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Bad blackjack rules in NCL casinos


Zimomiller

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Spent two weeks on the Jade this summer. I was looking forward to playing blackjack every night in the casino on our trip.

 

What a rude surprise to find NCL casinos have decided to screw their customers by changing the rules even more in their favor by only paying 6-5 on blackjacks.

 

Asked the casino manager when they changed those rules and they told me it was last August.

 

Granted, they will say that those rules are only on $5 tables, but I was still in the casino every night playing craps or poker and I looked regularly for BJ tables that were not $5 tables. Occasionally there would be $50 tables off in the corner with no one at them. I never played BJ that cruise.

 

Not sure if this change was made fleetwide or only in Europe.

 

Buyer beware.

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It's 6-to-5 on $5 BJ on the Jewel, too. Also, I can't stand the continuous shufflers.

 

I ended up playing quite a bit of BJ on the machine in the Spinnaker Lounge. Still pays 3-to-2 and there's no smoking allowed (a big plus for me). I did fairly well on that machine.

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Don't you get a new shuffle on every hand on a Blackjack machine? That is in favor of the house. I quit playing BJ when casinos went to multiple decks or reshuffled after 2 or 3 hands.

If you mean the machine in the Spinnaker Lounge, then no, it does not reshuffle after every hand. It deals from a 6-deck shoe and reshuffles after 2/3 of the shoe has been dealt. I understand what you mean about multiple decks but that's the way it is nowadays - you will rarely find a single deck or 2-deck table any more. Between dealers hitting soft 17s, the house reducing BJ odds to 6-to-5, and the use of continuous shufflers, I have been playing less and less myself.

 

As for the continuous shufflers, I had a discussion with the Casino Manager of the Jewel. Here's his explanation of how they work - the shuffler is loaded with 6 decks. Inside the machine, the decks are divided into slots that hold 9 cards apiece. As hands are completed and the dealer collects the cards and feeds them back into the shuffler, the shuffler does reshuffle all the cards that are inside the machine (minus the current slot of 9 cards).

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  • 3 months later...

Many of the casinos in Vegas have moved to 6:5 as well. Way to trim a bit of the house edge. This gives the house an extra 1.39% edge. If course, if you are one of those players that never seems to get a BJ anyways.

 

As to continuous shufflers. Unless you are a card counter, it makes no difference as far as the odds. The house does make more, but only because they can deal more hands per hour vs. having down time to shuffle. Again, a counter does make a difference.

 

Yea, I have noticed they always seem to have a higher limit table open with a guy standing there doing nothing. I guess if they can get somebody to even play a few minutes an hour, they get their money!

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I don't usually count, so I can live with the shuffler.

I really dislike 6:5, but I can cope with a slightly higher minimum if it means getting the better rules.

I also really dislike dealers hitting on soft 17.

 

If all the tables are 6:5 and dealer hitting soft 17... That could be enough to stop me from playing.

 

Last time I was in Vegas a couple years ago, I really had to hunt for the tables with regular rules. They count on more naive gamblers who don't really know the difference.

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On the Jade over Christmas - it was 6:5 for the Wheel of Fortune BJ Game and paid 1 1/2 on the lucky ladies black jack game - I just playing on the lucky ladies game for the better payout..

 

The whole casino had crappy rakes - like the poker table had a 10% rake to $25 - unbelievable for most poker players - but the table was full every night - it was the only game in town - I was at it almost every night too!

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It's 6-to-5 on $5 BJ on the Jewel, too. Also, I can't stand the continuous shufflers.

 

I ended up playing quite a bit of BJ on the machine in the Spinnaker Lounge. Still pays 3-to-2 and there's no smoking allowed (a big plus for me). I did fairly well on that machine.

 

We loved that machine on the Dawn and it payed really well... is it the one with the digitall ladies that looked like Bond girls? Haha!

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I felt I was getting taken every time I got a blackjack. Carnival pays back $15 on a $10 bet. NCL pays back $12.50 on a $10 bet.

 

NCL's BJ tourny is not too much better. On Carnival, it is over within a couple of hours, NCL stretches it out over the entire cruise. On Carnival, if you beat the leader board you get on it. On NCL, only the top player at the table can get on the board even though there are other players who may have had a higher chip count than the board.

 

Carnival guarentees a $500 pot. NCL it is based on the number of entries. I ended up winning $472.50.

 

Dave

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I felt I was getting taken every time I got a blackjack. Carnival pays back $15 on a $10 bet. NCL pays back $12.50 on a $10 bet.

Just to be clear, the 6-to-5 BJ payout does not apply to all the tables, just the lower-limit ones. Also, it would be $12 for a $10 bet.

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  • 3 weeks later...
It's 6-to-5 on $5 BJ on the Jewel, too. Also, I can't stand the continuous shufflers. ....

 

 

Well THAT is what I was looking for! I was wondering what NCL's blackjack rules were versus RCCL... I'm shopping for my next cruise & WAS considering giving NCL another try since they have a New Orleans departure as opposed to Galveston.

 

I won't play continuous shufflers...

6-5 blackjack is pretty ridiculous... they make enough money as it is & a blackjack payout is typically minimal compared to a well paying split pairs with double down after split.

 

I guess the cruiseline wouldn't really care much if people who know how to play & can even the odds don't play. But, if I'm not on board, I'm not paying to nickel, dime, wine, & dine, now am I? Maybe the marketeers should think about how to get people ON the ships, not push them away? JMO

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In December on the Jewel, I had a real problem with the Casino in general. Higher minimums, grumpy / non-fun dealers, odds/paybacks reduced.

 

I still played but it was not a fun environment as I typically enjoy. I had to work all week to get back my losses from first night. I probably spent less time in the casino than normal for these reasons.

 

Craps table was not busy at all - Overall experience was weird.

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