Getting Cash from Casino Cashier

One thing I getting from reading this thread is some people seemed to be confused about the difference between a "transfer" from the S&S account and an actual cash advance from their credit card.

When chips in the casino are being bought using a check, credit or debit card; or cash requested by those means at the Guest Services desk that is a cash advance. A cash advance has a minimum of $5.50 service fee or 5.5% of the transaction amount which ever is greater. This does not hit your S&S account in any way, it is a direct transaction from the card or account to the cash or chips in hand. So it is open to any fees the bank or financial institute may choose to impose on top of what the ship is charging.

When chips are bought at the table or cage and your S&S card is presented as the form of payment that is considered a "transfer of funds" from your on board account. This method carries a 3% flat rate convenience fee. The convenience being that you did not have to carry actual cash to the casino. On Premier and Ultra cruises invitees will find this convenience fee waived, but this is not always true when on a standard cruise. The purchase will show on your S&S bill as "Entertainment". Since this shows as part of the overall on board spending no bank or card issuer fees should be assessed.

One way o avoid the convenience fee is to play slots, where your can do a DIY transfer from the S&S account. The trick here is tat you do not want to tip the casino staff that you are doing this as an ad hoc ATM withdrawal. So that means you do need to play a few spins before leaving the machine to g to th cage to get your cash.

Maryred - Thank you for this explanation, it helps. As a new (to Carnival) player let me ask: I will be bringing gift cards for my casino fund. Do I load them on my S&S account, then draw down at a slot machine? I am a slot player anyway so playing for a while is no big deal, just want to make sure I have the rules on gift cards down for this. Thanks!!

Maryred - Thank you for this explanation, it helps. As a new (to Carnival) player let me ask: I will be bringing gift cards for my casino fund. Do I load them on my S&S account, then draw down at a slot machine? I am a slot player anyway so playing for a while is no big deal, just want to make sure I have the rules on gift cards down for this. Thanks!!

When you get on go put the gift cards on to your S&S account at either a kiosk or guest services. When you go to a slot machine you will set up your players account. Anytime you add money to play it comes from your S&S account. It doesn't matter how you fund your S&S account (cash, gift cards, credit card or combo of all). In other words, if you put a $500 gift card on your S&S anything you spend on the ship (shops, pictures, drinks, steak house, casino, etc) will pull from that 500 first then go to secondary payment like a credit card.

Remember your players account is different from S&S account. If you were to add the 500 like above and then go to a slot machine and put 200 on a machine to play you now have 300 on your S&S and 200 on your players account. Hope that makes sense.

When you get on go put the gift cards on to your S&S account at either a kiosk or guest services. When you go to a slot machine you will set up your players account. Anytime you add money to play it comes from your S&S account. It doesn't matter how you fund your S&S account (cash, gift cards, credit card or combo of all). In other words, if you put a $500 gift card on your S&S anything you spend on the ship (shops, pictures, drinks, steak house, casino, etc) will pull from that 500 first then go to secondary payment like a credit card.

 

Remember your players account is different from S&S account. If you were to add the 500 like above and then go to a slot machine and put 200 on a machine to play you now have 300 on your S&S and 200 on your players account. Hope that makes sense.

Thank you! That makes perfect sense! So I am pretty sure I understand the slot machines...now if I can just get them to understand me!! ;p