CAS - didn't get the warm and fuzzies

[cherylroslyn]

I'm really curious about a few things...

 

 

- where did the 'pressure' come from? There's no minimum number of points you need to accumulate... now, granted, your next comp is based on your play here, but that's hours & average bet....and I was advised that the 'expectation' of play is lower, on days when the casino isn't open much.

 

- Why would you ask the host not to apply your points? There's no advantage at all, to saving them...and you might have stymied their ability to comp all of your onboard spend & shore excursions. Just wondering why you'd make that request?

 

When I was still Lucky (Day 1 of my last trip, before I hit Golden on day 2), they told me that the card wouldn't allow the drink I wanted, but just to buy it, and they'd comp it at the end of the trip. It seems to me that's what they were trying to tell you, too. But you have to let them apply your points...that's where the comps come from.

 

 

Stephen

 

 

.

Didn't you go to Hot before Golden or did you do that much in one day....and belive me I know some people around here can afford to do that so I am not being snarky:)

[cherylroslyn]

You can't accumulate points toward a drink card. You have to start from 0 each cruise (unless you automatically get one due to your tier).

 

The points which are cashed-in only start ticking if you're over 2500 points... BUT... very frequently they comp more than that.

 

For example on my last trip, I accumulated according to my card, 3700 points or so...but got $800 off my bill, not the $37 I would have expected based on the points.

 

Not cashing them in restricts the Host's ability to do anything for you.

 

If you've earned the threshold of 2500, it's usually worth cashing them in...

 

 

.

I am glad you posted this Stephen, I racked up over 5000 and I was comped $411.00, and dinner in Le Bistro with wine for the three of us. I was happy with that..... I guess I am a sucker:)

 

I was on a 7 day where the casino was closed for three of them....

 

If I had known more about other people's comps on other ships, though to an extent irrellevant, I may have pushed for more......though that might have amounted to nothing.......

[cherylroslyn]

just curious, what does one have to spend, on average, to accumulate about 1500 points on your card? I just came off a 7 nighter on the Gem and I think you had to have at least 1500 points to get free drinks. I think it might be cheaper to just pay for a drink when you want one as opposed to spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars in a machine just to get a drink, lol.

None of us, who are serious gamblers, are gambling for a drink card.

 

The way that NCL and a lot of the other cruiselines have changed their programs pretty much ensures that only serious gamblers will get the benefits of a drink card.

 

I think in the past people were gettting them too easily on Carnival and NCL, so changes were made to the tier systems and programs to prevent "dabblers" from getting the drink cards and other perks.......

 

 

You are 100% right, it is cheaper to pay for your drinks and go enjoy a show, if you are not a person who gambles at that level, a ship is not the place to start.

 

No one should ever feel compelled to gamble for comps or drink cards....if that happens turn around and run out of the casino....because that will be the beginning of the end:(

[pe4all]

I am glad you posted this Stephen, I racked up over 5000 and I was comped $411.00, and dinner in Le Bistro with wine for the three of us. I was happy with that..... I guess I am a sucker:)

 

I was on a 7 day where the casino was closed for three of them....

 

If I had known more about other people's comps on other ships, though to an extent irrellevant, I may have pushed for more......though that might have amounted to nothing.......

I wish I had been more informed before my CAS cruise on Breakaway, even though I read everything about CAS on these boards for months before I went. I had never sailed NCL, and had gotten a great promo thru Foxwoods Casino with a fantastic rate for a large balcony cabin. By the end of the cruise I had accumulated 5,000 pts. Got no dinner offers, no wine, no sweets sent to cabin. Got around $110 off my bill at the end. The casino staff didn't really extend themselves, though I tried to talk to them a few times. (just chit-chat - not asking for anything) The casino was also closed 3 days - I don't play for points or comps, but I am hoping that- if/when I sail NCL again - there may be some kind of discount offer extended to me. (which I get constantly from CCL)

[cherylroslyn]

I wish I had been more informed before my CAS cruise on Breakaway, even though I read everything about CAS on these boards for months before I went. I had never sailed NCL, and had gotten a great promo thru Foxwoods Casino with a fantastic rate for a large balcony cabin. By the end of the cruise I had accumulated 5,000 pts. Got no dinner offers, no wine, no sweets sent to cabin. Got around $110 off my bill at the end. The casino staff didn't really extend themselves, though I tried to talk to them a few times. (just chit-chat - not asking for anything) The casino was also closed 3 days - I don't play for points or comps, but I am hoping that- if/when I sail NCL again - there may be some kind of discount offer extended to me. (which I get constantly from CCL)

Don't feel bad, I hear it wouldn't have mattered much on the Breakaway anyhow. I think the comps on Breakaway are supposedly lower, maybe because they are the new hot ticket, or maybe because there are so many gamblers on that ship that it is hard to stand out, and they don't feel they have to do anything special to attract high rollers.

 

There is a nice person who posts here that had a pretty confusing and frustrating experience with the Breaaway casino team, and she is a very high roller.....and from what she describes she wasn't treated very well at all.

[sjbdtz]

Didn't you go to Hot before Golden or did you do that much in one day....and belive me I know some people around here can afford to do that so I am not being snarky:)

 

 

I oopsed. I boarded as HOT, not far from Golden. Made Golden on day 1.

 

 

 

What I understand on the comps, is that they have your SeaBucks to work with based on points.

 

Then it depends what you spend (some spend is only recoverable $1:$1, and other at $2:$1, etc.)

 

Then I think they have (for lack of a better term) a small 'slush fund' to allocate based on losses. So if there are 5 players who each play 4 hours/day and the same average bet....the one who lost $8k will get more of a comp against their OB charges, than the one who broke even at the table.

 

.

[sjbdtz]

I wish I had been more informed before my CAS cruise on Breakaway, even though I read everything about CAS on these boards for months before I went. I had never sailed NCL, and had gotten a great promo thru Foxwoods Casino with a fantastic rate for a large balcony cabin. By the end of the cruise I had accumulated 5,000 pts. Got no dinner offers, no wine, no sweets sent to cabin. Got around $110 off my bill at the end. The casino staff didn't really extend themselves, though I tried to talk to them a few times. (just chit-chat - not asking for anything) The casino was also closed 3 days - I don't play for points or comps, but I am hoping that- if/when I sail NCL again - there may be some kind of discount offer extended to me. (which I get constantly from CCL)

 

 

There's a REAL difference between being a guest of your casino, and a guest of CAS themselves.

 

You may know that Harrah's Entertainment is owned by Apollo Group, who also own a good chunk of NCL (as well as the University of Phoenix).

 

There's some cross-branding & collaboration between the two. Though not the 3....I still haven't figured-out how to translate my casino play into a Doctorate... :mad:

 

 

Now that CAS knows who you are (I hope you got a Player's Card, and were rated/tracked), you should see additional value beyond what your external casino can offer.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

[pe4all]

There's a REAL difference between being a guest of your casino, and a guest of CAS themselves.

 

You may know that Harrah's Entertainment is owned by Apollo Group, who also own a good chunk of NCL (as well as the University of Phoenix).

 

There's some cross-branding & collaboration between the two. Though not the 3....I still haven't figured-out how to translate my casino play into a Doctorate... :mad:

 

 

Now that CAS knows who you are (I hope you got a Player's Card, and were rated/tracked), you should see additional value beyond what your external casino can offer.

 

Stephen

 

.

I definitely got a player's card, so I would guess my play was tracked. My reservations were made totally thru CAS - they even had a free drink card waiting for everyone (3 of us) in my cabin. I have no complaints about the cruise - had a great time - good enough to purchase cruise rewards certificates for future NCL cruises!:D

[Coastalbreezes]

I am glad you posted this Stephen, I racked up over 5000 and I was comped $411.00, and dinner in Le Bistro with wine for the three of us. I was happy with that..... I guess I am a sucker:)

 

I was on a 7 day where the casino was closed for three of them....

 

If I had known more about other people's comps on other ships, though to an extent irrellevant, I may have pushed for more......though that might have amounted to nothing.......

 

 

In May on the Inaugural, I racked up close to 6,000 points and got zip -- no $$$ off at and of cruise, no offers of dinners, no nothing. That was my first time ever through CAS where I literally got nothing :confused::(. Sailing on Breakaway this Sunday and hope to find out the reason why.

 

Tracy

[Stillfloatin']

In May on the Inaugural, I racked up close to 6,000 points and got zip -- no $$$ off at and of cruise, no offers of dinners, no nothing. That was my first time ever through CAS where I literally got nothing :confused::(. Sailing on Breakaway this Sunday and hope to find out the reason why.

 

Tracy

 

Holy crap! :eek:

[luvcruzing]

Cruised on the Dawn in April as HOT and, of course, got a free dinner at LeBistro (Cagney's was a no go). No bottle of wine. No treats sent to the cabin. Made over 5,000 points playing video keno, so it took twice as much money to reach 5,000 as if playing a regular slot machine. Got about $50 off on my final bill. Going on the Pearl in November. Wondering how I'll be treated then. I still appreciate the offers, but seems odd how the rewards are handed out.

[cruise4kicks]

I think what we're seeing here -- lots of people miffed with the cut-backs in comps -- is directly related to the new tier program.

 

You see, what CAS has done was turn an incentive program into a benefit program.

 

You used to get incentives -- unexpected and appreciated -- for higher levels of play.

 

Now, you get only what your tier benefits are. Period. End of story.

 

I warned my host when they first rolled out the program that this was going to backfire. I think it has. I see a lot of people on here who I know are higher level players getting miffed at CAS. And, those who are lower level players are getting miffed, because they don't get an occasional comp. Those are now going to the mid- and high-level players.

 

As for me, I'm quite happy. I'm getting my benefits, and I expect nothing more, or less. ;)

[Coastalbreezes]

I hold the belief that they should have grandfathered in existing points. When I boarded Breakaway in May I expected to be at Golden level due to my prior cruises and was shocked to learn that CAS had tossed all my points previously earned and I (as many others) had to start all over at Lucky.

 

I am just shy of Golden now which I will make on my next cruise leaving Sunday. Just don't get why most people get something taken off their bill at the end while others like myself got nothing.

 

Tracy

[cherylroslyn]

I hold the belief that they should have grandfathered in existing points. When I boarded Breakaway in May I expected to be at Golden level due to my prior cruises and was shocked to learn that CAS had tossed all my points previously earned and I (as many others) had to start all over at Lucky.

 

I am just shy of Golden now which I will make on my next cruise leaving Sunday. Just don't get why most people get something taken off their bill at the end while others like myself got nothing.

 

Tracy

I think a lot of it has to do with the ship. I hear Breakawy not only has a slightly different "system" which has to be converted when players go on other ships, but I hear they are awful about comps. I can't recall reading about anyone who has recieved a nice credit off of their bill at the end. There are some threads dedicated to the new CAS program in the Casino section of cruisecritic, many of the people who gamble a lot on cruise ships talk about these issues over there and it seems universal that the Breakaway is not a ship for gamblers right now, maybe its the hosts, maybe its the fact that the ship is hot and they don't need big players, maybe it is corporate....I just don't know.....but I would not take it personally if you are treated like yesterdays news.......

[ch7012]

I hold the belief that they should have grandfathered in existing points. When I boarded Breakaway in May I expected to be at Golden level due to my prior cruises and was shocked to learn that CAS had tossed all my points previously earned and I (as many others) had to start all over at Lucky.

 

I am just shy of Golden now which I will make on my next cruise leaving Sunday. Just don't get why most people get something taken off their bill at the end while others like myself got nothing.

 

Tracy

 

I am golden, had over 5000 points on a recent cruise playing video keno (just like another poster) and had almost nothing taken off of my bill. I would love to know how others get $800 or more off of their bills (so I can do that too! :o)). I actually had 2 cruises this summer and emailed CAS a few weeks ago to question why I had minimal charges removed - their answer was that that I got what I should have - but in the same breath told me I still had over 4,000 points on my account. I can't figure it out!!

 

My next cruise I will definitely be checking with the host desk the last night to see what exactly they will be crediting if anything. I have always been told because I was an "invited guest" I didn't need to stop by. I will next time.

[gooch47]

This reminds me of when Caesar's (then Harrahs) rolled out their Total Rewards system. It used to be that you had a good relationship with your casino hosts and they could issue comps and other goodies at their discretion. Now everything is based on "your offers" and if it doesn't show up there, forget it. We are always getting calls from casino hosts who we have no idea who they are offering us free rooms, etc. that we get automatically anyway. We wonder why the job even exists. Of course, maybe if we were Seven Star level instead of just high Diamond, it would be different. At least we still get our offers for "free" NCL cruises. We have our seventh and eighth already scheduled.

[hpecorari]

This reminds me of when Caesar's (then Harrahs) rolled out their Total Rewards system. It used to be that you had a good relationship with your casino hosts and they could issue comps and other goodies at their discretion. Now everything is based on "your offers" and if it doesn't show up there, forget it. We are always getting calls from casino hosts who we have no idea who they are offering us free rooms, etc. that we get automatically anyway. We wonder why the job even exists. Of course, maybe if we were Seven Star level instead of just high Diamond, it would be different. At least we still get our offers for "free" NCL cruises. We have our seventh and eighth already scheduled.

 

I thought free cruises were only offered to seven stars and all others got a percentage off

[Fishbait17]

I thought free cruises were only offered to seven stars and all others got a percentage off

 

Not true. I'm Diamond and have picked up three certificates this year, have another next month, plus several others I haven't bothered To pick up. The problem is, they are all for inside, Ov or balcony cabins only, and I can get a minimum of minisuite with CAS directly, so I haven't bothered to use any of them.

 

I agree, TR is mess as well. Calls at least twice a month, from different Hosts, offering things I already know about or get automatically. One host has no idea what the other if offering. CAS is similar, with weekly emails or calls from at least two different hosts offering less than I get automatically. I'm afraid the days of having an excellent personal host may be gone from the industry (although I have found one CAS agent I can work with- for now :))

 

Robin

[sjbdtz]

I'm beginning to fear this thread.

 

It's starting to sound as though some are planning to use my experiences to try & coerce higher comps.

 

 

I think (and I'm reasonably confident in this) that if you have high losses, they're able to comp up to 10% of the losses (IF you have an applicable amount of OB charges).

 

The last cruise when I was comped $800, I also lost $8,000.

 

.

[emcelh]

I thought free cruises were only offered to seven stars and all others got a percentage off

There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how these offers are made. I've seen lots of posts from people who are not Seven Stars and get free offers all the time. Many are Diamond and some Platinum. I've had a Diamond for several years and I've never gotten one.

[Fishbait17]

There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how these offers are made. I've seen lots of posts from people who are not Seven Stars and get free offers all the time. Many are Diamond and some Platinum. I've had a Diamond for several years and I've never gotten one.

 

It may have something to do with where you play. I would estimate my annual TR play to be 50-70% Atlantic City, 20-40% Vegas, and 10-25% Rincon San Diego. Of my cruise offers this year, maybe 4 from AC, 3 from Vegas, and none from Rincon SD. So it seems to me that either I don't have enough play at Rincon or they don't get the certs that the bigger locations get. I suspect it's the second, as in AC a lot of my play is at Showboat or Caesars, and yet most of my free cruises come from Bally's (or even Harrah's, where I hardly play).

 

Robin

[Fishbait17]

I'm beginning to fear this thread.

 

It's starting to sound as though some are planning to use my experiences to try & coerce higher comps.

 

 

I think (and I'm reasonably confident in this) that if you have high losses, they're able to comp up to 10% of the losses (IF you have an applicable amount of OB charges).

 

The last cruise when I was comped $800, I also lost $8,000.

 

.

 

I think you're right on the money (no pun intended ;)). People need to keep in mind also, that when you charge cash withdrawals to your onboard account, those can't be comped back (as with several other onboard charges like DSC, etc - or so I have heard). I would estimate my onboard comps are about 10% of my losses, and generally wipe out most of my "regular" charges, so sometimes fall a bit short of that percentage (ie- not enough spent to comp back).

 

I think most of us are happy with the comps. At least when they're spelled out there is less "guessing" what you may or may not get. The problem seems to be the Breakaway - many of its hosts are non-responsive and very impersonal, their tracking seems "off", and their reporting to CAS is just plain bad (do they pull numbers out of the air every time we call?). Yes, one can have a "good" casino experience on the Breakaway, but can just as easily have a "bad" one. For this reason, I won't be sailing her or the Getaway any time soon. I have finally straightened out my account (for the time being anyway) except not getting the bonus points for making Golden (CAS just won't respond on this one). I should make VIP on my next sailing - if I ever get to take one! (Stuck at home taking care of an ailing family member for last three months and next ???)

 

Robin

[hpecorari]

I have finally straightened out my account (for the time being anyway) except not getting the bonus points for making Golden (CAS just won't respond on this one).

Robin

 

I was told that the bonus points for moving up a tier would be given on the next cruise I took.

 

Harriet

[hpecorari]

Not true. I'm Diamond and have picked up three certificates this year, have another next month, plus several others I haven't bothered To pick up. The problem is, they are all for inside, Ov or balcony cabins only, and I can get a minimum of minisuite with CAS directly, so I haven't bothered to use any of them.

 

I agree, TR is mess as well. Calls at least twice a month, from different Hosts, offering things I already know about or get automatically. One host has no idea what the other if offering. CAS is similar, with weekly emails or calls from at least two different hosts offering less than I get automatically. I'm afraid the days of having an excellent personal host may be gone from the industry (although I have found one CAS agent I can work with- for now :)) Robin

 

Okay, by free I now understand you are talking about certificates the casinos give out. I was thinking about the free cruise Seven Star members get by just calling CAS and saying they are Seven Stars.

 

I get those certificates as well. My problem is pretty much the same as yours. 1st, most times the certificates needs to be used within a few months and those months are not good for me and 2nd, I get a better deal calling CAS directly.

 

Harriet

[Fishbait17]

I was told that the bonus points for moving up a tier would be given on the next cruise I took.

 

Harriet

 

Good to know.. I've never been given a straight answer. One rep told me they were already given, another told me she'd never heard of it, another told me she'd look into it and get back to me, and never did...

 

Robin