Royal Caribbean Casino Review - Enchantment

[Buckeye_Siggy]

After doing 11 cruises with Carnival, I decided to try another casino at sea.

I took my first cruise on Royal Caribbean in June 2022 and I wanted to post a casino review.

I booked the Royal Caribbean cruise through URComped and it went splendidly.  It was my first time using URComped and I cannott recommend them enough. Tyler and his team are awesome! 

 

My wife and I shared a balcony on the Enchantment of the Seas.  It was a 6-day cruise out of Baltimore that went to Bermuda and back to Baltimore.

 

Ship left Baltimore around 4pm and the casino was closed the first night. I was told this is standard for Royal Caribbean trips for Baltimore. A pitboss told me that they aren’t allowed to open because the Chesapeake Bay is not international waters.  This is in direct contrast to Carnival out of Baltimore.  I have sailed five times on Carnival ships out of Baltimore and the casino has ALWAYS opened on the first evening by 8pm. This is as far back as 2014 and as recent as December 2021.   Something really suspicious about this.

 

On day 2 of the cruise, the casino opened at 8am for both slots and table games. This was a Day at ‘Sea’. It stayed open until about 3:00am.

 

On day 3 of the cruise, the casino opened again at 8am  (both tables and slots) and closed at 2:00pm in the afternoon. We docked in Bermuda at 4pm.  The casino reopened again at 9pm and stayed open late.

 

On day 4, the casino opened at 9pm.

On day 5, the ship left Bermuda at 1pm and the casino was open by 3pm.

On day 6, the final day of the cruise, the casino opened at 8am again.  It closed at 7pm for the rest of the trip. This again surprised me and I was told again, it was the Chesapeake Bay and international waters.  Past experience with Carnival was the complete opposite going into Baltimore.

 

RC allowed players to charge up to $5,000 per day on their sign and sail cards. They also charged 5% interest on all transactions. So if you did charge, $5,000 then you would have a $250 interest charge to total it to $5,250.

 

For the most part, I only played blackjack while in the casino.  I did spend 10 minutes pulling slots with the wife on the last day but more on that later.  My experience and this review are strictly on the blackjack tables.

 

There was a single deck blackjack table in the non-smoking area. Table min was $5 and I did not play once at this table.

There was one $15 minimum table in the smoking area and it paid 3:2 on blackjacks.

There was one $25 min ($1000 max)  table in the non-smoking area that also paid 3:2. This was where I played every hand.

My review is based on this table and my experience at it.

Positives:

The $25 table was an 8-deck HAND SHUFFLED table.  It was fantastic to see dealers shuffling their own cards. I cant remember the last time I saw that on Carnival. It has to be at least ten years.

**

The pitboss allowed all double down cards to be put down blind. I know most players scoff at this but to some, it is a big deal. I personally like it and it adds a layer to a game that can be mundane after hours.

**

Players were allowed to repeatedly split aces on the table.  I was dealt AA and Split. The first card I got was another Ace and I was allowed to split it again.  During the same hand, I got another ace and was allowed to split again for 4 total hands.  Carnival definitely doesn’t allow this.

**

On the 3^rd day (the second day the casino was opened), I was approached by an assistant host. He told me that I had accumulated over 2500 ‘points’ and I was now classified as a ‘PRIME’ player.  He put a prime sticker on my sign and sail card.

Being Prime meant I got free drinks in the casino AND I no longer would have to pay the 5% fee towards cash transactions. I was also told that Prime carries over for a year and that any future cruise before May 2023, I would automatically be Prime as soon as I walked on the ship. This was a nice comp.

**

The casino bar was fantastic. Once you became ‘PRIME’, the servers never needed your card again. You could order as many drinks as you wanted and could even get doubles. Table mates who were prime ordered double shots of fireball. My drinks were strong. The bartenders were not slighting you on the booze.  This is a complete contrast to my Carnival experiences. ON those ships, the drinks are usually weak and you are not allowed to get double shots. They also cap you at 15 per day. There was no keeping track in the Royal casino bar.

**

On the 4^th night of the cruise, we had a chilled bottle of Moet champagne delivered to my stateroom as a thanks from the casino.

**

I received a future free cruise voucher (balcony) on the last night with almost any cruise sailing in 2022 and early 2023 as an option.

**

For every 250 points you accumulated, you received $5 in free play added to your sign and sail card.  You had to ask for this to be done but it was a nice bonus.

 

Negatives:

The assistant casino host lied to me and left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Carnival is really great about giving players comps during cruises like free excursions, free massages, dinner at the steakhouse, Spa treatments and gifts.  This is something that I have gotten on almost everyone without usually having to even ask.

 

After becoming ‘PRIME’ at 2500 points, I asked the host about sending my wife for a pedicure or even booking us an excursion. I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask. Again, this is how Carnival is.  The host told me that while nothing is guaranteed, my level of play suggested that I would qualify for these kinds of rewards. He told me to go ahead and book the excursion, dinner in steakhouse and the pedicure. He told me to charge it to my folio and on the last night of the cruise, the hosts go through and credit charges to their better players. He told me that if something changed, he would be sure to let me know.  So I went ahead and booked the pedicure and a glass bottom boat tour for two. I also asked about the $500 in interest that I had accumulated from sign and sails charges before I became PRIME. He told me that they don’t usually reimburse that, he would ask his boss and see what he could do. He said it had been done for others before.  He was super friendly and spun good tales.

 

I dug myself a hole the first two days but finally on the evening of day 5, I had a nice run and got back to even.  I cashed out being up $500 for the trip (not counting the interest). Not bad from where I was at.

 

On the afternoon of day 6, I approached the host about cashing in my points for the cruise on my sign and sail to get the free play.  He told me that I had roughly 8800 points accumulated and that was equal to $175 in slot credit.  He set up my sign and sail card. I asked him if this would impact my free SPA and excursions. He told me absolutely not.  The wife and I turned the $175 into $350 on the wheel of fortune and cashed out. This was the last we gambled.  I won $850 for the trip. Or so I thought.

 

Cut to my folio never being credited and me paying for every charge. Including the overpriced Pedicure and an excursion we only did because we thought it would be free.

 

Walking off the boat, down the gangway we actually passed the host coming back onto the ship. I stopped him and briefly asked about my credits.  He said I didn’t qualify and would get none. Then he rushed by and went back to the ship. End of story.

 

I qualified for a free balcony on almost any future cruise. I had 8800 points – over 3 times the amount to get perks like drinks and zero interest loans.   But somehow not get anything else.  If he would have been honest to start, I wouldn’t have expected or charged that stuff.  It just really leaves a bad taste on my experience.

 

Now to be fair, after all charges (tips, parking at port, taxes, excursions, gifts, etc) and subtracting the ‘winnings’, the vacation cost me about $1500 total.  Still cheap but it should have been better.

 

Anyways, enough rambling. does anyone have any questions on things I may not have covered?

[KXZ1498]

10 hours ago, Buckeye_Siggy said:

After doing 11 cruises with Carnival, I decided to try another casino at sea.

I took my first cruise on Royal Caribbean in June 2022 and I wanted to post a casino review.

I booked the Royal Caribbean cruise through URComped and it went splendidly.  It was my first time using URComped and I cannott recommend them enough. Tyler and his team are awesome! 

 

My wife and I shared a balcony on the Enchantment of the Seas.  It was a 6-day cruise out of Baltimore that went to Bermuda and back to Baltimore.

 

Ship left Baltimore around 4pm and the casino was closed the first night. I was told this is standard for Royal Caribbean trips for Baltimore. A pitboss told me that they aren’t allowed to open because the Chesapeake Bay is not international waters.  This is in direct contrast to Carnival out of Baltimore.  I have sailed five times on Carnival ships out of Baltimore and the casino has ALWAYS opened on the first evening by 8pm. This is as far back as 2014 and as recent as December 2021.   Something really suspicious about this.

 

On day 2 of the cruise, the casino opened at 8am for both slots and table games. This was a Day at ‘Sea’. It stayed open until about 3:00am.

 

On day 3 of the cruise, the casino opened again at 8am  (both tables and slots) and closed at 2:00pm in the afternoon. We docked in Bermuda at 4pm.  The casino reopened again at 9pm and stayed open late.

 

On day 4, the casino opened at 9pm.

On day 5, the ship left Bermuda at 1pm and the casino was open by 3pm.

On day 6, the final day of the cruise, the casino opened at 8am again.  It closed at 7pm for the rest of the trip. This again surprised me and I was told again, it was the Chesapeake Bay and international waters.  Past experience with Carnival was the complete opposite going into Baltimore.

 

RC allowed players to charge up to $5,000 per day on their sign and sail cards. They also charged 5% interest on all transactions. So if you did charge, $5,000 then you would have a $250 interest charge to total it to $5,250.

 

For the most part, I only played blackjack while in the casino.  I did spend 10 minutes pulling slots with the wife on the last day but more on that later.  My experience and this review are strictly on the blackjack tables.

 

There was a single deck blackjack table in the non-smoking area. Table min was $5 and I did not play once at this table.

There was one $15 minimum table in the smoking area and it paid 3:2 on blackjacks.

There was one $25 min ($1000 max)  table in the non-smoking area that also paid 3:2. This was where I played every hand.

My review is based on this table and my experience at it.

Positives:

The $25 table was an 8-deck HAND SHUFFLED table.  It was fantastic to see dealers shuffling their own cards. I cant remember the last time I saw that on Carnival. It has to be at least ten years.

**

The pitboss allowed all double down cards to be put down blind. I know most players scoff at this but to some, it is a big deal. I personally like it and it adds a layer to a game that can be mundane after hours.

**

Players were allowed to repeatedly split aces on the table.  I was dealt AA and Split. The first card I got was another Ace and I was allowed to split it again.  During the same hand, I got another ace and was allowed to split again for 4 total hands.  Carnival definitely doesn’t allow this.

**

On the 3^rd day (the second day the casino was opened), I was approached by an assistant host. He told me that I had accumulated over 2500 ‘points’ and I was now classified as a ‘PRIME’ player.  He put a prime sticker on my sign and sail card.

Being Prime meant I got free drinks in the casino AND I no longer would have to pay the 5% fee towards cash transactions. I was also told that Prime carries over for a year and that any future cruise before May 2023, I would automatically be Prime as soon as I walked on the ship. This was a nice comp.

**

The casino bar was fantastic. Once you became ‘PRIME’, the servers never needed your card again. You could order as many drinks as you wanted and could even get doubles. Table mates who were prime ordered double shots of fireball. My drinks were strong. The bartenders were not slighting you on the booze.  This is a complete contrast to my Carnival experiences. ON those ships, the drinks are usually weak and you are not allowed to get double shots. They also cap you at 15 per day. There was no keeping track in the Royal casino bar.

**

On the 4^th night of the cruise, we had a chilled bottle of Moet champagne delivered to my stateroom as a thanks from the casino.

**

I received a future free cruise voucher (balcony) on the last night with almost any cruise sailing in 2022 and early 2023 as an option.

**

For every 250 points you accumulated, you received $5 in free play added to your sign and sail card.  You had to ask for this to be done but it was a nice bonus.

 

Negatives:

The assistant casino host lied to me and left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Carnival is really great about giving players comps during cruises like free excursions, free massages, dinner at the steakhouse, Spa treatments and gifts.  This is something that I have gotten on almost everyone without usually having to even ask.

 

After becoming ‘PRIME’ at 2500 points, I asked the host about sending my wife for a pedicure or even booking us an excursion. I figured it doesn’t hurt to ask. Again, this is how Carnival is.  The host told me that while nothing is guaranteed, my level of play suggested that I would qualify for these kinds of rewards. He told me to go ahead and book the excursion, dinner in steakhouse and the pedicure. He told me to charge it to my folio and on the last night of the cruise, the hosts go through and credit charges to their better players. He told me that if something changed, he would be sure to let me know.  So I went ahead and booked the pedicure and a glass bottom boat tour for two. I also asked about the $500 in interest that I had accumulated from sign and sails charges before I became PRIME. He told me that they don’t usually reimburse that, he would ask his boss and see what he could do. He said it had been done for others before.  He was super friendly and spun good tales.

 

I dug myself a hole the first two days but finally on the evening of day 5, I had a nice run and got back to even.  I cashed out being up $500 for the trip (not counting the interest). Not bad from where I was at.

 

On the afternoon of day 6, I approached the host about cashing in my points for the cruise on my sign and sail to get the free play.  He told me that I had roughly 8800 points accumulated and that was equal to $175 in slot credit.  He set up my sign and sail card. I asked him if this would impact my free SPA and excursions. He told me absolutely not.  The wife and I turned the $175 into $350 on the wheel of fortune and cashed out. This was the last we gambled.  I won $850 for the trip. Or so I thought.

 

Cut to my folio never being credited and me paying for every charge. Including the overpriced Pedicure and an excursion we only did because we thought it would be free.

 

Walking off the boat, down the gangway we actually passed the host coming back onto the ship. I stopped him and briefly asked about my credits.  He said I didn’t qualify and would get none. Then he rushed by and went back to the ship. End of story.

 

I qualified for a free balcony on almost any future cruise. I had 8800 points – over 3 times the amount to get perks like drinks and zero interest loans.   But somehow not get anything else.  If he would have been honest to start, I wouldn’t have expected or charged that stuff.  It just really leaves a bad taste on my experience.

 

Now to be fair, after all charges (tips, parking at port, taxes, excursions, gifts, etc) and subtracting the ‘winnings’, the vacation cost me about $1500 total.  Still cheap but it should have been better.

 

Anyways, enough rambling. does anyone have any questions on things I may not have covered?

 

I actually sailed Enchantment last month and have interacted with the same casino hosts.

 

When I asked about comps, he told me I can convert to free play or I would get credit back on my folio. I earned 21000 points during that trip and they only took off $300~ off my folio. In my experience on Celebrity and Royal, they never "comp" stuff like land casinos. 

[Buckeye_Siggy]

Thanks for the info KXZ1498.   I only had experience with Carnival, so maybe they are just the outlier.

 

Another thing that i forgot to mention in my review...

The Royal Caribbean casino allowed people 18+ to gamble.  For me, this is not good or bad. Just stating that i had not seen this in quite some time. Definitely not on Carnival or any US based casino i have been at recently.

[Sunshine3601]

Many years ago I was comped a free facial by casino based on our play but have not seen or heard of this being done in a very long time.   

Stinks the Asst. Host misinformed you.

You are now prime up thru March 31st 2024 and hopefully will receive many offers for free or discounted cruises.  

Along with free drinks and 30% off internet.  

Check regularly 

Clubroyaleoffers.com for your offers.

We receive new offers almost weekly.

 

[luvcruzing]

18 years of age or older

 

Put your skills and a little luck to the test in Carnival's casinos! Guests must be 18 years of age or olderto play the tables and the slot machines; guests under 18 years of age are not permitted in the casino at any time.

 

Casino and Carnival Players Club

[Buckeye_Siggy]

On 7/15/2022 at 5:59 PM, luvcruzing said:

18 years of age or older

 

Put your skills and a little luck to the test in Carnival's casinos! Guests must be 18 years of age or olderto play the tables and the slot machines; guests under 18 years of age are not permitted in the casino at any time.

 

Casino and Carnival Players Club

Luvcruzing - good catch.   Obviously, i am mistaken.  Though i recall dealers checking ID's for age on Carnival cruises, i guess it was for 18 and not 21.  i have learned something new today. Thanks for the lesson and have a great day!

[mhn13]

If you're willing to share, I'd be curious how long you would estimate you played and what your average bet was.  I'm curious about hitting the 2500 points prime level playing blackjack.