Upcoming NCL Cruise Questions (Caesars certificate)

Going on my first NCL cruise in the near future. Leaving out to the Caribbean/Mex. Got this as a cert from Caesars. Couple of questions:
1 Is there any expected gambling as it was a cert "earned" by gaming
2 Is it worth trying to earn status with NCL for future free cruises (assuming I like cruising [I do]) vs just looking for more giveaways from caesars
3 Is it worth trying to look for "opportunities"... or should I be looking for the best (horrendous) VP pay tables / 3/2 blackjack with decent rules (all I know is basic strategy) / craps
4 What is the likely RTP for the slots there, I know it's bad, but how bad (like 80% rtp?)

Quote: Talldude90

Going on my first NCL cruise in the near future. Leaving out to the Caribbean/Mex. Got this as a cert from Caesars. Couple of questions:
1 Is there any expected gambling as it was a cert "earned" by gaming
2 Is it worth trying to earn status with NCL for future free cruises (assuming I like cruising [I do]) vs just looking for more giveaways from caesars
3 Is it worth trying to look for "opportunities"... or should I be looking for the best (horrendous) VP pay tables / 3/2 blackjack with decent rules (all I know is basic strategy) / craps
4 What is the likely RTP for the slots there, I know it's bad, but how bad (like 80% rtp?)
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I went on one of these in 2018, so not sure if my info is outdated or not:

1) Not that I know of.
2) I did a decent bit of gambling on that cruise and never heard a peep from them regarding casino marketing offers. The same action on Carnival definitely got the mailers started.
3) Not sure of "opportunities" except that if you play poker, the competition on the boat is typically pretty weak. VP was in the ~95% range IIRC. BJ was 3/2 then, but not sure if it still is. I know Carnival was 3/2 in 2018 ($10 min), but have since gone to 6/5 except for the $25 tables. On the Norwegian Dawn, they did have a few carny tables, including UTH.
4) Not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was somewhere in the low 80's.

My reply can be summed up in this sign I saw near the cage on Royal Caribbean.

Look on the bright side... the last word wasn't "SPINS".

;-)

Dog Hand

Quote: Talldude90

Going on my first NCL cruise in the near future. Leaving out to the Caribbean/Mex. Got this as a cert from Caesars. Couple of questions:
1 Is there any expected gambling as it was a cert "earned" by gaming
2 Is it worth trying to earn status with NCL for future free cruises (assuming I like cruising [I do]) vs just looking for more giveaways from caesars
3 Is it worth trying to look for "opportunities"... or should I be looking for the best (horrendous) VP pay tables / 3/2 blackjack with decent rules (all I know is basic strategy) / craps
4 What is the likely RTP for the slots there, I know it's bad, but how bad (like 80% rtp?)
link to original post

1) No need to gamble on ship. ncl does not report your coin-in to caesars
2) Don't play for free cruises. Play on cruise ship casino for fun (ie: if you're bored).
i find to get future offers, you need to earn at least 5k points per cruise. that's $25k coin-in.
*AND* your profit is less than theo. Ncl counts losses more.
so 25k x 12% theo (88% rtp) = $3k.
If your profit > $3k, you probably only get 20% off. But you already get 20% off for being a Caesar's Diamond.

You have to have a cruise in mind before calling them and asking for it to be free.
The free cruise they give you is around 30% of theo so if 25k coin-in, then cruise fare = $900 or less.
ncl usually drops prices last minute so a week before sail, prices might be $900 or less.
of course airfare will suck and eat up that savings. Best if you are within driving distance of a port.

3) best vp is 99% ddb at $5 denom ($25/spin).
they also have $1 stp 7/5 bp triple play so $18/spin. it's lower variance because triple play.
if you want to slum it, they have 5cent stp 6/5 bp 5play so $1.50/spin.

vp is $10 coin-in = 1 point. (slots is $5 coin-in)

4) i would range slots between 85% and 90% with vulturable slots being closer to machine minimum (ie: less than 85% if possible setting)

misc:
they have 3/2 bj, hit soft 17 but at $50min table, it's stand soft 17.
craps is $10min 3/4/5x odds, 'field 12' only pays double.
uth $10 min, trips is 8/6/5 (also $10 min). Avoid the pairs bet which is worse than roulette

Thanks for the info.

The VP seemed a little worse than what you said, but I didn't check the DDB. The duces wild on the Game King's was 20-12-9-4-4-3-2-1 for the lower bets and $5+ was 20-12-10 the poker star machines appeared to have horrible RTPs (but I didn't have a set of pay tables with me). The vulterable games felt much worse than normal but maybe it was just variance. The low limit BJ was 2-1, like wow, not even 6-5???

Overall a small casino and if they really don't report to Caesars then in the future (unless they treat me nice for what I did this trip) I'll just jump on anything that is REALLY juicy and forget the rest.

Quote: Talldude90

Thanks for the info.

The VP seemed a little worse than what you said, but I didn't check the DDB. The duces wild on the Game King's was 20-12-9-4-4-3-2-1 for the lower bets and $5+ was 20-12-10 the poker star machines appeared to have horrible RTPs (but I didn't have a set of pay tables with me). The vulterable games felt much worse than normal but maybe it was just variance. The low limit BJ was 2-1, like wow, not even 6-5???

Overall a small casino and if they really don't report to Caesars then in the future (unless they treat me nice for what I did this trip) I'll just jump on anything that is REALLY juicy and forget the rest.
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We used to find 98.5% games on NCL. DDB is usually the best game available now, but you might have to play the %5 denom to get the best pay tables. They also used to have shufflemaster BJ game with 4/6 deck penetration.

We normally play only slots now on NCL, though my SO enjoys checking UX games even at the 2-cent denom. We had a 15-day cruise recently where we both got enough coin-in on slots to each earn a bottle of wine (5000 points?). Wolf Run, Regal Riches, and Hex3 accounted for most of the play. The RD progressive barely moved the entire trip.

Quote: Mental

Wolf Run, Regal Riches, and Hex3 accounted for most of the play. The RD progressive barely moved the entire trip.
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Ncl might have nerfed these games recently since Summer 2023.

Regal: Lost $ at green = 82 and i got purple twice
wolf run: lost $ overall chasing mini or minor and i even started a little higher than my land casino #s
hex3: Bonus in col1 was 1 away @$4/spin and game was at like 1500 ways. Bonus paid squat. Lost $1000

Also, Pigs: So many times i only hit the Blue but i'm up on this game because i stopped playing unless Blue is in 20's

As for VP, if $5 ddb is too rich for your blood, there's $1 stp 7/5 bp triple play (98.25% return).
The Prima class ships has dstp but didn't check if it has 7/5 bp. if it does, then return is 98.5%.
But var = 51.5 for single line, which is more than ddb! (Don't know var for triple play dstp)