Thread: Cruise Ship Casinos - Yea or Nay!!!!

Fellow Casino Buffs,

What do you think about cruise ship casinos? Tell us your story, good or bad. What do you play? Tables or slots? How can a cruiser make their money last in the casino? Should passengers frequent the casino or just go to the martini bar?

If you do frequent the ship casinos, which ship did you like best?

I like to sit for an hour or two after the nightly show and I must say that Costa Mediterrania has the best slot payback of any ship I have experienced.

Celebrity Mercury 2001
RC 2004/05
Costa 06
Celebrity Summit 02/08/2008

In our experience, the slots do not pay off as well as land based slots. HOWEVER, we still make our nightly donation. I must confess that we mostly play the nickel slots It takes longer to lose it and we always pick the "fun" machines

I know my husband won $1,500.00 on the Carnival Spirit so that was a good cruise.

Originally Posted by Char

In our experience, the slots do not pay off as well as land based slots. HOWEVER, we still make our nightly donation. I must confess that we mostly play the nickel slots It takes longer to lose it and we always pick the "fun" machines

I agree with Char, except I usually play the quarter slots. Since I like the slots and am around them throughout the cruise I have developed a playing pattern for me (so I don't go broke, ). I put in $20, if not much is happening and I go down to $10, I cash out and walk away. If I go over $20 I keep playing until I double my money or go back down to $20 and cash out. Doing it this way I have actually spent a total of less than $200 on a 2 week cruise. For me that is very, very good.

Originally Posted by houch

I agree with Char, except I usually play the quarter slots. Since I like the slots and am around them throughout the cruise I have developed a playing pattern for me (so I don't go broke, ). I put in $20, if not much is happening and I go down to $10, I cash out and walk away. If I go over $20 I keep playing until I double my money or go back down to $20 and cash out. Doing it this way I have actually spent a total of less than $200 on a 2 week cruise. For me that is very, very good.

Carol, another thing we do alike! That's exactly what I do when I play the slots.

Normally, I don't do slots unless the craps, blackjack, and video poker aren't being kind to me.

Even when I'm playing the above (start out with more money, naturally) I use the same basic strategy except on these I don't quit with I'm winning. When I double my money, that new amount becomes my new starting amount and so on with ever win. When I'm winning, I'm not going to give it all back! Need it for the nights I don't!

Has worked for me so far! Lady Luck is fickle ....

I like your ideas about going down from 20 to 10 and walking away. I usually hit the button 5 times, if I don't win anything in the 5 times I cash out. It seems to work. We live by Foxwoods Casino and go once a month. This strategy seems to work (most of the time).

I find that the cruise ship machines are great the first and last night of the cruise and not so hot the other nights - but we still play.

Has anyone played the slots on the Summit? enquiste

Not the Summit, but on the Zenith, the couple we cruised with paid for their cruise in the Casino - she on slots and he at the balckjack table.

DH andI lost our standard $20.

It is generally accepted that the payouts on the slots are not as good as the land based casinos. With that said, I am not a slot player.

Ahhh, LuLu,
We really do have to meet someday. We do so many things the same and so many same thoughts, it's like we grew up next to each other!
As for blackjack, played it once in a local casino, was nervous the whole time, and walked away with $5 more than what I started with. We left cause my friend had lost her money there.
As for the other games, never played them.

When I used to travel with the Red Cross, one of the guys on the team would go to the casinos with us, put $20 in a $5 machine. He would make 4 plays and walk away. More often than not he would come away with $100 or more! That wouldn't be enough playing time for me.

My last cruise on the Norwegian Pearl, the first night I won 500.00 on a nickel machine. Around the third night I won 500.00 on a penny machine, another 450.00 on a nickel machine, 1000.00 on a dollar wheel of forture.

and for the Grand Finale.
Last night I hit two different wheels of fortune for 1,000.00 - one of them I had previously hit earlier in the cruise - and 800.00 on a 3rd wheel. so 2800.00 on the last night. One happy camper I was.

I have no system, I just spend money, more than I should.

I will say one thing about the 1st and last nights, its just a myth. Slot machines now have Random Number Generators, there is no way anyone in the casino can change them. They leave the factory set. To take out a RNG and replace it with another would be a monumental task.
The machines are set to the cruise lines standards. What ever kind of the payout they want. Some machine are set on a percentage basis. So in my opinion its just a question of being in the right place at the right time.

I agree with Char the nickel machines are alot of fun, expecially when they have two or three extra screens.
The difference with the extra screens, once you go to them, they are already set, so you are in control, it you make the right choices you can make some money.

I also did very well in the Casino on the Voyager of Sea and on the Norwegian Dawn. Not as good as the Pearl, but respectible winnings.