Remind me please...casino

[mitsugirly]

Someone remind me how the casino (slots) work with RC. I can't seem to remember.

 

Do you have to use cash in them to play (like NCL) or do you simply use your room key (like Carnival) and it keeps the totals in a separate "bank" on the card? Does it charge your room bill or ??? Why am I having a hard time remembering this? (I even took the time to look up my last review with RC and couldn't find where I posted anything about it in there).

 

Thanks in advance.

[Ourusualbeach]

On some ships you can now use your sea pass card to play.  On others it is still cash. 

[mitsugirly]

25 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

On some ships you can now use your sea pass card to play.  On others it is still cash. 

 

What about the Freedom?

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

What about the Freedom?

 

Not sure, hopefully someone who has been on her recently will chime in. 

[Jimnbigd]

I think there might be a charge if you use your card, something like 3%. I was on the Carnival Conquest in 2011 and could use my ship card on slots with no charge. The downside was it made it much easier to play more than I normally would if I were using cash. Note that the slots dispense tickets now instead of coins when you cash out. You can use these tickets in other slots, or cash them out at the casino cashier. Don't forget to take your tickets to the cashier the final night. I'm sure there are stories of passengers who find slot tickets when departing, and the casino is not open then. I'm not sure if you can hold onto these and use them the next time you are on an RCI ship if you happen to forget -- anyone know?

Edited April 8, 2019 by Jimnbigd

[Sancho_proudfoot]

I think  the slots vouchers are ship-specific (so you can't use them on another ship) AND carry an expiry date.

[sandebeach]

These instructions are from Symphony and Harmony. I do not know about Freedom. 

[itsmeagain]

I personally do not like the fact that you can go straight from your room charges to the machine.  Last week on the Symphony we saw a couple having a lively discussion, it appears the husband had one or two, too many drinks and used that “feature”.  He must have taken a lot and not won the way she was acting.  

 

Also think they should have another way to protect the card feature, if they are going to to it, let the customer set a special pin up.  Was also told that you cannot stop the feature from being used unless you turn off all charge ability for the person.

 

it does give customers an easy way to get money for other things without paying the other fees.  Just add money to the machine from your card, cash out without playing and then go cash the ticket.  You now have avoided the 5% fee and any fee your credit card company would have charged you.

 

They do not let you transfer back to the account if you win, just take money out on the Symphony.

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

25 minutes ago, itsmeagain said:

I personally do not like the fact that you can go straight from your room charges to the machine.  Last week on the Symphony we saw a couple having a lively discussion, it appears the husband had one or two, too many drinks and used that “feature”.  He must have taken a lot and not won the way she was acting.  

 

Also think they should have another way to protect the card feature, if they are going to to it, let the customer set a special pin up.  Was also told that you cannot stop the feature from being used unless you turn off all charge ability for the person.

 

it does give customers an easy way to get money for other things without paying the other fees.  Just add money to the machine from your card, cash out without playing and then go cash the ticket.  You now have avoided the 5% fee and any fee your credit card company would have charged you.

 

They do not let you transfer back to the account if you win, just take money out on the Symphony.

 

 

 

No one could fraudulently use your own card unless s/he also knows your birthday.

[BTHodgeman]

You can use your Sea Pass. If you're not Prime or above (earned 2500+ points in the casino Apr 1-Mar 31), there will be a 5% charge assessed. Unlike Carnival, the money is not in a separate bank. Whatever amount you charge to your card will load to the machine, and like most land-based casinos, when you cash out, you get a ticket. Any amount charged is charged to your Sea Pass account.

 

Depending on what you're going to spend, it may be cheaper to use the on-board ATM. I think the fee was $6 on my last cruise... so if you're spending more than $120, it would make sense to take out a few hundred or whatever you plan to spend rather than pay the 5% fee.

[BTHodgeman]

6 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

I think  the slots vouchers are ship-specific (so you can't use them on another ship) AND carry an expiry date.

That is correct. They are ship-specific, and while they do say "expires in 30 days" on the front side, if you read the fine print on the back, they say something along the lines of "all tickets expire on the last day of your current sailing, and they cannot be redeemed via mail." Not sure how strictly they enforce that...

[BTHodgeman]

2 hours ago, itsmeagain said:

You now have avoided the 5% fee and any fee your credit card company would have charged you.

 

 

 

Since the charge is identical to anything else you charge to your room (drinks, merchandise, dining, etc.), RCI bills it the same way. Your credit card company has no clue how the money was spent, and RCI does not code it as a cash advance, so there would be no additional credit card fees. (This can be a major benefit of being Prime and then earning credit card rewards on $$ download to the slots.)

[bouhunter]

2 hours ago, itsmeagain said:

I personally do not like the fact that you can go straight from your room charges to the machine.

 

 

Then don't use it.

[Sancho_proudfoot]

52 minutes ago, BTHodgeman said:

That is correct. They are ship-specific, and while they do say "expires in 30 days" on the front side, if you read the fine print on the back, they say something along the lines of "all tickets expire on the last day of your current sailing, and they cannot be redeemed via mail." Not sure how strictly they enforce that...

 

I think it's coded into the bar code. I had a cash out ticket from the MGM Grand in Vegas, it went past the expiry date and the slot machine just spat it back out as "invalid - expired".

[BTHodgeman]

3 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

 

I think it's coded into the bar code. I had a cash out ticket from the MGM Grand in Vegas, it went past the expiry date and the slot machine just spat it back out as "invalid - expired".

Difference being that for MGM Grand, unclaimed tickets are a liability on their balance sheet (due to Nevada laws that require them to hold them for a period of time after expiration, and eventually require that the funds be turned over to the state). Las Vegas casinos are quite happy to redeem via mail and well beyond the expiration date. No gaming laws at sea, so I would imagine there is not the same 'incentive' for RC to want to redeem expired tickets and/or mailed in tickets.

Edited April 8, 2019 by BTHodgeman

[Sancho_proudfoot]

True enough,  but my point (probably clumsily put) was that  an expiry date can be coded into the bar code, making it easier to 'enforce.

[BTHodgeman]

1 minute ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

True enough,  but my point (probably clumsily put) was that  an expiry date can be coded into the bar code, making it easier to 'enforce.

Totally agree with this. The only gray area being that the front side of the ticket (with printed barcode, machine number, date, time, etc.) says "valid for 30 days," and the fixed text disclaimer on the back says "valid until the end of the current sailing." I would imagine that the barcode on the front would be tied to the 30-day disclaimer printed on the front, but I would also not be surprised if the casino had a way to nullify any unredeemed tickets after the end of the sailing, and they probably actually do so in order to close out the books and determine profitability of each particular sailing.

 

One way to test it would be on a back-to-back with a $.25 ticket. :)

[Sancho_proudfoot]

I'm guessing that  the "valid for 30 days " message on the front is built into the relevant machine's software by the manufacturer (Bally or whoever) while the "valid only to end of cruise" message on the back is added by RCL.  But yes, overall, they surely will have a get out clause.

 

1 hour ago, BTHodgeman said:

That is correct. They are ship-specific, and while they do say "expires in 30 days" on the front side, if you read the fine print on the back, they say something along the lines of "all tickets expire on the last day of your current sailing, and they cannot be redeemed via mail." Not sure how strictly they enforce that...

 

I think it's coded into the bar code. I had a cash out ticket from the MGM Grand in Vegas, it went past the expiry date and the slot machine just spat it back out as "invalid - expired".

[proggieus]

3 hours ago, itsmeagain said:

I personally do not like the fact that you can go straight from your room charges to the machine.  Last week on the Symphony we saw a couple having a lively discussion, it appears the husband had one or two, too many drinks and used that “feature”.  He must have taken a lot and not won the way she was acting.  

 

Also think they should have another way to protect the card feature, if they are going to to it, let the customer set a special pin up.  Was also told that you cannot stop the feature from being used unless you turn off all charge ability for the person.

 

it does give customers an easy way to get money for other things without paying the other fees.  Just add money to the machine from your card, cash out without playing and then go cash the ticket.  You now have avoided the 5% fee and any fee your credit card company would have charged you.

 

They do not let you transfer back to the account if you win, just take money out on the Symphony.

 

 

how does that avoid the 5% fee?

 

the fee is added to transaction amount, not subtracted during play,

 

take out $300, cash out $300 room transaction will show as $315.00

 

unless you are prime tier in casino royal where the 5% is waived.

 

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for all the replies. I was just trying to figure out if I could keep from having to take the actual cash with me to play. It makes it so much nicer (for me) not to have to carry that with me and using the room card words better for us. I also don't mind if it gets charged to the room and then onto my cc attached to the room. That just gives me double points back and I'm fine with that.

 

I didn't realize about the 5% fee?

[BTHodgeman]

@mitsugirly You can also wire funds to the casino. Depending how much you’re spending, this may be somewhat of a hassle, and also may have a fee, depending where you bank.  

 

I will find the link when I’m at an actual computer but basically you wire the money, and then submit a form with your reservation number, sail date, etc. and then you can get the cash from the casino cashier. 

[mitsugirly]

31 minutes ago, BTHodgeman said:

@mitsugirly You can also wire funds to the casino. Depending how much you’re spending, this may be somewhat of a hassle, and also may have a fee, depending where you bank.  

 

I will find the link when I’m at an actual computer but basically you wire the money, and then submit a form with your reservation number, sail date, etc. and then you can get the cash from the casino cashier. 

 

 

Nah, that's just too much work. LOL