I'm taking a cruise later this year (on the Celebrity line). I know the playing conditions are extremely poor and not worth playing; however, I'm not an advantage player (stick strictly to Basic Strategy) and may play a little just for fun.
I was curious does anyone know what type of conditions to expect (shoe, CSM, single deck, etc.), and what are the min. betting levels?
Thanks for any info you may have.
Phil,
I recently took a cruise on NCL. The BJ was ok: 6 deck shoes, hand shuffled, with S17, DA2, & DAS, no LS, pen. about 4.5/6.0 dealt: not great, but not bad, either. The mins ranged from $5 to $25.
The casino also had a BJ tournament, which was quite fun. I actually lost a $20000 bet on the last hand, and thus failed to make the finals.
Hope Celebrity has good BJ for you!
Dog Hand
> I'm taking a cruise later this year (on the Celebrity
> line). I know the playing conditions are extremely
> poor and not worth playing; however, I'm not an
> advantage player (stick strictly to Basic Strategy)
> and may play a little just for fun.
> I was curious does anyone know what type of conditions
> to expect (shoe, CSM, single deck, etc.), and what are
> the min. betting levels?
> Thanks for any info you may have.
I have been told by folks who cruise more then I (Ive been on 6) that most shoe play is with 8 decks. I'll see when I get on in a month. I know it has to be at least 6. My most recent experience has been on RCCL EoS. They had a single deck face up game but with a $25 min. I dont think I ever saw anyone playing there so if your BR can take the spread with a $25 min Id say that would be the place to be. The multi-deck was kind of bad with the big kicker being the dealer hit on soft 17. The rest of the rules were as stated. This was my first trial by fire trying to count but I reverted to playing BS and I think I went down to the tune of $100. I was up >$100 at one point but caught some bad cards and went down. Tried Wonging but they only had a couple tables open so it was hard to get a seat. The loss wasnt bad considering how the house adv must have been pretty big and considering the limited playing times etc. It was a good leaning experience.
Lots of drunk non BS playing types. Expect only one, maybe two, other persons besides yourself at any given table playing correct BS. Id suggest finding a higher limit table to limits the DA's. Ive been told they only break out new cards at the begining of the cruise hense not being able to check them out when the table opens. Ive heard rumers of auto shufflers but Ive also heard they dont use them because they're high maintenance. I havent seen one.
One other thing. The casino wont be open in any of the ports so your playing time will be limited to days/times your at sea. They also arent open 24/7 so dont expect to stop by at 4 am and go heads up with a dealer. They've closed around 2-3 when Ive been. Its the managers call.
If you looking for more favorable conditions check out the islands your stopping in. Lots of them down in the carib. have casinos. Give the wife some shopping money and tell her you'll see her later.
cruisemates.com message board has a section on gambling
HTH
ADDK
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