Craps on a Cruise Ship

Hey guys, I am going on a cruise this fall, and I was just wondering if the pay table in craps changes any on a cruise ship....?

Don't expect too many negatives, there just won't be many pluses. You are a captive market. Many cruise ships offer only 2x odds. If you want higher odds, the crew will tell you to walk to another casino and play there. Don't expect the Field to have any Triple in it.

You can still enjoy the game, its just sure not going to be a 100x table for simple reason that they are a monopoly.

Don't expect to get comped well either. It is very hard to impress in the cruise ship casinos.

One question I get asked from time to time is what do cruise ships do at the craps table when the ship crosses out of international waters. If you knew that was going to happen momentarily, and assuming they refunded any unresolved bet, then you should make a huge bet on the pass or come.

I've never investigated this on the three cruises I've done, but I tend to think they close the casino well before they have to, very late at night, when they don't inconvenience anybody. Craps does not seem popular on cruise ships anyway. I suspect I get asked about it more often that the situation actually happens.

If you find out the answer, please let me know.

I took a gambling day cruise out of North Carolina a few years back.

I don't remember the craps odds, but I do remember feeling wierd, tossing the dice while the table was not level, but was moving. It was a small ship and we were in rough water...

After craps & BJ, I made it to a poker table. Eventually, there was an announcement that the casino would close in 15 minutes. At that moment, everyone at the poker table decided to call it quits. I wanted to play more, but, whatever. It seems those guys had the right idea. I was fourth in line at the cage. By the time I was done (only a few minutes later), the line had snaked it's way all over the casino. I don't know how long it took to get in to port, but there were still people on line as we were getting off the ship.

I'll be on a cruise in about 3 weeks and hope to get in some craps time. The negatives of a cruise ship tend to be low odds limits, either 1x or 2x. I'm sure the field plays double, but that's no different than a lot of places these days.

The positive - depending upon your bankroll - is that cruise ships are known for having low limits. $5 tables are pretty common for both craps and BJ.

Quote: ruascott

I'll be on a cruise in about 3 weeks and hope to get in some craps time. The negatives of a cruise ship tend to be low odds limits, either 1x or 2x. I'm sure the field plays double, but that's no different than a lot of places these days.

The positive - depending upon your bankroll - is that cruise ships are known for having low limits. $5 tables are pretty common for both craps and BJ.

I just got back from a cruise with Norwegian in May. This was my 5th cruise, I try to go every year.

In short, the casinos are lousy. Here's some of what I remember seeing in the casino on my last cruise, aboard the Norwegian Spirit. All the other cruises I've been on are basically the same, with Royal Caribbean offering slightly worse games/odds than NCL:

-VP JoB 6/5, denoms $0.02 to $1 (maybe $5 on some cruises, saw 7/5 at $1 level)
-$5 bj 5 decks, H17, dealt from a CSM paying 6:5,
-Lucky Ladies sidebet on CSM tables, one bj table with a "Wheel of Madness" side bet paying somewhere between 10 to 1,000 for a bj, though no dealer or pit boss I asked has ever seen a 1,000-to-1 win (next highest pay was 40). Average seems to be in the 12-15 to 1 range. Both are very bad bets.
-$25 bj, H17, 1 deck, paying 6:5, players handle their own cards
-$10 bj, 6 or 8 decks, shoe, S17, no surrender
-$5 royal match shufflemaster automated blackjack game upstairs, S17, split once only, no hitting on split aces, double after split allowed, no hole card (lose only 1 bet, so equivalent to hole card game), late surrender offered.
-3-card poker with the 6-3-1 short pay table on PP
-Double-zero roulette, I think $1 or $2 min on inside bets, maybe $5 or $10 on outside, it varied based on the time of day/crowd size.
-Coin pushers
-Comp system, but impossible to actually earn any comps (play through $10,000 to earn free drinks, for example)
-"Paradise lotto", $2 a ticket, paying between $200,000 to $300,000 for matching 5/5, 4/5 pays $2,000 and 3/5 pays $100. Picked from a staggering 80 numbers. Odds of winning jackpot 5/5 is 1 in 24,000,000. Return = 27%.
-Craps, 1 table $5 min, double on 12 field, I think the odds were 3-4-5, but could be mistaken. Otherwise, looks like your average craps table with bad bets junk in the middle. Not very busy, which is good if you like to roll the dice.
-Let it Ride with the "bonus buck" bet capped short at $10,000. 3-card bonus bet included, same short pay as 3-card PP.
-The worse Bingo games I've ever seen, costing nearly $50 to play with prizes that are way too low, and a few thousand dollars jackpot that is practically never won.
-Slot returns are very bad, don't play them. Usually the pay tables of the vp games are a good indication of the looseness of the slots, so 6/5 JoB doesn't instill much confidence. Limits vary, $0.01 to $25/$100 machines.
-A texas hold-em table, not sure of the rake. Not much action, usually.
-A rapid roulette table, double zero, $1 min.¸
-Heavy cigarette smoke at times (due to low ceilings). No free drinks.
-Free casino credit to all players, secured by your onboard account. Limits vary, usually $1000 or $2000 per trading day.
-USD currency
-BJ, Poker and Slot tournaments. Some ships charge $15 to enter, some $20 (poker $60 to enter). Sometimes you'll get 2-for-1 entry. Wait until the very last day to play, as they play "qualifier" rounds throughout the cruise, but only top 5 to 7 scores get into finals. NCL pays first place only and keeps half on entry monies, Royal pays first and second (and I've seen third place paid, too), don't know what their take is. May buy in as many times as you want. I won the bj tournament four times out of five cruises, won $300 to $350 per cruise. Fairly easy to crack final table if you know what score to beat (hence, always play as late as possible).
-Offers available sometimes: $5 - $25 match plays, free Ace (max bet capped low), $10 gets you $15 in chips (sticky chips), $10 gets you $20 in slot play. I was not eligible for any of these offers as it was only open to first time cruisers. I think that is a policy unique to NCL.

Basically, you shouldn't play while cruising. But if you must, the best bets seem to be the $5 shuffle master bj game, then the $10 bj 3:2 game (this is the best game if you can count), and finally $5 craps pass/don't pass only. BJ tournament is ok, I would avoid slots. Take advantage of free chip offers and whatever else you can. I would use the $10 for $20 slot play on the vp machines. Watch the 3-card poker table, though. It happened to me on 2 separate cruises (though not this last one) where I saw a dealer consistently expose his bottom card.

Quote: cardshark

I just got back from a cruise with Norwegian in May. This was my 5th cruise, I try to go every year.

In short, the casinos are lousy. Here's some of what I remember seeing in the casino on my last cruise, aboard the Norwegian Spirit. All the other cruises I've been on are basically the same, with Royal Caribbean offering slightly worse games/odds than NCL:

This is interesting, because there was a poster on here a couple months ago who worked in the RCL casino, and he acted like their odds were a bit better as they hadn't switched to 6/5 on any of their games beyond the single-deck game, always offering $5 3:2 either 8 deck or CSM.

Quote: ruascott

This is interesting, because there was a poster on here a couple months ago who worked in the RCL casino, and he acted like their odds were a bit better as they hadn't switched to 6/5 on any of their games beyond the single-deck game, always offering $5 3:2 either 8 deck or CSM.

I didn't read his posts, but I do recall a few years back NCL tried to advertise their "Casinos at Sea" as being the best of all cruise ships. They used to offer really excellent games, actually, better than you could find in most land casinos outside of Vegas. On my first NCL cruise 5 years back, which coincidentally was the same ship I took out of Boston in May, they had only 3:2 blackjack and S17. Dealt out of shoes, too (though I think the "Wheel of Madness" table was always a CSM). Even full pay 9/6 JoB, though you had to play at the $1 level. They also had S17 Spanish 21! It was really very nice to see, and I was impressed. Sadly, the good games and rules only lasted a few years and I'm sad to report they're now pretty much at the same level of their competitors.

Now, I haven't been on all their ships, so who knows, maybe some ships retained some of the old good rules. Like I said, they still had a good S17 shoe blackjack at the $10 level, and the shufflemaster $5 bj game is even better for the non-counter. However, they have removed all the information about their games from the website, other than a basic listing, which isn't a good sign.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=CasinosAtSea

BTW, if you are a member of Harrah's Total Rewards, NCL has a partnership with them and you could get a discounted rate depending on your tier status with TR. I got 20% off the lowest rates thanks to my Diamond card. I ended up paying only $560 after tax for a 7-nighter, which is an excellent price for sailing out of the East Coast.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=TotalRewards

Quote: cardshark

I just got back from a cruise with Norwegian in May. This was my 5th cruise, I try to go every year.

In short, the casinos are lousy.

Well at least there a few playable games.. but who are the dorks playing $25 limit 6/5 game??? Was this game busy?

Quote: DrEntropy

Well at least there a few playable games.. but who are the dorks playing $25 limit 6/5 game??? Was this game busy?

Ha...i thought the same thing. Maybe novice players thought it was sophisticated to play a single deck game where you got to handle the cards.

I was on the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas back in January. They had two tables going, one $5 min. and one $10 min. when the casino was open. They only offered 1x odds so that kind of sucked, but I will say that the dice dealers where the best (most friendly, talkative, appreciative etc.) casino employees.

I was often the only person at the $10 table so I enjoyed rolling most of the time. They were also very relaxed about allowing my wife to roll for me even though she was not technically betting.

Do you get free drinks if you are playing at the tables?

In my experience, normally no. But if you are playing consistently and more than most people, I have had the pit boss come up and say, "Would you like a complimentary drink, sir?" If you do it early in the trip, sometimes you can get it for the rest of the trip. I don't drink, so it's meaningless to me.

As mentioned up-thread, I'll be going of a RC cruise in about 9 days, and I'm thinking about all our preparations, including what amount of cash to take, as well as setting a gambling budget. I know you can get cash from your SeaPass account, but from what I understand there is a 3% surcharge for doing so. While this is steep, I can understand it, as the amount is being charged to your credit card, and the interchage fee from Visa/MC probably apporaches the 3%. In effect, you are getting a cash advance on your CC. Since I pay off the card every month, not a big deal, but still makes me a bit uncomfortable getting cash advances to gamble with. Does anyone know if there is any other way to get cash on the ship? ATMs? Cashing travelers checks?

Also, I'm still trying to determine what my bankroll will be. I'll probably gamble at least a little bit most nights, but I'm not going to be spending hours at the tables, there's too much to do, and a lot of other things that will be eating into my budget. It appears from what I've read some $5-$10 craps with a whole 1x odds is what I'll be playing. Since I'm cheap, the $5 tables will be where I'll play most. How much would you take for a gambling budget, assuming 2hrs/day * 7 days = 14hrs max table time?