Just got back from a week on one of the Royal Caribb cruises and thought I'd post a casino report.
Those of you who primarily play AC will feel right at home here. The BJ consisted of a number of 8D H17 DAS games. Limits were 6-200 (the extra dollar to encourage $1 on LL sidebet and if not played, $6 min the main bet), 10-300 and 25-500. They would open a higher limit table (50-1000) on request, though it didn't happen. The games were hand shuffled with a stepladder followed by R&R. Dealers were told to cut 2D, but several were cutting 1D. There were 9 spots per table (!), but I never saw more than 7 spots played, as it would be a very tight fit to get more players at the tables, especially with most being cruise fatties :.) Also, there were 2 SD 6:5 games that were crowded.
Overall, the dealers were all very fast. Almost all were European with previous experience in European casinos. There was no heat and no interest from the pit as I spread from 1x10 to 2x150. I was the biggest bettor the entire time I played, so I didn't want to push it, get undue attention from players or staff (and have to walk the plank :.) Only thing the pit did was verify color ups.
There were also tables of UTH, Caribb stud, 3CP, craps and roulette. Only one dealer was worth considering playing 3CP, but it was a marginal EV at best.
Now the interesting part...
I had heard that some cruise ships dealt less than complete decks. So, before playing, I stood there and counted 15 shoes down. 13 of them ended with RCs of +3 to +20 which tells me there were 10s and/or Aces missing. Watching the games, it was like Sp21 - lots of 4 and 5 card hands, and rarely a dealer bust with a 2-6 up. This was the case the first half of the week. The second half of the week, all the shoes seemed complete.
Cards were never spread face up. Whenever a table opened, a shoe with cards already in it was brought to the table.
So, the moral of the story is be wary of cruise ship BJ.
Those of you who primarily play AC will feel right at home here. The BJ consisted of a number of 8D H17 DAS games. Limits were 6-200 (the extra dollar to encourage $1 on LL sidebet and if not played, $6 min the main bet), 10-300 and 25-500. They would open a higher limit table (50-1000) on request, though it didn't happen. The games were hand shuffled with a stepladder followed by R&R. Dealers were told to cut 2D, but several were cutting 1D. There were 9 spots per table (!), but I never saw more than 7 spots played, as it would be a very tight fit to get more players at the tables, especially with most being cruise fatties :.) Also, there were 2 SD 6:5 games that were crowded.
Overall, the dealers were all very fast. Almost all were European with previous experience in European casinos. There was no heat and no interest from the pit as I spread from 1x10 to 2x150. I was the biggest bettor the entire time I played, so I didn't want to push it, get undue attention from players or staff (and have to walk the plank :.) Only thing the pit did was verify color ups.
There were also tables of UTH, Caribb stud, 3CP, craps and roulette. Only one dealer was worth considering playing 3CP, but it was a marginal EV at best.
Now the interesting part...
I had heard that some cruise ships dealt less than complete decks. So, before playing, I stood there and counted 15 shoes down. 13 of them ended with RCs of +3 to +20 which tells me there were 10s and/or Aces missing. Watching the games, it was like Sp21 - lots of 4 and 5 card hands, and rarely a dealer bust with a 2-6 up. This was the case the first half of the week. The second half of the week, all the shoes seemed complete.
Cards were never spread face up. Whenever a table opened, a shoe with cards already in it was brought to the table.
So, the moral of the story is be wary of cruise ship BJ.