Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

My understanding is that the machines are set to pay out a certain % of every dollar bet.  Some machines will return, for example, 98 cents of every dollar spent over time.  Other machines may only return 90 cents of every dollar spent.  This is all controlled by the software program within the machine, in compliance with whatever gaming commission is in charge in that location.  Land based casinos supposedly put the high payout machines near the entrances so that there is a lot of winning on these machines (lots of bells and coins dinging in the tray) to get people to come into the casino.  No idea if this is true on a cruise ship.

This is all essentially true. I worked in IT for a regional gaming company for about 5 years before it split out and sold it's casino operations to one of the huge gaming companies, and only kept a couple management locations. Anyway, I was traveling once with the guy who was in more or less in charge of slot machines. Yes, the payouts are all controlled by computer algorithms. The programming has to be certified (or whatever) by gaming commissions. They are also different depending on floor location, even on the same machine. Typically the ones on the aisle or in high traffic areas will be programmed to payout less frequently, but in larger amounts. The ones tucked away will be programmed to payout more frequently, but in smaller amounts. Over time, the total payout will be essentially the same. The house edge could be as little as 1%. It's all about maximizing the total number of dollars bet. They don't care about individual bets, they care about the total numbers. Even on 1%, if they get $1,000,000,000 bet in a year, that's $1,000,000 in profit. 

[Luckynana]

20 hours ago, George C said:

Congratulations to my Yankees for beating KC , KC is a talented ream . 
 

I already said we are redoing on of our three bathrooms ( I still don’t understand why) it is only used maybe a couple of weeks out of the year, our master bedroom was done a decade ago , we removed the tub for a huge double shower, wondering what your thoughts are , I am insisting we still have one bathroom with a tub for resale, third bathroom just has a shower. 

I agree with you about a remaining tub, George!  We bought our mother/daughter home 8 years ago.  All 5 of us...Jim, our daughter, 2 grandsons and myself, all sleep in the house, our daughter and grandsons use the apartment during the day.  Anyway, my master bathroom has a tub/shower,  but the upstairs bathroom for our daughter and grandsons has a shower.  It would've made more sense to have the shower in master bathroom, and tub in the other bathroom.  The apartment has a bathtub, which was useful when the boys were younger and took baths.  Another strange thing is our home became mother/daughter when the previous owners had the apartment built for the owners mom who had alzheimers.  I would've thought they would have had a shower in her bathroom, instead of the tub.    To each his own, I guess...it was their home to do as they wished.  It just doesn't make sense to us.🙅‍♀️

[Sunshine3601]

9 hours ago, firefly333 said:

You can see 2 cents is lit up like when I played. So I still think credits x 2 is $$$?

 

Did a next cruise booking yesterday and because I'm dp340 he had to add the $50 by hand and said he woukd email final today. Some girl says takes miami 48 hours. Tomorrow is turn around. I will wait and remind him. He did t even print me a copy of the booking had to run do the crew drill. It's not like I have to be somewhere. I'll wait. Today it's very busy here. Everyone waited for last day and  next cruise is hopping. Just wanted to remind him since he didnt have time to print me off a copy. 

If you put in $100 in a 2cent machine that = 5,000 credits.  If you bet a total of 450 credits that = $9 bet.  

 

Remember any cash vouchers have to be cashed in at end of each cruise.   You cannot use those on next cruise when doing a b2b.

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

My understanding is that the machines are set to pay out a certain % of every dollar bet.  

Thanks my problem. 😉

[Luckynana]

2 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I think I’ll stick with the Schooner Bar instead of the casino!

It's certainly much cheaper than what most people put into the machines!

 

Beautiful pictures of the Aurora lights, Debbie!😉

[SteelCityCruiser10]

3 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I think I’ll stick with the Schooner Bar instead of the casino!

I’m waaayyyy better at drinking than gambling 🤣

[A&L_Ont]

Lisa posted a photo of the northern lights last night, and our neighbour half a mile away posted a response. You can see the discussion back-and-forth. Lucy is truly the Queen Cat of the neighbourhood.

 

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, RobInMN said:

This is all essentially true. I worked in IT for a regional gaming company for about 5 years before it split out and sold it's casino operations to one of the huge gaming companies, and only kept a couple management locations. Anyway, I was traveling once with the guy who was in more or less in charge of slot machines. Yes, the payouts are all controlled by computer algorithms. The programming has to be certified (or whatever) by gaming commissions. They are also different depending on floor location, even on the same machine. Typically the ones on the aisle or in high traffic areas will be programmed to payout less frequently, but in larger amounts. The ones tucked away will be programmed to payout more frequently, but in smaller amounts. Over time, the total payout will be essentially the same. The house edge could be as little as 1%. It's all about maximizing the total number of dollars bet. They don't care about individual bets, they care about the total numbers. Even on 1%, if they get $1,000,000,000 bet in a year, that's $1,000,000 in profit. 

Oops, make that $10,000,000

[A&L_Ont]

One last photo from last night. You can see the big dipper in the sky, as well as on my phone. It’s amazing what type of apps you can find.
 

[George C]

1 hour ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

I’m waaayyyy better at drinking than gambling 🤣

My wife was playing video poker on celebrity beyond on her 60th birthday a few years ago and won a grand , definitely a fantastic vacation we upgraded to the penthouse and had a fantastic time. 

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

Lisa posted a photo of the northern lights last night, and our neighbour half a mile away posted a response. You can see the discussion back-and-forth. Lucy is truly the Queen Cat of the neighbourhood.

 

Several years ago, I drove up to the top of our very steep hill to watch 4th of July fireworks. We watched the show, chatted with the neighbors. It was very warm and the front windows were down on my car. 

 

As I pulled into my driveway, I heard a quiet meow from the back seat. Back up the hill and carrying the cat from door to door to find his owners. 😀 They were happy to have him back, but almost acted as though I had tried to steal him. 

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I think I’ll stick with the Schooner Bar instead of the casino!

Now that is my kind of place.

[Ocean Boy]

Just got home from the Friday night football game. No sign of northern lights around here.

 

@Sea Dog One of our former players was at the game tonight. I noticed he had a new tattoo on his leg... he has a Kraken!

[HBE4]

7 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

That means that a basic bet on one "line" costs one credit, or 2 cents.  You've selected the 30 lines for 150 credits button in the top row on the right. 

 

I was trying to figure out how 30 lines at .02 cents came out to 150 until i went back to look at the initial pictures.  I completely missed the 150 button that could have been pressed, no wonder my explanation didn't make sense.....even to me🤪🤦‍♂️

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Just got home from the Friday night football game. No sign of northern lights around here.

 

@Sea Dog One of our former players was at the game tonight. I noticed he had a new tattoo on his leg... he has a Kraken!

Never been a fan of tattoos but if I was I would have a Kraken too.

[NHProud]

53 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I was trying to figure out how 30 lines at .02 cents came out to 150 until i went back to look at the initial pictures.  I completely missed the 150 button that could have been pressed, no wonder my explanation didn't make sense.....even to me🤪🤦‍♂️

The Padres will not be playing the Mets . What a dreadful way to end the season. 
 

I never noticed. Too complicated. 

[mo&fran]

Yesterday we called at Grand Carman . AS usual, I went to the pub for my happy hour drink. The pub was open, but not serving alcohol. I guess GC has a new law, the ship can only have one bar open while we  are here. So the pool bar was the only one serving alcohol.  By dinner time, we must have left, no issue getting a drink in the dining room.

[brillohead]

22 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

We have actually only done the Western once and very much enjoyed. However, for some reason I just prefer the Eastern and Southern.

 

I would be ecstatic with a Western and Southern itinerary on a longer cruise.  The snorkeling in the Eastern ports just doesn't trip my trigger.

[A&L_Ont]

7 hours ago, Coralc said:

Several years ago, I drove up to the top of our very steep hill to watch 4th of July fireworks. We watched the show, chatted with the neighbors. It was very warm and the front windows were down on my car. 

 

As I pulled into my driveway, I heard a quiet meow from the back seat. Back up the hill and carrying the cat from door to door to find his owners. 😀 They were happy to have him back, but almost acted as though I had tried to steal him. 

What a cat, it probably knew it was going to get you in trouble. 

[A&L_Ont]

5 hours ago, NHProud said:

The Padres will not be playing the Mets . What a dreadful way to end the season. 

My picks

 

• Mets - moving to the next round
• Detroit - still playing
• Padres - out
• Kansas City - out

 

I would have liked Yankees and LA not to have won.  I dislike Garett Cole from NY - just wanted to state that aloud.  I don’t like LA for the contract they signed with Shohei. Just the business part, not the player who is great.

World Series though will come next round. 😂

 

[Ocean Boy]

7 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Never been a fan of tattoos but if I was I would have a Kraken too.

I am also not a fan of ink and do my best to discourage it.

[Sea Dog]

14 hours ago, RobInMN said:

This is all essentially true. I worked in IT for a regional gaming company for about 5 years before it split out and sold it's casino operations to one of the huge gaming companies, and only kept a couple management locations. Anyway, I was traveling once with the guy who was in more or less in charge of slot machines. Yes, the payouts are all controlled by computer algorithms. The programming has to be certified (or whatever) by gaming commissions. They are also different depending on floor location, even on the same machine. Typically the ones on the aisle or in high traffic areas will be programmed to payout less frequently, but in larger amounts. The ones tucked away will be programmed to payout more frequently, but in smaller amounts. Over time, the total payout will be essentially the same. The house edge could be as little as 1%. It's all about maximizing the total number of dollars bet. They don't care about individual bets, they care about the total numbers. Even on 1%, if they get $1,000,000,000 bet in a year, that's $1,000,000 in profit. 

Very interesting. Thank you sharing your expertise.

[BonTexasNY]

10 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

I was trying to figure out how 30 lines at .02 cents came out to 150 until i went back to look at the initial pictures.  I completely missed the 150 button that could have been pressed, no wonder my explanation didn't make sense.....even to me🤪🤦‍♂️

It ALL makes no sense to me.

[HBE4]

28 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

It ALL makes no sense to me.

 

On machines that have a combination of 50 different possible winning lines, zig-zagging all over the place, sometimes if can be difficult to figure out HOW you won since it may not be immediately obvious, especially when you "win" on 27 of the 50 lines.  I just let the machine do all the work & let me know.

 

I'm putting "win" in quotes since the "win" can still be less than the initial bet. After all, winning $3.00 on a $5.00 bet, you still down $2.00.  Although losing more slowly is still a win in my book. I have low standards. 🤪

 

I'm  

[HBE4]

9 hours ago, NHProud said:

The Padres will not be playing the Mets . What a dreadful way to end the season. 
 

I never noticed. Too complicated. 

 

A Yankee-Padre World Series would have been nice.