Norwegian gem - feb 2015 - trip report

[Dicenator]

NORWEGIAN GEM - FEB 2015 - TRIP REPORT

 

This was a 10 night cruise departing Manhattan on Friday Jan. 30th and returning on Monday Feb. 9th. The itinerary was San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Martin and Tortola. The first leg going to San Juan was a 3 days at sea. The first 2 days heading South the winds were 50 to 60 mph and they caused the seas to be 25 to 30 feet high and the ship at times was rolling plus or minus 20 degrees. I remember being in the casino and looking out the window you could see the waves higher than the 6th deck when the ship rolled that way. My wife was so scared that she was talking about flying home from Tortola rather than risking a return with the same conditions. In the Caribbean the weather was beautiful, sun, tropical breezes and temperatures from 75 in the morning to maybe 82 in the afternoon. The last day on the return leg the winds were high again and the ship was rocking and rolling all day long. She ended up staying in our stateroom and never left it even for dinner. I brought her a dinner from the buffet, roast beef and the smell of the meat made her feel nauseous so she had no dinner the last night.

 

There's nothing new to report on any of our island visits and I've covered them all in previous trip reports. In Tortola they are building a new dock for the cruise ships so we had to be tendered to land. They used the life boats to do this which is something I've been suggesting they do for years now. You would not want to be on a lifeboat for real with a hundred fifty or so other passengers for more than an hour.

 

We had the ultimate dining package which covered us at any of the extra cost specialty restaurants on the ship the whole week. We ate at La Cuchina (Italian), Cagneys (steakhouse), Brazilian steakhouse and Le Bistro (French). We had a choice of the dining package, a drink package or a $200 credit.

 

Whenever you cruise out of New York the passenger list is like a little United Nations. There were passengers from everywhere on the ship. I heard languages being spoken that I can't even begin to guess where they're from. There were extremely few children on this cruise probably less than 30. The vast majority were definitely seniors 60 plus and older. There were a lot of electric scooters and canes all over the place.

 

Now for the casino. This was my third cruise on this ship and my dice throwing was really good on the 2 previous cruises. Well it was good on this cruise also. On either the 4th or 5th night I broke my previous record of 54 throws in a hand which was set on this same ship in 2011. I had a 65 throw hand using a Parr throw with my left hand from SR1. This was totally unexpected. For some reason I got into the zone and every throw was identical landing within one inch of my target throw after throw. In total I had 10 hands that were 25 throws or more during this cruise.

 

The craps table was 12 feet long with a micro fiber layout. The layout was somewhat different than the last time I was on this ship in 2013. It was a multi-colored green and they used dark blue dice except for the last day when they brought out red dice. The table bounce was normal and the rail height was also normal. The table had a $5 minimum and $300 maximum bet levels and the odds were 3X, 4X, 5X. All of the dealers on this cruise were great and they were really appreciative of tokes. The craps table was open for longer times than any other ship that I've been on. On the at sea days it would open around 11 or 11:30 in the morning. In the evening after dinner it would always be open by 7:30. There were not too many craps players so I didn't have to leave the table too many times. I had over 100 hands during the 10 days and probably could have doubled that number.

 

Here are my throwing results:

 

METHOD HAND # THROWS # POINTS # CO WINS

 

DAY #1

 

UH RIGHT 7 4

UH RIGHT 25 4

UH RIGHT 7 1 1

 

DAY #2

 

UH RIGHT 30 3 6

UH RIGHT 9 1 3

UH RIGHT 5 1 1

UH RIGHT 3

UH RIGHT 9 1 1

UH RIGHT 5 1

UH RIGHT 15 1 4

UH RIGHT 6 1

 

DAY #3

 

UH RIGHT 17 1 1

UH RIGHT 16 2 1

UH RIGHT 5

UH RIGHT 9

UH RIGHT 8 1

UH RIGHT 5

UH RIGHT 9 2

UH RIGHT 32 5 9

UH RIGHT 10

UH RIGHT 8 1 2

UH RIGHT 10 1 2

UH RIGHT 4

PARR LEFT 9

UH RIGHT 11

UH RIGHT 10

UH RIGHT 6 1

UH RIGHT 10 1 1

UH RIGHT 3

 

DAY #4

 

UH RIGHT 13 1 1

UH RIGHT 6 1

UH RIGHT 7

UH RIGHT 19

UH RIGHT 25 3 2

UH RIGHT 13 1

UH RIGHT 10 2

UH RIGHT 8

UH RIGHT 10 1

UH RIGHT 7 1 3

UH RIGHT 8

UH RIGHT 9 1

PARR RIGHT 20 2

PARR RIGHT 21 2 3

PARR RIGHT 15 4 2

PARR RIGHT 16 3 1

 

DAY #5

 

PARR RIGHT 9 1

PARR RIGHT 15 2 1

PARR RIGHT 20 2 5

PARR RIGHT 4 2

PARR LEFT 5

UH RIGHT 7

UH RIGHT 5 2

PARR LEFT 65 6 4

 

DAY #6

 

UH RIGHT 17 3

UH RIGHT 5 1

UH RIGHT 6 1

UH RIGHT 30 3 1

UH RIGHT 10 2

PARR LEFT 3 1

PARR RIGHT 13 2 1

 

DAY #7

 

UH RIGHT 12 2

UH RIGHT 7

PARR LEFT 9 1

PARR LEFT 3

UH RIGHT 4

PARR LEFT 18 2

PARR LEFT 6

UH RIGHT PSO

PARR LEFT 16 2 1

UH RIGHT 20 3

UH RIGHT 5 1 1

UH RIGHT 18 1 1

UH RIGHT 30 4 4

 

DAY #8

 

UH RIGHT 11 1

UH RIGHT 10 1 2

UH RIGHT 14 1 4

UH RIGHT 14 1 1

UH RIGHT 26 3 4

UH RIGHT 29 3 2

UH RIGHT 6 1

UH RIGHT 5

UH RIGHT 17 2 1

 

DAY #9

 

UH RIGHT 6

UH RIGHT 8

UH RIGHT 7 1 3

UH RIGHT 5

PARR LEFT 8 1 2

UH RIGHT 6 1

UH RIGHT 6

UH RIGHT 6 1 1

UH RIGHT 14 1

UH RIGHT 36 7 1

UH RIGHT 7

UH RIGHT 9 1 1

PARR LEFT 6

 

DAY #10

 

UH RIGHT 5

PARR RIGHT 11 1

UH RIGHT 8 1 1

UH RIGHT 7

D MAGIC LEFT 15 1

UH RIGHT 4

PARR LEFT 13 2 2

UH RIGHT 5 1 1

UH RIGHT 15 3 1

UH RIGHT 12 1 1

UH RIGHT 7 1 1

UH RIGHT 9 1

PARR LEFT 6

PARR LEFT 12 1 1

PARR RIGHT 9 1

UH RIGHT 6 1 1

UH RIGHT 19 1

UH RIGHT 7

UH RIGHT 17 1 1

UH RIGHT 9 2 1

PARR LEFT 21 3 3

 

 

During the 10 days on this cruise I played 116 hands and made 128 points for a ratio of 1.103 points made per hand. In addition I made 118 come out winners for a ratio of 1.017 wins per hand.

 

The last day of the cruise was not too good in my opinion. I was coming down with a cold and the ship was rocking and rolling so much that it affected my ability to throw the dice. There was also the change in the dice themselves from the dark blue which was used all week to the red dice on the last day. I made money on the cruise being somewhere north of $500 but gave a lot of that back at other table games and the slots.

 

Despite breaking my personal record with the 65 throw hand and having at least one 25 plus hand every day except the last day I was disappointed in my throwing. I expected much more consistency. Considering how little I've practiced and played over the last 6 months, I'm not disappointed and I would go on this ship again maybe later this year.

 

 

Dicenator

[Artemus]

I figured out UH is Underhanded. What is PARR and D Magic?

[Dicenator]

PARR is an overhand on axis throw. You try to have both dice traveling totally in synchronization with each other. They would be at the same height, rotating together and landing side by side on the table and then bouncing into the wall.

 

DICE MAGIC is an off axis throw where you set the dice to an all sevens set and attempt to get the dice to bounce out of the all seven set upon landing so that you don't get a 7 out.

 

My main way of throwing is Underhand from Stick Right using my right hand. The Parr throw is the first throw that I learned and I can still throw it very competently with either my right hand or left hand from either side of the stick man. If you read my report closely you'll see that it was this throw using my left hand from the stick right position that I set my new personal record with the 65 throw hand.

 

Dicenator

[skeeter195]

I saw you with your note pad early in the cruise and was going to ask if you were Dicenator, but then I said to myself, what are the odds? Anyway, congrats on the win. I was playing solo alot of times at not only craps, but blackjack and pai gow also. I was the guy on the last day that came in on your right, made 1 come bet around 7:00 and then they opened the left side for me because they know that is my preferred side. I am sorry for slowing the game when you were throwing a bit as they were having trouble with making change for me. I was only there for your roll, my roll, then the guy back on your side who was in the corner, he had a great roll for me. I really like the gem and that table. This was my 3rd cruise within the last year on her. Next time I will say hello.

[Grandpaul]

The Gem is my favorite ship to gamble on. Never seem to hit an extended cold spell. The Dawn is also one of my favorites. Just below the Gem. We took my son and his wife on the Gem for their anniversary and we had a suite with 2 bedrooms. One was big and beautiful. The second bedroom was small with bunk bed. It was a one night cruise and we gave the master bedroom to our son/wife. We slept in the bunk beds and it was a bit small to say the least. We woke up in the morning and checked on our fellow cruisers and they weren't in their room. They stayed up all night playing blackjack and won thousands. But they did buy us a buffet breakfast on the ship. LOL.

[tompeter]

Thanks for the report!