Why did RCCL discontinue horse racing game?

[brenderlou]

Going through other posts that mention the poolside horse racing game. It was so much fun to see groups with their horse during the cruise and then being able to bet on the races.

Does anyone know why this game was discontinued?

[WhenIsLobsterNight]

I am just guessing, but I think the size of the ships killed it. The pool deck is already vastly overcrowded and horse racing packed them in to watch. There use to be all kinds of pool games throughout the week. Best t shirt contest, sexiest man, belly flop, horse racing, costume contests etc. There were daily events like these every single day of the cruise. Now they seem to try and limit the number of people by the pool and have only a few of these events per week. I think it is simply an issue of crowding. These things flowed better with smaller ships.

[Dinkachu]

We loved first watching, then racing a horse on RCCL. We brought things from home to decorate our horse.

 

Crowds became sparse over the years, and the last time we had a horse race, there were very few of us participating. So, I believe it was a lack on interest that killed horse racing on RCCL.

 

Perhaps, if there is a renewed interest, they will bring it back.

[MADflyer]

I think Horse Racing has even disappeared from the luxury lines.

 

They used to have daily events that involved some pretty heavy gambling. I never experienced the RCI version.

 

I seem to remember that each team moved forward on dice rolls or something. There was a pot to be won, but then there was also wagers placed. This would be run by the same team that would run bingo.

 

I had sometimes wondered if it was due to the fact of the lines taking over their own casinos in the case of the luxury lines.

[ryano]

I think Dan Dan the Party man (Dan Whitney) still does it on his ships. He did on Radiance anyway. of course, thats been 4 years ago. :o I do recall a post not so long ago that mentioned he still does it.

Edited August 12, 2015 by ryano

[sellwingri]

Before moving it to the pool deck, they used to have horse racing in the same place that they play Bingo (usually in the big room next to the Schooner Bar). I would love to see it come back.

[bouhunter]

Last time we saw it 5-6 years ago most of the contestants were so sh$t faced drunk they were about to fall over.

 

Just a thought but maybe one reason it's been phased out as it seems it was mostly about the contestants, there wasn't really much to attract others to watch like some other pool things (belly flop, etc).

[LMaxwell]

No idea why. It was very popular and got people to cough up money.

[garnetpalmetto]

OK, not to be that guy or to fly my n00b flag too high, but what was the horse racing game?

[Ren1216]

OK, not to be that guy or to fly my n00b flag too high, but what was the horse racing game?

 

Funny :D

 

I can only tell you what it is on Princess, and assume it's basically the same on RC. There are 6 wooden horses and a "track" which consists of a lane for each horse and a particular number of spaces. The host has 2 dice, one is for which horse # and the other is the spaces he will advance. They roll both dice, say it's a 4 and a 2... horse #4 moves 2 spaces. Passengers place bets on the horses before the race begins and collect a cash prize if their horse is the winner. On RC, passengers decorated their horse.... not sure if you had to get a group together and 'buy' your horse (to enter), or what? But that's the gist.

[GUT2407]

Two reasons spring to mind,

 

A. Simply to give it a break

 

B. not enough people wanted it

[George C]

All the cruise lines had it in the 80's and now none do, I thought they were fun

[BekkaW]

We had the horse racing on Radiance this January and Voyager in 2013. Perhaps they have kept it on Australia cruises only! Many Australians do love to bet on horse racing, both on the ship and on shore.

[Ren1216]

We had it on Crown Princess in 2014. Too bad RC dropped it, we thought it was fun too.

[emeraldcity]

I think lack of interest, as evidenced by the auction price. When I first watched in in '88, the horses at the auction for the Owner's Race were going to 400-600. Last time I saw it they were struggling to auction them off at 50-75.

[Paul65]

I think lack of interest, as evidenced by the auction price. When I first watched in in '88, the horses at the auction for the Owner's Race were going to 400-600. Last time I saw it they were struggling to auction them off at 50-75.

 

I agree. Despite a number of people saying they miss it, overall, I think it just got to be old and lost popularity. I remember, even in my early days of cruising (early 90s), thinking it was kind of silly, but there was a small group of passengers who were really into it.

 

I think the number who were "really into it" kept shrinking to the point that it was dropped.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Paul65

[kevink]

I always assumed that it was dropped because RCI didn't like to see money being bet on the horse racing instead of getting dropped in the casino. But I have no idea. It always seemed popular to me way back when.

[Desert Cruizers]

They had it on the Radiance last year during our Transpacific. In fact they had quite a few pool events, probably because we had a lot of sea days from Wellington to the south Pacific Islands and again after Tahiti to Lahaina.

[Ren1216]

I think lack of interest, as evidenced by the auction price. When I first watched in in '88, the horses at the auction for the Owner's Race were going to 400-600. Last time I saw it they were struggling to auction them off at 50-75.

 

Yikes, please disregard my earlier post. Apparently RC does it MUCH different than PCL. :o

[sr4mjc]

We had horse racing in the Centrum on the Radiance in Alaska, in 2013. Was a lot of fun, I got to be a 'jockey'.