myVegas --- What's the catch?
Quote: GWAEI wonder how those work. Do you still pay the 370ish fee per person like the free casino ones
Yeah, you still have to pay port fees and gratuities and stuff.
My 7 day casino cruise was about $ 250 pp for "administrative fees" and another $ 250-ish pp for port fees and taxes.Quote: ams288Yeah, you still have to pay port fees and gratuities and stuff.
Gratuities were a different story. When I booked, you could pick a couple of bonuses and I picked the pre-paid gratuities for each of us.
BUT on myVegas, it doesn't say anything about admin fees ( of course it didn't say that on the casino's website either ). Seems like a decent deal IF it is for 2 people, IF it is ever available.
What would the port fees and taxes be for something like that ?Quote: IbeatyouracesWant a free cruise, join the navy.
Quote: JohnnyQWhat would the port fees and taxes be for something like that ?
Depending on the country, your life!
Joking aside, I just play on the Mykonamislots app.
Quote: JohnnyQWell, as far as the last changes that myVegas implemented, I think I'm done. Done done done. Final straw is that you can't get gold LP chips on the daily spin any more.
Yeah, it really sucks.
That's why I've been grinding it out on the Blackjack app so hard. They haven't ruined that one yet. So I'm trying to accumulate as many LPs as possible to last me a long time.
Very limited availability (12/10-12/14, 12/17-12/22, 1/2-1/4/18) but a great value.
Only 100,000 LPs for three nights at Mandalay, 175,000 LPs for three nights at Vdara, 300,000 LPs for three nights at Aria. The lesser hotels are way less LPs.
The email says I have to wait 2 days before I can call and book it.
NICE ! Trip Report eventually ?Quote: ams288I just snagged the 7 day Bahamas cruise!!
Quote: ams288I just snagged the 7 day Bahamas cruise!!
The email says I have to wait 2 days before I can call and book it.
Let us know how the process of booking is and how much it costs you.
Quote: JohnnyQNICE ! Trip Report eventually ?
Hopefully.
I'm still trying to figure out who to bring with me and when to go.
I will post about how the booking process is and how much it costs.
I do plan on paying the "nominal fee" to upgrade to a balcony room.
Quote: ams288I just snagged the 7 day Bahamas cruise!!
The email says I have to wait 2 days before I can call and book it.
AWESOME! Happy for you!!
The port fees/taxes were $125.25.
I upgraded to a balcony room, which was $80 per person, $160 total.
And now I'm researching which shore excursions I want to do...
Sounds like 2 great deals !Quote: ams288The port fees/taxes were $125.25.
I upgraded to a balcony room, which was $80 per person, $160 total.
With ncl you pay non commission fees and port taxes for about $300 a person.
Quote: ams288Just booked the cruise for March 18-25. It was a very smooth process, the operator said she knew how difficult these MyVegas cruises were to get and congratulated me.
The port fees/taxes were $125.25.
I upgraded to a balcony room, which was $80 per person, $160 total.
And now I'm researching which shore excursions I want to do...
I'm 99.54% sure you're going to spend my birthday better than I am! ;) Great deal!
Quote: ams288Just booked the cruise for March 18-25. It was a very smooth process, the operator said she knew how difficult these MyVegas cruises were to get and congratulated me.
The port fees/taxes were $125.25.
I upgraded to a balcony room, which was $80 per person, $160 total.
And now I'm researching which shore excursions I want to do...
In my experience, you did really well on those extra fees. What cruise line? What port? You can pm.me if you don't want to say publicly, but those dates are prime time. I would've expected to pay about twice that. But I usually sail NCL out of Miami or Ft. Laud. As he said above, they've been pricier in the past.
Quote: beachbumbabsIn my experience, you did really well on those extra fees. What cruise line? What port? You can pm.me if you don't want to say publicly, but those dates are prime time. I would've expected to pay about twice that. But I usually sail NCL out of Miami or Ft. Laud. As he said above, they've been pricier in the past.
It's on Carnival out of Baltimore.
I agree with Babs that that's a really good deal for port charges. I wonder if it is because it is outside of Florida? FL relies heavily on tourism for revenue. Maybe part of that is inflated port charges?
At any rate, congrats & enjoy!
Quote: JoemanThat's a really sweet deal. Congrats!
I agree with Babs that that's a really good deal for port charges. I wonder if it is because it is outside of Florida? FL relies heavily on tourism for revenue. Maybe part of that is inflated port charges?
At any rate, congrats & enjoy!
If you are talking about the fees for free cruises through casinos it is because NCL charges a fee. The port taxes are usually around $100 but they charge a "booking fee" otherwise known as non commissioned fees which fluctuate from $80-$250 depending on price of original cruise.
Got a free Love ticket
Those are hard to get
Seems they load offers around 11am EST
I waited till 11am, scored a love ticket, checked back a little later and all gone
Also got a free Zumanity ticket. Its not high on me see list but it is free so what the hell
Quote: terapinedI scored
Got a free Love ticket
Those are hard to get
Seems they load offers around 11am EST
I waited till 11am, scored a love ticket, checked back a little later and all gone
Also got a free Zumanity ticket. Its not high on me see list but it is free so what the hell
There was a time when all of the rewards were refreshed pretty much around 10 AM Eastern. Needless to say, word got out, and the redemption area was jammed every day at that time (and yes, I was among those people once - that's how I scored my Love ticket back in the day), so to make it fairer, they started making the redemption times random. There is a thread on Facebook that tells people when the rewards are refreshed, which would explain how the Love tickets were gone so quickly.
Quote: terapinedI scored
Got a free Love ticket
Those are hard to get
Seems they load offers around 11am EST
I waited till 11am, scored a love ticket, checked back a little later and all gone
Also got a free Zumanity ticket. Its not high on me see list but it is free so what the hell
I've seen Love 4 times thanks to myVEGAS. It's my favorite Cirque show.
I've seen Zumanity twice. It's raunchy and fun.
Quote: terapinedI scored
Got a free Love ticket
Those are hard to get
Seems they load offers around 11am EST
I waited till 11am, scored a love ticket, checked back a little later and all gone
Also got a free Zumanity ticket. Its not high on me see list but it is free so what the hell
I can't rmember when you are going but do you know those are only good through the end of the year? I think that is why they have been easy to get lately since you only have 20 days to use them opposed to 90. I got 1 of each of the cirque shows and then realized in couldn't use them since we are going Jan 19th.
AGREED !Quote: ams288I've seen Love 4 times thanks to myVEGAS. It's my favorite Cirque show.
Gotta disagree on this one. Not that good, but free is free. Set your expectations relatively low.Quote: ams288I've seen Zumanity twice. It's raunchy and fun.
Quote: GWAEI can't rmember when you are going but do you know those are only good through the end of the year? I think that is why they have been easy to get lately since you only have 20 days to use them opposed to 90. I got 1 of each of the cirque shows and then realized in couldn't use them since we are going Jan 19th.
I got my 3 freebies and checked black out dates before proceeding
Already got my Love and Zumanity seats and tickets
Here is what's weird concerning black out dates
Looked at 3 nite stays, all blacked out for my dates
but
2 night stays not blacked out for my stay
Love and Zumanity not blacked out for my dates
but
All free buffets blacked out for my dates
weird
Quote: terapinedI got my 3 freebies and checked black out dates before proceeding
Already got my Love and Zumanity seats and tickets
Here is what's weird concerning black out dates
Looked at 3 nite stays, all blacked out for my dates
but
2 night stays not blacked out for my stay
Love and Zumanity not blacked out for my dates
but
All free buffets blacked out for my dates
weird
sucks for the food but overall seems like a good deal.
I am wondering if I will be able to get anything for Jan 19th weekend. Last year they were a little slow to update shows on the new year plus there are probably a ton of people that will be waiting for the new rewards. Owell I will do my best.
Quote: GWAEsucks for the food but overall seems like a good deal.
I am wondering if I will be able to get anything for Jan 19th weekend. Last year they were a little slow to update shows on the new year plus there are probably a ton of people that will be waiting for the new rewards. Owell I will do my best.
I was pretty fanatic about playing Myvegas
Earned about 300k LP's
Read reports they were cutting back and I stopped playing
This trip I am taking was without planning on using myvegas
Just on a whim, decided to see if I could get anything
Surprised how easy it was.
Maybe they are loading more freebies since they expire at the end of the month
I am back to playing myvegas :-)
Free shows and discounted rooms through myvegas
Eat for free at CET properties due to my CET Visa points
Life is good
Quote: GWAEsucks for the food but overall seems like a good deal.
I am wondering if I will be able to get anything for Jan 19th weekend. Last year they were a little slow to update shows on the new year plus there are probably a ton of people that will be waiting for the new rewards. Owell I will do my best.
I'm not sure which rewards you're waiting for, but I'm going Jan 13-17 and I've already got my Freeplay and buffet rewards. They opened them up for the new year about a week ago.
Quote: ams288I'm not sure which rewards you're waiting for, but I'm going Jan 13-17 and I've already got my Freeplay and buffet rewards. They opened them up for the new year about a week ago.
Oh yeah I have my buffet ones already. Should have been more specific. The shows all end on Jan 1.
My wife did not have any LPs. left and I never earned more. About 4 weeks ago I started having her stockpile chips and not play. Then over the weekend I started playing on BJ for her and was betting 250k per hand, got up to 20 million and started betting 1 mil per hand. I got it up to 77 million and played for a few hours. I eventually went bust but I was able to get 97k lps over the course of 2 days.
I'm not one for long trip reports, but I'll definitely give a little summary afterwards of how it went.
Quote: ams288My "free" 7-day MyVEGAS cruise to the Bahamas starts on Sunday.
I'm not one for long trip reports, but I'll definitely give a little summary afterwards of how it went.
You may have mentioned it before but what was your cost for this trip? People on facebook say that they only paid $158 for 2 people but they always talk about the 3 and 4 day ones.
I am a little spoiled with cruises now. I thought about getting this through myvegas but it after going on Norwegian and getting free alcohol and free upgraded dining package I am not sure I can sail with anyone else now. Although my cost for 2 was $670 for my "free" casino cruise.
Have you done cruises on NCL? If so I would like to hear what you think about the differences.
Quote: GWAEYou may have mentioned it before but what was your cost for this trip? People on facebook say that they only paid $158 for 2 people but they always talk about the 3 and 4 day ones.
I am a little spoiled with cruises now. I thought about getting this through myvegas but it after going on Norwegian and getting free alcohol and free upgraded dining package I am not sure I can sail with anyone else now. Although my cost for 2 was $670 for my "free" casino cruise.
Have you done cruises on NCL? If so I would like to hear what you think about the differences.
Never done a cruise before in my life, so I have nothing to compare it to.
Here are the fees I was forced to pay:
Port fees/taxes: $125.25
Gratuities: $90.65
Here are the optional things I paid for:
Upgrade to a balcony room: $160
Three shore excursions: $299.97
Quote: ams288Never done a cruise before in my life, so I have nothing to compare it to.
Here are the fees I was forced to pay:
Port fees/taxes: $125.25
Gratuities: $90.65
Here are the optional things I paid for:
Upgrade to a balcony room: $160
Three shore excursions: $299.97
so it looks like they actual just charge to port fee and taxes.
With the free casino ones they charge a NCF (non commissioned fee) basically they are giving you the cruise at a deep discount. This myvegas one seems like it is actually free except for the fees. I will have to try to snag one. Even if we had $500 alcohol bill it would be about the same. That would be about 50 drinks for 2 people. On our last one our alcohol bill would have been 800 but we drank extra since it was all free. We kept our receipts to see what it would have been. We also drank pretty heavily on a few of the days which we didnt have to do and wouldnt have done if we were paying for it.
First two days were "fun days at sea." The weather wasn't very cooperative. Pretty windy and chilly. Still warmer than Michigan so I was up on deck a lot walking around. I'm still waiting for them to finally open up those damn water slides!
I've been going to the comedy shows each night. They have two different comedians who have been performing each night. Both who I enjoyed a lot. Tomorrow they switch out and two new ones will start performing for the rest of the cruise.
The casino is disappointing. Two tables of double 0 roulette ($5 min). Two tables of Three Card Prime ($5 min). Two tables of 6:5 blackjack at $6 minimums (I don't understand why $6 instead of $5. Is it to up the house edge a little by forcing people to bet $6 and only get paid $7 when they get a blackjack?). One table of 3:2 blackjack at $25 min that I don't think I've seen anyone play at all. One table of $5 min WPT Heads Up which is basically UTH with a bad beat bonus built in. One table of $5 Let It Ride. And one $5 craps table which never seems to get much play... VP options are terrible, as you would expect.
I played the WPT Heads Up game yesterday and lost $300. I think that's it for my gambling this cruise...
I'm on the bus now to Orlando. Going to Universal Islands of Adventure for the day.
Tomorrow I'm going to the water park at Atlantis and to swim with some dolphins or something. I'm more interested in the water park than the dolphins.
Quote: GWAEHope you are enjoying. Is it what you expected since it is your first time?
Oh yeah I'm enjoying it.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos about the Carnival Pride in the run up to this cruise (trip report video blogs, ship tours, etc.) so I had a pretty good idea what to expect.
We will be doing KA and the Mirage Buffet lunch, and also one certificate for Nine Fine Irishman at NYNY courtesy of myVegas. Couple that with our CET Diamond shows, and we are all set for our next trip. Hooyah.
Quote: JohnnyQNot sure if I had seen this one before, but an all-day NYNY roller coast pass is available for 12K. Not for me, that would be a fast trip to queasy-ville for most of the day.
We will be doing KA and the Mirage Buffet lunch, and also one certificate for Nine Fine Irishman at NYNY courtesy of myVegas. Couple that with our CET Diamond shows, and we are all set for our next trip. Hooyah.
We used that one in Jan. A couple of things about that coaster. 1. It is a very rough ride. I like roller coasters and we ride a lot of them but it is not smooth at all. Some parts actually hurt. 2. If you are sitting in the front row of the cars behind the first it is terrifying. The cars have very tall backs so you can not see anything in front of you. Because they are so tall when it bends to go up a hill it looks like the car is going to smack you in the face. I am sure it is far enough away to not hit you but it is scary. 3. They will not run the coaster unless there are at least 10 people on the train. I am not sure how many people ride but the day we did it was slow. We rode it 2 times with no problems but the 3rd time we were the only people there. The told us it would not run until 10 people. A few new people came but lined up behind us in the front row. I told them about the 10 people thing. They were only riding it once so they didnt care. More people came and they did the same thing. It took about 20 minutes to get the coaster to run. We did end up riding it 5 times but that was enough. 4. the pass is for ride all day, not 24 hours. We redeemed it at 7pm and was thinking it would be 24 hours and we could use it the next day too. It expired at 10pm or something.
gee that turned into a long post.
Overall I enjoyed the cruise. I consider it a learning experience for any potential future cruises.
I LOVED my shore excursions to Universal Orlando and Atlantis. I don't think I'd want to stay at Atlantis as it's such a tourist trap, but I enjoyed being able to experience the water park and swim with a dolphin. Got a bunch of pictures of me and the dolphin.
The weather was a bit too chilly for my tastes. I think any future cruises will be during the summer months, or maybe just not out of Baltimore. On our "days at sea" it was too cold to do anything outside, which was a bummer.
I also don't think I'd cruise with Carnival again. Someone joked that Carnival is the "section 8 cruise line" and I can see where they were coming from. We were followed by the NCL Breakaway ship for a couple days and damn, that looks like a nice ship! I had no problems with Carnival, I just think I'd prefer something nicer in the future.
Quote: ams288My flight just landed and I've got an hour to kill at the airport till my ride gets here.
Overall I enjoyed the cruise. I consider it a learning experience for any potential future cruises.
I LOVED my shore excursions to Universal Orlando and Atlantis. I don't think I'd want to stay at Atlantis as it's such a tourist trap, but I enjoyed being able to experience the water park and swim with a dolphin. Got a bunch of pictures of me and the dolphin.
The weather was a bit too chilly for my tastes. I think any future cruises will be during the summer months, or maybe just not out of Baltimore. On our "days at sea" it was too cold to do anything outside, which was a bummer.
I also don't think I'd cruise with Carnival again. Someone joked that Carnival is the "section 8 cruise line" and I can see where they were coming from. We were followed by the NCL Breakaway ship for a couple days and damn, that looks like a nice ship! I had no problems with Carnival, I just think I'd prefer something nicer in the future.
Do you ever get the free ones from casinos? The ones that use ncl end up costing 600-800 but they also come with some other perks.
Quote: GWAEDo you ever get the free ones from casinos? The ones that use ncl end up costing 600-800 but they also come with some other perks.
No I haven't. Which casinos have partnerships with NCL?
Glad to hear you had a good time on your cruise!Quote: ams288No I haven't. Which casinos have partnerships with NCL?
CET will offer "free" cruises depending on your play (possibly your tier as well). As it happens I just got back from my "free" cruise, courtesy of Harrah's Joliet. It sounds like I was on the other side of the Caribbean from you, though!
Like GWAE said, we paid around $600 (not counting gratuities), which turned out to be about 1/3 of the full fare. Still not a bad value for what we got.
I hear you about Carnival. I think it's the fact that they do shorter cruises (3-day, and even the occasional 2-day), plus they are usually cheaper than the other lines, that attract a more value-minded (and possibly less sophisticated) crowd. I hear the best experience is on one of the Disney cruises, but you pay 2x - 3x what you would on other lines for the same itinerary. Plus they don't have casinos on board.
