Casino surcharge

[frankdp]

A question for those experienced HAL cruisers….

 

Does the casino levy a surcharge on funds applied to the room? 
 

Much appreciated!

[blueexpedition29]

I have never been surcharged; but, it may depend on amount.   i have probably charged up to $1000 on a typical 9-12 day cruise.  Usually charged and played at table games along with cash purchases.  IF you are thinking of going to the cashier and "withdrawing cash"  they might charge you.  

 

hope that helps. 

 

 

[FlorenceItaly]

NO, as of last month on the Nieuw Statendam.

[drowelf]

I always  bring cash spend on the table games, but the DW prefers slots and she just charges it directly to the room, subject to our gambling allowance and we settle with the ship at the end. I've never seen any surcharges applied to her slot play charges. 

Edited December 1, 2022 by drowelf

[Mary229]

Nope, I purposely send them to my ship board account which I pay with my rewards credit card.  I take winnings in cash, as allowed 

[frankdp]

Thank you all!

[StartrainDD]

Interesting conversation.  I admit to some confusion.  HAL says their OBC is not usable in the casino.  However, do charges against your account not burn up OBC first?

 

We would love to use some of our OBC to play roulette (hopefully the casino has some smoke-free evenings).  We do that on Celebrity all the time.

[DaveOKC]

24 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

Interesting conversation.  I admit to some confusion.  HAL says their OBC is not usable in the casino.  However, do charges against your account not burn up OBC first?

 

We would love to use some of our OBC to play roulette (hopefully the casino has some smoke-free evenings).  We do that on Celebrity all the time.

Depends on the "type" of OBC you have.  Some can be used in the casino, some cannot.  If it is from HAL . generally not usable.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

10 hours ago, frankdp said:

A question for those experienced HAL cruisers….

 

Does the casino levy a surcharge on funds applied to the room? 
 

Much appreciated!

No surcharge unless they think you are simply using them as an ATM.....If you buy $500 in chips and then immediately cash out after one hand - you will probably get charged the next time.....People used to do this on slots......put a big balance on the slot - make one spin and then cash out - they will probably hit you with 3% for that.....

 

If you are a legit gambler - no surcharge...

Edited December 2, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[mfanderso]

16 hours ago, StartrainDD said:

Interesting conversation.  I admit to some confusion.  HAL says their OBC is not usable in the casino.  However, do charges against your account not burn up OBC first?

 

We would love to use some of our OBC to play roulette (hopefully the casino has some smoke-free evenings).  We do that on Celebrity all the time.

I have had OBC in the past that said not to be used in casino, but that OBC did cover casino charges.  I was confused by it and asked Guest Services about it and they said everything was covered.  Fast forward to this past August on the Nieuw Statendam, when I played at the casino, my OBC did not cover those charges.  I had a large amount of OBC and had a hard time spending it all but after several specialty restaurants and several trips to the gift shop we were able to use it.  

 

We ended up purchasing HAL gift cards through AARP and turned them in at Guest Services to cover our casino charges, so at least we saved a little doing it that way.

[riffatsea]

Thanks for this information!

It is quite a different policy than on other Carnival corporations ships like Princess and Carnival

My husband will not be pleased!

 

[DaveOKC]

What I have experienced is that there are two types of OBC.  The first is from funds that you or someone else placed in your account - this includes the $200 from the casino free cruises.  The second are funds that HAL "gives" you - like stockholder credit, promotional credits for booking, Thank You for sailing promotion credit, Future Cruise OBC credits, etc.

HAL uses up the second group before it gets to the first group.

If you charge in the casino, that does come out of the first group funds.

 

I think that this procedure is why people are reporting different things on using OBC in the casino.  Just to confuse things further, I suspect that some ships are more diligent than other ships about following this procedure. 

 

 

[mfanderso]

4 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 

 

I think that this procedure is why people are reporting different things on using OBC in the casino.  Just to confuse things further, I suspect that some ships are more diligent than other ships about following this procedure. 

 

 

This could be the case.  I just went back and looked at my old statements.  My statement from the Eurodam in 2018, it clearly says "Promo Credits, Not Valid for Casino or Cash" , but the casino charges were deducted from those funds.  The statement from the Nieuw Statendam said the same thing, but the casino charges were not deducted from those funds, so it could be a difference in ships or maybe new accounting after starting back up.   We also cruised on the Eurodam last December, but that statement has been wiped clean so I can't see how casino charges were handled on that cruise.

[stephenjstrong1972]

On the Thanksgiving cruise on the Koningsdam I had $125 obc that said it couldn't be used in the Casino, but I only used about $70 on other stuff and the rest was used toward the $825 I charged in the Casino.  Also, I did not get charged with a service charge.

 

[HELENPSL]

19 hours ago, StartrainDD said:

Interesting conversation.  I admit to some confusion.  HAL says their OBC is not usable in the casino.  However, do charges against your account not burn up OBC first?

 

We would love to use some of our OBC to play roulette (hopefully the casino has some smoke-free evenings).  We do that on Celebrity all the time.

Hi Ari - if you pull up your statement on the ship it will clearly say "obc - refundable or non-refundable).  It will also state if it cannot be used in the casino.  For example, if you purchase something in the shops they will automatically deduct it from your non-refundable obc and you'll see that amount reduced on your statement.  They use always use that credit first.  Credits directly from the casino work differently.  If the casino has given you a credit it will show each time you login to a slot machine.  Have I fully confused you yet??  Hope all is well!

Helen

[StartrainDD]

3 hours ago, mfanderso said:

I have had OBC in the past that said not to be used in casino, but that OBC did cover casino charges.  I was confused by it and asked Guest Services about it and they said everything was covered.  Fast forward to this past August on the Nieuw Statendam, when I played at the casino, my OBC did not cover those charges.  I had a large amount of OBC and had a hard time spending it all but after several specialty restaurants and several trips to the gift shop we were able to use it.  

 

We ended up purchasing HAL gift cards through AARP and turned them in at Guest Services to cover our casino charges, so at least we saved a little doing it that way.

This MAY be a technology thing.  Nieuw Statendam should be (almost) the latest technology while older ships may not be able to differentiate?  Interesting...