Carnival Sensation

I recently returned from a cruise on the Carnival Sensation out of Port Canaveral, FL to the Bahamas. The boat had a small casino in which I spent a little time. For research purposes only, of course!

There were 6 BJ tables, all with CSM. I didn't get all the rules, but it appeared to feature H17 and DA2. They had two 3:2 tables: 1 at $25 & 1 at $10 min. The rest were 6:5 BJ tables with a $6 minimum!

[rant]As if a $5 6:5 table wasn't bad enough, having a $6 minimum isn't just pure crap, it's crap covered crap with little crap sprinkles on top, served with a side of crap sauce for dipping! So, now a min bet of $6 really pays 7:6 for a BJ, not even 6:5. You could go up to $10 on your bet to even the payout, but why would you? They had a $10 3:2 table! CRAP, I tell you![/rant]

Speaking of which, the 1 Craps table was $5 min with double odds. 2 & 12 doubled the Field. There were 2 0/00 roulette tables (didn't see the min bet), and a few $5 carnival tables: 3 Card Poker, Let it Ride, & Ultimate Texas Holdem. There was also a electronically dealt poker table that occasionally had a $1/$2 NLHE game going, but I rarely saw more than 5 people at it at any given time.

They had several 1c slots (minimums per spin were 18c - 40c), and a few $1 and 25c-50c-$1 multi-denoms. They had multi-denom Game Kings (25c-50c-$1-$2) that had single line VP (various flavors), and keno (25c level only). The pay tables started at "horrible" (6/5 JoB, for example) for the 25c & 50c games, moving up to "really bad" (7/5 JoB) at the $1 level. The 25c games did have a progressive jackpot.

There were also some "Dave & Buster's" type games including a crane game where you try to pick up bundles of 100 singles, a "casino vault" game where you have to fit the key through the keyhole to push out the cash, and a "quarter pusher" game that was, at times, noticeably +EV (I won like $4.50 on one occasion! Woot!)

In all, the dealers were friendly and reasonably competent, although the inexperienced dealers were noticeably slower than the veterans. Also, I don't think they see too much dark-side action at the craps table. I tried to "bridge" my single-odds DP bet, but the dealer broke it down and "heeled" it. However, on the next roll, my DC bet went behind the 4, and I tossed the dealer $10 for odds. He heeled this bet as well, but the box corrected him by bridging it.

The card tables didn't open up til mid-morning. The Craps table was usually only going in the evenings, and for all times except the last night, it was only open on one end (only one base dealer).

Also, the slot machines did not issue tickets. You had to put any winnings on your room (cabin) key, which was also your player's card. Then you would take the card to the cashier to cash out. One other odd thing of note: the casino evidently ran out of $100 bills on the 2nd night of the cruise!?

Drink service was slow and a bit chaotic. Waiters did not have assigned pits/machines; so, while I was playing, multiple waiters would ask for drink orders. At one point, I ordered a drink and the waiter disappeared for 10-15 minutes (not sure what takes so long -- the bar is adjacent to this tiny casino). Another waiter came by in the mean time, and I, thinking it was the same waiter, asked about my drink. So, about 5 minutes after the first waiter finally brought my original drink, you guessed it, the second waiter brought me another! Not a big problem, but still... :)

As for my gambling, I broke about even on the BJ & UTH tables, and had a nice win on the 25c VP. However, the $1 VP and the craps table kicked my a-- all over the Caribbean! A friend I was with hit a $2k jackpot on the only $1 Wheel of Fortune slot there for $2k, but nobody took a picture. So, I guess if you invoke the 'POIDH' rule, she really didn't! :)

Quote: Joeman

[rant]As if a $5 6:5 table wasn't bad enough, having a $6 minimum isn't just pure crap, it's crap covered crap with little crap sprinkles on top, served with a side of crap sauce for dipping! So, now a min bet of $6 really pays 7:6 for a BJ, not even 6:5. You could go up to $10 on your bet to even the payout, but why would you? They had a $10 3:2 table! CRAP, I tell you![/rant]

That is one of the crappiest loads of casino crap I've ever heard of. You said it.

Quote: Joeman

[rant]As if a $5 6:5 table wasn't bad enough, having a $6 minimum isn't just pure crap, it's crap covered crap with little crap sprinkles on top, served with a side of crap sauce for dipping! So, now a min bet of $6 really pays 7:6 for a BJ, not even 6:5. You could go up to $10 on your bet to even the payout, but why would you? They had a $10 3:2 table! CRAP, I tell you![/rant]

"Oh you want to bet $5 instead of $6 on a 6:5 table? I'm sorry, our company doesn't work that way. You want me to get the number of another casino... Oh wait we're it." (Paraphrased)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0sAVtOt2wA

My wife and I sailed on the Sensation twice, in April 1994 and July 1997. On both voyages we were accompanied by our younger son, who was a teenager at the time.

The Sensation first sailed in 1993, so we saw it as a rather new ship, and it was used on slightly longer voyages then. Our first sailing on the ship went from Miami to Nassau, San Juan, and St. Thomas, while the second, also out of Miami, visited San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Martin.

After verandah staterooms became all the rage in the cruise industry, the Sensation started to look very old school, and I think it is now only used for Bahamas cruises out of Miami and Port Canaveral. We liked the ship when we sailed on it, so I hope it is still nice. We spent a bunch of time in the little piano bar.

Our voyages on the Sensation were prior to my seriously starting my chip collecting obsession, so I don't have a souvenir chip from the ship. They were also prior to my converting from BJ to craps as my favorite game, so I likely only played BJ. I don't recall continuous shufflers, so those are probably a more recent addition on the ship. I strongly suspect that back in the 90s they were paying 3:2 with minimum bets no higher than $5 on most tables. (On our earlier cruises, $2 games were common.) I think I recall seeing some side bets offered, but I never play those and don't remember what they might have been. That 2x limit on craps free odds seems to be the norm on cruise ships, and some that I have seen even limit the game to single odds.

I don't cruise very often, but my sister who was with us does, and she said that the Sensation was "better than average" compared to the other cruise ships she had been on. I enjoyed it, but I don't have too much to compare to. My last cruise was about 10 years ago.

I didn't save any chips, but I did examine the $1 chip, and it had the Carnival logo, but not the ship's name on it. Of course, this most likely after I had a few pina coladas, so I may have just missed it!

Quote: Joeman

I didn't save any chips, but I did examine the $1 chip, and it had the Carnival logo, but not the ship's name on it.

In the Casino Chip of the Day thread, I posted the somewhat generic $1 Carnival "Fun Ships" chip that I got on the Fantasy and discussed all of the Carnival Ships we have sailed on. The $5 and higher chips do identify the individual ships, and I think the $1 chips did long ago.

Quote: Joeman

[rant]As if a $5 6:5 table wasn't bad enough, having a $6 minimum isn't just pure crap, it's crap covered crap with little crap sprinkles on top, served with a side of crap sauce for dipping! So, now a min bet of $6 really pays 7:6 for a BJ, not even 6:5. You could go up to $10 on your bet to even the payout, but why would you? They had a $10 3:2 table! CRAP, I tell you![/rant]

... mmmm. A side of crap sauce. mmmm ....


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Coincidentally enough, as I was reading your post, I got a phone call, "Take this short survey and get a free cruise for two to the Bahamas." I hung up.

I sailed the Sensation 2 years ago and it wasn't like that. I just got of the Imagination out of Long Beach, CA. yesterday and they did have $6 minimum, but I didn't look to see if it was 6-5 or 3-2. I'm guessing 6-5. No competition and players wouldn't care much anyway.


ZCore13

Quote: Zcore13

I sailed the Sensation 2 years ago and it wasn't like that. I just got of the Imagination out of Long Beach, CA. yesterday and they did have $6 minimum, but I didn't look to see if it was 6-5 or 3-2. I'm guessing 6-5. No competition and players wouldn't care much anyway.


ZCore13

Norwegian dawn last month also had 6/5 unless you were at $25 table. It was shoe dealt and 3/2 on 25 and up tables. They also has $6 min, floor said they do that because they want you to play 5 BJ and 1 sidebet.

Quote: GWAE

Norwegian dawn last month also had 6/5 unless you were at $25 table. It was shoe dealt and 3/2 on 25 and up tables. They also has $6 min, floor said they do that because they want you to play there $5 BJ and 1 sidebet.

I've done 4 Carnival cruises in the last 18 months, didn't sail on Sensation but ran into it in several ports. I played a lot of $10 min/$1000 max BJ, 3:2. DAS, no re split Aces, split to 4 hands, no surrender. There was always a $6 min table but it may have been Fun21 or some other variant, I never played it. The standard bet for most players seemed to be $5 with a $1 side bet. There were $25 tables as well, but all tables were CSM. Most dealers were adequate, several were rather enjoyable.

Ships were, The Dream, Ecstacy, Fascination all out of FL, and The Miracle out of Seattle to Alaska. Assorted size/class ships but casino operations were very similar in all. I have some chips from some I could share for the chip of the day thread. 2F

You know, now that I think about it, one or two of those BJ tables on the ship were actually Fun 21. Thanks for mentioning it, 2Feathers. I had forgotten; I tend to ignore most BJ variants.

GWAE -- there was a Lucky Ladies side bet on the $10 table I was playing. I assume it was on the 6:5 tables as well. It could very well have been that a $5+$1 bet would have satisfied the min bet requirement like you described for the Norwegian Dawn.

Yep, $5+$1 on the side is what they are asking for with the $6 minimum. RCL has this in place as well, but BJ was 3:2, even on $5 games......at least it was last summer on the Oasis!

Quote: Joeman

Drink service was slow and a bit chaotic. Waiters did not have assigned pits/machines; so, while I was playing, multiple waiters would ask for drink orders. At one point, I ordered a drink and the waiter disappeared for 10-15 minutes (not sure what takes so long -- the bar is adjacent to this tiny casino). Another waiter came by in the mean time, and I, thinking it was the same waiter, asked about my drink. So, about 5 minutes after the first waiter finally brought my original drink, you guessed it, the second waiter brought me another!

On our last (Norwegian from Seattle to Alaska) cruise, drinks were not free in the Casino. I assume that is pretty standard across the industry.

Quote: JohnnyQ

On our last (Norwegian from Seattle to Alaska) cruise, drinks were not free in the Casino. I assume that is pretty standard across the industry.

On Norwegian you have to have the mid level card in order to get free basic drinks. If you book the trip through a casino then they will give you a drink card. Our trip we had the unlimited drink package so it didn't matter but if we don't have the unlimited the free casino drinks are more than enough. Only downfall would be no free drinks at the club, shows, or bars. We did 90% of our drinking at the club and bars.

Fyi, on Norwegian you don't have to be playing to get a drink if you have the drink card. You can just walk up to the bar and flash your card.

On the Sensation, they said once you reach 1000 points, drinks would be free. This was a 3-night cruise, and I made it to about 900 or so by the end. So, it would have needed to be a longer cruise, or I would have had to increase my action to take advantage. Based on what I saw, I doubt that very many people get to this level on this short of a cruise.

Quote: Joeman

On the Sensation, they said once you reach 1000 points, drinks would be free. This was a 3-night cruise, and I made it to about 900 or so by the end. So, it would have needed to be a longer cruise, or I would have had to increase my action to take advantage. Based on what I saw, I doubt that very many people get to this level on this short of a cruise.

Yeah it would be tough. On Norwegian you needed 1500 for th drink card. I ended up with 1600 on the last day. I have not received a single thing in the mail from them yet.

Quote: Joeman

On the Sensation, they said once you reach 1000 points, drinks would be free. This was a 3-night cruise, and I made it to about 900 or so by the end. So, it would have needed to be a longer cruise, or I would have had to increase my action to take advantage. Based on what I saw, I doubt that very many people get to this level on this short of a cruise.

Casino on Carnival operated by 'Ocean Players Club'. As mentioned earlier if you book thru Players Club you will often have a 'drink on us' card in your stateroom, and maybe a little gift (cookies or chocolate, etc) when you board the ship. A year or two ago there were nice offers from Players Club specifically for Carnival cruises but they have been not nearly so attractive in the last year. By nice offers I mean, I guess the best was 'fully comped balcony stateroom, $1000 free cash, private welcome aboard party for Players Club members, drink on us card, etc - limited time offer call now). That offer came by email on the day I sailed on the Carnival Miracle to Alska from Seattle and I didn't check email and see the offer for another 8-9 days. The offer was for 8 or so specific sailings - "Players Club Premier Offerings". One or two of them worked with my schedule and I called to book but the block of staterooms available were already taken, they said. My Carnival 'agent' offered to work with me on other cruises/dates at the time but I just let the whole thing blow over. That Alaska cruise was fully comped, interior stateroom w/$300 free cash I think and was actually an exterior stateroom with a limited view ( lifeboat in the way). I got up 15K by day 3, down 6K by day 6, finished up by like 75 bucks on day seven as I was playing my ass off while the ship was delayed/slowed by fog. I had left over $2500 in dealer/waitress tips in casino so I guess the store considered me a big winner, they lost over $2575 ;-) Small daily gifts were cookies, chocolates, champaign, beach towel, etc. the casino host did treat us to a 5 or 6 course dinner at the steak house which was phenomenal and would have been the highlight of most cruises. But hey, we were in Alaska, spectacular.

Like I said, for the last year the offers have been few and far between, and not nearly as attractive. The latest I have in my hand from a couple weeks ago via mail. 10 specific cruises offered, dates from Aug 29 to Nov 14. Ports of sailing: 3 Miami, 3 Canaveral, 1 NYC, 1 Galveston, 1 Los Angeles, 1 New Orleans. All 7 or 8 day cruises. Terms: $700 free cash and 'up to 40% off Fun Select Fares'. I'm waiting on a better offer.....

BTW, Ocean Players Club operates the casinos on Princess, and Holland America, and a half dozen other lines sailing from around the world.
I'm pissed at them because I never could get a win/loss statement for 2014, in spite of their website stating "request a win/loss statement, it's your right". One day when I'm bored I'm going to re-open that dialog with them. 2F