Cruise ship conditions?
- Thread starter Tom007
- Start date
MartyAce
Well-Known Member
Carnival runs and regulates all of the casinos at sea.
On their smaller cruise line, I found the following rules:
You will find all the good rules except for surrender on the ships, however most are using 8D now and when I was there it was absolutely horrible penetration. around 60%. This however was on Seabourn, but from my understanding many of these dealers move from ship to ship and have been on the larger ones and it would be my guess the conditions would be similar.
On their smaller cruise line, I found the following rules:
You will find all the good rules except for surrender on the ships, however most are using 8D now and when I was there it was absolutely horrible penetration. around 60%. This however was on Seabourn, but from my understanding many of these dealers move from ship to ship and have been on the larger ones and it would be my guess the conditions would be similar.
from some reading on GC pages, i would tend to agree, though i havent personally played on one of these ships. it seems the rules are decent enough but pen is almost always the common denominator in making the games very hard to beat consistently. though from what ive read, sometimes you get lucky and find a dealer or two who cuts off a playable amount from the 8D shoe.
also, this is just a though, but i wonder how good the training of the cruise ship dealers is compared to land-based casino dealers. if cruise ships use less-than-stellar/sloppy dealers, other AP options might suffice such as shuffle-tracking, or especially hole-carding. but again, that is just a guess. anyone have any comments on the abilities of cruise ship dealers in general? i would be interested to know this.
also, this is just a though, but i wonder how good the training of the cruise ship dealers is compared to land-based casino dealers. if cruise ships use less-than-stellar/sloppy dealers, other AP options might suffice such as shuffle-tracking, or especially hole-carding. but again, that is just a guess. anyone have any comments on the abilities of cruise ship dealers in general? i would be interested to know this.
bigjimswoman
Member
I played on a Holland America Cruise and was not very skilled at that time and I managed to win a decent amount. Most dealers are from other countries, like at the El Cortez in Vegas. The most memorable thing was a rich old man tried to give me two black chips. Only thing was my husband was sitting there. 
Why didn't this stuff happen to me when I was single!!!:flame:
Why didn't this stuff happen to me when I was single!!!:flame:mociferous
Member
Fantasy 21
We just went on a (blackjack tournament) Carnival cruise recently on the Fantasy. There was one table called Fantasy 21 (for the name of the ship?). There were 8 decks with all queens removed. You could double on any amount of cards (five twos...double!). There was EARLY surrender before the dealer checked for their hole card (ten OR Ace showing), cards totally adding to 21 paid automatically, and more favorable rules...I can't remember them all. One of the guys we were with "emptied the racks" the last night. This is the only blackjack game I'd recommend. It was a lot of fun. :cat:
We just went on a (blackjack tournament) Carnival cruise recently on the Fantasy. There was one table called Fantasy 21 (for the name of the ship?). There were 8 decks with all queens removed. You could double on any amount of cards (five twos...double!). There was EARLY surrender before the dealer checked for their hole card (ten OR Ace showing), cards totally adding to 21 paid automatically, and more favorable rules...I can't remember them all. One of the guys we were with "emptied the racks" the last night. This is the only blackjack game I'd recommend. It was a lot of fun. :cat:
zengrifter
Banned
IF it was ONLY the queens removed, with those other SP21-type rules, it sounds like a good game.mociferous said:
How come you can't tell us exactly what the rules were?
Do you know basic strategy, BTW? zg
Automatic Monkey
Banned
On the Imagination, all the games except for this one were CSM. It is like SP21, but there is some other rule that makes it slightly better than SP21, and for the life of me I can't remember it.zengrifter said:
Carnival ships have BJ tournaments, and as you might expect the skill level of the participants isn't exactly the best. There are also low-stakes poker games, similar skill level.
On my last Carnival cruise, I didn't have much fun in the casino, but I did bring along a portable marine VHF radio. I insulted passing ships, and declared war on Cuba.
mociferous
Member
Can't remember rules
Zen--Yes, I know basic strategy and have played successfully in both tournaments and tables for years. I will PM the guy who "emptied the racks" and see if we can come up with the rest of the rules. I know you could surrender after receiving your double down hand, even after splitting. They were GREAT rules, and yes, only the queens were removed.:cat:
Zen--Yes, I know basic strategy and have played successfully in both tournaments and tables for years. I will PM the guy who "emptied the racks" and see if we can come up with the rest of the rules. I know you could surrender after receiving your double down hand, even after splitting. They were GREAT rules, and yes, only the queens were removed.:cat:
The last Carnival cruise I went on was last summer and ALL the bj tables had CSM's. They would play about 2 rounds and throw the cards right back in. When I asked how many decks, the woman told me 6 (i think) but I didn't believe her anyway. I played for a total of 20 min of BJ...that was self control. Although I managed to throw away a hundred bucks or so on that dumb quarter pushing machine with the girlfriend.