Casino surcharge

First time cruising on Royal. I understand that if you charge money in the casino to your on board account you are charged a 5% surcharge. I know on Celebrity, if you are staying in a Penthouse Suite they waive the charge. Does anyone know if they waive the charge if you are staying in an Owners Suite or the Royal Family Suite?

First time cruising on Royal. I understand that if you charge money in the casino to your on board account you are charged a 5% surcharge. I know on Celebrity, if you are staying in a Penthouse Suite they waive the charge. Does anyone know if they waive the charge if you are staying in an Owners Suite or the Royal Family Suite?

Have not heard of them waiving the charge unless you are a member of the Casino Royale player's club.

I am going to say no, they will not waive the surcharge for suite guests but since we never tried it (we've stayed in suites on RCI), I cannot be positive. It is not, however, listed as a suite guest benefit:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=enhanced_program_for_suite_guests

The only ones that they do not charge the surcharge are the ones the are high rollers, bet $25 a hand at the tables and not sure about the slots.

We were never charged any surcharge if we just used our sign & sail card/players card to put money into a slot machine (set up a "players bank" with a pin). We just cashed out, took the ticket to the cashier, and got real money.

Unless this has changed since a year ago?

If we could use the card in the slot machine that would work!

If we could use the card in the slot machine that would work!

SeaPass card does not allow payment to run the slot machines. Only cash and cashout tickets.

SeaPass card does not allow payment to run the slot machines. Only cash and cashout tickets.

I could have sworn we used the "player's bank" system on our last Royal Caribbean cruise (Independence in Norway) last May. But I could be mistaken, it may have been the Carnival cruises before and after that one.

Sorry to get your hopes up OP!

Have not heard of them waiving the charge unless you are a member of the Casino Royale player's club.

Ourusualbeach I believe it was has reported several times that the surcharge is waived for all cash account guests as well. :)

Think to be safe we will bring travelers cheques. Hate to pay 5%. To bad you can't preorder casino credit like on other lines....but then again you would be taking away potential profit from them.

Ourusualbeach I believe it was has reported several times that the surcharge is waived for all cash account guests as well. :)

Several people did report that on the Canadian cruisers thread. There was at least one report by someone who said that they were charged. Typical Royal...varied by ship.

Think to be safe we will bring travelers cheques. Hate to pay 5%. To bad you can't preorder casino credit like on other lines....but then again you would be taking away potential profit from them.

On our recent Legend cruise, the casino would not cash travelers checks. A new policy requires they be cashed @ Guest Services & it was a real pain. They also had a limit of $900 per cabin, per day. I was not happy & spoke to both casino management & guest services to no avail.

It's ridiculous to cash travelers checks @ guest services when the money is going straight to the casino & it usually stays there! :o There was no explanation as to why they made the change but I suspect it may be another way to prevent people from using the casino as a bank. (similar to the cash advance fee they now charge)

Well if we have to walk to guest services to cash the travelers cheques that is ok. Wonder if they could do this in the Consierge Lounge? On HAL they would do currency exchange in the Neptune Lounge. Regardless, I refuse to pay the 5%.

Well if we have to walk to guest services to cash the travelers cheques that is ok. Wonder if they could do this in the Consierge Lounge? On HAL they would do currency exchange in the Neptune Lounge. Regardless, I refuse to pay the 5%.

I don't recall seeing the Concierge Lounge stocked with currency.

Just bring the cash you're willing to lose... (as that is the usual outcome!)...no charges or fees for cash. If you have to pay a percentage to get your own money, you've already lost.

RCCL does allow you to set up a casino credit for your upcoming cruise. You need to fill on the application. The application is located on RC web site. I don't know how to copy that here. Do a search for casino credit for the main page then scroll down until you see the casino credit application form. You can also call 888-561-2234

Think to be safe we will bring travelers cheques. Hate to pay 5%. To bad you can't preorder casino credit like on other lines....but then again you would be taking away potential profit from them.

Depending on how much you like to play, you could always open up a line of credit before the cruise.

This way, you don't have to carry all that money.

Well if we have to walk to guest services to cash the travelers cheques that is ok. Wonder if they could do this in the Consierge Lounge? On HAL they would do currency exchange in the Neptune Lounge. Regardless, I refuse to pay the 5%.

the CL is not a bank or cash box. .

furthermore traveler's checks are going the way of the Dodo as well. Many US banks no longer issue them at all.

RCCL does allow you to set up a casino credit for your upcoming cruise. You need to fill on the application. The application is located on RC web site. I don't know how to copy that here. Do a search for casino credit for the main page then scroll down until you see the casino credit application form. You can also call 888-561-2234

Here is a link to it:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_casino

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/casino-royale-credit-request-form.pdf

I could have sworn we used the "player's bank" system on our last Royal Caribbean cruise (Independence in Norway) last May. But I could be mistaken, it may have been the Carnival cruises before and after that one.

Sorry to get your hopes up OP!

Princess allows you to do this. :)

Travelors checks are a pain.

You can easily take a few thousand in cash with you onboard. Not difficult.

You can also withdraw $1,000 from the ATM. Even at $6 charge, that is a .006 or .6%. Way less than the 5% at the casino window.