What do you think of the Carnival casinos?

[cruisinqt]

Wow, Carnival made over 4 times the money that was paid in. That's a pretty big cash cow for sure! My husband says that they make even more on the bingo. There were over a hundred people there for the bingo every day and the price for the bingo booklet including all of the bingo games was $35.00 a piece. We even noticed some people buying more than one bingo booklet for themselves. And the jackpots are only a couple hundred dollars. The jackpot got a little higher sometimes, but not much. On the last day of the cruise the bingo crowd was so big we had to go to the theater to hold everyone. I know the jackpot for the last day is substantial. But my husband says they are still keeping out quite a bit for themselves.

 

Being an engineer, my husband is one of those people that can do astronomical figures in his head. It makes me sick. I use a calculator for everything. I'm not very good with numbers. One day, he did a quick head count and then multiplied it by the $35.00 bingo booklet fee. He did that at every bingo day. On the last day the grand total of prize money for winning the bingo was much less than he estimated that they took in. He said that on that cruise they kept several thousand for themselves if his estimations were correct. That surprises me because they give you the impression that all of the bingo money goes into a pot to be won on the last day. I have a feeling these cruise lines make a great deal of their profits on gambling alone. I would love to see some statistics. I think it would surprise us. My husband says that they just come even on the cruise prices they charge. He says the profit for them is mostly in alcoholic drinks and gambling. What do you think of my husband's reasoning? I'm not sure I agree with him. I think they make money in a lot of other areas too. He says they make a little money elsewhere but their main cash cow is gambling and alcohol. What do you think?

[yarlenna]

Compared to other cruise line casinos - about the same.

Compared to Las Vegas - HORRID even against strip hotel casinos.

Compared to Las Vegas locals places - INDECENT

Tight Tight Tight slots - some weird pay-backs on Black Jack

Lousy pay tables on video poker (though some are worse than others)

PLUS nothing like Las Vegas comps

I would save my casino $$$ for Las Vegas - where I would at least get some comps to offset my losses. My game of choice is video poker - and I generally don't play (much) on ships. My hubbie has done well with black jack though. The dealer on our last cruise didn't seem to realize he was counting.

[ulmo]

Wow, Carnival made over 4 times the money that was paid in. That's a pretty big cash cow for sure! My husband says that they make even more on the bingo. There were over a hundred people there for the bingo every day and the price for the bingo booklet including all of the bingo games was $35.00 a piece. We even noticed some people buying more than one bingo booklet for themselves. And the jackpots are only a couple hundred dollars. The jackpot got a little higher sometimes, but not much. On the last day of the cruise the bingo crowd was so big we had to go to the theater to hold everyone. I know the jackpot for the last day is substantial. But my husband says they are still keeping out quite a bit for themselves.

 

Being an engineer, my husband is one of those people that can do astronomical figures in his head. It makes me sick. I use a calculator for everything. I'm not very good with numbers. One day, he did a quick head count and then multiplied it by the $35.00 bingo booklet fee. He did that at every bingo day. On the last day the grand total of prize money for winning the bingo was much less than he estimated that they took in. He said that on that cruise they kept several thousand for themselves if his estimations were correct. That surprises me because they give you the impression that all of the bingo money goes into a pot to be won on the last day. I have a feeling these cruise lines make a great deal of their profits on gambling alone. I would love to see some statistics. I think it would surprise us. My husband says that they just come even on the cruise prices they charge. He says the profit for them is mostly in alcoholic drinks and gambling. What do you think of my husband's reasoning? I'm not sure I agree with him. I think they make money in a lot of other areas too. He says they make a little money elsewhere but their main cash cow is gambling and alcohol. What do you think?

When I worked for NCL Bingo was one of the biggest focuses of the cruise staff, because that was the cruise staff's one positive revenue line. The assistant cruise director was always in charge of the bingo, and a lot of his performance review was based on what kind of returns he got from bingo. Some weeks they would only bring in a couple thousand dollars, and some weeks they would bring in alot. The thing is, though, they only raised the jackpots enough to get people to play. It was a definite money maker.

 

But about your question they make most of their money on alcohol, gambling, to a smaller degree shore excursions, the stores, and the expensive rooms. When you think about it the highest cabin category that sells for $2000 doesn't cost any more to provide for than the interior stateroom that somebody got for $500.

[cruisinqt]

Wow, info. from an insider. Cool! What did you do on the ship ulmo? Were you associated with the gambling area or something else? I guess I have to eat humble pie and admit to my husband he was right. It sounds like bingo and other forms of gambling along with alcohol do bring in the majority of the money. By the way, how much did they make in bingo on a good week? I had a sneaking suspicion that not all of the money from the bingo was put into the big pot on the last day! They don't say all of it goes into the big pot. But it is certainly implied. Oh well, they have to make a living too.

[ulmo]

Wow, info. from an insider. Cool! What did you do on the ship ulmo? Were you associated with the gambling area or something else? I guess I have to eat humble pie and admit to my husband he was right. It sounds like bingo and other forms of gambling along with alcohol do bring in the majority of the money. By the way, how much did they make in bingo on a good week? I had a sneaking suspicion that not all of the money from the bingo was put into the big pot on the last day! They don't say all of it goes into the big pot. But it is certainly implied. Oh well, they have to make a living too.

well first off, I worked on NCL, and they may do things differently than CCL. But to answer your question I was in charge of the technical theatrical parts of the ship. I was mostly worried about the sound and lights and everything in the showrooms, but also all the sound and lighting in the discos, bars, poolside entertainment, etc. The only reason I know about it was overhearing the asst. Cruise director talking about it to the cruise director and reading the departmental report we had to send shoreside after every cruise. During a good week the bingo would make maybe twenty or thirty thousand I guess, but that was a really big week. I think on most cruises they probably averaged five to ten a week.

[cruisinqt]

Wow! Twenty to thirty thousand? That is unbelievable! I was thinking a really good week would be 5 to 10 thousand. But 20 to 30 thousand is amazing ulmo! I guess I'll have to dish up some more humble pie. Why is my husband always right about these things?

 

By the way, I've seen a lot of boards discussing the salaries of service personnel like cabin attendants and waiters. From what I understand, the cruise line pays them little to nothing. Do they really rely on our tips for their salary? Or was I given incorrect information? I have always been curious about how long you are on the ship and when you get vacation time. Also, do you get to go ashore sometimes or is that not permitted? I'm sorry about all of the questions, but I tend to be a very curious person. You will never learn anything if you don't ask questions. Thanks for the info. I am still reeling from the info. on bingo. I just can't believe what a cash cow it is for cruise ships!

[ulmo]

Wow! Twenty to thirty thousand? That is unbelievable! I was thinking a really good week would be 5 to 10 thousand. But 20 to 30 thousand is amazing ulmo! I guess I'll have to dish up some more humble pie. Why is my husband always right about these things?

 

By the way, I've seen a lot of boards discussing the salaries of service personnel like cabin attendants and waiters. From what I understand, the cruise line pays them little to nothing. Do they really rely on our tips for their salary? Or was I given incorrect information? I have always been curious about how long you are on the ship and when you get vacation time. Also, do you get to go ashore sometimes or is that not permitted? I'm sorry about all of the questions, but I tend to be a very curious person. You will never learn anything if you don't ask questions. Thanks for the info. I am still reeling from the info. on bingo. I just can't believe what a cash cow it is for cruise ships!

good bingo revenue is the main way that an assistant CD gets promoted to be the head honcho. as far as the working It's basically 15 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of the contract. Usually the ships navigational officers worked three or four weeks at a time, cruise staff (and me) worked six month contracts, and the rest usually worked nine to twelve month contracts. Once again that's NCL and I"m not sure if it's the same everywhere.

 

About going ashore the people in my little group of theatre technicians and I could get ashore probably three out of every four ports. Cozumel used to be my "day off" The dancers actually had the day off and there were only comedians that night so we would go and get blasted on the beach, and then stumble back to the ship where we conveniantly had bar service to the light and sound booth. :D

 

As far as the others I know people got off the ship, but not necesarily their schedule. I think about a third of the crew would be off the ship at any given time while in a port. In regards to pay I was an officer and got payed well. The bartenders and waitstaff and cabin stewards and jobs liked that got payed maybe a hundred dollars a month, but the tips rounded that out pretty well for them. The worst jobs were the people that worked in the laundries and sorting garbage and stuff like that. They would maybe pull down fifty or a hundred bucks a month and get no tips.

[cruisinqt]

15 hours a day for 7 days a week six months at a time? No wonder my cabin attendant looked so tired! Can you imagine the amount of work these people do? I guess you could, you were one of them. I can see why you aren't there anymore. It probably wore you out. It sounds like the pay was pretty good though. At least for some people it was. I guess the people who did laundry and garbage must have been pretty poor and happy to just have a decent place to stay. I can't imagine any other reason to accept such terrible pay.

 

I'm glad to hear that the staff on ships do get to go ashore every once in a while. Someone mentioned that they thought the ship was very strict about who got on and off. A cruiser had told their cabin attendant that their gift to him was to not clean their cabin and go ashore instead. A CC member responded and said he couldn't just leave the ship like that. He said the cabin attendant's supervisor would ask him why he was leaving when he should be cleaning. It sounded like the ship's personnel couldn't just leave the ship when they wanted to. That would be awful. These cruise ships are nice but I would get antsy and want to get off every once in a while. I'm glad to hear that you could go ashore when you had the time.

 

If I were to get a gift for my cabin attendant, what do you think he would appreciate most? This is in addition to money of course. I have heard that calling cards were a good idea. What do you think? Did you ever hear them talking about what gifts they liked the best? Thanks for the info. And I'm sorry for all of the questions.

[ulmo]

15 hours a day for 7 days a week six months at a time? No wonder my cabin attendant looked so tired! Can you imagine the amount of work these people do? I guess you could, you were one of them. I can see why you aren't there anymore. It probably wore you out. It sounds like the pay was pretty good though. At least for some people it was. I guess the people who did laundry and garbage must have been pretty poor and happy to just have a decent place to stay. I can't imagine any other reason to accept such terrible pay.

 

I'm glad to hear that the staff on ships do get to go ashore every once in a while. Someone mentioned that they thought the ship was very strict about who got on and off. A cruiser had told their cabin attendant that their gift to him was to not clean their cabin and go ashore instead. A CC member responded and said he couldn't just leave the ship like that. He said the cabin attendant's supervisor would ask him why he was leaving when he should be cleaning. It sounded like the ship's personnel couldn't just leave the ship when they wanted to. That would be awful. These cruise ships are nice but I would get antsy and want to get off every once in a while. I'm glad to hear that you could go ashore when you had the time.

 

If I were to get a gift for my cabin attendant, what do you think he would appreciate most? This is in addition to money of course. I have heard that calling cards were a good idea. What do you think? Did you ever hear them talking about what gifts they liked the best? Thanks for the info. And I'm sorry for all of the questions.

I honestly didn't hang out with the cabin attendants very much. I was an officer and they were crew. We didn't eat together or work together. The only places we would mingle were in the crew parties, the crew bar, and late night "noodles." oh and crew bingo. I can't honestly tell you how much they could get off the ship, but I do know that they had to get permission from their supervisor before they could go. I was the supervisor for my department of five people. Basically one of us had to be on the ship at all times, but there wasn't a lot that happened on port days that called for lights and microphones.

 

About the hours weeks two through four of a new contract were the tiredest I've every been in my life. But somewhere around the fourth week it just began to be routine and not as big of a deal, at least untill a month from getting off the ship, then I was ready to go...bigtime. And yeah, I did make a lot of money, and it helped not having to pay for room or board, but I spent it quickly on books, video games, cds, dvds, my laptop, and my Playstation2 to fight the boredom of living on a ship with nothing to do. I also spent a lot of money on good food in the ports. And to be honest on booze and pot, although beers in the crewbar were fifty cents.

 

When it comes to gifts for your cabin attendant I think a phone card would be a good choice. I dare you to try to find a free pay phone next time you get off a ship :D. Except in Nassau, the payphones in Nassau suck hard. Also a box of snickers bars would probably go over pretty well.

[LSUtraveler]

ulmo,

"About the hours weeks two through four of a new contract were the tiredest I've every been in my life. But somewhere around the fourth week it just began to be routine and not as big of a deal, at least untill a month from getting off the ship, then I was ready to go...bigtime. And yeah, I did make a lot of money, and it helped not having to pay for room or board, but I spent it quickly on books, video games, cds, dvds, my laptop, and my Playstation2 to fight the boredom of living on a ship with nothing to do."

 

Too much to do and not enough to do!;)

[ulmo]

ulmo,

"About the hours weeks two through four of a new contract were the tiredest I've every been in my life. But somewhere around the fourth week it just began to be routine and not as big of a deal, at least untill a month from getting off the ship, then I was ready to go...bigtime. And yeah, I did make a lot of money, and it helped not having to pay for room or board, but I spent it quickly on books, video games, cds, dvds, my laptop, and my Playstation2 to fight the boredom of living on a ship with nothing to do."

 

Too much to do and not enough to do!;)

yeah, I realize that doesn't sound right, but think of it like this. I worked for twelve hours, and slept for seven. That left five hours with which to be bored in. I would go to the crew gym regularly, and some nights drink a lot in the crew bar, but a couple of hours with nothing to do and nowhere to go still needed to be filled.

 

Oh, and to be completely honest as my contracts went on I got much better at managing my department and spent less time working. For one thing I got the knack of "delegating" more and more. But basically I set up a rotating schedule where for two days we would only work eight hours, but in the third day we would work sixteen. But that was just me and the five people in my department.

[sea-cruise]

Onboard the Miracle sailing 6/26 they announced that someone won $33,700.00 :eek: in the casino on slots. Don't know which machine, but it was a progressive one I'd guess. I won 200 but didn't play that much. The machine I won on was a 25 cent one, next to the singer in the casino (It was on the starboard side). It features double and triple diamonds. Mine were mixed so it paid 800 coins. I only had one quarter in it or I would have gotten a lot more, but I was happy anyway.:o This machine kept hitting for other people throughout the cruise.

[cruisinqt]

Thanks for the info. ulmo, I've always been very curious about what life was like for those living on the ship. I may get calling cards and boxes of snickers for some of the hard workers like our cabin attendant. I hadn't thought about getting a box of snickers, but when you think about it, who wouldn't like that?

 

Well sea-cruise, if I ever sail on the Miracle I will definitely be looking for that double and triple diamond machine. I think almost all of the slots are extremely tight. But there is always a small amount of "come on" machines that hit often so those on the tight machines will keep pumping money into theirs. I have become pretty good at spotting the "come on" machines. I just thought we might be able to help each other by passing on any info. we have about a good machine.

 

And I am still reeling over how much these cruise ships make on the bingo alone. Now I am wondering how much they make in the casino. Anyone have any idea?

[ulmo]

Thanks for the info. ulmo, I've always been very curious about what life was like for those living on the ship. I may get calling cards and boxes of snickers for some of the hard workers like our cabin attendant. I hadn't thought about getting a box of snickers, but when you think about it, who wouldn't like that?

 

Well sea-cruise, if I ever sail on the Miracle I will definitely be looking for that double and triple diamond machine. I think almost all of the slots are extremely tight. But there is always a small amount of "come on" machines that hit often so those on the tight machines will keep pumping money into theirs. I have become pretty good at spotting the "come on" machines. I just thought we might be able to help each other by passing on any info. we have about a good machine.

 

And I am still reeling over how much these cruise ships make on the bingo alone. Now I am wondering how much they make in the casino. Anyone have any idea?

although I'm just thinking of myself with the snickers. I like them alot and that's something I would have enjoyed. I would have liked them when I was hungry and the galley was closed, but it's a matter of taste and who knows what your cabin steward would like.

 

As far as the casino goes I think I heard that they make back around six percent of the total amount wagered. That's kind of an average thing that goes up and down every week, but over time it's a pretty reliable number. I thinnk the amount of action the casinos got was VERY variable. And because the casinos are so small one big bettor on a hot streak can drastically change the numbers for a cruise.

[cruisinqt]

Thanks for the info. Ulmo. I'm sorry it took so long to get back on this thread, but I've been on vacation for a week over July 4th. I'm sure 6% is a big amount of revenue for the cruise line. I just wonder how much that is. I'm not good at all when it comes to numbers. So 6% of the total amount of money wagered is an enigma to me. It sounds like from what you are saying that the amount of money they make in the casino varies greatly from cruise to cruise. I guess it's according to how many big spenders are in the casino on that particular cruise. I am sure of one thing, though. The cruise ships make a lot of revenue off of gambling alone. That's why we don't do so well in their casinos. Or any casinos for that matter. In the end, the house will always win if you keep playing. That's why I always quit while I'm ahead. Does anyone else have any experiences in the Carnival casinos they would like to share? I would like to know as much as I can before we cruise. Thanks for the info. guys. These message boards are great!