MSC Magnifica casino review Oct 2014

I have just returned from a short cruise with the Italian cruise company MSC onboard the MSC Magnifica and thought I would share my experience of their casino in particular the blackjack tables. Before I left I could not find anywhere online even a vague description of the BJ rules for this company so hopefully when someone now searches they will be able to read my report here.

The cruise

4 nights from Southampton (UK) to Hamburg (Germany) via Bruges (Belgium) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). This cruise company caters primarily to the European market. The ship had been making 7 night circuits around the aforementioned countries plus Le Havre (France). Germans would come on board for 7 nights from Hamburg, the Dutch for 7 nights from Amsterdam etc. and so on for the British, French and Belgians. This meant there was a very multinational feel to the cruise which I enjoyed having lived 14 years in Germany. We were on the final leg of the cruise before it went in for a refurbishment and as such would have to fly back to the UK from Hamburg.

The casino

Small by land casino standards but comparable to the only other cruise casino I have seen which was on board the similarly sized P and O cruises Azura. The casino was one of the few indoor areas onboard where you could smoke. The ventilation was ok but not brilliant and reminded me of the Monte Carlo in terms of overall smokiness. There was no comps program although you could order drinks at the tables and charge them to your room. The chips did not have € or $ symbols on them presumably so that they were transferable when they ship travels to a different part of the world. I kept a €1 chip for my collection.

100 slot machines most of which were the modern type ones with bonus features and a few were the older ones that paid out in actual coins.
4-5 video poker machines set at 25 cents only that paid 6/5 for jacks or better.
4 American roulette tables with 0 and 00.
2 blackjack tables €5 min and €50 min.
4-5 other table games. One may have been 3 card poker but under a different name.
There was a poker room too but I did not play there.

The dealers were from a mixture of Eastern European countries including Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Romania to name but a few. Each of the dealers that I played bj with were very proficient at their jobs, being both quick with their hands and quick to count and vocalise the running total of each players hand in English. They were generally sharp with casino etiquette too. For example when two players were playing together and one grabbed some chips from his friend's stack to open a third box, the dealer insisted that the first player use his own chips instead. I only saw one dealer mistake in 5 hours of play and that was at the start of the shoe when a dealer forgot to place the first card in the discard tray and had to reshuffle all of the cards. Luckily he had an ace showing so no one was too upset.

Blackjack

Considering that this was a cruise I thought that the rules were overall quite good and much better than I expected to find.

6 decks hand dealt
Blackjack pays 3:2
Dealer checks for blackjack
Dealer stands on soft 17
Double after split allowed (except split aces)
Double any two cards
Insurance and even money offered
Full deck (not Spanish)

Only bad rules were:

No resplitting aces
No surrender

Using the wizard's own calculator that comes out as a realistic house edge of 0.426%. There was a side game on offer that was the same as perfect pairs in the UK. Minimum bet was €1 and you win 5x if your first two cards are a mixed pair (4 hearts, 4 spades), 10x if you have a coloured pair (4 hearts, 4 diamonds) and 25x for a perfect pair (4 hearts, 4 hearts). Penetration was set by the dealer and was usually 2-2.5 decks from the end of the shoe. I am not a counter and woneed if any counters out there considered this game worthwhile for counting or not? I was only flat betting so I do not know how they would react to advantage play.

Other players

I was playing at the €5 table and I only saw one player on the €50 table in 3 nights at the casino. Most of the others players at the table were first time players and all sorts of decisions were being made. The atmosphere amongst the players was relaxed and upbeat with plenty of chatting and camaraderie.

My play

My main objective was to not blow too much of my bankroll before my next trip to vegas in November so I was betting €5-20. I had 4 sessions that I came out roughly level and one that I was down €200. I left happy to have kept the bankroll intact.

Overall

I enjoyed my time playing in this casino. I was travelling with a non-gambler so my time was somewhat restricted.The casino may be a little smoky for some but I found it ok. I was surprised by the good blackjack rules and would have no problem playing there again. Had there have been better video poker i.e. 8/5 at the €1 level I would have been tempted to play that too.

Thanks for the report Jon! I'm also quite surprised to find a 'decent' hand dealt game on a cruise ship. From an AP perspective though, while the rules are great, the penetration is pretty horrible. On a 6 deck game to get 75% PEN (which is 'standard' for most casinos although most AP's desire more) that would be 1.5 decks cut off. How many dealers were there? Did any others cut off less? Basically, I'd try to figure out if that's their standard "2-2.5 decks" or if it's dealer pending. Especially if they hand shuffled it would be easy to complain they shuffle too much to try to get better PEN. The game is still technically beatable, and I would play it on a cruise ship where my options were limited, but I wouldn't choose to play it otherwise; 2.5 decks is a KILLER for 6 decks. It would be more for the entertainment value than the EV of the game.

Again, thanks for the report. Hope the trip was a lot of fun!

I was watching closely yet subtly whenever the different dealers made their cut. Of the 5 or so dealers most of them cut at 2 decks from the end of the shoe which I estimated because it looked like one third of the shoe from my vantage point at third base. I suspect they must be under instructions. Only one dealer was cutting what I estimated as 2.5 decks.

With the terrible play I observed from the other players all around me, I wonder if they would make more money overall if they didn't shuffle so often.

Thanks for the report, can't believe they stood on soft 17. As a fellow VP player, my cutoff is quarter 8/5. I'll play 8/5 at the quarter level, but not for worse odds or a higher coin value.

Quote: jonfourtwenty

4 nights from Southampton (UK) to Hamburg (Germany) via Bruges (Belgium) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). This cruise company caters primarily to the European market.

Never would have guessed...

thanks for the report.
I think the game rules (and VP pay tables) are comparable with casinos in Europe.
VP players from US will be disappointed in European casinos about VP offerings. 6-5 JoB is the norm.
As a matter of fact, most VP machines are set to the similar pay out rate as the other slot machines. go figure.

Quote: jonfourtwenty

I was watching closely yet subtly whenever the different dealers made their cut. Of the 5 or so dealers most of them cut at 2 decks from the end of the shoe which I estimated because it looked like one third of the shoe from my vantage point at third base. I suspect they must be under instructions. Only one dealer was cutting what I estimated as 2.5 decks.

With the terrible play I observed from the other players all around me, I wonder if they would make more money overall if they didn't shuffle so often.

Gaming experts agree that deeper penetration will increase profits even when taking into account potential losses from card counters. They have been saying this for years and some of the smarter casino executives are listening but there's still a lot of old school out there. Very short sighted on their part.

You can not tell the experts anything. For 20 years Colorado had about 75% penetration on shoes games.

In double deck games at some casinos penetration was 50% or less.

OH, Minimum bet $5, Maximum bet $5.

How much money do you think was lost shuffling in Colorado casinos during those 20 years ? LOL