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Casino consultant |
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Thursday, August 28th 2008 |
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Many, if not most, of all the major cruise ships have on board casinos. The games available to passengers vary with the line and the size of the vessel. The majority offer slots and blackjack. The larger casinos also include Caribbean Stud Poker, Roulette and Craps. Other types of gambling include snowball Bingo, 'horse' racing, and mileage pools. Table minimums are set by the cruise line, and the casinos are closed while the ship is in port. Cash is used for gambling and any cash advances will be charged either to the passenger’s shipboard account or to a credit card.
The casinos are open most evenings and afternoons, as gambling is legal once the ship is in international waters. Despite what the cruise lines brochures might show, the majority of onboard casinos is smallish and can become VERY crowded.
The typical onboard casino consists of 25 cent and $1 slots, blackjack, poker, Caribbean stud poker, roulette, and quarter-eaters, which is a mechanical game where levers push piles of quarters towards a drop-off.
The table limits tend to be high, although roulette can be cheap. The Caribbean stud poker table usually has a $5 minimum (once the passenger takes into account the 2x needed to back up a hand, it ends up being $15 a hand).
While slots in Vegas are often advertised as 98% payback, there are no such promises n the slot machines found on cruise lines. Since cruise casinos are no regulated by any gaming authority, their slots and video poker machines do not pay out like they are required to do in Vegas. The upside is that since there is little in the way of pressure at the tables, the dealers tend to be far nicer than those in Vegas or Atlantic City.
The casino is one of the few places on board ship that deals in cash, and some will even allow passengers to charge cash to their onboard credit card.
The general consensus is that cruise casinos are no place for professional gamblers, or even players looking to make a little bank while on holiday. Instead, they should be viewed as a means of passing the time and having a little fun in between the limbo dancing contests, pigging out at the buffet, and going ashore to tour native ruins and buy tacky souvenirs.
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