When are Casinos Open on Alaskan Cruise?

[SuzieQ521]

Hello:

 

We have a couple people in our group who will be spending the majority of their time in the casino but I thought I read somewhere that the casinos are not open as long as the ship is about 12 miles from any Port. Is that true? How does that work given that the Alaskan Ports are so close to each other?

 

We are doing Seattle-Juneau-Skagway-Glacier Bay-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle on the Royal Princess.

 

Would the casino also be closed all Glacier Bay day? We also don't arrive in Victoria until 7 p.m. so would the casino be open any of that day?

 

Thanks!

[VibeGuy]

The casinos are very much closed in Glacier Bay - they’ll typically open about an hour after the park rangers disembark. 
 

The casino will typically close about an hour before arrival in Victoria and will not reopen before Seattle. 

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, SuzieQ521 said:

We are doing Seattle-Juneau-Skagway-Glacier Bay-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle on the Royal Princess.

 

Hopefully the ship will go out to sea far enough to open the casino on the last night - Victoria to Seattle. However, please be sure to ask in advance.

 

We disembarked in Vancouver and the last stop before that was Victoria. The ship didn't go out to sea far enough to open the casino and there was absolutely no notice about the fact so, when I went to the casino to cash out the last night, I found it was closed and nobody could give me my money. I had something like $475 ($425?) in my casino account and was unable to get it out. I had to wait weeks for them to mail me a check.

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, SuzieQ521 said:

We also don't arrive in Victoria until 7 p.m. so would the casino be open any of that day?

 

1 hour ago, VibeGuy said:

The casino will typically close about an hour before arrival in Victoria and will not reopen before Seattle. 

On Crown last August we were scheduled in Victoria from 6 pm to midnight.  They closed the casino super early (like noon) and it didn't reopen between Victoria and Seattle.

[that]

38 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Hopefully the ship will go out to sea far enough to open the casino on the last night - Victoria to Seattle. However, please be sure to ask in advance.

 

We disembarked in Vancouver and the last stop before that was Victoria. The ship didn't go out to sea far enough to open the casino and there was absolutely no notice about the fact so, when I went to the casino to cash out the last night, I found it was closed and nobody could give me my money. I had something like $475 ($425?) in my casino account and was unable to get it out. I had to wait weeks for them to mail me a check.

Casino does not open sailing from Victoria to either Vancouver or Seattle.

[Thrak]

18 hours ago, that said:

Casino does not open sailing from Victoria to either Vancouver or Seattle.

 

Thank you for that information.

[that]

Just now, Thrak said:

 

Thank you for that information.

Like you

Have unexpectedly experienced

 

[memoak]

18 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Thank you for that information.

Also while you are in a Canadian port only one bar per deck is allowed to be open. Weird to me

[WAvoyager]

For Alaskan cruises, cruise lines have an arrangement with Alaska to open the casinos at a certain distance from the ports, and do not have to be as specific distance from the coast.  I believe the actual implementation is an hour away from port, but I could be mistaken on that. 

 

As noted by others, this does not apply while in Glacier Bay (National park?), and also does not apply once you’re in Canadian waters, or approaching WA state.

[phroggie]

As long as we're sorta on the topic, when the casino is "closed" is it "closed" as in "doors closed" or is it "closed" as in "all the machines are turned off, the cashier windows are closed but you can use it as a shortcut" closed?

 

TIA in advance.

[that]

11 minutes ago, phroggie said:

As long as we're sorta on the topic, when the casino is "closed" is it "closed" as in "doors closed" or is it "closed" as in "all the machines are turned off, the cashier windows are closed but you can use it as a shortcut" closed?

 

TIA in advance.

Closed meaning Only Shortcut available😉

[Honolulu Blue]

13 minutes ago, phroggie said:

As long as we're sorta on the topic, when the casino is "closed" is it "closed" as in "doors closed" or is it "closed" as in "all the machines are turned off, the cashier windows are closed but you can use it as a shortcut" closed?

I've never seen a casino on a cruise ship with closed and locked doors. They tend to be built in places where they're critical thoroughfares to other high traffic parts of the ship.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, phroggie said:

As long as we're sorta on the topic, when the casino is "closed" is it "closed" as in "doors closed" or is it "closed" as in "all the machines are turned off, the cashier windows are closed but you can use it as a shortcut" closed?

 

TIA in advance.

 

Can still go in and wander around or pass through on your way to the theater but that's it.

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

They tend to be built in places where they're critical thoroughfares to other high traffic parts of the ship.

Not unintentionally, I'll add.

[Quiltartist]

Hi folks, does anyone know if the Noordam has  a Texas Holdem poker table? Or Carribean poker table? I was recently on the Neuw Statendam and was surprised, no poker

[snoozecrooze]

26 minutes ago, Quiltartist said:

Noordam

You may want to direct your questions to the Holland America forum just in case.

[doxiegal]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:54 PM, Thrak said:

 

Hopefully the ship will go out to sea far enough to open the casino on the last night - Victoria to Seattle. However, please be sure to ask in advance.

 

We disembarked in Vancouver and the last stop before that was Victoria. The ship didn't go out to sea far enough to open the casino and there was absolutely no notice about the fact so, when I went to the casino to cash out the last night, I found it was closed and nobody could give me my money. I had something like $475 ($425?) in my casino account and was unable to get it out. I had to wait weeks for them to mail me a check.

Yes, this exact thing

happened to me on the Sapphire Princess last week. The cruise director told everyone at the show the night before Victoria stop that the casino would be open after we left the victoria port at 111;30 pm or so. They decided last minute to not open at all that night ad I had $500 sitting in my folio. It has been a week since disembarkation and I called the very next day and was told someone would get back to about it. Still haven't heard back

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, doxiegal said:

Yes, this exact thing

happened to me on the Sapphire Princess last week. The cruise director told everyone at the show the night before Victoria stop that the casino would be open after we left the victoria port at 111;30 pm or so. They decided last minute to not open at all that night ad I had $500 sitting in my folio. It has been a week since disembarkation and I called the very next day and was told someone would get back to about it. Still haven't heard back

 

Sadly it was not a "last minute" decision. It is always closed between Victoria and Vancouver as the ship doesn't go out to sea far enough from the shoreline to make it legal to open the casino. The cruise director gave you bad information. I think we got our money back in something like 4 weeks (might have been 5). Unlike the OBC refund this came in an envelope that indicated Princess in the return address. To be safe, check all supposed junk mail to be sure you don't miss the check. This is a hard lesson to learn but once learned you won't forget.

[DallasGuy75219]

3 hours ago, doxiegal said:

Yes, this exact thing

happened to me on the Sapphire Princess last week. The cruise director told everyone at the show the night before Victoria stop that the casino would be open after we left the victoria port at 111;30 pm or so. They decided last minute to not open at all that night ad I had $500 sitting in my folio. It has been a week since disembarkation and I called the very next day and was told someone would get back to about it. Still haven't heard back

 

58 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Sadly it was not a "last minute" decision. It is always closed between Victoria and Vancouver as the ship doesn't go out to sea far enough from the shoreline to make it legal to open the casino. The cruise director gave you bad information. I think we got our money back in something like 4 weeks (might have been 5). Unlike the OBC refund this came in an envelope that indicated Princess in the return address. To be safe, check all supposed junk mail to be sure you don't miss the check. This is a hard lesson to learn but once learned you won't forget.

Agree that it wasn't a last minute decision and the CD just didn't know what he/she was talking about.

 

On Crown last year the casino made multiple announcements on day 6 (sea day) and the morning of day 7 (late call in Victoria) that they would be closing around noon on day 7 and would not reopen between Victoria and Seattle, so everyone needed to cash out by noon on day 7.

[Thrak]

4 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

Agree that it wasn't a last minute decision and the CD just didn't know what he/she was talking about.

 

On Crown last year the casino made multiple announcements on day 6 (sea day) and the morning of day 7 (late call in Victoria) that they would be closing around noon on day 7 and would not reopen between Victoria and Seattle, so everyone needed to cash out by noon on day 7.

 

Nice. We had zero warning and it was a rude shock to find the casino closed.

[memoak]

4 hours ago, doxiegal said:

Yes, this exact thing

happened to me on the Sapphire Princess last week. The cruise director told everyone at the show the night before Victoria stop that the casino would be open after we left the victoria port at 111;30 pm or so. They decided last minute to not open at all that night ad I had $500 sitting in my folio. It has been a week since disembarkation and I called the very next day and was told someone would get back to about it. Still haven't heard back

I would not trust the cruise director to know anything about the casino it is not part the entrttainment department