2016 NCL Seven Stars Cruise info

I called NCL Casinos At Sea today and found out some info.

- You can start booking your NCL cruse on February 1, 2016. Sailing must be completed by January 31, 2017.

- They do NOT have a list yet from Caesars regarding who qualifies yet. Last year, Caesars was like 2 days late getting that over.

- As always, Seven Stars get one cruise, with a balcony (category BB or lower) stateroom, but only an oceanview stateroom for Alaska. You will pay taxes and "non-commisioned fare" per person, which usually breaks out to about $175-$450 each. Also, you will be responsible for $14-per-person-per-day "gratuities", which in reality are just a service charge which I don't believe actually goes directly to cruise staff.

- Blackout dates are not set in stone yet, but they are expected to be cruises including 4th of July, Christmas, and New Year's. Thanksgiving week is NOT expected to be blacked out.

- There is a new cancellation rule for 2016. You used to be able to cancel up to 75 days before sailing for a full refund. Now it's 90 days before sailing, and 120 days if you have a suite.

- If TWO Seven Stars are in the same household, they are not allowed to be on the same "free" cruise. Instead, their balcony room will be upgraded to a mini-suite (which isn't a very good upgrade to be honest), or their oceanview on Alaska will be upgraded to a balcony. This is a good reason why you and your traveling companion should probably have separate addresses in the system.

- If you want to buy a second room, you will get a 10% discount. A third room and beyond will not get any discount.

- Platinum members can book a cruise for a 10% discount, while a Diamond gets a 20% discount. I believe Seven Stars get 30 or 35%, but I forgot to ask about that. However, you CANNOT use your Seven Stars discount if booking a second room. So if you want two rooms and are traveling with a Diamond guest, you are better off having the Diamond book the second room themselves and get the 20%, instead of the 2nd room 10% discount. If a member changes tier levels before cruise cancellation date (90 days), they can call NCL and their trip will be re-rated to the better discount.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I called NCL Casinos At Sea today and found out some info.

- You can start booking your NCL cruse on February 1, 2016. Sailing must be completed by January 31, 2017.

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Hi Dan:

Am a correct that one has to make Seven Stars for 2016 by February 1, 2016 if you want book for a Seven Stars cruise on that early date? If so, it is a lot earlier than I expect to re-qualify by 2016.

Also I received an invite for a Cruise Giveaway with only an "Ocean View Room" but the NCL ship I am looking at, the EPIC, has no ocean view rooms, as all outside facing rooms are balcony. Any idea whether balcony rooms are issued under that circumstance?

Finally, if a spouse has a cruise giveaway certificate, does that mean that the Seven Stars spouse cannot use the Seven Stars cruise for the same trip?

FAB

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Originally Posted by FABismonte

Hi Dan:

Am a correct that one has to make Seven Stars for 2016 by February 1, 2016 if you want book for a Seven Stars cruise on that early date? If so, it is a lot earlier than I expect to re-qualify by 2016.

Also I received an invite for a Cruise Giveaway with only an "Ocean View Room" but the NCL ship I am looking at, the EPIC, has no ocean view rooms, as all outside facing rooms are balcony. Any idea whether balcony rooms are issued under that circumstance?

Finally, if a spouse has a cruise giveaway certificate, does that mean that the Seven Stars spouse cannot use the Seven Stars cruise for the same trip?

FAB

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If you earned Seven Stars in 2015 (150k tiers or more in that calendar year), then you automatically qualify for the entire year of 2016, and thus can book your cruise on Feb 1 or after.

If you are not yet Seven Stars for all of 2016 (because you didn't earn 150k tiers in 2015), then you will need to earn Seven Stars before booking this cruise.

I don't know what they will do on the Epic if there are no oceanview rooms on the ship. Maybe they will issue a balcony in that case. Never seen that one asked before.

You are correct that spouses cannot use their Seven Stars cruise certificate on the same trip (that is, you can't get TWO rooms that way). In such a case, they will upgrade you to a mini-suite, which is a bit of a misnomer. A mini-suite in reality is only slightly better than a balcony room. I would suggest that you have your spouse change her address to be different than yours, and NCL isn't all that likely to catch it. Then just book separately and try to choose rooms close to one another (without associating the reservations in any way). Once onboard, you can combine accounts to where it's all one big folio, and no one will care.

And when I say "change your address", I mean you should do so in BOTH the CET and NCL systems. Both of these can be done online, I believe.

Dan, you do one helluva job explaining this stuff.

Hi Dan:

Thanks for the quick response. But for the last question, my wife is Diamond not Seven Stars and she is being offered a certificate for a cruise as part of a weekend giveaway from CET. May I still assume that (absent different addresses) we cannot book two rooms even if one is under her certificate and one is under my Seven Stars?

FAB

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Originally Posted by FABismonte

But for the last question, my wife is Diamond not Seven Stars and she is being offered a certificate for a cruise as part of a weekend giveaway from CET. May I still assume that (absent different addresses) we cannot book two rooms even if one is under her certificate and one is under my Seven Stars?

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I have heard two different answers from NCL on this.

One person told me that, yes, Seven Stars certificates and Diamond certificates in the same household can be used together.

Someone else told me that they can't.

You are safest using 2 different addresses.

With that said, they still may not catch it. There is a difference between the rules and what is actually enforced regularly.

I will say that, once you successfully have 2 bookings, it is not that likely they will go back on it. And once you're onboard, you have it for sure. They cannot retroactively charge you or anything like that.

They are also not actively looking to catch people playing address games. So if you do go with 2 addresses, your chance of successfully getting 2 rooms is close to 100%.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I will say that, once you successfully have 2 bookings, it is not that likely they will go back on it. And once you're onboard, you have it for sure. They cannot retroactively charge you or anything like that.

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No walking the plank? No keelhauling? No time in the brig? What a relief.

BUMP

Caesars was slow and didn't send them the list of qualified Seven Stars members until today. Therefore, NCL has not input this into the system.

So don't bother to call to book today. Wait until at least tomorrow (Tuesday), possibly Wednesday. Be prepared for long hold times.

Make sure to specify that you are calling about your 2016 benefit, which expires 1/31/17. When I called, the rep kept insisting that I only could book my 2015 benefit expiring 3/31/16 (which I already used), until I reminded him that CET changed their "year" from April 1 to Feb 1.

You might want to do a "mock booking" first by going to ncl.com, select the cruise you want, and select a balcony room. Then select balcony category BB, and go up to the point where it asks you to pick a room. It will suggest some rooms, but there are many more available. Look at the color and symbol on the room # it suggests on the map, and then you can select any other room with that color and symbol. I personally like being in back of the ship because it's closer to the things I visit most often (specialty restaurants and the buffet), but it's up to you.

You also should ask if there is an adjoining door between the rooms. The door is pretty thick and you won't hear much, but you will get a little more "sound" privacy in a room without that door.

Funny story about the adjoining door. In the summer of 2015 at the Rio during WSOP, I was given a room with an adjoining door, and it was paper thin. The weird thing is that the walls at the Rio are thick, so you usually don't hear people in the next room, but ones with that adjoining door are super noisy if the connecting room has loud people. Anyway, I was trying to sleep the night before an event, and some jerks next door kept making tons of noise ALL NIGHT. I kept calling their room and politely explained that I had a tournament the next day and asked them to keep it down. They would agree, but then get loud again 5 minutes later. This was like at 3am, so it's not like I was being a jerk trying to make them be quiet at 10pm. Anyway, they finally got sick of me calling, and one of the two guys there screamed at me that I had better stop calling him, and to "fuck off". I then called security, who visited them, and they promised to be quiet, only again to get noisy 10 minutes later. I called security a second time, and the angry guy from the phone started shouting to them that he was going to "knock that guy the fuck out" (me) for complaining about him. Amazingly, security didn't care about that threat and just left after they promised to be quiet. Security promised me that they would be ejected from the hotel if they had to go up there a third time, but they were quiet from that point. I never saw that guy in person, and he never saw me, so I don't know what type of dude I was dealing with. Amazed me that Rio security was cool with him saying that he would "knock the fuck out" the guest next door, though, especially since security listened through their door and agreed with me that they were being really loud.

Also, to book the cruise, cal 1-877-752-9625

Do NOT call the other number that Caesars gives you for it. That other number is the NCL Arizona office, which has zero power (and really obnoxious employees).

The number I listed above is the Miami number, and you speak directly with the NCL Casinos At Sea department.

Got a call yesterday that Caesars has sent the Seven Stars list over, and it's entered successfully.

So you can now book your Seven Stars book any time.

I would suggest doing it soon, because these fill up quickly.

You have until 90 days before sailing to get a full refund.

BUMP again

If you book, you will see an "Admin Fee" that wasn't there in previous years.

It's actually nothing new. It's just renamed. The NCF (non-commissioned fare) portion is now called "Admin Fee".

I first saw it on LoneStarHorse's reservation, and I didn't understand it. Now I do.

Hi Dan:

Thanks for the NCL information. I called NCL and signed up for my Seven Stars Cruise cruise embarking from Barcelona on the EPIC later this year. Calling that number you suggested made it a lot easier to get through.

FAB

For anyone who booked a Seven Stars cruise recently:

The promotions just got better! You now qualify for TWO freebies instead of one.

So for example, I chose just the dining package as my freebie. Today I called and rebooked, and got the dining package AND 250 minutes of internet at no additional cost.

There is no downside to this.

Call (877) 752-9625 from 6am to 2:30pm PST (Mon-Fri), select option 1, and tell them you want to change it because a second "free at sea" item is now available to balcony rooms.

Hi Dan:

Thanks for the heads up. I just contacted NCL and added the excursion discount to my dining package - for free. The "hold" message on the phone said that this 2fer is available until Feb 29.

FAB

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Originally Posted by FABismonte

Hi Dan:

Thanks for the heads up. I just contacted NCL and added the excursion discount to my dining package - for free. The "hold" message on the phone said that this 2fer is available until Feb 29.

FAB

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Do you take ship-run excursions?

I ask this because they tend to be VERY expensive, and you don't get to see as much as when you go out on your own (or hire a private tour).

I'm not sure what kind of discount they give, but it still may be expensive even after that.

For example, on last year's Canada cruise, I wound rent a car and drive the entire family somewhere for $50 (plus gas), when the excursion version (on a slow bus with tons of people, and zero flexibility) was like $125/person! So even half price would have been a bad deal.

This is why I chose the internet as my 2nd.

You probably didn't choose the beverage package because you don't drink. I don't, either, but that one is the best value if you do.

Hi Dan:

The choice of the specialty dining was a no brainer. The better question is which other package to choose. I don't drink much and if I wanted a drink I could use the casino-at-sea card anyway so was not interested in the beverage package.

The internet package was only 250 minutes which I could otherwise purchase for $100. Moreover, I know how to buy some coffee or snacks on shore and use the cafe's wifi.

The discount on the excursions is only $50 per cabin per port. So I figure two ship excursions was the break even. I take some but not all ship-run excursions depending on the port and the language issues. Naples is an easy walk from the ship , and some places like the Majorcas are easy to self-guide, but one time I was in Italy and almost missed the boat because I was confused about the mandatory departing cruise bus pick up location in Civitavecchia (near Rome) when my wife and I went nomad. Boy, my wife was NOT happy with me.:mad:

I realize ship excursions tend to be more expensive but sometimes I would rather just pay for the convenience and domestic tranquility.

FAB

Hi Dan:

Earlier this month I went on an NCL cruise on the Epic with my wife and another couple. We cruised in the Western Mediterranean. I used my Seven Stars annual cruise, my wife got a "free" cruise for an "oceanview" cabin on one of the CET offerings. I booked a balcony cabin for me and the husband. Even though my wife had only a "ocean view" certificate, all outside cabins on the NCL Epic enjoy balconies so they gave her a balcony room which she booked for her and the accompanying wife. Our cabins were on the same level. When we got on board, we got additional room keys issued so each couple could be with their spouse. Here is a photo:



I thought it was unusual that there is no ID or reference on the card, but it did the trick of letting us swap rooms under the radar. The room attendants did not really care although at first they were wondering why I wanted to have the beds placed together given my cabin mate was "Sam."

My wife's friend told her (female) cabin attendant that my wife "hooked up" with a guy she met on the first night and decided to move there.:p

We divided up the expenses by having the other couple make any charges to their cabin and my wife and I charged to our cabin.

So we were able to get some heavily discounted cruises for the four of us and enjoyed the company. Thanks for all your suggestions.

FAB

As for Casino information on the cruise let me point out that while I was walking around Naples (Italy, not Florida) I found a slightly slummy casino. Here is the outside. The inside consisted of a small room with about 20 penny slot games. I did not check out the details for play there so I have no idea what the denominations were other than it was in Euros.





Also on board the NCL Epic where all denominations were in US dollars, there were the standard highly tight slot and video poker machines.

But the table games were OK. The craps was standard rules with no Bonus Bets or Fire Bets. There were two tables one was $5 minimum and the other was $15. But I never saw the other table open.

The blackjack was 6-5 on a BJ but only at the $6 minimum level. Do not ask me why it is $6 and not $5. For those tables a dealer told me at $10 or more the BJ's paid regular 3-2. I only, however, found $15 or higher and did not see any $10 tables.

Here is a photo of the High Limit Room, as you can see, the default limit for High Limit room BJ was $100 minimum.

Dan, I normally go on Carnival cruises. I have not taken a seven stars cruise yet. I also can get balcony cruises from NCL from PNG gaming (Hollywood). I am going to look at NCL. Do you know if you can get any of the free extra's that they offer like the unlimited drink package (normally $79 a day)? I am thinking the value of the drink package may actually be worth as much as the cruise. $79 a day is a lot. Carnival is about $55 a day and I think that is a lot.

Hey FAB, thanks for the report.

I know you enjoy taking these discounted Seven Stars cruises as much as I do.

I haven't been to any of the European ones yet, because I don't think my young son is ready all the flying to get there. But maybe soon.

Great trick with the oceanview getting force-upgrade to the balcony. Glad that worked for you.

When I took my Alaska cruise in 2014, I only got an oceanview as the Seven Stars benefit (which is still true for Alaska to this day), but they had an occasional promotion for "free upgrades" that year, so I waited for it and booked then. We got a balcony thanks to that, which makes a HUGE difference on those Alaska glacier cruises.

Sadly they did away with the "free upgrade" promo in 2015.

What did you do about the new "no drinks brought onboard" poiicy? I find that highly annoying. I used to always bring on a few cases of water and some soda. Now I can't do that anymore.

Regarding the room swapping, the stewards are used to people doing that. It is very common. The most common scenario involves a family of four, where it is required that a person over 18 is booked in each room. So the husband books one, the wife books the other, and then they change it once onboard, putting the husband and wife in one room, and the two kids in the other. NCL does not care at all who physically stays in each room. There is a soft policy to ignore that.

Cruising is also fairly popular with gay people, so two men rooming together is not unusual at all.

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Originally Posted by supermaxhd

Dan, I normally go on Carnival cruises. I have not taken a seven stars cruise yet. I also can get balcony cruises from NCL from PNG gaming (Hollywood). I am going to look at NCL. Do you know if you can get any of the free extra's that they offer like the unlimited drink package (normally $79 a day)? I am thinking the value of the drink package may actually be worth as much as the cruise. $79 a day is a lot. Carnival is about $55 a day and I think that is a lot.

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Yes, you get any promo they are running at the time.

Also, if you see a better promo, and it's before "final payment" date, you can simply call them and switch, with no penalty.

If you want the UBP (ultimate beverage package), yes that will almost always be a promo available to you. However, keep in mind that they charge 18% on top of that for "tips" (which are not even given to the crew, which is even more offensive!), and that you must pay. So I think you will be on the hook for $90 per person in "tips" if you get the UBP. While that's WAY cheaper than $79/day, you should only get it if you plan upon drinking enough to be worth $90.

Also, the UBP doesn't include ALL drinks onboard (the more expensive ones are excluded, or there's an upcharge, I forget which), nor does it include bottled water (which is REALLY expensive).

I will say that NCL has a better reputation than Carnival, primarily for its clientele. Carnival tends to attract a lot more of the young, party type, while NCL's crowd tends to be 50+. On some itineraries, NCL's crowd is quite old. I took a New England/Canada NCL cruise in 2015, and I was one of the youngsters there at age 43. It was rare to see anyone there who was fewer than 15 years older than me!

I actually prefer the older crowds because they aren't nearly as rowdy, loud, or drunk. The only irritating thing about cruising with old people is that they tend to walk really slowly in the hallway, and it's a pain in the ass getting by them.

Usually balcony rooms get 2 of the "free" perks. You should consider grabbing the dining package. The specialty restaurants (especially Cagney's and Le Bistro) are far superior to the main dining room, both in atmosphere and food.

The "free internet" is also a good perk, though it's only 250 minutes, which goes really quickly. I prefer to just get other perks and then buy the unlimited internet. I can use that to make phone calls to shore for free.

Also, after booking, keep checking back to see if they've added on board credit as a balcony perk. Sometimes you'll get as much as $100. Again, you can keep rebooking with better perks up until final payment date.

Good to know that the beverage package and other free stuff is included with the casino offers. I just returned from a 10 day ultimate premier casino cruise that Carnival gave me on the new Vista ship. It started in Barcelona and went to Italy, France, and Greece. It was a nice cruise and had some nice casino perks. It had an older crowd and very few kids, although that may have just been due to the time of year. Carnival cancelled everyone's drink package at the last minute because of something to do with the 24% VAT tax.

Also if you own the stock of the parent company you can get an on board credit added to your room.

Hi Dan:

Shortly before our cruise, I was alerted that no water or soda would be allowed to be brought on board. This was news to me as I usually brought some soda with me. I did not like it as it was clear to me that it was just a nickel and dime play by NCL to sell overpriced bottled water and soda. We responded by bringing empty Nalgene bottles on board. We filled them with water from the complimentary drink fountains, on the Lido deck as well as the buffet. The signs says "do not fill your water bottles here." But I was told that the restriction was only for hygienic purposes and so we filled clean glasses provided by NCL then poured the fluid into the Nalgene bottles. NO crew ever commented to me even when they saw me do so. I thought the fountain water was fine and tasted clean. My wife liked a lemon wedge with the water. There was always a covered tray of lemon wedges at the fountain. We also used the bottles when we went on excursions, emptying them before we got on board. As for soda equivalent, I found that half ice tea and half lemonade (also available at the fountains) make a good soda substitute and probably healthier.

We also were told by our room attendant that if we ordered a pitcher of drinking water delivered prior to 10 am in the morning, it would be complimentary. However, the one time I did make that request (and which was confirmed on the phone by room service as free) it did not arrive. We left for an excursion and was told it should have been delivered to the room and we even had the "Welcome" sign on our door. But it was no big deal as we just went the "self-serve" route for water.

As for the comment about being surprised by the request for the beds to be put together since he thought we were two men, I am not making it up and was an accurate statement by our cabin attendant to me and my wife. While I am sure that their HR department told them not to be judgmental about same sex relationships, these attendants are not exactly recruited in San Francisco and like all people, come from their own cultural backgrounds.

I found European cruises a lot more interesting than US based cruises. In the US a "historical site" is about 100 years old. In Europe, you can see one thousands of years old. Also the people you meet in European cruises are more diverse and meeting and getting to know different cultures is what travel is all about. English is still the lingua franca on board and in tourist destinations so we have no serious language barriers. That said, he had a delightful dinner with a Italian-German couple where we conversed in broken English and my rusty Latin.

As for your boy, there is still a great children's program on board with supervision and you will be surprised how flexible children can be when they get together. If you take a red-eye flight, he will be sleeping most of the air journey.

Regards,

FAB

Yes, the soda/water policy is a total nickel-and-dime attempt, but it's actually more than that.

I believe it's part of an ongoing attempt by the new CEO (who started in 2015) to push out the "value" cruiser.

The cruise industry has long tolerated the budget-conscious cruiser who doesn't make them any money. In some cases, they lose money overall on a budget cruiser, as the amount that person spends does not justify the room they take up and the resources they consume. This has always been tolerated as a necessarily evil of running a cruise line.

Like the casinos, the cruise industry is now trying to push out the least valuable customers. I believe that this and other nickel-and-dime policies are designed to push out anyone who attempts to be a do-it-yourselfer, and thus is much more likely to be an unprofitable customer.

I'm not sure you know this, but your free casino drink card entitles you to free bottled water at the casino bar. Not sure how many you're entitled to. I will try to get as many as I can. I refuse to pay $72 for a 24-pack of water on principle.

Hi Dan:


Speaking of free drinks. Since we were on CET casino offers, we did get drink cards for all four of us. But they expect you to play while you get the free drinks, or bottles of water, so I never just walked up to a bar and asked for a bottle of water. We also got bottles of water when asked. Red bull was included as well but we skipped that. I noticed that my "account" available on my TV in my cabin showed each time I got a complimentary beverage. I like to play video poker at the bar so the service is faster. Last year I tried to order a cocktail and was told the casino card was only good for "well drinks" and I declined to pay the one dollar upcharge. Last month, I was able to order the same cocktail without a problem.

Typically, I liked to do a later afternoon visit to the casino bar, and order a cocktail. I tip a buck like I would at any casino (not everyone tips at all as "drink package" buyers have a phantom tip allegedly added to drinks that servers don't ever see). So my service is pretty prompt. I play a little of the low pay video poker, then order another cocktail, then leave after it arrives. I then loved taking the drink to the balcony of my cabin, and watch the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea while sipping the cocktail -- life was good.

FAB

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Originally Posted by RoeIncarnate

Also if you own the stock of the parent company you can get an on board credit added to your room.

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Hi Roe:

Can you tell me more? If all I have to do is buy some shares of NCL to get an on-board credit, I would like to look into that.

FAB

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Yes, the soda/water policy is a total nickel-and-dime attempt, but it's actually more than that.

I believe it's part of an ongoing attempt by the new CEO (who started in 2015) to push out the "value" cruiser.

The cruise industry has long tolerated the budget-conscious cruiser who doesn't make them any money. In some cases, they lose money overall on a budget cruiser, as the amount that person spends does not justify the room they take up and the resources they consume. This has always been tolerated as a necessarily evil of running a cruise line.

Like the casinos, the cruise industry is now trying to push out the least valuable customers. I believe that this and other nickel-and-dime policies are designed to push out anyone who attempts to be a do-it-yourselfer, and thus is much more likely to be an unprofitable customer.

I'm not sure you know this, but your free casino drink card entitles you to free bottled water at the casino bar. Not sure how many you're entitled to. I will try to get as many as I can. I refuse to pay $72 for a 24-pack of water on principle.

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It's not just the cruise industry. It's also happening or has happened to every market deregulated business where competition is forcing price cuts. Yes, casinos too, which makes me think that the downgrade of casino comps even for Seven Stars will continue.

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

It's not just the cruise industry. It's also happening or has happened to every market deregulated business where competition is forcing price cuts. Yes, casinos too, which makes me think that the downgrade of casino comps even for Seven Stars will continue.

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Hi Alan:

I do not like the downgrade in Seven Stars comps, but if you ask me, CET's real error is making Diamond (15 K Tier credits) to easy hit. You have to hit almost three times that (40K) to het an measly "High Roller ticket" and $100 dinner comp (mind you, you cannot combine that dinner comp with any other offer). Then you have to hit the 80K Tier level to get the $750 flight credit (to another CET destination). So the result is the Diamond lounges (in Vegas shared with Seven Stars) get filled up, the Diamond lines are clogged, a low level diamond get the same "free resort fee" and parking access as one with 140K tier credits. So it is a "Diamonds in Tunica" with ersatz "high rollers" all over the place.

FAB

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Originally Posted by FABismonte

Hi Roe:

Can you tell me more? If all I have to do is buy some shares of NCL to get an on-board credit, I would like to look into that.

FAB

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Hi Fab,

I did it with royal Caribbean, but I think all the cruise lines that are public do it.

You need to go to the investor relations page of the company's website and that will give you instructions. They will ask for proof of ownership.

Of course you need to remember that the stock could move down while you hold it and cost you more than the credit. Although if you are a frequent cruiser, you might want to buy the minimum amount and hold it long term.

When I did it, I bought the stock and bought a put so I had a fixed selling price, therefore I could not loose money on the stock trade. I think I made a few bucks on it. I have a brokerage account with very low commissions so this worked for me.

Roe

Here is file detailing the benefit.
http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...nefitoffer.pdf

The links to the files are on the side of the investor relations site.
http://www.nclhltdinvestor.com/index.cfm

Roe

FYI you can cash out On Board Credit at a rate of 97%, if you're not otherwise using it.

Here's how:

1) Go to casino

2) Get players card if you don't already have one (you will automatically have one if you booked through the Seven Stars benefit)

3) Insert in machine. Buy credits via your players card equivalent to the amount of OBC you have remaining.

4) Do not play. Hit cashout, get ticket.

5) Bring ticket to cashier. Get cash for that amount.

The amount you charged to your room will fall off due to your OBC, except there will be a 3% fee added on. So that you will pay at the end, but you'll still be clearing 97%.

Hi Roe:

Thanks for the information and the links, but based on Questions 7 of the FAQ's it looks like I cannot use this Shareholder offer on a casino cruise certificate trip: "Benefit is nontransferable, excludes Reduced Rate programs (e.g. employee rates, interline, friends/family rates, vendor rates, cruises taken via cruise credit certificate, or free cruises earned through Oceania Cruises loyalty benefits), and Travel Agent Rates, and Charter and Incentive Groups."

FAB