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The 2 on the Miracle are Super Stars with regular  Ultimate X not Bonus Streak.  

12 hours ago, Nikoladoig88 said:

I’m currently onboard the Epic, having got on from Rome yesterday. I had spoken to NCL many times on Covid testing and had so many conflicting conversations- when we arrived at the port, they didn’t test us, they just checked our test results were negative and if we had tested the appropriate number of days before. There was a separate queue for people who didn’t have a test, but I’d say on the whole this wasn’t very busy so definitely best to test before you go. The whole process was surprisingly seamless, after a lot of worry in the lead up! 

Did you test 24 hours before?  Think that is the Italy requirement currently. Very confusing for sure!  Thanks!

We got cancelled in Mar-20, so our last play was 11/18.  Started over......oh well. 🙂

Same with Carnival.  We did them this year and NCL the year before Thanksgiving week.  Both times 30-60 minutes after we left.

Thanks!

The ship will need to be in international waters.  I have not been out of Mobile, but if you search CC, I would assume someone has posted this at some point in time.....Most places it seems like an hour or so, but I have been out of some that seem longer (NYC and NOLA in my mind).  I would just ask at the cage about the free money once the casino opens.

Not sure re the casino opening.  Where is it leaving from?  As for the Free Play, I have heard that some ships do it as Free Play loaded, but on my last one on the Miracle in June, it was cash from the cage.

5 on the Miracle last month, but now have the upper limit in 24 hours.

I believe that the 2000 bonus points can be converted to $20 of "free play" credits.  

On 6/22/2019 at 6:08 AM, Monica887 said:

I have sailed twice with Carnival, but not in over a dozen years. I am most familiar with NCL. We are considering a trip on the Glory and have 2 Elementary school age kids. 

 

Any feedback on Carnival in general compared to NCL? What do you love/hate about about Glory?

I haven't been on the Glory (yet).....see Thanksgiving this year. 😉

However, I have been on 8 Carnival and 10 Norwegian sailings.  We started when our kids were elementary, but bow we have twins that are 18 and a 14 daughter.  We like to go back and forth depending on cost.  Coming from Colorado, we don't really care which ship we are on, or where we are going as long as its a vacation where the captain (or Otto) are driving the boat, we don't have to worry who is paying for dinner, and those towels on the floor of the bathroom fold themselves (or those Steward ninjas do it?)....

As a result of our back and forth we have a debate all the time on the differences......I wouldn't call one the better line etc, just different.  

1. Carnival set dining time vs NCL freestyle dining.  We prefer the Carnival set up with the same table, waiters, and time each night.  Carnival offers anytime dining as well, so if you prefer the "free" style you can have either on Carnival.
2. We prefer the buffet set up on NCL.  Seems like less lines to stand in.  Really like the Jewel set up with islands.  Also they have pasta stations that are a family favorite.  On Carnival we end up hitting the Pizza Pirate a bunch!  Guys/Blue Iguana on Funship2.0 is better than burgers or burritos on NCL though.
3. NCL offers the specialty restaurants for a fee.  We like the ability to choose these once in a while.  Carnival usually only offers a steak house.
4. The UBP on NCL is superior to Cheers IMO because Cheers/casino Drinks on Us card is limited to 15 drinks in 24 hours.  If I sleep 8 hours, that means less than 1 drink per hour (if I wanted).  That being said, have only hit the limit once, but that was because I stashed a few beers for port days. 🙂
5. The kids always say the younger kid club is better on Carnival, but the teen club better on NCL.
6. The production shows on the big ships (Breakaway, Getaway, Escape, Epic) are better quality than Carnival in our opinion.  The shows on the smaller NCL ships are basically the same level as the Carnival ships.
7. We prefer the piano bar on Carnival (at least the ones with the piano in the middle of the room that rotates), more than the dueling pianos on NCL.  I think this is more a comfort of the seats issue rather than the music.  Seems like NCL only has folding chairs in those rooms.
8. Both lines now have adults only areas, so not that different, but the Spice H20 on the Epic is probably the best between the 2 lines that we have seen.  Not there often, but nice once in a while.
9. The trivia on Carnival always seems to hook us.  For some reason, winning a 100% pure gold plastic ship on a stick seems worth more than signatures to turn in for swag.
10. We have played bingo on both lines.  Seems about the same either way.
11. NCL offers Deal or No Deal if you want to purchase/play.  Haven't been to the Hasbro show for comparison.
12. Casinos.....this is where I spend most of my time.  I play video poker, and all the NCL ships I have been on have 8-10 of the machines I like to play (and sometimes there are 20-24 people that want to play as well).  Carnival has 2-3 of these, so less variety.  The pay tables are not stellar on either line, but that is the cost of travelling to all of these ports. 😉
13. Casino Players Clubs.....in the past 8 or so years, I would say that NCL's Casino at Seas (CAS) was better.  Their comps are pretty wide open.  The Carnival club (Ocean Players Club) offers bounce back, Premier, Ultra, Elite, etc with enough play.  We couldn't get their dates to line up very often.  In the past year or so, I think CAS is tightening down, and OPC is loosening up, so this is a fluid debate.  I just check each line each time to figure out our best deal.

Sorry, I went past just the kids etc, but I figure I got on a roll. 🙂

Thanks!  Joe

48 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

We did several Premiers, a Getaway and an Ultra and never got a free cabin or very good of a discount, would usually get $500 casino cash.  We sailed in Jan on RCCL Harmony of the Seas and the FREE or $500-$1250 towards a cabin offers have been nonstop for both of us.  I read on these board about people switching to RCCL for better offers and we can say that is the best move we ever made.  Now the offers could stop or slow down but we have several cruises booked that we only have to pay port fees & taxes and then for the 3rd person in the room if we take our 3 teens with us.  We have also been able to pay a small amount to upgrade to a Jr Suite.  

I haven't been on RCCL.  Do you know if they offer video poker machines?

On 6/22/2019 at 9:23 AM, VideoTech said:

OP's question was never answered.  OP asked how much gambling was expected when you're on a comped cruise.

 

The answer: None is required. You could technically take the comped cruise and never set foot in the casino. However, it is expected that you likely will gamble, since being a gambler is what got you the "free" cruise to start with. Of course, if you don't gamble at all then you won't be eligible for another comp. There is no "expected" amount. CAS assumes that you will likely at least gamble what you did on the last cruise that earned you the comp. 

Thanks for the clarification!  I kind of glossed over the original post I guess.  🙂

I just got back from a Premier on the Miracle.  Based on that sailing, I would say that there will be a drawing or two that you will both be included in (one with playing cards early on and I believe another for fill your bag).  There is also a Premier slot tournament, but each invited player and/or guest has to earn 2000 points to get into that.  Beyond those, and the casino party when embarking, there are general drawings open to everyone in the casino.  Fireball drawing, Spin to Win, etc.  

As for gifts, we got 2 of each they delivered (bottle openers and then those light backpacks with chocolate bars inside).

Its an actual or theoretical loss of $3000.  Whichever is higher.  Also, keep in mind, CAS comp means paying about $300 in administrative fees/port fees not counting the gratuities on the drink package (currently $138.60) or dining package (around $14.50) per person.  So in reality $600ish is the cheapest you will get out on a "comp" room.

The math is a little more complex than that.  CAS comes up with 2 loss calculations. 

1. Your "actual" loss.

2. Your "theoretical" loss.

Your actual loss when playing in a machine is automatically calculated.  When at the tables you have to ask to be rated.  Be careful if you hit a $1200 jackpot or better on the machines (ie the W2G rule).  CAS has not counted that as an actual loss for me in the past, as they consider it their money.  I put those amounts away in the safe and stick to my budget.

Here is a simple example for theoretical loss:

Play slot machine A the whole time.  The machine is set to 80% payback, the house take is 20%.  Your expected loss rate is also 20%.  You bring $1000 to gamble, the expected "theoretical" loss is $200.  $1000 * .2 = $200.  However, this doesn't work in a straight line, so you will likely cycle some money, as in play that same $1000 more than once.  Let say you can cycle that $1000 5 times in the cruise, now your coin in is $5,000 times 20% house edge, and your theoretical loss is now $1,000, same as what you brought with you.  The issue is you cannot look at a slot machine and find a payback %.

You can look at a video poker machine and get a payback % with perfect math.  For NCL, most VP machines are about 95% payback, or 5% house edge.  If you run your $1000 though them, the expected loss is $50.  If you cycled 5 times, then it would go to $250, less than above.  However, with a higher payback games, you should be able to cycle more.  On an average trip playing 95% video poker on NCL, I expect to cycle my bank roll between 10 and 20 times.  Take that same $1000 and cycle 20 times for $20,000 of coin in, and you get an expected loss of $1,000.

Both of these are less than the $3,000 quoted above, so you would have to adjust your starting bank roll up to get closer to that number. 

CAS figures out which loss is higher, and your comp offers are based on that.

Please note:

I would be careful playing to get comps like this.  It seems to me that CAS has been tightening the requirements for rooms and gambling just to get a comp is a dangerous business.  We usually bring $5K to gamble with because we can get a comp room for less $1,000, but there are trips where it is a struggle to stay in the action and I have received a comp offer on anything from an inside to a suite on the Jewel class ships.  YMMV!

Joe

P.S.  This past June and this upcoming Thanksgiving are the first times since 2012 that Carnival has been cheaper for our family of 5 on comparable cruises, so I think they are trying to "up" their game.    

Should have a cocktail party for a meet and greet.  Usually finger foods and free drinks.

FYI, just off the Miracle Premier sailing.  My casino money came as cash.  I think everyone's did per the announcement.

HAL rolls under the Ocean Players Club.  I would start here maybe:

https://oceanplayersclub.com/contact/

I went through them for some information on my next CCL Miracle cruise, it only took a few months to get the information I really wanted, but mine was very specific.....YMMV

Been a bit, but I seem to remember those Lock it Links on the big NCL ships from my last couple of cruises.  I wouldn't worry about it, think they will be there!

3 hours ago, josephmz said:

Haven't seen this mentioned, but I understand the casinos are run under contract with CAS. I assume the dealers are employees of CAS not NCL.

Oh one other item I didn't cover in my other post.  Yes, this is the case, and they have different rules/roles than the NCL employees.  Namely, they don't have to work in a different area when the casino is closed. 

I have run into quite a few of them onshore since in most ports the casino can't be open.

Yes, the casinos are run by Casinos At Sea, CAS.  They are a separate entity from NCL, thus the "Casino House" lines on the bookings that are "comped".  I don't know if its true or not that CAS takes 60%, but I would NOT put it past them.  I have seen quite a few norms from land based casinos that CAS does not follow, the largest being how they calculate actual loss when you have a W2G payout (not counting as your loss, since it's "their" money), so it could be happening.  

As for rules that apply to US based companies regarding non disclosure of salary, etc.  Remember, CAS/NCL is a US based company, thus the W2G if winnings of $1200 or more on a machine.  I would expect that to be black and white, since they are handing those out.

Lastly, as for the people that are acting like the OP was prying into salary info/etc.  I can very easily see when you are on a ship that you build a relationship with those dealers/floor people/hosts.  I have been on enough NCL cruises, that I usually run into 4 or 5 people that remember me from previous sailings.  I'm not saying that I would push to ask questions, but if one of them said something like that to me, I probably wouldn't hesitate to ask a general question like.....hey, I heard that the house take 60% of tips, is that true, if you can tell me......type of thing.  I may just have to ask on my next NCL sailing if its someone I know..... 🙂  

Full disclosure, I primarily play video poker machines, and tip on any hand pays.  I haven't wondered where that money went until I read this thread.  I mainly tip drink servers, as they keep me well stocked. 🙂  I do give them at least $1 in cash on top of my drink package pre-paid gratuity, and they usually know my name, drink of choice, and where I usually sit before the end of the first night.

Thanks for the information!  We are headed on the Miracle in early June!  Following re priority luggage.  Thanks again!

I started on Carnival in the early 2000s.  We would get DOU card, Premier offers, comp rooms once in a while (as in pay tax only, so like $75 total for 2 in a balcony).  The issue I ran into was I had to fit into their schedule.  At that point, I jumped over to NCL.  Had to pay for the first one, but was able to do a Kids Sail Free, so took the whole family on a 10 day for about $1500.  After that, the NCL 'comps" started.  We can go NCL still for about $600 for 2 of us (includes tips for drink package) on most any sailing they have.  I have noticed they are raising limits for Theo/Actual loss over the last handful of years.  I have been comped anything from an inside all the way up to the Spa Suite level.  In the end, I look at the dates I want to go, figure out if kids are coming (17,17,14 now so not really kids anymore) and then look for the best deal.  Usually that has been NCL, but this summer it actually worked out to a Carnival Premier sailing.

As for the bigger question, these ships are nowhere near Vegas for comps.  Also, be careful how you practice money management.  We play 3-10 play $0.25 Video Poker mainly, so we get a fair amount of tax forms.  I have found on NCL, that if you get a W2G, they do not include that in your "actual" loss calculation if you play it back.  I have learned to put that money in the safe, and just stick to my budgeted amounts.  

Hope this helps!

Hmm....thanks!  Hopefully they have the others as well.  If not, at least I know they have some!

We just signed up for a Premier cruise on the Miracle out of Tampa.  Does anyone have recent knowledge if they have the SuperStar poker machines?  I was on the Magic last year and it had 3 of them, but I believe they had been added more recently.  Anyway, trying to figure out if anyone has been on the Miracle and noticed?  If not, back to single line 10 coin for me! 🙂