jiggs

I am a table game player as well, in my experience the table game points add up much more slowly than machine play. This is not uncommon for most casinos. I'm not sure I get credit for much more than 'he bought in for $200 and played a $10 game for an hour' as compared to 'he bought in for $250 starting with $10 hands and upped his bet to $25 a hand in BJ, or bet $30 a shooter for craps'. I just don't see the dealers or pit staff going in to the system to change rated play on the ship as I often do in land based casinos. I've heard if you are a good tipper and friendly to the dealers it may improve your rating, but that is all hearsay. He can track points in the hub app to get an idea of what he is earning if he is curious.

Thanks! I just Asked Jeeves about this new 'Google' you mentioned. Seems like there is potential there, I bet they'll be successful.

I"m sure this is covered somewhere 'round here but is the new menu fleet wide now, and if not is there a list of ships that have transitioned?

It is an industry that will be licking wounds from covid for a long time...debt to asset ratios are way out of line, debt to revenue is recovering but there is a long way to go. I just can't see more orders for new vessels without debt reduction at the CCL parent level.

just triple check when you are in line to get off the ship, as others have said, it really depends. I have been to ports where ship changed time to adjust to local time and have been on ships where it has not and you have to be back an hour before local time. I will say for the ports we have stopped where ship and local time are different they mad it abundantly clear....or just wear an old school watch with the ship time and ignore island time

they do leverage themselves with odds and crappy BJ rules...like the fact craps is 2x odds, you cannot maximize the player odds by betting 5x or 10x behind your bet. With that said, I see the shitty blackjack rules in my local casinos as well...side bets and 6:5 and so on. Casino carnival games are what they are, house edge is always up on 3 card, texas sud, hold 'em and so on....there is a reason they replaced blackjack felt. Roulette odds can't really change, they can just make you bet more per spin. So, gamblers beware, but I will still sit at a $10 blackjack game even with CSM and 6:5 because the alternative is not playing...I will play craps with low odds because unless the table is smoking hot, I'm not upping my odds enough to care about the bad back odds.

It includes one of each course, and in my experience one of each is A LOT of food. Portions in the steakhouse are larger than other dining options. Granted you cannot experience as much, but if you are there as a couple or more, you certainly can share starter courses to taste more options.

that sucks, not that I use that for my smugglers punch but my kiddo enjoys it and we sail on that ship soon.

cans are cool, bottles are not...no more than 12, 12 oz cans per adult in your party at your embark point or a given port.

perfect, thank you

I would head to lido on day 2 breakfast and find the bacon station, if there is not bacon station, run (don't walk) to MDR for BACON...then you can head to lido the next morning. Wash, rinise, repeat.

I know this comes up from time to time, but planning a bankroll for a trip in a couple weeks. Sailing on the Vista, wondering the table min on Craps and Blackjack. I know some of the excel class casinos upped their min on craps to $15, wondering if more of the fleet is seeing this or it is still at $10. Along that same line of questioning, I'm a sucker for the Smalls/All/Talls side bet, are these still $1 mins, or have they gone to a $5 for these spots as well? Thanks!

$5 each for any after your 2nd, so plan to pay $15 if you ordered 5.

sailed only once in 14 foot faces leaving Jamaica, the pilot boat would disappear between swells. I remember not sleeping well and attempting to open the balcony door 'to see how bad it was' - that idea lasted about 3 seconds... Hopefully it is a tail wind and you'll make it to your first port earlier!

If you need to practise to see if it works, I have a booking number that I'm happy to let you test it out!

really? that seems like quite the investment to get off the ship faster...I know it can be long, but that seems crazy.

maybe I'm in the minority, but I just add them to the cruise fare when booking and consider it part of the expense of the trip. I have to fly to my embarkation point so when I think of flights, meals, hotel, transportation, the cruise, excursions, and everything else it seems worrying about reducing tips is a stretch. Yes service is not what it once was, but I can say that about so many things in the hospitality industry. Not sure punishing those in the lowest ranks is the answer.

every port I've sailed from they have been charter buses like Coach USA or others. Post your embarkation port and people will be able to give you the exact answer to your question. Transportation at ports could be a totally different subject if you are planning to get further than walking distance from the ship.

that is a tough age bracket on the ship, nothing really formally planned, maybe some single mixers, but those are any age. Comedy, Karaoke, Piano Bar all all good options at night...on sea days it is just the normal stuff you mention unless they find others to meet up with in different areas of the ship. Take some cards or easy to pack games like bananagrams and maybe hang out on deck playing some games..? If she sleeps in, she just needs to fill afternoons of sea days, if she is an early riser, get up and grab chairs Lido mid-ship and people watch and have a good view of events on deck.

Looks like you are in AZ, where are you trying to get to for embarkation? Sky Harbor has great flight options, Mesa is home to Allegiant which I probably would not choose for a cruise, but the price could be compelling. As others have said, a lot of people will not encourage you to use airfare through the cruiseline, rarely is it less expensive and the largest downside is you are on their time table for departures not your own. Its good to do your research, depending on the size of your party, airfare can add a significant cost to your vacation - as a midwesterner I'm a 13 hour drive to my closest port so we often fly and it adds up quickly

could depend on how much time you're in the casino and how much you drink when you are not. If you can hit/exceed the 6 drinks per day to cover Cheers outside of the casino, go for it. If you will spend a lot of time in the casino, let them buy your drinks while you're there and get your own at other times. As for service in the casino, I find service at table games to be great. After night one they know my name and my drink even after only a round or three. Land based casinos seem to have designated areas of the casino they're covering, on the ship it seems like they're just looking to move drinks. Depending on the ship, slots are certainly spread out more and service can be spotty at best.

Punny

there will be so many scenarios around this topic that I think you may have a hard time finding a pattern. I get discounts, but extremely discounted trips are only for certain cruises, not any one I want to pick. I play tables and not machines so my points are usually lower than most people on here. A lot of people will argue that though your past play does matter, what CCL thinks you will play in the future really influences the offers. I think the only ones who truly know are in the marketing department of Carnival's Players Club. With all that typed, don't gamble to try to get future cruise offers/comps. If it is something you enjoy and it results in bounce back or future discounts, great. Otherwise it could be a very expensive attempt to get a future deal.

I've have come home even and gotten the offers, but only on very specific sailings. Likely ones CCL is trying to fill and maybe makes offers to players they normally would not ?!?!? I am primarily a table player, so I don't get nearly the points as those that I read about here that play primarily machines.