Racer26
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Posts posted by Racer26
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See you on board @A&L_Ont. We've been waiting out Dorian in Land o Lakes, FL since Saturday
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I wonder why it's in port and not at sea - it's definitely big enough it would have required special permission to remain when the port went condition Zulu.
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It's obviously going to be expensive during the week that everyone and their brother is trying to rebook. It's like airplane pricing. If you book the flight when *everyone* wants to book it, it's expensive.
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6 minutes ago, JTJT1 said:
The issue that Im having is, I cant find anything in the same price range for a future cruise. I booked myself, husband, and two kids under Kids Sail Free. My son turns 13 in December, so I need to cruise before then. And wait for another KSF promo. Even pricing out the same ship in the same room category for just the 2 of us on any sail date is at minimum $460 more on a 4 day.
If they would transfer our reservation to any date of their choice I would be more than content.
So wait for another sale like you did when you booked this one. Royal literally bombards my inbox a dozen times a week with sale offers. Surely one will suffice soon enough.
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2 hours ago, bclinton said:
I feel sorry for the folks that are ok with getting screwed over and find it perfectly acceptable to pay for something and not receive it......do you really think the cruise lines do not buy insurance themselves for situations like this and are not made whole through the policy?
You aren't paying for anything. They gave you 100% back in future cruise vouchers.
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For those of us Canadians it's also nice because by pairing it with Canadian Thanksgiving, we can save a vacation day from work.
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11 minutes ago, bclinton said:
That's exactly what I want. A full refund should be a given when a hurricane impacts a cruise. How in the world are people supposed to even get to Miami? Giving FCC to folks that have no idea whether or not they will be able to use it in the coming year is ridiculous. Missing out on the cruise is bad enough but having it stuck to you with no refund just salts the wound....
Expecting a cash refund is ridiculous.
They're giving you 100% of your value back in a future voyage.
Or 6/7ths of it back and you still get to go.
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17 minutes ago, thrifty99 said:
Is Harmony slower than Navigator? They will be in Cozumel on Monday and back in Miami on Wednesday. Doesn’t that mean Harmony could be in Cozumel Friday and back at Port Canaveral by Sunday if they can sail at similar speeds?
That compass isn't Cozumel on Friday - it's Costa Maya Friday, and tomorrow (Saturday) Cozumel - being Saturday. Can't be in Cozumel on Saturday and Port Canaveral on Sunday
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11 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:
Miami and Port Everglades went X-RAY too. Hmmm..
And anticipate going Yankee tomorrow..ughhhh
Well I mean, thats kind of how these things work - going XRAY is ~24hr ahead of going YANKEE by definition
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4 minutes ago, smplybcause said:
Pretty sure the previous poster meant to say 'now' rather than 'not'. I checked PC's website, they've definitely set condition XRAY as of 3pm today.
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Seems a bit premature for PC to set condition XRAY, no?
XRAY is supposed to be 48 hr to gale force winds, and with the latest models showing winds not coming until sometime on Sunday, thats >48 hrs out still.
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I've had these chips on my last two cruises (Explorer, AK RT Seattle, early Sept, and Grandeur, SE&Bahamas RT Baltimore, November), both paid as free play from my points earned through the voyage.
On Explorer, they had this silly even money bets only rule (reminiscent of the old match play coupons.)
On Grandeur, they said these chips are chips as any other and can be played anywhere.
If I *pay* $2000 of my real money for these chips, they will be allowing me to play them as cash chips anywhere, or I will be raising proper hell.
Seems to be like anything with RCI, nobody knows how it's supposed to work and there is no consistency across the fleet for how these things are administered.
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Why wouldn't I? Statistically, I'm going to lose less than the $200 in the process of losing all the promo chips. The math is very clear on this.
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Gone from my upcoming cruises too. Wish I had pulled the trigger. Maybe it'll come back.
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And further emails saying that no, all 2200 will be promo.
Seems about like usual. Miami made some half-baked decision and the staff on the ships are left to pick up the pieces
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From my family currently on-board Serenade, their casino host says the promo starts next voyage, and will be handled as $2k in cash chips, + $200 in promo chips.
I'm pretty sure I would've done it even if it was $2200 in promo chips.
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18 minutes ago, Welly9 said:
Another thing you fail to mention...Fun & Entertainment, the Whole cruise is for fun and entertainment, relaxing! When you start to calculate averages, and winning vs losing odds, why are you there then? Where is the fun in that? I go with a set amount, gambling is gambling, doesnt matter how you want to slice and dice it, I play craps most of all, why? the best odds, thats all I care about. Sometime I will sit at a poker table to banter with others, sometimes just sit at a slot machine and go at my own pace...
I gamble because I enjoy it.
I know the odds because I want to gamble longer for my $.
I play pass and not don't on craps because it's generally more *fun* and it's not *that* much worse in terms of house edge.
At home many years ago we had a scratch ticket promotion that was run and in addition to the ticket being a $2 scratcher that paid about average for those, it had a section you could win $5, $10, $25, or $50 in free slot play at the local casino. I ran the numbers on it and proved there was an advantage to be had there for a smart player - I made $10k over the course of a couple months going to the casino almost every day and knowing I'd walk out a winner. Was *awesome*. By the end I had bought almost 1% of all the tickets that were printed.
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Except that you aren't losing 86cents per loss. You're losing $15 when you lose, and winning $17-25 when you win. On average you lose 86 cents. Only takes 140ish $15 losses to lose $2200 worth of wagers. Given you lose about half the time, 300 resolved wagers should do it. In craps, a pass line wager rarely takes more than 5 minutes to resolve. That's 25 hours. On my last few week long cruises I spent over 40 hours in the casino. Very doable.
Certainly over a shorter run than millions of trials the variance is higher. That's why I mentioned the variance - on blackjack as I said, 95% of the time you're going to be within 2 std deviations of the average after 440 trials, which is about $120. All of this is very calculable. If you play the promo chips only until you lose them all, and then leave, on blackjack or pass line or other low-edge wagers, you will come out with more money than the $2k you spent more than 95% of the time. For this to work the way royal intends, the gambler must continue wagering after that. And most probably will.
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I am considering doing it with both the slot and table offer on my next voyage. Would like to see how someone who does it is handled first before I commit to $4k though.
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25 minutes ago, IceBearFloats said:
Any tips and pointers on working one up to this? I usually walk away up, few dollars, nothing week changing -- but I get ZILCH. Typically do table games, but always hear people on the penny slots getting $500+ vouchers and free cruises. Would love to join this rank and file!
If you want to do that, basically slots are how you do it. Table games pay points much more slowly. Roulette and Three card poker pay points much faster than blackjack and craps. My 2500 table points on that voyage, I was in the casino most of the hours it was open to get them.
2400 points combined on the tables and slots over a voyage gets you a free cruise in an inside cabin. 3600 is ocean view, 4800 is balcony.
You can ask the casino host to check how many points you have at any time.
IIRC 1200 gets you free drinks in the casino for the remainder of your current voyage, and 2500 points in a calendar year gets you "prime" tier status, which automatically gives free drinks on each voyage plus one free cruise in an inside cabin on any 8nt sailing that doesn't cross a US Federal holiday per year.
In my case, my last 3 voyages got a balcony, ocean view and balcony voucher, and I lost $6k, $4.5k and $2.2k respectively. Basically, I end up prepaying for my next cruise generally. Given enough trials I'm sure I'll come home up one time.
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In the slots, they give you 1 point per $5 wagered.
On my last voyage, I had apx 2400 slot points. That means I wagered over $10k on the slots. Including my table play as well (which earns points slower), I had an additional 2500 points or so. Over the course of the 9nt voyage, I lost $2200 net. I made well over $20,000 in wagers. I admit I'm a higher level player, but basically any "prime" tier player will play enough to churn the chips.
If you're a player that is consistently coming home with free cruise vouchers, I can all but guarantee you that you have enough churn in your wagering to convert the chips, while giving up less than the 10% bonus.
Most games have a house edge of under 3%. Playing the promo chips only until you lose them, over enough trials, you should only lose around 3%, but they gave you 10% extra, so you should on average end up with around 107% of the $2k - about $2140. If you played 440 hands of $5 blackjack for your $2200 in wagers, 95% of the time, you would be within $120 of that average.
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Yep. Contrabetting is a technique devised to clear these types of bonuses by simultaneously betting on opposite outcomes, guaranteeing half of your bets win. Player/banker on baccarat or pass/don't pass on craps are both better ways to do it than red/black on roulette.
I'm pretty sure you'll get the full value in non-cashable chips. Nonetheless, the 10% extra on the 2k package should be enough to overcome the house edge, even on the crappy rule-sets the cruise ship casinos play under. Statistically, if you played your $2200 only until you lost the promo chips, and never played any cash chips, you should have more than $2000 at the end on average, and have played through $2200 worth of playing. I would absolutely take this deal, as long as I can use the chips anywhere I can use cash chips, and get the $2200 in $5 chips.
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You would be preferentially wagering and losing the promo chips over real chips. It's trivial to play through $2000 of losing wagers on substantially less net change in bankroll. It would be one hell of a heater if after the week you still had any promo chips.
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1 minute ago, WahtDa said:
The biggest question that is NOT in the fine print is how promo chips work. If you win your wager and you still lose your promo chip, then this deal is NOT worth it because if you win you break even until you've 'played through' all your chips. I would NEVER play a game where if you lose you lose, and you win you tie. Also, that is how promo chips have worked in every casino I've been in, but I've never had the option of purchasing them.
As I said. I have used the promo chips (albeit acquired as free play from points earned) in Royal's casinos in the last month. They are wagered, and stay on the betting spot when you win just like cash chips do. They work like regular cash chips in every other regard except that you cannot exchange them for cash.
Keep wagering them until you lose.
Harmony Live, August 25th to September 8th - A few more days drifting away...
in Royal Caribbean International
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That many? I expected it to be a very light load, given all the people who would've canceled rather than wait it out in FL.