Casino on Alaska cruises

[Fishbait17]

I have a case of "no-cruises-booked-itis". And now CAS has sent me a very nice slot credit to remind me of that. I also happen to need air miles at the moment ;). All great reasons to book a cruise, right? But with the economy, we are trying to cut back and find something fairly reasonable. With the sale fares to Europe, the Med seems an obvious choice, but I did it last summer. Don't really want to cruise out of NYC, no air miles. So that leaves Alaska, which we have done, but not for a while.

 

Since my main form of entertainment on any cruise is the casino (and yes they love me there :D), I am curious about how they run on Alaska cruises. Are the ships in International waters enough to have the casinos open for most at-sea hours? The main reason we don't do Bermuda cruises is the overnight/no casino problem. Does anyone have info for me?

 

Robin

[newmexicoNita]

I have a case of "no-cruises-booked-itis". And now CAS has sent me a very nice slot credit to remind me of that. I also happen to need air miles at the moment ;). All great reasons to book a cruise, right? But with the economy, we are trying to cut back and find something fairly reasonable. With the sale fares to Europe, the Med seems an obvious choice, but I did it last summer. Don't really want to cruise out of NYC, no air miles. So that leaves Alaska, which we have done, but not for a while.

 

Since my main form of entertainment on any cruise is the casino (and yes they love me there :D), I am curious about how they run on Alaska cruises. Are the ships in International waters enough to have the casinos open for most at-sea hours? The main reason we don't do Bermuda cruises is the overnight/no casino problem. Does anyone have info for me?

 

Robin

That is a reason for us not to do Bermuda as well as some So America itineraries and Hawaii. On Alaskan cruises, you will be able to enjoy the casino just like on the Caribbean cruises. Except in port the casinos are glad to take your money.

 

Nita

[Tobintemp]

In additional to being close while in port, the casino also closes when the ship is at the glaciers (Glacier Bay, Sawyer Glacier)

[retiredonthesea]

We got the same offer from CAS, but our problem is we are booked for Alaska cruise in July "09" so now are looking for something for this Oct. or Nov. Any suggestions? Something where the casino is open for the longest time!HA;) When we did our Alaska cruise in "02" we had a good time in the casino, but like Nita said only open when out to sea and also while touring the glaciers.

 

Sure was a nice incentive from CAS to get us to book another cruise!:p

 

Retiredonthesea

[terrymtex01]

Fishbait..

 

We were on the NCL Star last Oct for the Mexican Riviera cruise. We spoke with the casino manager (yes.. they love us too.. wonder if they would love us if we actually won something.. lol). Anyway.. we asked him about the casino on the Alaskan cruises... He said they are open much like they are for Caribbean cruises, etc.. the main difference is.. If you leave out of Seattle it is like 5 hours before the casino can open, where as other ports it is only an hour.

 

Hope that helps. We are going on the NCL Star May 31st. It's going to be nail bitting waiting those five hours as we leave out of Seattle.

[terrymtex01]

Fishbait..

 

We were on the NCL Star last Oct for the Mexican Riviera cruise. We spoke with the casino manager (yes.. they love us too.. wonder if they would love us if we actually won something.. lol). Anyway.. we asked him about the casino on the Alaskan cruises... He said they are open much like they are for Caribbean cruises, etc.. the main difference is.. If you leave out of Seattle it is like 5 hours before the casino can open, where as other ports it is only an hour.

 

Hope that helps. We are going on the NCL Star May 31st. It's going to be nail bitting waiting those five hours as we leave out of Seattle.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Off subject a little, but does anyone know what kind of video poker machines are on the Star? And the Gem? MultiStrike or Triple Play or Super Times Pay or just plain old boring single hand video poker?

 

Thanks!

[Tobintemp]

Off subject a little, but does anyone know what kind of video poker machines are on the Star? And the Gem? MultiStrike or Triple Play or Super Times Pay or just plain old boring single hand video poker?

 

Thanks!

 

Just off of the Star, and they had about 10 video poker machines (5 cents, 25 cents, $1) with the games you mentioned above. They also offered free drinks in the casino many times throughout the cruise. Some days it was posted in the daily, a few times they just announced it in the casino that it would be free house drinks until a certain time.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Just off of the Star, and they had about 10 video poker machines (5 cents, 25 cents, $1) with the games you mentioned above. They also offered free drinks in the casino many times throughout the cruise. Some days it was posted in the daily, a few times they just announced it in the casino that it would be free house drinks until a certain time.

 

Wow - only 10? And all the ones I mentioned above or just the plain old single game video poker? Thanks for your response and hope you enjoyed your cruise.

[Fishbait17]

Fishbait..

 

We were on the NCL Star last Oct for the Mexican Riviera cruise. We spoke with the casino manager (yes.. they love us too.. wonder if they would love us if we actually won something.. lol). Anyway.. we asked him about the casino on the Alaskan cruises... He said they are open much like they are for Caribbean cruises, etc.. the main difference is.. If you leave out of Seattle it is like 5 hours before the casino can open, where as other ports it is only an hour.

 

Hope that helps. We are going on the NCL Star May 31st. It's going to be nail bitting waiting those five hours as we leave out of Seattle.

 

Thanks that helps a LOT. I would be jonesing those first 5 hours lol. Otherwise it's great to know!

 

Robin

[CruisnGram]

We got the same offer from CAS, but our problem is we are booked for Alaska cruise in July "09" so now are looking for something for this Oct. or Nov. Any suggestions? Something where the casino is open for the longest time!HA;) When we did our Alaska cruise in "02" we had a good time in the casino, but like Nita said only open when out to sea and also while touring the glaciers.

 

Sure was a nice incentive from CAS to get us to book another cruise!:p

 

Retiredonthesea

 

I vote for Canada/New England. You would have to sail in Sept or OCt tho, no Nov sailings. There are NCL sailings out of NY, Boston, & Philadelphia. There are a lot of ports, and not too many at sea days but the casino's will be open every evening.

[Tobintemp]

Wow - only 10? And all the ones I mentioned above or just the plain old single game video poker? Thanks for your response and hope you enjoyed your cruise.

 

From what I recall there was only a short row or two of video poker machines. We only played them once and on each machine there was about 6 different games to choose from, along with being able to choose different denominations.

[Tobintemp]

Thanks that helps a LOT. I would be jonesing those first 5 hours lol. Otherwise it's great to know!

 

Robin

 

They only have to wait until they are outside of Washington State waters. We took a weekend cruise from Vancouver to Astoria on the Sun last year and the casino closed for 2-3 hours when we were heading south, heading north the casino closed about 9PM and I'm not sure if it reopened.