Pre-purchase of casino cash?

[Dadedumdum]

On our Edge cruise in November, we had the option to pre-purchase casino cash and Deal or No Deal cards at a slight discount.  For our upcoming Equinox cruise, we've got a chunk of OBC to spend  but  have never seen it offered.  When I go to the casino page it says "Amazing experiences coming soon. Please check back later to see what's available for your cruise".  It's been saying this for months and we leave next week. Have they stopped doing this on all sailings?

[jelayne]

Apparently as it isnt showing on any of our bookings.

[Lena11033]

I saw it for my sailing last year but this year it disappeared and never reappeared before my sailing this month. 
 

same with my other two for next year. But I also have other sections doing the same thing too
 

[Jim_Iain]

On a recent cruise I Pre-Purchased Slot Cash with a bonus.   Turned out to be a terrible experience.  They give you a special promotional slip (at least on Solstice).   You had to play all you took off the slip at one machine and couldn't cash out or put back on slip except for the amount you won. 

 

I felt like I had been ripped off and will never do it again.

[TFree]

24 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

On a recent cruise I Pre-Purchased Slot Cash with a bonus.   Turned out to be a terrible experience.  They give you a special promotional slip (at least on Solstice).   You had to play all you took off the slip at one machine and couldn't cash out or put back on slip except for the amount you won. 

 

I felt like I had been ripped off and will never do it again.

Jim:

That is interesting.  On one of our Apex B2B cruises in the spring, we had so much OBC (due to a price guarantee match after final payment) that we maxed out the amount of table pre-paid credit we could buy.  So we used the rest on a slot pre-paid credit.  I don't remember the slots working the same way on Apex (i.e., I think we could go from machine to machine).  But anyway, we prefer the table play credit and would use that whenever possible.  There is no similar problem with the table pre-play credit (assuming they still sometimes offer it) and I am pretty sure that we have used it on all three classes of ship.

 

Tom & Judy

[Jim_Iain]

Interesting.   On Solstice (non-revolutionized) you also could not pull up Banker and transfer from account to the machine.    You had to go to the Cashier and buy slips in $100 denominations and then feed into the Slot Machines.     Also one thing I didn't like was you had to put your card in the machine and leave it there while playing instead of tapping in and out.

 

 

[Dadedumdum]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

On a recent cruise I Pre-Purchased Slot Cash with a bonus.   Turned out to be a terrible experience.  They give you a special promotional slip (at least on Solstice).   You had to play all you took off the slip at one machine and couldn't cash out or put back on slip except for the amount you won. 

 

I felt like I had been ripped off and will never do it again.

In that case, it sounds like I dodged a bullet. It does sound like a rip off considering the actual promotional amount added on probably wasn't a whole lot.  Thanks for the info.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

They removed the pre-purchased Deal or No Deal packages at the same time they removed the promotional slot/table play. What's going on X?

[Tyler414]

I purchased $250 table games credit and got a 10% bonus ($275 total). I had about $75 of OBC left so it actually cost me $175 of my own money…When I went to the casino I received my $275 worth of “promotional” chips. Unknown to me theses chips CANNOT be cashed in, you essentially need to lose them. When playing the promotional chips any winnings are payed out in “normal” chips….

Unless you have OBC that you have no other use for I would never buy these promotional chips again. 

[TFree]

42 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

I purchased $250 table games credit and got a 10% bonus ($275 total). I had about $75 of OBC left so it actually cost me $175 of my own money…When I went to the casino I received my $275 worth of “promotional” chips. Unknown to me theses chips CANNOT be cashed in, you essentially need to lose them. When playing the promotional chips any winnings are payed out in “normal” chips….

Unless you have OBC that you have no other use for I would never buy these promotional chips again. 

I mean, there is always another use, right?  You could buy old iPads or tchotchkes you don't need from the Celebrity stores (not a good investment in my book) or sign up for Celebrity excursions you did not want. 

I look at it very differently.  If I have $500 in OBC that I had not planned to use on something else, I will use that $500 (if it is still being offered) to buy prepaid table credits.  So I will start with $550 in promo chips, and I will play on and off during the cruise until I use all the promo chips, setting aside any real chips I win and (hopefully) having the self-control not to play them.  Let's say I lose 10% of my money.  Since I started out with a 10% bonus, I end up with $495 in real cash ($550 - 10% = $495).  If I win even a small percentage, I am way ahead since I started out with a 10% bonus on the prepaid deal.  But the main point, the way I look at it, is that I am taking non-refundable OBC and converting it into real dollars.

 

Tom & Judy

[39august]

Tfree, us too. We've never seen a 10% promo for this, but anything we win has converted our Non refundable OBC to cash to take home. My husband usually manages to convert $200-$300 Non refundable to something between $300 and $900 to take home. I only usually play with $200 and win only $60-150 to take home. Lots of fun playing at no cost to us!

[Tyler414]

I like Eden, La Voyage, Rooftop grill, Fine cut, shore excursions, so those are what I’m spending OBC on. Never considered buying Apple products on a cruise ship. 

[mayleeman]

I cannot understand why people get upset about being expected to actually  gamble with the chips you purchase in order to get that 10% bonus. 

[Tyler414]

2 hours ago, mayleeman said:

I cannot understand why people get upset about being expected to actually  gamble with the chips you purchase in order to get that 10% bonus. 

Rock Chalk!!  I’m stealing your profile pic. 
I’m far from upset from turning my 275 into 2200
I just did not know I was buying “promotional” chips. 
Lesson learned

Buyer beware

[Honolulu Blue]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:44 PM, Dadedumdum said:

On our Edge cruise in November, we had the option to pre-purchase casino cash and Deal or No Deal cards at a slight discount.  For our upcoming Equinox cruise, we've got a chunk of OBC to spend  but  have never seen it offered.  When I go to the casino page it says "Amazing experiences coming soon. Please check back later to see what's available for your cruise".  It's been saying this for months and we leave next week. Have they stopped doing this on all sailings?

I bought some slot cash for my trip on the Millie in November and, unlike @Jim_Iain's experience, mine was straightforward with just a couple of extra buttons to press and a trip to the cashier.

 

But on my cruise on the Summit that I recently disembarked from, this was never offered. They seem to have discontinued it. ☹️

[mahasamatman]

4 hours ago, 39august said:

We've never seen a 10% promo for this

 

It used to be standard. $55 casino credit for $50.

[mayleeman]

3 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

Rock Chalk!!  I’m stealing your profile pic. 
I’m far from upset from turning my 275 into 2200
I just did not know I was buying “promotional” chips. 
Lesson learned

Buyer beware

 

Great job I did that type of thing in Shreveport...got down to my last $15 and ended up with @ $2750. All from roulette. 4 different casinos in 2 days. Ah, the good old days....

 

And the more Jayhawks the merrier!

[evandbob]

And there was an additional bonus if you are blue chip amethyst or some other loyalty level - we were getting $650 casino credit for $450 cash.

 

By the end of our 2nd day, we had bet the original $650, so any balance after that was easy to cash in.

 

So we differ from others who said it was a rip off.  We're going to bet $2K for a week long cruise, so we're not looking to cash out the 1st night!

Edited March 6, 2023 by evandbob

[Tyler414]

Still trying to figure out the Blue Chip thing, I did sign up at some point in the recent past, not sure when…I had a “status” on my last Celebrity cruise, but received nothing since or before the cruise. 

[Oren]

This exact promotional item from the "Casino" pre-purchase section has DISAPPEARED off all my upcoming Celebrity cruise. The only offer the casino is now showing is 20% off a slot tournament entry or a blackjack tournament entry.  This 10% off slot credits ($55 for $50 with a $250 max. purchase which used to be a $500 max purchase last year) was available as little as three weeks ago (early August 2023) on all my upcoming Celebrity voyages.  Now it is GONE! I was about to purchase this and it just is not there anymore so hopefully it comes back.  Anyone else still see this offer?

[jelayne]

On 3/4/2023 at 7:51 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Interesting.   On Solstice (non-revolutionized) you also could not pull up Banker and transfer from account to the machine.    You had to go to the Cashier and buy slips in $100 denominations and then feed into the Slot Machines.     Also one thing I didn't like was you had to put your card in the machine and leave it there while playing instead of tapping in and out.

 

 

Jim did you purchase the casino credit with OBC from X?  If so since that non refundable you get the promotional chips.  

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

Jim did you purchase the casino credit with OBC from X?  If so since that non refundable you get the promotional chips.  

I didn't purchase promotional chips -   I purchased a $100 slot package that included $20 promotional addition.   I don't recall whether I was able to use OBC for it.

[NMTraveller]

I also don't think that you get tier credit for these.  At least that is what I understood when I read the conditions.