Bingo Scam

[ChasingDavements]

BEWARE of RC’s hidden game rules. I signed up for Bingo today ($100) with hopes of winning the grand prize of a free cruise that RC advertised before taking my money. Guess what — during the grand prize game, I got Bingo!  I won right?!  Nope. As it turns out, if someone else gets Bingo, you must play a tie-break round (it lasted less than 10 seconds). They don’t tell you that until after they take your money. After the game, several people approached saying they felt it was unfair, that we should both get a cruise. My biggest complaint isn’t that I lost when I won, it’s that they kept this “minor” rule to themselves until after swiping my SeaPass and letting me sit down with a handful of cards. I’ve been on six RC cruises and I’m no stranger to the many ways they get your money (as I use my $20/day WiFi), but this is just flat-out wrong. To make things worse, an employee approached me at the end and said he’d drop something off in my stateroom for coming in “second” (since when is second a thing in Bingo?). I’m still waiting. Has anyone else encountered this?  I guess the house doesn’t pay.

[princevaliantus]

Lesson of the Day: Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain!!  Welcome to the World of Royal !! 

[wstephensi]

Sorry fro your disappointment.  

I play the free cruise Bingo every cruise and have been aware of this rule for some time.  The Bingo caller on my June cruise made sure to point this out before we started.

I'm still waiting to win that free cruise.

 

[ChessE4]

6 hours ago, ChasingDavements said:

BEWARE of RC’s hidden game rules. I signed up for Bingo today ($100) with hopes of winning the grand prize of a free cruise that RC advertised before taking my money. Guess what — during the grand prize game, I got Bingo!  I won right?!  Nope. As it turns out, if someone else gets Bingo, you must play a tie-break round (it lasted less than 10 seconds). They don’t tell you that until after they take your money. After the game, several people approached saying they felt it was unfair, that we should both get a cruise. My biggest complaint isn’t that I lost when I won, it’s that they kept this “minor” rule to themselves until after swiping my SeaPass and letting me sit down with a handful of cards. I’ve been on six RC cruises and I’m no stranger to the many ways they get your money (as I use my $20/day WiFi), but this is just flat-out wrong. To make things worse, an employee approached me at the end and said he’d drop something off in my stateroom for coming in “second” (since when is second a thing in Bingo?). I’m still waiting. Has anyone else encountered this?  I guess the house doesn’t pay.

We hear you and sympathize.  When it is a cash prize, I believe the multiple winners split.  That is what happened to my wife years ago.   After all the excitement she won $37 after paying $35 to play....  We gave up playing bingo after our second or third cruise.

[monctonguy]

Interesting..and good to know.

 

Sorry to hear as well. Perhaps 2nd place is a free cruise..on NCL.....

[markm]

Unfortunate you were not aware of the rules, it can make you feel pretty perturbed . From our decades of playing "land" based Bingo, it has been our experience in a non-cash grand prize with multiple winners, no one receives the grand prize, but are given a cash prize that is usually smaller than the buy in.

[FManke]

People still play bingo?

[Fuzzywuzzy]

28 minutes ago, FManke said:

People still play bingo?

Yea, but it's supposed to be something the older crowd (like me) are into (I don't play) yet whenever I walked by a venue where it was going on most of the people were 20 to 30 years younger than me. Weird.

[monctonguy]

I have never played Bingo...except when cruising....I figure whynot....usually a fun time...good mix of ppl usually too.

[FManke]

14 minutes ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

Yea, but it's supposed to be something the older crowd (like me) are into (I don't play) yet whenever I walked by a venue where it was going on most of the people were 20 to 30 years younger than me. Weird.

Maybe it's the cool retro thing to do

[dodgestang]

I play bingo occasionally....for fun....not to win.

If you want a free cruise.....just gamble in the casino a little bit each day. 

[KLA]

I actually enjoy Bingo on Sea Days... I don't go in with high expectations but it's something kind of fun and different to do! 

[ChessE4]

1 hour ago, KLA said:

I actually enjoy Bingo on Sea Days... I don't go in with high expectations but it's something kind of fun and different to do! 

And there are some loyalty perks that help with the cost, I believe extra cards to play if you buy a package.

[monctonguy]

 

8 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

And there are some loyalty perks that help with the cost, I believe extra cards to play if you buy a package.

Yeah...based on your C&A level if I remember correctly

[mworkman]

Been there and done that..only it was with Carnival Cruise line back in 2004.  We haven't played bingo since then..too many unwritten rules that you don't find out until after the fact.

[Rob&Ana]

Sorry just to clarify did the other people get the grand prize for the FREE Cruise? Or did no one get it....

I don't feel it's really a scam if someone does actually win the prize, I guess if it was cash $5000 you could have split the prize but a FREE Cruise can't be split so it makes sense that there can only be one winner. 

[Al Horner]

Occasionally, I play bingo on the ship. A couple of cruises ago I actually won the free cruise for two. Before each of the grand prize bingo games, they always announced the rules including multiple winners. I'm surprised they didn't announce the rules in your game.

[Crabbycruiser]

I remember the jackpot bingo where the jackpot would roll over to the next day if no one won, of course no one won it until the last day of the cruise.  I believe the jackpot was determined by the number of cards sold during the cruise.  That last day of bingo was always in the theater and was always PACKED,  the jackpot being in the thousands by the end of the cruise.  Is this still being done? 

[MotleyCruiser]

My 1st cruise ever. First cruise BINGO play ever I won $307.oo. 25 cruises later never ever won again.

[MikeK]

Last time we played bingo they were pushing for everyone to rent one the their electronic bingo tablets.  We decided to play the old fashion way.  Well the ones that rented the tablets won about 9 out 10 games.  That ended the bingo for us.

[PRebecca]

You won't catch me sharing anything negative very often at all but if that happened to me I would be pretty bummed. Even if I did know the rules and I came so close, oh man. To this day I am still surprised when I don't win the lottery if I happen to play. 

In any event that stinks you had a bummer experience. Hopefully the rest of your day got better.

[JLMoran]

11 minutes ago, MikeK said:

Last time we played bingo they were pushing for everyone to rent one the their electronic bingo tablets.  We decided to play the old fashion way.  Well the ones that rented the tablets won about 9 out 10 games.  That ended the bingo for us.

How do the tablets work? Do they basically automatically register each draw from the bin so you don't have to go hunting through your cards? If you get Bingo, do they make a sound or otherwise do that job for you, too?

I always thought part of the point of Bingo was to be quick at finding the matches and marking them, not just calling out "Bingo!" Would be sad if even that part of the game got stripped away. More or less becomes a lottery at that point, where you're just waiting for the balls to be drawn (and more slowly than any actual lottery drawing).

[MikeK]

7 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

How do the tablets work? Do they basically automatically register each draw from the bin so you don't have to go hunting through your cards? If you get Bingo, do they make a sound or otherwise do that job for you, too?

I always thought part of the point of Bingo was to be quick at finding the matches and marking them, not just calling out "Bingo!" Would be sad if even that part of the game got stripped away. More or less becomes a lottery at that point, where you're just waiting for the balls to be drawn (and more slowly than any actual lottery drawing).

Exactly our thought.  Took away from the fun of it and besides it didnt seem like you had a chance of winning unless you rented one of their machines

[USCG Teacher]

9 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I always thought part of the point of Bingo was to be quick at finding the matches and marking them, not just calling out "Bingo!" Would be sad if even that part of the game got stripped away. More or less becomes a lottery at that point, where you're just waiting for the balls to be drawn (and more slowly than any actual lottery drawing).

I do believe you just described Keno.   

[fonemanbob]

Same odds of winning that are prevalent in the casino lottery or powerball or mega millions. 

[Hoski]

I think the OP is upset that the rule wasn't told to the players till after they purchased their cards.  They did not explain prior to purchase which means it is too late to get your money back. 

I won a free cruise on NCL years ago on a pull ticket on the second night.  They allowed me to pick any cruise within a year.  They did not make a big deal out of it.  I think they didn't want everyone to know the free cruise was won or people wouldn't buy the tickets but they could still win cash.

[KathyC]

Be happy you didn't win it.  We won one on Quantum one year, it was in April 2015.  Our kids were mid-teens at the time, so at an age when school was important. 

There were a lot of rules.

- only for a Caribbean cruise

- only for 7 night sailings

- only for 2 guests

- only on a ship older than 365 days 

- only for an interior or ocean view room

- cannot cruise over a holiday week or during July or August

- cruise must be completed within 365 days of winning the cruise

- non-transferable; as the winner I had to be one of the people on the reservation

- no C&A points given unless you upgrade

So, having children of age that I cannot cruise whenever I want, and not having grandparent/family support to watch the children at home so they don't miss school, and being in a school system that starts school after Labor Day and goes until the third week in June, that left us exactly ONE week in the following year we could take the cruise.  The fourth week in June 2015.  Two months after we won the cruise!  The only time the kids were off of school was holiday weeks - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years & Easter.  And of course, July & August which were blocked off.

We knew we could not cruise again that close to the one we were on, so we just held off hoping something would happen that would allow us to use this certificate. Well, suddenly it was April 2016 and we remembered we had this certificate.  I called C&A to see if there was any way they could help with extending the date and they put me in touch with someone who did!  They gave me until September of 2016 to book - not take, but book - the cruise.  In August 2016 we booked Oasis for September 2017.  We paid extra to be upgraded to an ocean view balcony (and so we'd get points for the trip).  So the bingo we won in April 2015...finally cruised on Harmony in September 2017.  But man was it a hassle!! 

Wait, she said she sailed on Harmony, not Oasis?  But she booked Oasis?  Yep, you read that right.  Due to the major hurricanes in September of 2017 our 7 night was cut to 3 or 4 nights, and we couldn't get flights from NJ to FL - so they transferred our free cruise to Harmony leaving the following week.  Guess what else was on Harmony that week?  Oh, just a little thing called a ROYAL CARIBBEAN BLOG GROUP CRUISE!!