The fee isn't charged separately to the credit card, but to the Sign & Sail Account. I was recently on a Carnival Cruise and there was a 3% fee on Casino transaction posted to the Sign & Sail. Make sure you check your cruise account summary.

I went through every line of carnival folio and even added up the expenses on my own and compared it to that what was charges to my AMEX. There was no transaction charge. Because you were making me a little nervous I did some investigative work and went to the 'Ocean Players' website (this is the casino that is onboard Carnival and its subsidiaries). Anywho, it says this:

http://www.oceanplayersclub.com/Abou...AQ.aspx#Ques38

So it looks like there is a charge for taking out chips, but not on slots (which I used). I would have been surprised if there was a charge because every time you slid your card through the maching it said "Withdraw from onboard account - NO CHARGE".

True, but some of us still bank at local non-mega banks and credit unions without branches all of the country that offer a higher level of service and higher interest rates than the mega-banks. Thus those without a branch in the port city, before flying out, would have to deal with the hassle of probably paying a fee to exchange the cash into a cashiers or travelers check.

Now you see the logic behind having an extra account at a mega-bank that you don't use as a primary

On my 3 night Mexico Cruise they had casino night.

a drink cost $ 3.50 + mandatory tip and you got a $ 5 casino chip that had to be wagered once.

I bought 1000 Cocktails. The servers were happy since it added up a few hundred $$'s in tips. I got tons of miles on that crusie.

That's all good and nice, but how did your $5000 wager go in the casino if you don't mind me asking? Also, how many of those cocktails did you drink?

PS. The tip is not mandatory for drinks (unless it was for this particular promo). Even though it adds it automatically, you can can tell your server a different amount while you're ordering. Not that I have done this.

i've been doing this on NCL for a while. no charge for adding it to a shipboard account, you can add $2000 per day to your account, and they'll give you it in cash (for use in their slots). put the cash in the safe, rinse and repeat.

just be wary of adverse action from your CC's, particularly in the current climate.

First, great story verse99!

Next, it would be good to hear more experiences from people about this strategy - it seems there are conflicting messages. I'm going on an NCL repositioning cruise soon, and I'm encouraged by dixieducker's report to check out the current situation over there.

This is nice idea, but only if you were planning to gamble almost $5,000 anyway (or drink 1000 drinks), as you would be expected, mathematically, to lose a majority of the gambling money.

That's true - I originally assumed that the chips could be cashed in (most can), but the poster noted that they had to be wagered once. I wouldn't do that myself.

NOW THAT THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT THE CARD COMPANIES AND THE CRUISE LINES WILL PUT A STOP TO IT. WHAT AMAZES ME IS WHEN YOU FIND A SOFT SPOT MOST PEOPLE ADVERTISE IT AND THEN ONE LOOSES THE LOOPHOLE. I WAS DOING THIS BEFORE MOST OF YOU WERE BORN, NOW FOR SURE THE CRUISE LINES WILL PUT A STOP TO IT. OR LIKE WAS MENTIONED CHARGE THE 3%.

THE PERSON THAT EXPOSED THIS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF.

Flyertalk is about sharing information. Also please don't yell.

I did ok THAT night and actually came out ahead. It's a huge advantage in any casino to buy chips at around 20% off.

You are right I should have put automatic instead of required tip.

The actual cocktail was nasty, but the wait staff did not have me or my friends pay for any drink we wanted THAT NIGHT from the menu, so I had quite a few beers.

Some people have IM me. Here are more details:

This was Carnival

The chips were match play.

I had to play one real chip and 1 promotional chip and I could play the promotinonal chip until they lost.

The first dealer took the promotional chip on a push and didn't let it play again. I spoke with the pit boss and he let me play them until I lost.

Also they cut me off at 1K drinks as I wanted to order another 1K..... Supposedly they ran out of promo chips.

Black Jack only has a small house advantage. If the player has a 10% advantage (-20% off promotional chips that need to be wagered with 1 real chip) this is HUGE and you are mathematically guaranteed to come out ahead.

Assuming you know basic strategy, of course..

Play like a donkey, and you can waste away even that huge advantage.