashless.

 

I never expect to get very rich or very poor in a casino. I play for fun and entertainment. The fun of a slot machine is to hear the coins and the bells and whistles if you happen to win a bit.

 

There is no jingle of coins and it has turned into simply a system of losing money and leaving. Where's the fun?

 

I'm not the most techno able but I'm not stupid either and I had to have help getting my money transferred onto my card when I wanted to change machines and then figure out how to use that money in the next machine.

 

I don't want to have to bother with programming computers if all I want to do is play a quarter slot machine!

 

In 14 days, we went to the Casino twice and then it was a nuisance I had to return to the cashier's window the last night to have them give me the cash that remained on my card.

 

I thanked the cashier and the floor casino people for saving us money. We certainly would have played more and lost more if we could have had fun doing it.

 

This new system stinks! IMO

 

(AND, who wants them having computer tracking of every bit you spend in the casino, how long you are there, which machines you play, how often you come....... None of their business to have that sort of record.)

 

We were absolutely not the only ones who dislike this system and refused to play.

 

(I was told it is coming or is already on all HAL ships. We're done with slots if that is the case..... not that they'll get poor by us not playing but multiply it by how many of us who may agree.)

 

Thanks for the heads up! What is the fun of playing without the clinking of coins. I have enough of computers at work and home. Guess I just saved $60.00 on my upcomng cruise. Always found the clinking and clanking of coins as an inticement to come and join the fun.:(

[mafig]

ME!!

 

Even though I don't gamble that much -- I love to hear the coins jingling when they come out of the machine!! And I want to scoop them up in bucket to take to the cashier's window!!

 

 

The only time I won in casino on a cruiseship was on a Costa cruise. They had the old coin system. I won about $150+ in nickels. Two buckets and then, of course, the machine was out of coins. Had to wait for the attendant to come fill her up. Then had to wait in line to get my $. No scooping for me. I'm glad all the cruiseships and casinos have switched over -- never to go back.

[LordSpain]

As folks who try to make it to Las Vegas every year or so we’ve become quite used to the cashless system. When we were on the Zaandam last fall we discovered that they were still using the coins and it brought back memories from the Las Vegas of many years ago when the slot players walked around with fingers that looked as if they’d been cleaning chimney flues. On the Westerdam recently we found their new system much cleaner and easier. I still try hard to remember though that the first stop after playing the slots is for a hot soapy hand wash and a shot of Purell! I’m no scientist but I’ll wager that Spin Repeat Bet button has more than a couple of germs on it.

[lilyhammer]

DH used to collect quarters that he received in change and use them as "mad money" at the casinos. We were so disappointed on our last Vegas trip and our last cruise that slot machines no longer take coins. We liked being able to moderate how often we wanted to play each machine. Now that the machines have gone all electronic, it feels like you're playing with pretend money (like on your computer). Plus it seems like all the new slot machines require you to play multiple lines (if you want the better payouts) which eats your money up even faster. Ten dollars on a slot machine used to take about half an hour to lose. On these new machines, it's gone within minutes, when you're required to play 5 lines at 0.25 apiece. It also feels like all slot machines are very tight these days. Oh well.

[noblepa]

That's part of my point. Playing slots should be mindless. Who wants to 'have to remember' to load their money onto the card?

 

To be fair, I've walked up to a plain, old-fashioned cash-based slot machine and found that a previous player had left money on the machine. Even on those, you had to remember to press the "Cash Out" button. I've never seen one that automatically gave you a bunch of coins when you win. They all just accumulate it until you cash out or, more likely, lose it.

 

Paul

[islandsparkler]

Sorry, have read all the posts and still have a question!! Stated is that all slot machine play is now on our cabin card on which goes my tipping, drinks etc that I have always paid at the end of my cruise. For the slots I have always taken my set amount to 'lose'!!!! How are my 'gambling funds' kept separate from my other purchases? Does the casino charge the normal 3% if you 'borrow' on your cabin card to gamble should your funds exceed the cash put into the system? Again sorry - if my questions are garbled. I have played coinless where I insert paper bills or cashout receipts but never the way it seems they are now doing on the Eurodam. Thank-you for any insight provided.

[marle7]

Sorry, have read all the posts and still have a question!! Stated is that all slot machine play is now on our cabin card on which goes my tipping, drinks etc that I have always paid at the end of my cruise. For the slots I have always taken my set amount to 'lose'!!!! How are my 'gambling funds' kept separate from my other purchases? Does the casino charge the normal 3% if you 'borrow' on your cabin card to gamble should your funds exceed the cash put into the system? Again sorry - if my questions are garbled. I have played coinless where I insert paper bills or cashout receipts but never the way it seems they are now doing on the Eurodam. Thank-you for any insight provided.

 

No, your casino money is kept separate from your onboard account, and you must cash it out at the casino at the end of the cruise. And yes, if you "borrow" on your card, you will be charged the 3%. You can still put money into the machines by hand, but you have to upload any winnings to your card and then take the card to the cashier to collect.

 

The only drawback I found tonight was that we all had to cash out our cards by midnight, but there were lots of people who still wanted to play.

[Pokeynose]

On our cruise last June this was already implemented. Doesn't bother me. All our casinos here in In. and Mich. are cash in paper out. I love it that way. I don't like to handle dirty coins.:( Once you get used to the way the casino works on the cruise lines, it's really easy. :D

[islandsparkler]

Thank-you for the info. Just relieved my gambling money does not get mixed into on my on-board account!!

[kryos]

Speaking just for myself........ No, I will not play with this new system. There is no 'fun' left to it.

I don't normally frequent the casino, so please forgive me if I'm asking a stupid question here ...

 

But ... does this new "system" let you "charge" your losses to your onboard account ... as well as credit your winnings to it? If that's the case, then there's the reason for it. HAL figures that if people don't have to reach into their pockets for gambling money, they are more likely to gamble far more than they normally would. I would imagine this new system will be a great way for HAL to significantly increase gambling revenues onboard the ships because people will sort of "lose track" of how much money they lost. When you pull a $20 out of your pocket and put it in the machine, you are very conscious of how much money you are losing. If you happen to like playing the slots, but have some sense, you probably only bring so much cash from your room to the casino. When that cash is gone, then you are done. Well, with this new system it will be very, very easy to just keep playing, and my guess is that this is exactly what HAL wants to see.

 

LOL ... can you imagine the fights on disembarkation morning ... when people have gotten their onboard bills? "Holy moley, you spent WHAT in the Casino?" LOL ... if anything, this new system should provide for some great entertainment as we are leaving the ship! :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

No, your casino money is kept separate from your onboard account, and you must cash it out at the casino at the end of the cruise. And yes, if you "borrow" on your card, you will be charged the 3%.

If they let you put the cash money in, then I guess the new system would be no problem. People could still have their gambling allotment in cash and only use that. But, believe me, if HAL is going to this system, there must be a reason for it. I can well imagine them making it very easy to add money to the account, by charging it right to that room card. I can well imagine couples leaving the ship at the end of the cruise, with one of them just finding out that his spouse charged $2,000 in gambling money to the cruise card. LOL ... oh, baby!

 

But then, of course, I think all casinos everywhere try to make it easy for people to part with their money, so HAL is just "getting with the program."

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sapper1]

 

We went tinto Eurodam's casino only to find the new system which requires you program your room keycard into the machine, pick a pin number and play cashless.

 

I never expect to get very rich or very poor in a casino. I play for fun and entertainment. The fun of a slot machine is to hear the coins and the bells and whistles if you happen to win a bit.

 

There is no jingle of coins and it has turned into simply a system of losing money and leaving. Where's the fun?

I hear what you are saying, Sail. Part of the fun when we would go down to Halifax was deciding whether to toss twenty dollars into the harbour or to go into the casino and throw it away on the slots. The casino always won, but the last time we were there I was disappointed to discover that there were no more tokens in the machines. What fun is there in a paper print-out?

I am sorry to hear that the HAL ships are going the same way. I didn't get to discover that fact first hand, as our scheduled March 28th Eurodam cruise had to be cancelled due to my husband's back problems. He is now on the road to recovery and we are looking forward to our summer cruise. However, I don't think we will be playing the slots on that cruise. As you said---it isn't about winning money, but for the fun and if the fun isn't there one might just as well toss the money overboard----or keep it.:)

 

I don't think we will be rushing back to the Halifax casino anytime soon either.

[Harry1954]

Seeing as I haven't posted my review of Eurodam yet, which will be highly favorable as we had a great time, I hesitate to start with negative posting but this really bothered us, so here goes.......

 

We are not big gamblers but do enjoy playing slots a little while on cruises. We like to roam in, play a little, go have an after dinner drink etc We all form habits and patterns after we cruise enough. :)

 

We went tinto Eurodam's casino only to find the new system which requires you program your room keycard into the machine, pick a pin number and play cashless.

 

I never expect to get very rich or very poor in a casino. I play for fun and entertainment. The fun of a slot machine is to hear the coins and the bells and whistles if you happen to win a bit.

 

There is no jingle of coins and it has turned into simply a system of losing money and leaving. Where's the fun?

 

I'm not the most techno able but I'm not stupid either and I had to have help getting my money transferred onto my card when I wanted to change machines and then figure out how to use that money in the next machine.

 

I don't want to have to bother with programming computers if all I want to do is play a quarter slot machine!

 

In 14 days, we went to the Casino twice and then it was a nuisance I had to return to the cashier's window the last night to have them give me the cash that remained on my card.

 

I thanked the cashier and the floor casino people for saving us money. We certainly would have played more and lost more if we could have had fun doing it.

 

This new system stinks! IMO

 

(AND, who wants them having computer tracking of every bit you spend in the casino, how long you are there, which machines you play, how often you come....... None of their business to have that sort of record.)

 

We were absolutely not the only ones who dislike this system and refused to play.

 

(I was told it is coming or is already on all HAL ships. We're done with slots if that is the case..... not that they'll get poor by us not playing but multiply it by how many of us who may agree.)

Well, here we go again!! Not only did my DW get a real hoot out of your posting, but shares your viewpoint to the nth degree. On our last Zuiderdam B2B last summer, she encountered this new fangled system. Now, I have been in the software business for almost 40 years, so I know a little about computers and programming. Even I could not help her when she first sat down to play the slots and was subjected to this new system.

 

Fortunately, there was a kind floor person who helped jump start her while I shook my head in wonder at how un-intuitive this new system appeared to be. And, as you, she did not find it very exciting to just sit there in quiet solitude gradually losing money as the new machine slowly bled her room key dry. We left.

 

OK, so we were optimists .. we came back a few nights later after dinner and suddenly she could do no wrong, winning back all her money from the previous encounter with the Quiet Machine and then some. She commented that while she had won a lot that evening, she just did not enjoy this at all - and she would not return to the casino for the rest of the first half of the cruise.

 

Now for the punchline - the night before docking at the end of the first leg after we were retired for the evening and DW was asleep, the telephone rang. This was around 11pm or so (we are early risers). The caller was the assistant Casino manager asking to speak to DW. I said she was unavailable and could I help. She indicated that DW needed to come downstairs to collect her winnings from the slots. I said she was asleep, but I would handle it. I got out of bed, got dressed, went downstairs and presented myself with her roomkey at the window in Casino. They refused to give me the money. They said DW MUST come down in person and that if she did not do so, she lost all the monies still on the room key card!!. Rather than get angry as I should have, I simply asked a) could they just transfer to the next segment of the cruise - NO or b) could they put on her room charge account - NO. So - I then got angry - told them what to do with the money (about $23 or so) and left in a huff.

 

On the second segment at the first night Neptune Lounge party while DW and I were talking with one of the officers, a man approached us and introduced himself as the Casino Manager at which time the officer to whom we had been speaking exited stage left. The man wanted to speak to DW specifically. He apologized to her for what happened regarding her winnings and indicated that the Casino would be happy to make it up to her - all she had to do was come down at her next opportunity and not only would all be righted, but she would have a wonderful evening tripping the light fantastic.

We thanked him and let him depart as he seemed a bit uncomfortable.

 

Not only did she not go to the Casino that whole segment, but since that experience she won't play slots on any cruises. On our recent Maasdam cruise in Feb, I could not talk her into playing 'just once for old times sake'.

 

So .... while I will dabble in Blackjack now and then, HAL has lost a longtime customer who, as you, willingly lost money to have a bit of enjoyment at the slots. Seems like a dumb move IMHO.

 

Harry

[jbhcw]

Very interesting thread, Harry - interesting post!! I guess I will have to apologize to dh when he wakes up:eek: On the Westerdam in February they had the new system and he had a fit - yada, yada, yada! I pooh poohed it all and told him he was just an old fogey and did not like change!!! Apparently there are a lot of folks who feel the same way he does.

 

After I got used to it I was fine with it, had to set up his card though and he was not comfortable with it at all.

 

I may be completely wrong on this but I think I saw a sign that the slots were open 24 hours because of the cashless system. Someone correct me I'm wrong.

 

We do not frequent the casino at night, too many people, too much noise and smoke. But......we just love to go early in the am after coffee and breakfast and on the Westerdam in the am there were perhaps 5 people in the casino then which was heaven for us.

 

We don't gamble much and I think dh will be okay with the new system when he gets the hang of it, he is more adaptable than he thinks:) And you can still put money in the machine, and I did not have a problem remembering to go get cashed out.

 

We have never spent enough in the casino for anyone to keep track so that doesn't bother me either, with the sail and sign they know exactly what your spending habits are anyway.

[JimVrhovac]

Ruth is an avid slots player and she did not have much trouble with the new system and somehow managed to get her winnings changed into cash..

 

Ruth & Jim

[Jade13]

 

(AND, who wants them having computer tracking of every bit you spend in the casino, how long you are there, which machines you play, how often you come....... None of their business to have that sort of record.)

 

We knew this was new to Eurodam last year and after having someone explain all this to my DH he never used the casino as he wanted to play with cash and not have anything recorded on his room card. I believe they explained how he could bring cash to the window and have it put on the card but it still was recorded and more of a nuisance.

 

Btw, when you do your review make sure it is posted in the review section so it can be found/reviewed by others.

[R&CCruisers]

We were on the Maasdam in February and discovered the new system. My husband plays Blackjack so it didn't affect him, but I play slots. We don't go to Casinos at home so this is one thing we do enjoy on the cruise--taking only as much money along as we want to lose!

 

The first few times in the Casino I was very disgruntled--hated the new system. But the Casino workers were very helpful and ready to answer questions. By the second week of the cruise I decided this was a good thing--didn't have to remember to take along my "casino money" and it was much cleaner than having to handle the tokens. The last afternoon i received 2 calls in our room reminding me to cash in and get my money. Yes, I actually did have some left, although over all I lost part of what I brought along.

 

So after being unhappy at first, I adjusted to the new system and liked it. The Casino was not very crowded at any time, so evidently many people did not like it.

[Sea King]

look at the positive side .. no one even mentioned smoking in the casino:eek:

 

sounds like the only party being convenienced is the Casino, not the guest

 

any guess which "member of royalty" came up with this idea:rolleyes: