Casino charge to room

[oreilly76]

Hello, 

we are leaving the US the day we get off the cruise and don’t want to have too much USD on us. If I want to gamble in the casino and charge it to the room does it go on as a regular charge or is it like taking a ‘cash advance’ on your credit card?  Just trying to decide how much cash to bring. 
Thanks!!

[Ourusualbeach]

25 minutes ago, oreilly76 said:

Hello, 

we are leaving the US the day we get off the cruise and don’t want to have too much USD on us. If I want to gamble in the casino and charge it to the room does it go on as a regular charge or is it like taking a ‘cash advance’ on your credit card?  Just trying to decide how much cash to bring. 
Thanks!!

It's just a regular charge and not a cash advance. 

[tunafish]

unless you are PRIME with the casino there will be a 5% service fee for such transactions (100% sure for tables, not sure on slots). But once you are prime the transaction is free and if you have some cashback on your card you already have an advantage (kinda joking)

[Tree_skier]

One thing to note that I didn't know until my last cruise was that if you are getting cash at a machine through a room charge but then subsequently don't play machines with but instead only play table games you can't go back to the machine for a second round of cash through the machine room charge.  I was told by the Casino host that you have to play at least 50% of what you charged to your room before they the system will let you charge any more money.  So if your intent is to mostly play table games take out as much as you might think you need for the entire cruise.  Otherwise you are at the mercy of the 5% they charge when they charge while sitting at the table.  

[Tree_skier]

Just now, tunafish said:

(100% sure for tables, not sure on slots).

Not on slots.  I have done it several times on different ships.

[Tree_skier]

One benefit of the onboard charge is that it shows up as a Royal Caribbean purchase so if you are using the Royal Caribbean branded BOA Visa you get double points for it.

[tunafish]

2 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

One thing to note that I didn't know until my last cruise was that if you are getting cash at a machine through a room charge but then subsequently don't play machines with but instead only play table games you can't go back to the machine for a second round of cash through the machine room charge.  I was told by the Casino host that you have to play at least 50% of what you charged to your room before they the system will let you charge any more money.  So if your intent is to mostly play table games take out as much as you might think you need for the entire cruise.  Otherwise you are at the mercy of the 5% they charge when they charge while sitting at the table.  

interesting... I saw that practice before on a different cruise line but last week I needed $400 for a port stop and got in out of the slot machine and did not see any restriction on the subsequent room charge attempt. but in any case, you for sure can use slot machine as am ATM machine at least once or twice

[cruisegus]

2 hours ago, tunafish said:

interesting... I saw that practice before on a different cruise line but last week I needed $400 for a port stop and got in out of the slot machine and did not see any restriction on the subsequent room charge attempt. but in any case, you for sure can use slot machine as am ATM machine at least once or twice

The future room charges are only locked for 48 hours and it is more like 40% of room charge has to be risked to prevent the 48 hour lock.

Early and late in the cruise works for non played room charges

 

BTW that same lock also applies if the transfer is OBC and the 40% is not risked.  So if intending to recover OBC take all of it at once.

Edited April 26, 2023 by cruisegus

[Tree_skier]

3 hours ago, cruisegus said:

The future room charges are only locked for 48 hours and it is more like 40% of room charge has to be risked to prevent the 48 hour lock.

Early and late in the cruise works for non played room charges

 

BTW that same lock also applies if the transfer is OBC and the 40% is not risked.  So if intending to recover OBC take all of it at once.

Interesting, that didn't work for me on Oasis.  I made a $500 room charge on day 2.  I was locked out for the remainder of the cruise.  I always intended to pull $1000 out but figured I start with $500.  I never did get the second $500 out.  I tried at various times over the cruise right up until the 6th day.  Never tried again and the last day.

[mk-ultra]

On 4/25/2023 at 5:16 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

It's just a regular charge and not a cash advance. 

 

Yuppers.  And if you're PRIME or above, no 5% fee.  I love that it codes as a travel purchase instead of a c ash advance.  I always bring a chunk of cash to get going, but since I'm prime, not only do I not pay the 5% or the $8.25 (or whatever it is now) to use the ATM, I get a couple of percent BACK on my BofA travel rewards 🙂

 

I just pay it off every night when I get back to my cabin so I don't run my utilization up too high.

Edited April 28, 2023 by mk-ultra

[SG65CB]

On 4/26/2023 at 2:35 AM, Tree_skier said:

Interesting, that didn't work for me on Oasis.  I made a $500 room charge on day 2.  I was locked out for the remainder of the cruise.  I always intended to pull $1000 out but figured I start with $500.  I never did get the second $500 out.  I tried at various times over the cruise right up until the 6th day.  Never tried again and the last day.

 

 

Couldn't you just take the second $500 out of the winnings from your first $500??

 

 

[molly361]

On 4/26/2023 at 2:35 AM, Tree_skier said:

Interesting, that didn't work for me on Oasis.  I made a $500 room charge on day 2.  I was locked out for the remainder of the cruise.  I always intended to pull $1000 out but figured I start with $500.  I never did get the second $500 out.  I tried at various times over the cruise right up until the 6th day.  Never tried again and the last day.

Same here.  I took out what I wanted on the first day and just for the heck of it I wanted to see how long I would be locked out and it was the entire cruise.  Don't know if the lock out time varies but ship.  I was told 24-48 hours but that was a long time ago

Edited April 28, 2023 by molly361

[Bead Pirate]

Limit is $5K every 24 hours

[Tree_skier]

42 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

 

 

Couldn't you just take the second $500 out of the winnings from your first $500??

 

 

I actually didn't need the money but I get 2x points on my Royal Caribbean BOA visa for all things purchased as Royal.  Cash at the Casino as a room charge gets me that.  I redeposit all remaining funds immediately upon getting off the ship.  It's just a way to get a little extra cash.

[Tree_skier]

41 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Same here.  I took out what I wanted on the first day and just for the heck of it I wanted to see how long I would be locked out and it was the entire cruise.  Don't know if the lock out time varies but ship.  I was told 24-48 hours but that was a long time ago

They told me 48-72 hours too but that didn't work. I tried again on day 6 after my initial withdrawal was day 2.  I thought about going to the Casino Host again and seeing about getting it sorted but I didn't care enough.  I was just doing it for the CC points. I still had money left from my initial withdrawal.

[cruiseboy89130]

3 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Interesting, that didn't work for me on Oasis.  I made a $500 room charge on day 2.  I was locked out for the remainder of the cruise.  I always intended to pull $1000 out but figured I start with $500.  I never did get the second $500 out.  I tried at various times over the cruise right up until the 6th day.  Never tried again and the last day.

That is the correct answer! One time only $500 max!

[BirdTravels]

On 4/25/2023 at 9:08 PM, tunafish said:

interesting... I saw that practice before on a different cruise line but last week I needed $400 for a port stop and got in out of the slot machine and did not see any restriction on the subsequent room charge attempt. but in any case, you for sure can use slot machine as am ATM machine at least once or twice

Yeah, but $500 room charge has a $25 service charge. The ATM will charge you $7 service charge. 

[sandebeach]

Someone from our casino page posted that this also is happening in the Celebrity casino. 

[tunafish]

19 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yeah, but $500 room charge has a $25 service charge. The ATM will charge you $7 service charge. 

not if you are prime which is just 2500 points

[cruisemover]

Is the limit or block per person or per stateroom?

[Biker19]

30 minutes ago, cruisemover said:

Is the limit or block per person or per stateroom?

Per person.

[GalvestonCruiserx3]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:01 PM, tunafish said:

unless you are PRIME with the casino there will be a 5% service fee for such transactions (100% sure for tables, not sure on slots). But once you are prime the transaction is free and if you have some cashback on your card you already have an advantage (kinda joking)

So you are saying if I play in the casino and just put it on my room I get charged a service fee for that?  Seems crazy to me, and a disincentive to play.  I don't necessarily want to carry a bunch of cash around the ship.

[RFerrington]

1 hour ago, GalvestonCruiserx3 said:

So you are saying if I play in the casino and just put it on my room I get charged a service fee for that?  

Yes.  ...unless you are Prime level or above, you will be charged 5% on all table draws on your Seapass.  I believe you can still draw money from your Sea Pass account on the slot machines without incurring a charge.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, GalvestonCruiserx3 said:

So you are saying if I play in the casino and just put it on my room I get charged a service fee for that?  Seems crazy to me, and a disincentive to play.  I don't necessarily want to carry a bunch of cash around the ship.

If you get cash to gamble by charging your room account, there is a 5% fee. So, if you ask a slot machine to deposit $1000 into your slot account as a room charge, you will get a $50 service charge. The casino/cruise line is pay a fee to get money from your credit card at the end of the cruise,,, they are just passing it along to you... with a kicker. 

[RoperDK]

8 hours ago, RFerrington said:

Yes.  ...unless you are Prime level or above, you will be charged 5% on all table draws on your Seapass.  I believe you can still draw money from your Sea Pass account on the slot machines without incurring a charge.

 

This has been my experience, also.  Service fee at the tables, but free at the slots.  If you are Prime then the fee is waived.  

 

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

If you get cash to gamble by charging your room account, there is a 5% fee. So, if you ask a slot machine to deposit $1000 into your slot account as a room charge, you will get a $50 service charge. The casino/cruise line is pay a fee to get money from your credit card at the end of the cruise,,, they are just passing it along to you... with a kicker. 

I have never had a service fee added to my slot machine advances.