Cruise Casinos-where are the people?

[Chmie]

That's one heck of a drop in net, BM.

Is it because of competition or just less people gambling ? :)

[Crzr4Lyf]

BM, I don't want to sound disconcerting, but how do you know how much ship casinos pull in weekly if you are no longer working or have never worked for a large cruiseliner. And forgive me if I sound disrespectful because I don't intend to. It's just that my DH has a propensity to pull facts and figures from the back of his mind with no reference whatsoever.

[isujim]

That's one heck of a drop in net, BM.

Is it because of competition or just less people gambling ? :)

 

Very good question......but from what I saw on the Jewel of the Seas 3 weeks ago..........not much cash per night in the casino.........just too few people........which is what the thread is all about to begin with.:)

[CruiseZapper]

we gamble in mississippi some. when i go there i know that i'm going to most likely going to loose my money, that's why i go, to gamble. but when i go on a cruise i enjoy everything else,when you're st the casnios, there's not that much other stuff, on a cruise, who has time to gamble. the very first casnio i was ever in was on a cruise, i won $250.oo. didn't have a clue as what i was doing.

[Lejardin]

I always visit the casino and love it! I budget myself two quarter rolls a day, which usually keeps me entertained for a while. I like all the varied activities on a cruise ship and the casino is just one of them. Whatever I win, I usually always feed back into the machine. It's my way of giving back. :D

[BruceMuzz]

Crzr4Lyf,

Any rumors about my retirement are quite premature. I'm sitting in my office on a large mass market cruise ship as I am typing this. On several different occasions I have been on the largest cruise liner in the world. On many other occasions I have been on the highest grossing cruise ships in the world.

 

Chmie,

The "Whales" (high stakes gamblers) have generally been scared off by the mass of humanity from Middle America that the cruise lines are presently courting to fill their ships. Competition has very little to do with it. Look at some of the posts here. We have many passengers who are on fixed incomes - or have no incomes - travelling with us. They have budgeted $20 per day, or sometimes $20 per cruise, for "entertainment" in the Casino. Just a few years ago we had passengers carrying suitcases filled with cash to play with in the casino. We still see it in Asia, but Middle Americans just don't have the disposable income they had a few years ago.

At the most recent CruiseExpo in Miami, all the Cruise Line CEOs were bemoaning the fact that the cost of living in America is currently rising much faster than incomes. The US Dollar is very weak and just won't buy very much outside the USA. Americans no longer enjoy the financial advantages they once had. That's the problem we all face.

[Sally Forth]

Probably because they pay back so much less than land-based casinos that people are in and out much faster.

 

Viv

[newmexicoNita]

Nita I'm glad somebody has had some luck in the past few years. It makes sense to me the fewer people that play, the less the payout is going to be due to lack of usage..........

 

On our last Jewel 8 night cruise I don't remember a single jackpot or large payout on ANY night by anybody...........by the last night of the cruise I'll bet there weren't 25 people in the casino...........I think it would help if they paid out a little more..........people wise up after a few days and continual losing:)

I think you are right about loosning up the machines and no, I haven't seen any big payoffs or jackpots, but have won enough to keep me playing longer. The Jewel wasn't as busy as the Sun when we cruised her across the Atlantic, but she was busy most of the time. On the Sun I won about $100 a couple of nights, of course I lost more, but $100 goes a long way when playing nickel and pennies. On the Sun the nickel and penny machines were so busy it was hard to find one. Now, on HAL, they had a very small casino with none of the newer machines, not busy at all most of the time. I also was able to keep going without licking my wounds too much on the Zenith and a year and 1/2 ago. NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

I respectfully disagree.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_machine

 

Read the part about common misunderstandings.

Number of plays and length of play have no bearing on when the slot will hit. The RNG determines this. :cool:

Your understanding is exactly the same as mine. It has to do with programing when the machines are built. NMNita

[MaryZ]

Crzr4Lyf,

Any rumors about my retirement are quite premature. I'm sitting in my office on a large mass market cruise ship as I am typing this. On several different occasions I have been on the largest cruise liner in the world. On many other occasions I have been on the highest grossing cruise ships in the world.

 

Chmie,

The "Whales" (high stakes gamblers) have generally been scared off by the mass of humanity from Middle America that the cruise lines are presently courting to fill their ships. Competition has very little to do with it. Look at some of the posts here. We have many passengers who are on fixed incomes - or have no incomes - travelling with us. They have budgeted $20 per day, or sometimes $20 per cruise, for "entertainment" in the Casino. Just a few years ago we had passengers carrying suitcases filled with cash to play with in the casino. We still see it in Asia, but Middle Americans just don't have the disposable income they had a few years ago.

At the most recent CruiseExpo in Miami, all the Cruise Line CEOs were bemoaning the fact that the cost of living in America is currently rising much faster than incomes. The US Dollar is very weak and just won't buy very much outside the USA. Americans no longer enjoy the financial advantages they once had. That's the problem we all face.

 

 

the perks you get from gambling on land just are not there at sea. If you can book the royal suite from someone willing to pay $10,000 for the week to stay in it, you aren't going to give it to me for free. Whereas atlantic city and vegas will. You aren't going to pay to fly me to your ship, yet harrahs corp will pay for me to fly to vegas.

Truthfully I and our friends have been gambling for 30 yrs. I have never heard of anyone receiving what a land based casino is willing to give to get you there.

oh and I don't "budget" $20 bucks a day for gambling. Except on a cruise ship now

[happy cruzer]

I love the casinos on land:

free drinks

better odds on slots and table games

larger facilities

better comp programs

 

On the ship, the casino is just a money maker for the cruiseline taking advantage of a trapped audience. I don't drop a penny there.

 

the competition on land where you can go next door to another casino keeps those businesses much more focused on the gambler.

[Crzr4Lyf]

Crzr4Lyf,

Any rumors about my retirement are quite premature. I'm sitting in my office on a large mass market cruise ship as I am typing this. On several different occasions I have been on the largest cruise liner in the world. On many other occasions I have been on the highest grossing cruise ships in the world.

 

 

Bruce,

 

I stand corrected. BTW, what's the name of your mass market cruise ship? :confused:

[newmexicoNita]

I love the casinos on land:

free drinks

better odds on slots and table games

larger facilities

better comp programs

 

On the ship, the casino is just a money maker for the cruiseline taking advantage of a trapped audience. I don't drop a penny there.

 

the competition on land where you can go next door to another casino keeps those businesses much more focused on the gambler.

you are as logical and boring as my husband. Bah Hum bug...LOL

 

nita

[BruceMuzz]

happy cruzer and MaryZ,

 

Actually we do offer a great many perks to the high rollers on cruise ships. It appears that perhaps you do not fall into that category.

 

Most of the mass market lines offer free air tickets and free cruises to their high rollers. Carnival Casinos and NCL Casinos are especially active in that department. On the new NCL ships, their Garden Villas (at 5,900 sq ft, the largest ship's cabins in the world) were designed and built specifically as "comps" for gamblers. But with the shortage of high rollers on NCL ships today, the Villas are usually sold instead.

Carnival Casinos Players Club is very generous with their serious players. All sorts of perks are offered; free air tickets, free cruises, wines, meals, drinks, you name it.

[royalprincess]

my husband and I will be at the casino every night:p

[eponym]

Crzr4Lyf,

Any rumors about my retirement are quite premature. I'm sitting in my office on a large mass market cruise ship as I am typing this. On several different occasions I have been on the largest cruise liner in the world. On many other occasions I have been on the highest grossing cruise ships in the world.

 

Chmie,

The "Whales" (high stakes gamblers) have generally been scared off by the mass of humanity from Middle America that the cruise lines are presently courting to fill their ships. Competition has very little to do with it. Look at some of the posts here. We have many passengers who are on fixed incomes - or have no incomes - travelling with us. They have budgeted $20 per day, or sometimes $20 per cruise, for "entertainment" in the Casino. Just a few years ago we had passengers carrying suitcases filled with cash to play with in the casino. We still see it in Asia, but Middle Americans just don't have the disposable income they had a few years ago.

At the most recent CruiseExpo in Miami, all the Cruise Line CEOs were bemoaning the fact that the cost of living in America is currently rising much faster than incomes. The US Dollar is very weak and just won't buy very much outside the USA. Americans no longer enjoy the financial advantages they once had. That's the problem we all face.

 

Perhaps but IMHO the above stated American household/financial/economic/equity concerns as applied to the topic of on ship gambling would apply to BOTH land based and cruise ship gambling industries.

 

It just dawned on me as well, that it has been my observation that although a good amount of cash money is laid out by players on table games throughout the course of each day on a ship, I have never seen a table fill performed in a ships casino. I play and am in the ships casinos for many hours each day at sea and have averaged 4000 player points accumulation on 3 day cruises to 7000+ on 5 day cruises. It may not be big whale player performance, but I would venture to guess that it outdoes 90% of the average passenger/player carriage performance.

[Grandpaul]

I, and some of my friends, when we go to Vegas or other casino cities get free rooms, food and entertainment. We also get our transportation taken care of. So the travel ends up costing us nothing. Now, what do we do with our money; we gamble. On cruise ships I spend thousands of dollars to travel so that leaves less to gamble with. Big difference. I played crap on the last two cruises for hours and they gave me $41 dollars off my bill. Total for the two cruises. Plus casinos have a different atmosphere than cruise ships. Casinos are all about gambling and ships are so much more. Who wants to ruin a cruise in the casino. I know some do but very few. I think you're comparing apples and oranges here.

[dna1990]

Perhaps I mis-read or coming in late - but I think the casino is still one of the 'highest' contributers to the cruiseline bottom line.

 

Although I agree that todays' cruiser is more budget conscious and attendence or average spend could be slipping. And as more folks see the perks of land-based casinos, will be interesting to see how cruise casinos evolve in the next 3-5 years.

[blindrid]

My last cruise in December, all of the table games were full and we had a pretty good group of players at the crap table. I typically take a grand to play with and find some die hard gamblers but not too many. My take is that I restrict my gambling pretty much later at night (2-4 hours) and enjoy the pool etc during the day.

 

I understand that some complain that the slots are a bit tighter but why would that surprise anyone that is used to playing. Table games odds have always been better thus a lot of the popularity. Some enjoy the slots since they are less threatening for the novice.

 

I do think that everyone's priorities are different and I typically only gamble when we have done the social thing which may include dinner, dancing or a show. Some obviously do not like or approve of gambling that will drop the # of gamblers as well as the pp mentioning the familes. I would not book a cruise without a casino and have met some that have been there every minute the casino is open. Conversely, there are some that could care less.

[qorc]

I wouldn't trust a casino on a ship. Where is the oversight? They don't open them until they are in international waters. So unlike casinos in the States, there is no oversight to ensure that their machines have legal payoffs and that their games are honest. God only knows what's really going on. My guess? I bet their pay-off rates are substantially worse than in Vegas.

 

 

 

You might as well take your money and burn it in your cabin, and at least you've saved your valuable cruise time for other things.

[PixieKGirl]

What is considered a "high roller" on a cruise? Are there any advantages to joining the players club?

 

Pixie

[newmexicoNita]

One thing that just hit me, could it appear there are less players on ship casinos now than in years past because the casinos are much larger? Just a thought. NMnita

[Grandpaul]

The biggest advantage in joining the players club only comes if you are a big player. You can get a discounted cruise rate from a couple cruise lines if you go through the players club. There are some that will credit your on board account if you play enough. But that is basically if you play slot machines. Table games get you nothing.

[newmexicoNita]

The biggest advantage in joining the players club only comes if you are a big player. You can get a discounted cruise rate from a couple cruise lines if you go through the players club. There are some that will credit your on board account if you play enough. But that is basically if you play slot machines. Table games get you nothing.

If you join the players club and play slots you build up points to be used as OBC at the end of the cruise; at least on NCL. It isn't like Vegas and takes a while but anything is better than nothing if you are going to play. NMnita

[isujim]

If you join the players club and play slots you build up points to be used as OBC at the end of the cruise; at least on NCL. It isn't like Vegas and takes a while but anything is better than nothing if you are going to play. NMnita

 

Nita this was the same on the Jewel last month.......first time I had seen it.........just put your seapass card in the machine and earn points.....I think RC is changing to this fleetwide........although you have to really play a lot to gain anything of value.