Houston....we have a problem with Utopia's casino!

[bajathree]

I recently came off Utopia of the Seas. Beautiful ship with some nice improvements from Wonder and I have to say....easily the BEST food quality overall I have experienced on Royal post covid....a BIG thumbs up to that. However there is a big problem with the casino. With the collaboration between Hard Rock and Royal it is clear why they wanted to put out a new mega ship sailing short weekend sailings. Our sailing was loaded not only with Royal casino comps but Hard Rock casino comps. Many B2B comps as well as Hard Rock slot tournament groups. Upon boarding and talking with some casino passengers from the prior sailing to ours I was warned good luck trying to find a slot machine you like as there are so many casino people aboard. Well we learned this the first night.....people were reserving their seats in the casino at their favorite slot machine 1 hour prior to casino opening...not only one seat but the entire row of slots. Selection of slots is also very odd...the favorites of most casino slot players they have very few of. I can't under stand this as you would think they would have had help from Hard Rock in slot type selection of what people like. The most popular slots like Dragon Link you can't get near...people are on them for hours and hours cause there are so few...and I mean few. Lightning Link another favorite of casino players I think they had 3 of. Then there are dozens of other slots that stay pretty much empty until someone so desperate to want to play something cause they can't get one their favorite machine, give up and play just to play something. This casino was so crazy packed to the point that it was absolute annoying to walk around in and crowds didn't thin out till after 1-2 am at earliest. There weren't even breaks in this casino like on most other ships around dinner times. Mix a short weekend sailing with tons of casino comps from Royal and Hard Rock with poor selection of slots and you find yourself in less than a fun atmosphere. It's clear they didnt think this out as they needed to double the size of the casino and have had much better input of the slots people are looking to play. Living in Tampa I can tell you that the Hard Rock here figures it out real fast. The slots that sit idle they get rid of and the slots that people like they have doubled and tripled the mounts of. We loved the ship and had a great time overall....but our evening casino time was met with frustration and shoulder to shoulder crowds....not the most favorite casino experience.

[molly361]

I also heard that other than at the bar there are not many video poker machines 

[bajathree]

Just now, molly361 said:

I also heard that other than at the bar there are not many video poker machines 

That is correct.

 

 

[Biker19]

So, it's not that the short sailings draw in the boozers, but the gamblers, got it.

[fla33023]

I'm not a gambler but I'm curious about the machine swapping. If it was decided to add/take away machines, when is that done? Is that something that is doable on embarkation day? Would the machines come from the manufacturer or say another casino like Hard Rock Orlando?

[smokeybandit]

Sounds like there's a problem with the casino's popularity on booze cruises, not really an issue with the casino itself.

[doghog]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

Well we learned this the first night.....people were reserving their seats in the casino at their favorite slot machine 1 hour prior to casino opening...not only one seat but the entire row of slots.

Now there are casino chair hogs. 🙄

[not-enough-cruising]

Never set foot in the casino, however, this just seems another reason (amongst the dozens of others) that I would never be caught dead on a 3/4 night sailing.

[time4u2go]

4 minutes ago, doghog said:

Now there are casino chair hogs. 🙄

Slot machine hogs. Smogs.

[Anton]

I hope the comps lessen by the end of October when I go for a B2B, not a comp.

[twangster]

This is good for me.  Over 5k points so Prime is already reset.  With two decent jackpots recently my luck statiscally speaking should turn on me. 

 

One of my upcoming UT sailings is a casino comp so if the casino is slammed I'll likely save money.

 

Basically I'm up overall so not being able to play is probably a good thing.

[ZoeyVictoria]

Thank you for the warning. I don’t care for the casino in the evenings because of the number of people at that time. But I love mid-day on sea days. If there is only one sea day on 3-4 night sailings and it is that crowded all the time, it does not sound like the right ship for me. 

[bajathree]

3 hours ago, fla33023 said:

I'm not a gambler but I'm curious about the machine swapping. If it was decided to add/take away machines, when is that done? Is that something that is doable on embarkation day? Would the machines come from the manufacturer or say another casino like Hard Rock Orlando?

I have seen them swapping out machines on some of the other ships. Yes...I assume they are brought in on embarkation day but it takes time to set them up, On Odyssey they had a block of machines blocked the entire week that they were switching out to newer updated machines...Dragon Links actually ....a huge favorite of slot players. That's why found so odd on Utopia that they had so few aboard when on others ships they have swapped out and added casino favorites. 

Just an FYI...Hard Rock Orlando isn't a casino...it's just a hotel. Hard Rock Tampa and Hollywood are their 2 bigs casinos in FL.

Edited August 3 by bajathree

[bajathree]

1 hour ago, Anton said:

I hope the comps lessen by the end of October when I go for a B2B, not a comp.

Don't count on that....I have casino comp offers for Utopia well into the beginning of 2025. Also Hard Rock is promoting free Royal give-away sailings and their top tier members are being offered Utopia comps specifically it seems....at least for now. 3 and 4 night sailings are huge casino comps. The sailing I was just on even had a Hard Rock casino host onboard from the Tampa casino.

Edited August 3 by bajathree

[bajathree]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Sounds like there's a problem with the casino's popularity on booze cruises, not really an issue with the casino itself.

I wouldn't call the 3 night sailing I was on a booze cruise crowd. However there were a couple incidents I saw that I don't know if were alcohol related or not. Walking down the hall on deck 3 I saw they had someone confined in their cabin with security sitting in front of the cabin. Also I didn't see but my wife told me that she witnessed in the casino actually some guy grab his girlfriend by the hair and throw her to the ground.

[jcarter4551]

I am boarding Monday. Frustrating to hear you can’t get a machine. How were the table game crowds? Last time we did a 3 night on a royal mega ship we couldn’t squeeze into a roulette table because the minimums were way too low for the size of crowd. I’m hoping that’s not the case on Utopia. 

[klfrodo]

Sounds like a good problem if you're the casino owner.

Oh Nooooo, it's sooo crowded people are standing in line to playyyy.

[notscb]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Sounds like there's a problem with the casino's popularity on booze cruises, not really an issue with the casino itself.

More like a problem with the amount of casino sailors being comped to get onboard by both Royal and Hard Rock. Not that it’s a problem for Royals bottom line, clearly. 

[SUgwoz]

6 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Never set foot in the casino, however, this just seems another reason (amongst the dozens of others) that I would never be caught dead on a 3/4 night sailing.

You don't go in the casino and you would be bothered that the casino is busy? 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 minute ago, SUgwoz said:

You don't go in the casino and you would be bothered that the casino is busy? 

No, I don't do 3/4 night cruises because it is full of people and behaviors I'd rather not deal with

[jerseyjjs]

8 hours ago, Biker19 said:

So, it's not that the short sailings draw in the boozers, but the gamblers, got it.

 

 

I would say that, at over $1,200 p/p for an interior for a 3-night sailing, the booze cruisers would rather opt for cheaper ships.   Since a large number of gamblers received comped/cheaper rates for Utopia in particular, the casinos will be mobbed.

[fla33023]

5 hours ago, bajathree said:

I have seen them swapping out machines on some of the other ships. Yes...I assume they are brought in on embarkation day but it takes time to set them up, On Odyssey they had a block of machines blocked the entire week that they were switching out to newer updated machines...Dragon Links actually ....a huge favorite of slot players. That's why found so odd on Utopia that they had so few aboard when on others ships they have swapped out and added casino favorites. 

Just an FYI...Hard Rock Orlando isn't a casino...it's just a hotel. Hard Rock Tampa and Hollywood are their 2 bigs casinos in FL.

Ha. I never knew that. I live in Hollywood and I incorrectly assumed that all Hard Rocks in FL have casinos! Thx for the correction.

Edited August 3 by fla33023

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

No, I don't do 3/4 night cruises because it is full of people and behaviors I'd rather not deal with

I assumed that too (and it might generally be true), but I hopped on a 3-night allure sailing in July and it wasn't bad at all. There were a lot of big groups, like family reunions, a church group, and 400 people from DR Horton on a work trip, but they never seemed to congregate in one area too much, and it didn't seem like anyone was drinking any more than they do on a 7-day. I was pleasantly surprised. 
 

Though, as another poster mentioned, it was kind of expensive for a 3 day cruise ($800 per person for a CP balcony, which was the cheapest room option when I booked).

[bajathree]

17 hours ago, jcarter4551 said:

I am boarding Monday. Frustrating to hear you can’t get a machine. How were the table game crowds? Last time we did a 3 night on a royal mega ship we couldn’t squeeze into a roulette table because the minimums were way too low for the size of crowd. I’m hoping that’s not the case on Utopia. 

Honestly I am not a table player so I didn't pay a lot of attention to tables....but I believe they were pretty packed always also. They also had tables in a section behind the bar....guess higher limits as it was often roped off....that had more limited hours it seems. I know people were playing the tables as I saw a guy cashing out $35K of chips😱

Good news......drinks were easy to get in the casino bar😀

Edited August 4 by bajathree

[TeeRick]

@bajathree thanks for reporting your casino experience here.  We would normally not go on a short cruise.  The comped gamblers usually play table games over slots I think but for a 3-nighter everybody is probably in the casino.  It must be just cloudy with smoke!  Not for us!