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How does the casino work and has anyone won anything?


Have you won at the onboard casino?  

132 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you won at the onboard casino?

    • No, I usually lose at the onboard casino
      44
    • Yes, I've won sometimes
      57
    • I've won cash
      25
    • I've won valuable prizes
      1
    • I've won a cruise
      3
    • I've gotten cabin upgrades, meals and such
      2


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Just wondering.

 

How early or late to gamble?

 

Do they take cash? Chips? Seapass/WOW band charge per bet?

 

Comp'd drinks or snacks?

 

Has anyone won cash? Trips? Mechandise? What games are there? Blackjack, roulette, poker, Pa'Chinko?

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On Royal, the casino only takes cash to get chips for live games or to play machines. You can also use cash out tickets in some machines. You can use your SeaPass card in some machines to accumulate player's points, but not to play the game.

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The casino is only open in the afternoons and evening, while at sea. Cash is what you need. There is BJ, Poker, Roulette, Craps. And, of course, slots galore.

 

Hubby won a little at BJ once....and a bit on Craps...but the slots are tight...really tight...and our last cruise, the BJ dealer NEVER, EVER lost....

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On our last cruise, on the last night, I had $30 in bills left. I said to DW, "I'll go and play blackjack with this" and she replied "don't come back unless you've won!".

 

.........returned to our cabin later..... "so did you lose?" . In reply, I gave her the $100 I then had in my pocket........the only time I came away ahead!

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I like to gamble and normally gamble a little every day, normally do not win, but will win sometimes, best to take cash , watched many people get chips with sea pass cards last week, would not do that they charge a extra 5 percent for this service. Do not believe they give any free drinks

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My husband plays craps. He typically plays every night. Some nights he's up hundreds. But over the course of the week it goes up and down. End of week total best he was up around $1k. Worst down $150. I think it's one of the better games to play on board if you know how. But he says it DOES have some betting restrictions he doesn't have at home.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I know this is ancient, but do they take travelers checks in the casino?

Don't know for sure about the casino, but they still take traveler's checks at Guest Services.

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The casino is only open in the afternoons and evening, while at sea. Cash is what you need. There is BJ, Poker, Roulette, Craps. And, of course, slots galore.

 

Hubby won a little at BJ once....and a bit on Craps...but the slots are tight...really tight...and our last cruise, the BJ dealer NEVER, EVER lost....

 

On sea days the slots are frequently operational in the morning and between 9 and 11am you can accrue double points. Table games usually open a bit later. Tightness of the slots seems to vary from day to day but your experiences may differ from ours.

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The casino is only open in the afternoons and evening, while at sea. Cash is what you need. There is BJ, Poker, Roulette, Craps. And, of course, slots galore.

 

Hubby won a little at BJ once....and a bit on Craps...but the slots are tight...really tight...and our last cruise, the BJ dealer NEVER, EVER lost....

 

Since when did they stop opening the Casino in the morning? A lot of our group are going to be very disappointed next month :confused::confused::eek:

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My husband plays craps. He typically plays every night. Some nights he's up hundreds. But over the course of the week it goes up and down. End of week total best he was up around $1k. Worst down $150. I think it's one of the better games to play on board if you know how. But he says it DOES have some betting restrictions he doesn't have at home.

 

And those betting restrictions you have on board are what give the house a much bigger advantage on sea. In my experiences, RCCL casinos only give the player the option to play single odds behind the pass line. That makes the house advantage 0.8% where most land-based casinos will offer *at least* full double odds which allows the player to drop that house edge to 0.6%. That's a 25% increase in the house advantage.

 

It's still not a bad bet. The pass line bet with single odds is still probably one of the best bets in the ship casino. Typically I don't like to play any bets with a house edge over 3% and the pass line is 0.8% so I'm fine. Blackjack is really the only thing close.

 

Another game that gets severely killed for the player on sea as opposed to land is video poker. It's really unfortunate for us because it's what my wife enjoys the most. We can find 9/6 pay tables in Vegas for just a 0.5% house edge but on the ship the best we can usually hope for is 8/5 which increases the house edge up to 2.7%. That's a 500% increase in the house edge over what we can do on land. It's really quite a disappointment.

 

Overall, when you go into a casino you know you're going into a losing proposition. You're buying the experience. The only money you should take into a casino is money that if - on a really really bad night - you lost it all you wouldn't be hampered much at all. Enjoy the experience, the drinks (on the ship - if you have a drink package), the camaraderie with your table mates (this is why you play craps!), and the fact that you're not at work.

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We almost always find the slots on cruise ships to be tighter than on land. They have a captive audience. You can't walk next door to a different casino.

 

But we have won. I won $4,000 on one hand playing Let It Ride on a Princess Cruise.

 

I filled out a survey during the afternoon of the last day on one cruise saying how disappointed I was in the slots and how much I'd lost. That night I won it all back.

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The casino is only open in the afternoons and evening, while at sea. Cash is what you need. There is BJ, Poker, Roulette, Craps. And, of course, slots galore.

 

Hubby won a little at BJ once....and a bit on Craps...but the slots are tight...really tight...and our last cruise, the BJ dealer NEVER, EVER lost....

 

Misinformation as usual........

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Since when did they stop opening the Casino in the morning? A lot of our group are going to be very disappointed next month :confused::confused::eek:

 

Slots generally open around 9am on sea days or on days when we are late to port (12pm or later). They are open as well when docked at a Royal Caribbean owned island (Coco Cay or Labadee). On port days, they open after the ship leaves port, although when we stayed late at Nassau, the casino opened at 7pm even though we didn't leave until midnight.

 

Don't worry...they will give you plenty of opportunity to donate! ;p

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IMHO - its no different than any other casino. On one cruise, I won $1000 on Wheel of Fortune. On my last cruise, I was down almost all my gambling funds, and on the last night on one machine I won it all back and a little extra. I see it as entertainment, not a retirement or vacation paying plan. I take a certain amount, if I walk away with nothing - well, I had fun! No different to me than dropping money at the movies or an amusement park.

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Our first cruise about 17 years ago was a reposition from Miami to Rome, on Norwegian Dream, so lots of sea days.

On the third day, walking through the casino, I put $20 in a slot and dropped $5000. As we're Brits, no tax.

The following day, same thing, walking through the casino and my DW says "go on, have another go". So I put $10 in the machine next to the previous days, and won $3000.

We've done quite well on cruises, more often than not nearly winning enough to clear the cabin account.

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The casino is only open in the afternoons and evening, while at sea. Cash is what you need. There is BJ, Poker, Roulette, Craps. And, of course, slots galore.

 

Hubby won a little at BJ once....and a bit on Craps...but the slots are tight...really tight...and our last cruise, the BJ dealer NEVER, EVER lost....

 

No...the casino is open in the morning and so are the slots. Table games may open a little later.

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I think RCI still has non-smoking on formal nights, something like 5pm to midnight -- not sure of the exact time. Other than that, the casino can be rather smoky, even in the non-smoking areas.

 

As for winning, I've lost much more than I've won, but I have come out ahead on about 5 of my 30+ cruises, mostly playing slots.

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Just wondering.

 

Do they take cash? Chips? Seapass/WOW band charge per bet?

 

They love cash. If you are Club Royale, generally you can get $3000 or more on your SeaPass at the Casino Cashier, interest free. The Casino Host my float you more money. Those not in Club Royal pay 5% to cash OBC.

 

Comp'd drinks or snacks?

 

Drinks if Club Royale or Casino Host my give you comped drinks while playing. Some limits imposed. Never have seen anyone having a snack while playing,

 

Has anyone won cash? Trips? Mechandise? What games are there? Blackjack, roulette, poker, Pa'Chinko?

 

They used to give comp Speciality Dinning, shirts, and other merchandise but was eliminated with the rollout of the new Club Royale last Spring (2016)

 

See above

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