Carnival now 3/2 Black Jack payouts only on $25 minimum tables?

I understand from another thread that Carnival is now only paying out 3/2 on BlackJack on $25 and up tables. Last year, when I was on the Valor, the $6 BlackJack game had the 6/5 payout but the $10 regular BlackJack tables had the 3/2. Has anyone figured out how many hours @ $25 per hand it takes to earn the 1500 points (or table game equivalent) for Drinks on Us card, and by extension the 5,000 (again, or table game equivalent) required for casino cruise offers?

I understand from another thread that Carnival is now only paying out 3/2 on BlackJack on $25 and up tables. Last year, when I was on the Valor, the $6 BlackJack game had the 6/5 payout but the $10 regular BlackJack tables had the 3/2. Has anyone figured out how many hours @ $25 per hand it takes to earn the 1500 points (or table game equivalent) for Drinks on Us card, and by extension the 5,000 (again, or table game equivalent) required for casino cruise offers?

Hi Jonathan,

I generally play the UTH (Ultimate Texas Holdem) table and have the following observations…

It has taken me around 10 hours of play on the table (with no slots) to hit 1500 points. 10 hours is end of the second night of play (5 hours per night). I average $50 per hand on UTH but only see half as many hands as a BJ player so should be comparable to a BJ player averaging $25/hand.

I received the old PMB bounce backs on most of my 2016 cruises (PMB was free interior <5000 points so no DOU card until earned). I received my first PMI (>5000 points last December) but had 3 sea days on the cruise so many hours in the casino. Today in place of the old PMB it looks like they hand out OHM for <5000 points which has you pay $200 to $400 for an interior depending on the length of the cruise.

Hope this helps.

Re: the pay-outs. On EVERY cruise, I gently chastise the casino host and ask him to take these messages to his boss and bosses' boss:

1)return ALL tables to 3/2 BJ pay-outs. I would play longer at lower limits if they did so. As it is, I refuse to play 6/5 tables and more than once they have had to OPEN a $25 table where I played by myself.

2)have a reward system that looks and feels more like land-based casinos. With clear thresholds and more transparency.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I think they rate the $25 tables lower than the other tables. We met a couple guys that only played $25 on our last cruise and they said did not get any type of bounce back offer while we played 10-15 per hand of the 6/5 along with some $25 and both got one. I think they were in the casino as much or more than we were. I assume it matters somewhat but you would think the higher limit probably compensates. One of the guys (I think they were brothers) was up big on the cruise and the other said he only lost 5 or 600 over the 7 days.