Casino drink card on board the Epic

[anniversay/grad trip]

I have heard some talk of the "free" drink card for the casino. Being our first cruise on an NCL ship, does anyone know how to get this? We have been on several cruises but this is our first NCL. My Dh will likely spend 5-8 hours per night in the casino at the tables and I will spend the same usually at the slots, unless they are really beating me up, then I'll switch to table play. We are not big drinkers, but will indulge in 2 or 3 an evening each. Is this a prepaid type drink package or is it based on your play for a future cruise? Are you rated at some point throughout the cruise?

[zlacruising]

You are rated throughout cruise. When you hit so many points you get a free drink card. Not sure what that magic number is though.

[nw_man]

Originally Posted by zlacruising

You are rated throughout cruise. When you hit so many points you get a free drink card. Not sure what that magic number is though.

13467890456.. or something similar to get the odd ' free ' drink

[SteveH2508]

Originally Posted by zlacruising

You are rated throughout cruise. When you hit so many points you get a free drink card. Not sure what that magic number is though.

1500 points. I *think* it is 1 point per $5 played through the slots. I don't play table games so cannot comment.

[Nightengale212]

If you go the the Casinos at Sea section on the NCL web site it will tell you the point forumla to receive a free drink card.

[MKsol]

As mentioned above you can earn one on board through accumulating points. But the better way is to qualify before boarding based on your booking itself.

Last December was our first NCL cruise. We booked directly with NCL and out personal cruise planner (PCP) asked when we booked if we were a member of the total rewards players club which is associated with Harrahs based Las Vegas Casinos. We were and we booked under that fare promo code.

In addition to a five percent discount on the cruise fare, we also had free drink cards waiting in out cabin on the day one of the cruise. So we effectively drank for free the entire cruise while in the casino.

[LadyShiva]

Here's the link to the points system for CAS: http://www2.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise...a/players-club

[anniversay/grad trip]

Thank you everyone for your replies. We are actually going to Vegas on the 15th of May and staying at Harrahs which is a coincidence. I will be sure to get a players club card. We are only there for 4 days, so not too sure how many points I can accumulate in that short period of time, but who knows.

Do you think I should call Casinos at Sea and let them know about my planned trip. Will they issue me a card? or do I just get one at the casino directly?

[MKsol]

Originally Posted by anniversay/grad trip

Thank you everyone for your replies. We are actually going to Vegas on the 15th of May and staying at Harrahs which is a coincidence. I will be sure to get a players club card. We are only there for 4 days, so not too sure how many points I can accumulate in that short period of time, but who knows.

Do you think I should call Casinos at Sea and let them know about my planned trip. Will they issue me a card? or do I just get one at the casino directly?

To be clear, your points in Vegas have no bearing on ship points and earning a drink card. In fact your only need to be an active member of Total Rewards - BUT and this is an important but, you must have originally booked the cruise under the total rewards promo code. It sounds like your cruise is well booked already so you might not be able to change the booking at this point since you are so close to sailing and thus may only be able to earn one onboard but accumulating the points on the ship itself.

It seems the booking with the total rewards promo code, and thus a drink card on day one is not common (not sure why more PCP's don't push this) since our bartenders at the casino mentioned it is fairly uncommon to see someone with the drink card on day one of the cruise.

[anniversay/grad trip]

Originally Posted by MKsol

To be clear, your points in Vegas have no bearing on ship points and earning a drink card. In fact your only need to be an active member of Total Rewards - BUT and this is an important but, you must have originally booked the cruise under the total rewards promo code. It sounds like your cruise is well booked already so you might not be able to change the booking at this point since you are so close to sailing and thus may only be able to earn one onboard but accumulating the points on the ship itself.

It seems the booking with the total rewards promo code, and thus a drink card on day one is not common (not sure why more PCP's don't push this) since our bartenders at the casino mentioned it is fairly uncommon to see someone with the drink card on day one of the cruise.

Thank you for your reply. I have contacted NCL directly to see what can be done, if anything, at this stage of the game. I have not been replied to as yet. We booked several months ago direct with NCL, so not sure if the booking can be changed. We don't sail for 5 months yet, so I guess we will see what NCL can do. Thanks for clarifying.

[LaCal]

Originally Posted by MKsol

To be clear, your points in Vegas have no bearing on ship points and earning a drink card. In fact your only need to be an active member of Total Rewards - BUT and this is an important but, you must have originally booked the cruise under the total rewards promo code. It sounds like your cruise is well booked already so you might not be able to change the booking at this point since you are so close to sailing and thus may only be able to earn one onboard but accumulating the points on the ship itself.

It seems the booking with the total rewards promo code, and thus a drink card on day one is not common (not sure why more PCP's don't push this) since our bartenders at the casino mentioned it is fairly uncommon to see someone with the drink card on day one of the cruise.

We found that in 2010 on Our First NCL Cruise Free through Harrahs with the Free Drink card that it seemed like LOADS of people already had the Free Drink Card the First Day......Guess alot of people had taken advantage of the Free Cruise Promo.....

Now We Booked Directly through CAS for Our Alaska Cruise on the Pearl in 2 weeks.....Got a Great Price on a PH Suite and the Free Drink Card again......

Gotta Love that Free Drink Card....In 2010 in Easily Saved us over $500 by Weeks End for 2 of us in FREE DRINKS......

On Our Upcoming Alaska Cruise WE all have the Card....My DW, Mother In-Law and Myself......So it'll Save even more this cruise......

Now All We Have To Do Is Hit It Big In The Casino....

[luvcruzing]

My advice is to go on your Vegas trip, get a Total Rewards card, use it every time you play, do most of your playing at Harrahs/Caesars properties to accumulate points. When you return from your trip, call CAS and ask to switch your NCL reservation to a CAS booking. You should be able to do this before final payment. Then, when you board, you will have your Casinos at Sea player's card and the drink card in your cabin.

I'm a TR Diamond member, and I had booked two cabins with NCL for a family vacation. I cruised through CAS before on discounted/comped cruises, but I learned on cruise critic that I didn't have to wait for an offer. I could just call CAS and book through them. Thank you cruise critic members. It was no problem at all to switch the booking, and it saved me around $2,000.

Where in Canada do you live?

[anniversay/grad trip]

Originally Posted by LaCal

We found that in 2010 on Our First NCL Cruise Free through Harrahs with the Free Drink card that it seemed like LOADS of people already had the Free Drink Card the First Day......Guess alot of people had taken advantage of the Free Cruise Promo.....

Now We Booked Directly through CAS for Our Alaska Cruise on the Pearl in 2 weeks.....Got a Great Price on a PH Suite and the Free Drink Card again......

Gotta Love that Free Drink Card....In 2010 in Easily Saved us over $500 by Weeks End for 2 of us in FREE DRINKS......

On Our Upcoming Alaska Cruise WE all have the Card....My DW, Mother In-Law and Myself......So it'll Save even more this cruise......

Now All We Have To Do Is Hit It Big In The Casino....

I didn't realize that you could book your cruise directly with CAS. I contacted NCL and was told that basically I was SOL and not in a very nice way. I have to say that the customer service was not what I have been used to in dealing with NCL. Well live and learn. I will know for next time.

[Fishbait17]

Originally Posted by anniversay/grad trip

I didn't realize that you could book your cruise directly with CAS. I contacted NCL and was told that basically I was SOL and not in a very nice way. I have to say that the customer service was not what I have been used to in dealing with NCL. Well live and learn. I will know for next time.

You really can't book a cruise directly thru CAS until you have a history with them. You can book through Harrah's Total Rewards, which is technically thru CAS, but not exactly. You can also have your Harrah's (or other casino) host call CAS to get you a deal based on your history. But calling CAS directly with no CAS history won't get you anything. Also, keep in mind that any booking discounted or comped by a casino (whether CAS, Harrah's, or other) is ineligible for any OBC or other promotional offers, so it isn't always the best deal - a lot of people go out of their way to obtain a Harrah's card only to find that the discount is less than many current promotions.

There was some talk a month or two ago about the discontinuation of drink cards for Harrah's Gold card members, restricting them to Platinum and above. This makes sense as anyone can walk into any Harrah's casino and pick up a gold card without playing a dime. Not sure how that panned out.

Either way, it's nothing to worry about. Earning 1500 CAS "Seabucks" (points) will get you a card onboard. Points are earned at 1 per $5 run through on slots (1 per $10 run thru on VP), so 1500 points is very easy for any solid player to accumulate - I hit 1500 points within a few hours on my last cruise. Table player points accumulation is, as always, dependent on the pit bosses, etc, but again, a solid player will be noticed and at least a few drinks will be supplied while earning his points.

Robin


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[LaCal]

Originally Posted by Fishbait17

You really can't book a cruise directly thru CAS until you have a history with them. You can book through Harrah's Total Rewards, which is technically thru CAS, but not exactly. You can also have your Harrah's (or other casino) host call CAS to get you a deal based on your history. But calling CAS directly with no CAS history won't get you anything. Also, keep in mind that any booking discounted or comped by a casino (whether CAS, Harrah's, or other) is ineligible for any OBC or other promotional offers, so it isn't always the best deal - a lot of people go out of their way to obtain a Harrah's card only to find that the discount is less than many current promotions.

There was some talk a month or two ago about the discontinuation of drink cards for Harrah's Gold card members, restricting them to Platinum and above. This makes sense as anyone can walk into any Harrah's casino and pick up a gold card without playing a dime. Not sure how that panned out.

Either way, it's nothing to worry about. Earning 1500 CAS "Seabucks" (points) will get you a card onboard. Points are earned at 1 per $5 run through on slots (1 per $10 run thru on VP), so 1500 points is very easy for any solid player to accumulate - I hit 1500 points within a few hours on my last cruise. Table player points accumulation is, as always, dependent on the pit bosses, etc, but again, a solid player will be noticed and at least a few drinks will be supplied while earning his points.

Robin


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Hi Robin, Thanks for making it Clear about booking directly through CAS from my original post....

We were able to do it ONLY BECAUSE As You Stated, We had been on one NCL Cruise in 2010 and gambled alot....

As Far as OBC.....We are getting $250.00 OBC as well as a Great Discount on Our PH Suite and the Free Drink Card In 2 Weeks on the Pearl ......So Not All OBC is Out of the Question.......I even made sure and printed out Everything that states what OBC We are getting so theres No Confusion once onboard.....

We did try for the AMEX $500 Promo OBC and the NCL Rep was even kind enough to Refigure the Whole Cruise Based on this Promo Without the CAS Promo Rate.....This was of course before Final Payment.....After all was done We Still Saved More with the CAS Rate and Stuck With That.....

Good Luck and Everybody Hit It Big On Your Next Cruise....

[anniversay/grad trip]

Originally Posted by Fishbait17

You really can't book a cruise directly thru CAS until you have a history with them. You can book through Harrah's Total Rewards, which is technically thru CAS, but not exactly. You can also have your Harrah's (or other casino) host call CAS to get you a deal based on your history. But calling CAS directly with no CAS history won't get you anything. Also, keep in mind that any booking discounted or comped by a casino (whether CAS, Harrah's, or other) is ineligible for any OBC or other promotional offers, so it isn't always the best deal - a lot of people go out of their way to obtain a Harrah's card only to find that the discount is less than many current promotions.

There was some talk a month or two ago about the discontinuation of drink cards for Harrah's Gold card members, restricting them to Platinum and above. This makes sense as anyone can walk into any Harrah's casino and pick up a gold card without playing a dime. Not sure how that panned out.

Either way, it's nothing to worry about. Earning 1500 CAS "Seabucks" (points) will get you a card onboard. Points are earned at 1 per $5 run through on slots (1 per $10 run thru on VP), so 1500 points is very easy for any solid player to accumulate - I hit 1500 points within a few hours on my last cruise. Table player points accumulation is, as always, dependent on the pit bosses, etc, but again, a solid player will be noticed and at least a few drinks will be supplied while earning his points.

Robin


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Thank you Robin for clarifying. I do tend to play quite a lot at the slots, and if memory serves me whenever I am in Vegas I usually accumulate over 1000pts on any given players reward card. I was not trying to get a discount on my already booked cruise when I contacted NCL. I am fully prepared to pay the amount I booked at. I just thought that I may as well contact them being that I am going to Vegas in 2 weeks, staying at Harrahs, and am booked on an NCL cruise. I figured that may count for something (a drink or two in the casino or at the very least a start toward a drink card while onboard) but, I was told no dice (no pun intended lol)....So hopefully I gain enough points early enough to take advantage of the program.
One question I had, was...is the point system based on $5 in per point or is it $5 in, win a hundred bucks and put it back in for essentially 20 points?

[Fishbait17]

Originally Posted by anniversay/grad trip

One question I had, was...is the point system based on $5 in per point or is it $5 in, win a hundred bucks and put it back in for essentially 20 points?

Yes, that's exactly correct, it's all based on what you run-through the machine and has nothing to do with how much cash you put in. I find the payout averages on NCL ships to be about 90-95% (not as good as land based casinos but close), so you can get a lot of points out of that $100!

I apologize, I didn't mean to imply that you were trying to get a discount on your booked sailing, I was simply stating how it works with CAS, and that booking through CAS (or Harrah's or other casino) from the start will get you the drink card, it can't be added on to your reservation with no link to CAS. Harrah's has an odd relationship with CAS - they have nothing to do with one another, they are both owned by the same company. Sometimes people are confused, thinking they can bring their Harrah's TR card on to an NCL ship and either earn points directly on it, or that it might get hem something once they are on board, and there is not that kind of relationship between the two. But once you are established with CAS, I find they do much better for you than any link with Harrah's.

Have a great sailing and good luck in the casino!

Robin

[Fishbait17]

Originally Posted by LaCal

As Far as OBC.....We are getting $250.00 OBC as well as a Great Discount on Our PH Suite and the Free Drink Card In 2 Weeks on the Pearl ......So Not All OBC is Out of the Question.......I even made sure and printed out Everything that states what OBC We are getting so theres No Confusion once onboard.....

We did try for the AMEX $500 Promo OBC and the NCL Rep was even kind enough to Refigure the Whole Cruise Based on this Promo Without the CAS Promo Rate.....This was of course before Final Payment.....After all was done We Still Saved More with the CAS Rate and Stuck With That.....

Good Luck and Everybody Hit It Big On Your Next Cruise....

That's good to hear! For a while CAS discounts and comps were not eligible for ANY combined promotions, so it's good news that some are now combineable. I find that nothing at all can be applied to a comp cruise, not even CAS OBC offers themselves.

Robin

[luvcruzing]

Originally Posted by anniversay/grad trip

Thank you Robin for clarifying. I do tend to play quite a lot at the slots, and if memory serves me whenever I am in Vegas I usually accumulate over 1000pts on any given players reward card. I was not trying to get a discount on my already booked cruise when I contacted NCL. I am fully prepared to pay the amount I booked at. I just thought that I may as well contact them being that I am going to Vegas in 2 weeks, staying at Harrahs, and am booked on an NCL cruise. I figured that may count for something (a drink or two in the casino or at the very least a start toward a drink card while onboard) but, I was told no dice (no pun intended lol)....So hopefully I gain enough points early enough to take advantage of the program.

As I mentioned in my previous post, accumulate as many points as you can at Harrahs/Caesars when you're in Vegas on your Total Rewards card, and then call CAS after you return home and ask about transferring your reservation to CAS. As long as it's before final payment and you've accumulated a decent number of points on your TR card, you shouldn't have any trouble doing this.

[emcelh]

Originally Posted by luvcruzing

As I mentioned in my previous post, accumulate as many points as you can at Harrahs/Caesars when you're in Vegas on your Total Rewards card, and then call CAS after you return home and ask about transferring your reservation to CAS. As long as it's before final payment and you've accumulated a decent number of points on your TR card, you shouldn't have any trouble doing this.

As Robin has already said, if OP doesn't have a history with CAS they won't give her a drink card. If she can go through Total Rewards, that might work if she can accumulate enough points. If they have, in fact, changed the policy making gold cards ineligible for the drink card, she'll need to accumulate enough points for platinum level. I think it's still 4000.