Buying Casino Credits...Is it worth it?

[leavitt1]

Hello all. I tried this earlier, but I wrote "cruise credit" instead of "casino credit." So...My DH and I are leaving on the Grand next week, and I was thinking of gifting a few hundred dollars of casino credits into our shipboard account, so we don't have to travel with so much cash (I really don't want to get started with traveller's checks.) Are there any drawbacks/disadvantages to this?

 

Thanks,

Michelle

[Toto2Kansas]

No disadvantage to it at all. You purchase the casino credit through Princess and when you get to your stateroom (or shortly after), there will be vouchers in the denomination you chose. You just take one or all of them (great way to budget casino play BTW) to the cashier's cage and they will give you cash for them.

It is charged to your credit card as a purchase from Princess, not as a cash advance.

I do this most cruises as I can buy them ahead of time, pay them off on my CC and don't have to carry as much cash with me.

 

BTW-Once you cash in the vouchers, they don't just give you a credit, but actual cash so you can spend it in the casino, or on shore, whatever you wish.

[leavitt1]

Thank you so much for the information. I will call Princess this week to take care of it. I can't wait! :D

[ORV]

Does Princess charge a fee for this?

[Georji]

Thank you Toto! You answered all my questions!! I think I'll do that! Great way to get cash with out having to carry a ton onto the ship! I will pay extra on my credit card to cover the charges!

[Fuzzyape]

There was not a fee when DW and I did it last year.

 

It worked great. We bought our casino credits about a month in advance and had them paid off before we sailed :)

 

Good luck

[Toto2Kansas]

Does Princess charge a fee for this?

 

Nope!

[DanJ]

And don't forget that if you have a points-earning credit card, you get points for this as well because they are treated as a purchase, not a cash advance. If you are disciplined enough to not blow it all, you could take out several thousands of dollars, earn the points, take the money home and pay the credit card off. I believe you have to declare when you bring back $10,000 or more, but not under that. Just a matter of how much cash you feel comfortable carrying.

[aadaneboy]

We have done this on several of our past cruises. I find that if I know I have that casino credit, I don't go as crazy withdrawing money from the ATM or charging it to the room. Yes I have a problem!:)

 

It is very convenient, no fees, and the slips show up in your room, usually on the first day.

 

I did encounter a weird scenario when I attempted to cash them in once on the Sapphire. I was asked what I would be using the money for, playing slots or tables. Since I had never been asked that before on any other ship, I asked why. The woman explained that if I was to play on the tables, she would give me chips, but if I was going to play the slots, she would give me all the money in tokens. Odd since I had always just been given cash. I haven't had that issue since (and only one time of my 2 on SP)

[Toto2Kansas]

We have done this on several of our past cruises. I find that if I know I have that casino credit, I don't go as crazy withdrawing money from the ATM or charging it to the room. Yes I have a problem!:)

 

It is very convenient, no fees, and the slips show up in your room, usually on the first day.

 

I did encounter a weird scenario when I attempted to cash them in once on the Sapphire. I was asked what I would be using the money for, playing slots or tables. Since I had never been asked that before on any other ship, I asked why. The woman explained that if I was to play on the tables, she would give me chips, but if I was going to play the slots, she would give me all the money in tokens. Odd since I had always just been given cash. I haven't had that issue since (and only one time of my 2 on SP)

 

That is strange. In all the cruises we have used casino credits, we have always been just handed cash, never questioned. I hope you told them you wanted cash in hand, can't imagine putting all those tokens into a machine? And since nickle machines only take nickles not tokens, what were they thinking? Maybe you are a nickle machine player. lol

[bhopal21]

I don't see why they would ask either.

 

All one would have to do is say "tokens" or "chips" and then simply walk around the room and back to the cage and then cash out for cash.:confused:

 

Mike:)

[K&KCRUISIN]

How do you purchase casino credits? I can't seem to find anything on their website

[kiwigirl]

I agree. I did this in July for our Tahiti cruise. I didn't want to travel that far with cash and it wasn't convenient for me at the time to get travelers checks.

I called Princess and told them how much I wanted to purchase. I received a confirmation from them and was able to go to the website and print the confirmation to bring with me (just in case, but not needed).

I did this twice (for the same cruise), had it paid off before we left and as Toto said, the vouchers were in our cabin when we arrived. I don't know if it's like this on all ships, but ours were in vouchers of $100 each, so there are multiples. We just put them in the safe and took them out as we used them.

It was kind of funny, we were the only ones on the ship that had casino credits. After the first time we cashed some vouchers, the cashier knew us. We used the cash for port spending and the casino.

[Toto2Kansas]

How do you purchase casino credits? I can't seem to find anything on their website

 

Go under the 'gifts' section here: Gifts

They come in different denominations, so just pick the amount and the size you want, either print off the form and fax, or call Princess, and they will be waiting in your cabin.

[newmexicoNita]

How do you purchase casino credits? I can't seem to find anything on their website

go to bon voyage gifts; look for casino and you can get the forms or just call Princess and tell them you want a bon yoyage gift for a certain cabin number. It will be charged to your CC. I did it for our upcoming cruise plus have often given it to clients as a thank you gift.

 

Nita

[daveco58]

There is also the advantage of no-fee. If you charge to your on-board account, they rake 3%, I believe.

[Georji]

go to bon voyage gifts; look for casino and you can get the forms or just call Princess and tell them you want a bon yoyage gift for a certain cabin number. It will be charged to your CC. I did it for our upcoming cruise plus have often given it to clients as a thank you gift.

 

Nita

 

Nita, I'm searching the boards for the phone number that someone posted but I can't find it. Do you know it? Or is it just the princess regular number? Thank you!! :)

[palolake]

Kiwigirl,

 

Where do you go to print the confirmation? I faxed the order to Princess a few days ago. When I go to the Personalizer I can't find the info.

[Georji]

Kiwigirl,

 

Where do you go to print the confirmation? I faxed the order to Princess a few days ago. When I go to the Personalizer I can't find the info.

 

I didn't quite trust the fax so last night I scoured the boards and found the number and it is 1-800-PRINCESS and then option 3 and it took like 5 minutes and I received a confirmation e-mail right away! I would suggest that!

[pudgy]

I thought it was a great idea also. I could get airmiles plus i would not have to get as much money. I phoned Princess to order the vouchers and the lady said that is would she does also. The only problem was for $ 1000.00 US it was going to cost me $1110.00 Canadian. Not worth it for Canadians.

[Kim_and_Scott]

OK - This sounds like a great idea, and we'll do it for our upcoming cruise - my question is this. We're doing B2B cruises on two different ships - Caribbean and Emerald. Will I have to purchase some for each ship or can I just buy them and they will transfer between ships.

 

Thanks in advance - you guys are the best for getting info on all cruise related stuff!

 

Later,

Kim

[Toto2Kansas]

You will need to purchase them for each ship individually. They don't transfer them from ship to ship for you.