Casino Advance; charged as advance or purchase on Credit Card?

[lardan]

Wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question. On my cruises on RCCL, we could take cash from the casino on our Sea Pass (room charge) and it would be billed as a purchase, hence the credit card would not charge any cash advance fees.

Does anyone know if it is the same on HAL? It would certainly save me the hassle of getting traveler checks or carrying a lot of cash.

Thanks.

[Sprocket]

I did this on my Zui cruise in 2003 and am pretty sure it is still available. If memory serves me correctly they did charge 3% on each transaction. Which is much cheaper than an advance on your cc. If nobody else responds maybe try doing a search, you may come up with more recent
replies. Enjoy your cruise.

[richwmn]

I only did this once a few years ago, but I seem to remember a sign at the cashiers window on the Zaandam a couple of weeks ago listing a fee for the cash advance.

Rich

[boomerSexyK]

Whenever the casino was on a winning streak against me, I would just use the ATM located nearby (we were on Celebrity). The fee they charged, being an ATM operated by a private company the fee was only $1.50.

[bepsf]

Whenever the casino was on a winning streak against me, I would just use the ATM located nearby (we were on Celebrity). The fee they charged, being an ATM operated by a private company the fee was only $1.50.

Well, there are no ATM's on HAL...

I seem to recall it being listed as a cash advance.

[dakrewser]

Wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question. On my cruises on RCCL, we could take cash from the casino on our Sea Pass (room charge) and it would be billed as a purchase, hence the credit card would not charge any cash advance fees.

Does anyone know if it is the same on HAL? It would certainly save me the hassle of getting traveler checks or carrying a lot of cash.

Thanks.

Yes, it's the same on HAL - it goes on your acct which is billed as a purchase to your credit card. HAL does charge a small fee for the transaction.

[Grumpy1]

Well, there are no ATM's on HAL...

I seem to recall it being listed as a cash advance.It would be listed on your onboard account statement as a cash advance, but since everything in that account goes to your credit card company as one purchase, there should not be any cash advance fees by your credit card company. To be charged to your credit card as a cash advance usually requires providing a PIN and getting approval for the advance.

[Mark & Joyce]

Zaandam to Alaska, 5/5/06. For some reason I ran out of cash while playing Caribbean Stud Poker.:confused: Walked up to the casino cashiers window and got $100. I signed for a $103 charge to my ship account…..3% fee. You can get up to $1,000 this way..although I would not advise that….After about 2 hours my $100 had mysteriously disappeared.:eek:

Good Luck!

[boomerSexyK]

bepsf...thanks for the heads-up on the ATM situation on HAL. I'll have to calculate that 3% fee into win-loss ratio........:D

[trvlcarib]

That still doesn't seem fair, if you want to gamble and get cash they hit you with a 3% charge? On Celebrity I always got cash for no charge.

[KAJOKG]

It's credited to your credit card as a purchase, not cash advance, even though the onboard account calls it a cash advance,

[bruce-r]

That still doesn't seem fair, if you want to gamble and get cash they hit you with a 3% charge? On Celebrity I always got cash for no charge.Why is that? HAL is just passing along the charge the credit card company charges them for the transaction. You don't see this charge in a regular purchase because it is included in the price of what you are buying. In this case, since you are buying "cash" is is hard for HAL to "hide" the fee it cost them to accept your card.