Um, no. You are not. Even if you play perfectly for the duration of the cruise.

Been mentioned for years on Cruise Critic. Carnival and other lines know about it. Carnival stopped allowing it for chips about a year ago. but they found that on the Slot Machines, it greatly reduced the amount being spent. Philosophy is that if you have $200 on the slot Machine, you are going to play some.

I disagree that the promo chip thing is a good way to get miles (by buying 1k drinks). The actual value of the promo chip is $2.50, not $5...

Bet promo chip and win: you end up with $5 and a promo chip (not $10 like you would with a real chip).
Bet promo chip and lose: you end up with $0

You can bet the promo chip again as long as you win with it, but mathematically the value would be almost $2.50 if you played blackjack with basic strategy.

I think this is right, but correct me if I'm wrong because I'm cruising Carnival next month!

I think the point is that if you win, you have:

5$ chip you bet
5$ promotional chip to play again
10$ in winnings.

IOW, buying these chips, he's bettting 8.50$ (5$ chip, plus the drink chip) to win 10$ every hand (Or more if he hits BJ).

Mathematically, I don't see the flaw over 1,000+ hands... except the boredom of playing that many hands.

Nice attitude. :rolleyes:

This "trick" has been around for years and years, and if search was working properly, I could probably find 200 threads on the subject.

Most people avoid it because they don't want to carry the cash home. They're afraid of getting robbed, talking to customs (over 10K), and now you have to fear the TSA, given that they have become self appointed kurrency kops. Others are afraid they'll actually lose some of the cash in the casino. :)

RCCL was the last holdout on the 3% fee, they added it sometime in the last 18 months.

Its very interesting to see the Carnival is experimenting with removing it.

Bet ANY $ 5 chip and win: you end up with $5 win and a ANOTHER chip for the next hand.

So I like to argue there is no difference between a promo chip and a real chip if you are going to play BJ for a few hours anyway....

They're not removing it. If you go to the casino cage and ask for chips using your Sail and Sign account, they will charge the 3% fee. It's only fee-free if you use a slot machine to take cash from your S&S account. Then you can cash out of the slot machine and get cash at the cage. That's the only way to beat the fee. They don't want people who are using the slots to think twice about taking out more cash, so they don't impose the fee there.

It's more of a loophole than a fee-removal. ;)

I don't know if this loophole exists on other lines.

I was on the Pride in 2002 and again in 2006 and it was 3% no matter where you asked for it.

It sounds to me like the technology to load your slot machine with credits using your Sign & Sale as a vehicle is what is driving this. I wager that given how cheap P&O is as a company it will be short lived. They never seem to want miss out on a fee.

Even just sticking your S&S card into the slot machine and putting cash in your "bank" form your S&S account? I've been on 5 Carnival cruises since 2005 and have done this every time, fee-free.

And for whoever asked up-thread, all Carnival credit card charges, no matter where you sail, are processed through their Miami HQ so there are no foreign transaction fees to worry about if you're American.

Maybe I'm just clueless.

Untrue - if you take an AK cruise from SEA you will stop in a Canadian port, most likely Victoria (no cruise ship can depart from the US and return to the US without visiting a non-US port unless that ship is registered in the US, which none of the ships to Alaska are). And you will go through US immigration and customs upon your return in SEA.

There is US immigration and customs to deal with whenever you re-enter the US, whether by land, sea or air.

If you could get $1,000 per day for 4 days, how did you get $10,000? If you include your wife/kids in the total of $10,000, shouldn't you inlcude the price of their cruise in the cost? It seems like maybe you got something you value at $400 and paid $1,200 for the cruise, which is fine, but I just want to understand the math.

- I went with a friend whose S&S card was linked to my credit card.
- It was a four night/5 day cruise. Thus, I was able to pull out $1,000 per day per S&S card. This came out to $10,000
- I got the cruise at a super cheap price because it was a last minute Mexican Cruise during the midst of the Swine Flu fiasco. Not including gratuity, the total for the cruise came to just over $400 for two people including all taxes.

Hope this clears it up for you!

I agree if you are talking one chip, but with 1000 promo chips you have to actually lose 1000 hands or end up with worthless promo chips.

True.. This only works if you truly enjoy gambling and don't mind spending 4-8 hours at the tables, which I usually do anyway if there is a casino...