Dashofpepper

You're welcome!

I was only interested in the VIP room insofar as the Club Royale reservation guy said the European table on the Oasis was in the VIP room, and I presume I'm not a VIP. Single zero roulette tables usually have significantly higher table min/max limits than American tables because the house odds are halved.

I'd be furious if I canceled my Vegas trip to go on this cruise instead, only to find out that the casino either (1) doesn't have a single zero roulette table after all, (2) that I wasn't allowed to gamble at it, or (3) that the limits are so low that I can't play on it.

Try emailing the Oasis host - oa_casinohost@rccl.com. I've never seen a VIP room on a RCCL ship.

Score!

That's more information than I've been able to get out of RCCL.

Only American Roulette on the ship.....no VIP room!

Eh? Club Royale gave me a list of the ships that have a single zero table - there were 10 of them.

ex-explorer of the seas

vy- voyager of the seas

ma-mariner of the seas

aL- allure of the seas

OA- oasis of the seas

HM-harmony of the seas

SY-symphony of the seas

QN-quantum of the seas

OV- ovation of the seas

RH-rhapsody of the seas

Of those 10, the only November departures were pretty much the Oasis cruise I booked.

Gambling on the ship is NOT like gambling in Vegas..... Odds are awful...dealers seem to always win...it ain't Vegas!

Uh....what? Odds are odds. House odds on a European roulette table are 2.7%. House odds on American roulette are 5.4%. Unless the casino is using a rigged magnetic table, it's just odds.

Same with card games - good blackjack tables are 3:2, bad tables are 6:5. Just like I wouldn't play at an American roulette table (land or sea), I wouldn't play at a 6:5 roulette table (anywhere), let alone that scammy triple-zero roulette table that the Venetian and Carnival are trying to roll out on their players.

But odds are odds. Except on slots.

I'm cruising in November instead of going to Vegas. Unless the min-max bet limits are screwy, I'll gamble there. Shipboard casinos usually have $5-2000 American roulette. If the minimum bit on the European table is $25, the maximum bet would scale to $10,000. But I don't know for sure. And I'd like to know.

Same here. Nothing like a bit of hyperbole in the thread title to attract thoughtful responses.

A better thread title would have been, "Are there any other super picky eaters who are also bargain shoppers cruising out there?"

I was expecting a thread about actual starving people.

From the thread title, yes. I was expecting either starving people booking a cruise, or stowaways on a ship from a depressed port country, or perhaps pseudo-slave labor cruise line workers who are starving or insufficiently fed, or perhaps even that this might be about stopping into a port where there are starving people, and guests trying to sneak food off the boat to feed them.

I've been all over the world; personal, professional, and military travel. I remember cruising with NCL in 2016 or 2017 and stopping somewhere in Hondurus where the tourist area was enclosed by a chain link fence guarded by government troops with rifles, with presumably hungry people on the other side of the fence. It wasn't a particularly pleasant stop. I'd have brought them food if I could have.

NONE of the possibilities about starving on a cruise ship that I considered encompassed someone's preferential dining, or whether an upcharge might be worth it. Words have meaning, and I expect intelligent people to use them in their proper capacity.

Hey folks!

I just blind-booked the Nov.4-11 cruise on the Oasis of the Seas - I've been waiting for a week trying to get answers from the Club Royale booking folks to some casino questions with no luck - but the cruise is almost full, so I pulled the trigger despite not having answers.

What the Casino Royale booking agent was able to tell me was that the Oasis has a European roulette table (single zero table) in the VIP room, with a minimum even money bet of $25 and the maximum "at the manager's discretion." What he couldn't tell me was whether I'd be able to access and gamble in the VIP room (I've not sailed with RCCL before), or what the default table max is. I'd gamble at a $25 - $5000 table, or a $25 - $10,000 table, but I would not gamble at a $25 - $1000 or $2000 table.

Do any of you know anything that might be helpful? I intend to wire transfer funds to the ship to gamble, and I'm hopeful that what I assume to be a higher stakes European roulette table might look like what I'd find on the strip in Vegas. I hate that I've booked it without KNOWING whether I can gamble there or not, but options were drying up. Balconies gone, minisuites gone, there was one inside stateroom left, and every day that went by without answers....I felt like I had to book.

I was expecting a thread about actual starving people.

Weird. My husband just got a Premier cruise on Horizon and we haven't been on Carnival in a long time. So we booked it. Gambling money, casino drink card, gifts, special giveaways.

 

We sail NCL mostly but this upcoming year we have booked back to Celebrity and Princess besides the NCL ships we are doing.

Carnival will give you things to get on the boat, but the games you're going to be playing in the casino have terrible, terrible, terrible odds. Regular cruise lines have American roulette (which is for suckers at 5.4% house edge). Nice cruise ships have European roulette (2.7% house edge). Carnival ships have triple zero roulette. Regular ships have 3:2 Blackjack. Carnival has 6:5. I don't play slots, but I'd expect their slots have worse payouts than other cruiselines too.

Carnival is the seedy downtown Vegas tourist trap where only suckers gamble of the cruise industry. Beyond RCCL, you should also take a look at some of the other nicer cruise lines. It sucks starting over with perks with a new club - I'm in that boat right now.

Thank you for the information.......I don't remember that from our last Navigator cruise in 2016......we'll take some cash to play. It's just nice to get the points through your credit card......

You have options:

1. Book the cruise on your card. Tie your room to your card, charge everything to your card or back to your room.

2. Here's the part you'll have to research: Credit card companies treat purchases at casinos as a cash advance, and assess a 5-10% cash advance fee to prevent people from exploiting their membership rewards. Can you imagine? $100,000 deposit at a casino, get 1% cash back points, cash out the $100,000, pay off your card, and you've just made $1,000. Who WOULDN'T do that?

You'll have to call your cruise line casino booking person and ask them if you are allowed to do any of the following:

a.) Get cash at the casino charged to your room.

b.) open a line of credit at the casino, billed to your room

There's an entire industry of people who spend countless hours maximizing reward points and comps on various credit cards; it's called "churning." There are even churning communities. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/

You might also look into whether you can purchase a prepaid visa with your credit card, then use that prepaid visa onboard to exchange for cash - but unless your points are particularly good, you'll pay more for the purchase/activation fee than you will get back in reward points.

My credit card has 1% anything cashback points, and 2% for gas and groceries. They charge 3% or 5% to vendors, so they still make a profit. I don't churn; double dips, doublebacks, none of it - like going to target to buy a Disney giftcard with my credit card, getting credit card points, then getting target points, then loading the Disney giftcard onto a Disney account since I was going to Disney anyway.

Carnival has prepaid carnival giftcards. RCCL has gift certificates. Look into whether you can buy those with your credit card, then use them on the ship to turn into casino cash.

There ARE ways; it just depends on the work you're willing to do.

---------------------------------------------

*edit*

I just took a look at the RCCL gift certificates - the T&Cs say that they can't be redeemed for games of chance - so you can't redeem a gift certificate at the casino and exchange it for money. Or you can, and the T&Cs are just saying that you can't gamble the certificate because it has no cash value in itself. But you could call the cruise line and find out if you can redeem the value of a gift certificate and have the balance added to your room account to use for spending onboard, and if you can acquire cash on board the ship against your room balance.

----

----

Royal Caribbean Gift Certificates Terms and Conditions

1. This certificate can be redeemed by the holder of the Certificate (the "Holder") for up to the face value of the Certificate, only on Royal Caribbean International sailings and can be used towards the purchase of any Royal Caribbean International cruise vacation or as an onboard credit. This certificate is not valid on any other cruise line, including any affiliate of Royal Caribbean International. Gift certificates may be supplemented with other acceptable forms of payment.

2. The recipient of this certificate must be 21 years of age or older and the recipient and any additional guest(s) must satisfy Royal Caribbean International's additional requirements for passage.

3. To use toward the payment of a cruise vacation, reservation(s) must be made at least 14 business days prior to the sail date and/or the gift certificate must be redeemed before the final payment date (at least 10 business days prior to the sail date).

4. To use as an onboard credit, the gift certificate must be redeemed 10 business days prior to the sail date. If reservation is paid in full, then the gift certificate cannot be used as payment towards a cruise vacation. If final payment has already been made, then the gift certificate can be applied as an onboard credit as long as it is applied 10 business days prior the sail date. Travel Agents should call Royal Caribbean International at (800) 722-5970 and reference the Royal Caribbean International Gift Certificate.

5. Changes to the reservation may be permitted, subject to availability and any other restrictions and any applicable cancellation charges.

6. This certificate is nonrefundable, is not replaceable and has no cash value if lost, stolen, altered, photocopied or reproduced in any way.

7. Gift certificates may be redeemed online at http://www.royalcaribbean.com/giftcertificates or by calling (800) 722-5970.

8. Gift certificate must be redeemed prior to your cruise vacation. Gift certificates cannot be redeemed onboard.

9. This certificate may not be used to pay for any government fees, taxes, onboard gratuities, games of chance and or similar activities. This certificate cannot be used and is not applicable for charters and may not be used for certain customized group programs (i.e. value add groups).

Rhapsody of the Seas

This was back in October 2016. Wife and l have another reverse Transatlantic this October. I will check and see if they are running single then.

If l remember correctly they had both available on the ship.

 

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RCCL JUST e-mailed me back with a list of ships with single zero roulette. I've been waiting a week!

ex-explorer of the seas

vy- voyager of the seas

ma-mariner of the seas

aL- allure of the seas

OA- oasis of the seas

HM-harmony of the seas

SY-symphony of the seas

QN-quantum of the seas

OV- ovation of the seas

RH-rhapsody of the seas

So am I hearing correctly......on charging casino money to our cards.....? Only cash to play .....? We're aboard the Explorer in Sept. and can't remember from our last RCI cruise.......thanks

Cash to play. All casino ships also have ATMs, but you can expect a hefty ATM charge. $5 - $10.

If you're talking a lot of cash, you can also wire transfer to the ship in advance, or open a line of credit to avoid having to carry cash.

Priority boarding is for suites and Pinnacle members. Some terminals also extend boarding order to lower C&A levels. Besides booking a suite, there's no way to "buy" priority boarding for a cruise.

What about disabled people? I waited through the regular line on my last cruise at the port, and when I got to the front and presented my ID and stuff to get my boarding passes and stuff printed out, they asked why I hadn't used the priority line.

Are you guys saying that RCCL has no priority boarding feature in any capacity? I'm planning on switching from NCL to RCCL, and while I'd get priority boarding because of my casino status, I would have gotten it anywhere for being a disabled vet.

On my last cruise on Royal (Allure October 2016), and my most recent cruise on Celebrity (Equinox February 2018), I observed this practice. So, I got my information first hand. Maybe some ships are better than others, but this is what I've seen.

There are two kinds of cruise ships, just like there are two kinds of casinos. You find higher stakes, better player odds, and more extravagance on the strip resorts. You find lower stakes, worse player odds, and more dingy/grubby hotels downtown.

Single zero roulette on the strip is $25 - $20,000 at most places, with a two $100 - $10,000 tables at the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace in their high stakes salons. If you want to gamble with $100 or $1000, you go downtown and play American roulette (with worse odds) with the rest of the tourists on the $5 - $1000 table, or an even worse waste of time, the $1 tables, or maybe even the $0.25 electronic ones if they exist in Vegas.

If the cruise ship has 3:2 Blackjack, Craps, and European roulette (even if its just in a VIP section), its a strip equivalent casino. If it has 6:5 Blackjack, mostly slot machines, and American roulette (or worse, that new triple zero scam, **** YOU CARNIVAL), it's a progressive scale of the slum casinos off-strip.

It just depends on who you're cruising with. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Try the Queen Mary 2.

I only saw single zero on our Mediterranean cruise and on the Transatlantic coming back to US from European area. I have not ever seen a VIP section on the ships at least not in the casino. Good luck

 

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What ship was your Mediterranean cruise?

Hello fellow lords and ladies of the night!

I've not yet cruised on RCCL, but my wife and I are desperate to, but we can't seem to get the RCCL casino team and their back-end support team to tell me which RCCL ships have a single-zero roulette table onboard. Supposedly there are 8, and they are all in VIP sections.

I was getting ready to fly to Vegas to hit the MGM Grand's $25 - $20,000 la partage roulette table, and my wife interjected a cruise...so I need to find a cruise that has single zero roulette. American roulette is 0 + 00, which doubles the house edge. Because Americans are greedy. European roulette has a single 0.

Any of you guys also gamblers? Going on or coming off a ship that can eyeball the casino, talk to the casino host, find out if there are single zero roulette tables on board, and what the min/max bets are for them?

This last cruise with Carnival, not RC. I tried something in Roulette called the double down method or Martingale system. I have never been much of a gambler, but I ran some tests at home with an electronic roulette wheel and $100 in starting chips at $5 bets. This method never failed even once in my at home testing.This is how double down works basically.

 

Choose a color to bet on. Say, “red”. Until the end of the game, you will bet only on red.

-Place your initial bet, for example $1, on red.

-If you win, your net win is $1. Stop here.

-If you lose, you have lost $1. Place 2x$1=$2 on red.

-If you win, you win $2. Your net gain is $2-$1=$1. Stop here.

-If you lose, your net loss so far is $1+$2=$3. Place 2x$2=$4 on red.

-If you win, you win $4. Your net gain is $4-$3=$1. Stop here.

-If you lose, your net loss so far is $3+$4=$7. Place 2x$4=$8 on red.

So, unless a streak comes that is longer than your bankroll, you win, but slowly. I figured it was worth $100 to try it. I started playing and for about two hours this system worked perfectly. I was slowly making a gain, but when I reached about $280 and right after an employee who seemed to be watching me pretty intently was doing something at a workstation next to the roulette table, I had an eight number streak of not my color. I have to point out that for the last two hours and for as long as I had been watching the Roulette table this cruise, I had never seen more than a three color streak. Now I know that this could have just been dumb luck and the woman may have just been doing something routine and not related, but that cured me of gambling.

 

 

I was already suspicious though, because I used to get onto a Carnival ship and play the slots when the ship was headed out on night one. I set limits on my play. Start with $20 and if I lose that, I am done for the cruise. I would play a dollar and win like $50. After that first night, I would not win again. The next three cruises, I tried only playing on that first night and I won around the same amount each first night for three cruises. It was like the slots could not lose on that embarkation night, but now I am just cashing out and walking away and not gambling the rest of the cruise. This worked for four cruises and then stopped. My last three cruises, no wins on night one. I spend my twenty on slots and win nothing. So this could just be luck, I know that chance can be strange statistically, but in the back of my mind it could also be that an algorithm linked to my sail and sign card has told Carnival that I take my winnings and walk, so don't waste money on this guy. I know, I know, it is all highly regulated and above board, but that was enough for me.

Oof. Where do I begin with that. I'm a roulette player.

Here's the truth: If you have enough money to successfully gamble with a martingale strategy, you probably aren't going to gamble it in the first place. It's pretty safe for making a bit of cash in the short run, but even with favorable rules giving a 0.002% chance of running into a losing streak that breaks your bankroll, it can still happen, and you will eventually streak into breaking your bank roll.

With that said, here are some ground rules that I live by:

*Rule #1: Don't ever play American Roulette.

*Rule #2: Decide the streak odds you're willing to accept.

*Rule #3: Don't accept smaller table ranges than your accepted streak odds.

*Rule #4: Bankroll the table max at martingale, or don't play.

*Rule #5: If you're going to increase your bet outside of Martingale, quit on the spot.

*Rule 1 explained: European Roulette only (single zero instead of double zero, cuts the house edge on a 1:1 bet in half to 2.7%). If you can find a roulette table that also has either "en prison" or "la partage" in effect, it further reduces house odds in your favor on 1:1 bets while doing a Martingale. The Bellagio has a single table that meets this criteria in their high stakes salon, but the table limits are $100 - $10,000, which they won't change, ever, for anyone. Since I'm not willing to risk $20k, nor am I willing to violate rule #4, I'm restricted to the peasant tables with $1k or $2k caps without en prison. MGM, Wynn, all the other strip resorts have $25 - $20,000 single zero tables, which sometimes get bumped up to $100 minimum bets during peak. NCL and Carnival only have American roulette tables; supposedly RCCL has both, which I'm still trying to get more details on - same with Cunard, and the other lines. You can find online casinos with favorable rules (5Dimes has a $1-$2500 European table with En prison) which is a DREAM....but based on a single reddit post that a single person made a year ago about suspecting 5Dimes of causing identity theft....I wasn't willing to risk gambling in their casino.

*Rule 2 explained: There are 37 entries on a European roulette table; 1-36 and 0. You have a 47.3% chance of winning and a 52.7% chance of losing. While every spin (like a coin flip) has identical odds of occurring, you're betting on a streak. For me, that's "Follow the House." When the house rolls red, I bet red. When the house rolls black, I bet black. If the house goes RRRRRRRRRR, I just won the table minimum 9 times in a row. For me, losing means the house goes RBRBRBRBRB in exactly that order, never duplicating color for 8-9 doubled bets in a row. A spin is a 0.473 of me winning. If I bet black and the the house went red, I switch to red. The next spin has an equal chance of being red (0.473), but the chances of the table displaying black, then red is 22.4%. The chances of the table going black, then red, then black is 10.5%. For me, my accepted streak odds are 0.0025; or 3/10 of one percent - that the house won't spin BRBRBRBR in exactly that order.

*Rule #3 explained: For my 8 bet (or 0.25% chances of streak loss) table requirement - which by the way is VERY difficult to come by - casinos implement table limits to prevent people with an unlimited bankroll from making money (and you have to avoid American roulette - 0/00 is a sucker bet). The only way to even get an affordable 7 bet Martingale European table in Vegas is to show up at one of the 6-bet tables during off-peak, with no one there, and ask the pit boss to either halve the minimum for you. They can, and will at their discretion - but even finding a table to gamble on is a gamble. Showing up at the MGM hoping for $25 - $20,000, but there being enough people to make it a $100 - $25,000 table sucks.

*Rule #4 explained: If you can't bankroll a table for the rules you set for yourself above, don't play. If its a $10-$2000 table, you need to bring $3,935 to the table. If it's a $1 - $250 table, you need to bring $443 to the table. I don't straight Martingale, because chip denominations aren't friendly to trying 5-10-20-40-etc; instead, I bet 10/25/50/100/250/500/1000. Table min/max are never set where it would make a difference or add a double to your bet count.

Keep in mind that you're going to spend most of your time making minimum bets. This is not the kind of system where you bring $100 and leave with $10,000. This is not even the system where you bring $100 and leave with $200. This is the system where you bring $5,000, play for a bit until you've won $500-$1000, then leave and thank Jesus for not making the 0.25% streak chance show up while YOU were at the table and costing you $4500 for trying to win $500.

*Rule #5 explained: You've been sitting at the roulette table for 5 hours. You brought $2,000 for a $5-$1000 table and you're up to $4,000. You won that $5 at a time over 5 hours. Eventually, you will be either drunk or numb enough to be bored enough to think "I should bet $1000 just because" or "I should play even/odds too" just to change things up. You will lose. Every losing experience I've had in my lifetime is because I stayed too long, got bored and broke the rules. Two vivid memories - after 3 days of gambling at the Hard Rock Casino, I'm up $7,000. Sunday morning, getting ready to fly home and I think, "Man...just one last hurrah for the big time." The last spin when I walked up to the table was red. I put $1000 on red. It went to black. I put $2000 on black. It went to red. I put $4000 on red with pit-boss approval. It went to black. 3 days of work, poof broke. The other experience was two years ago on the Norwegian Jewel - my wife and I took a cruise. I'm a "valued casino patron" so a mostly free cruise. Casino had $25-$1000, and only American roulette. I should have known better. I DID know better. But a week on a cruise ship with a casino and free booze RIGHT THERE....I was weak. Lost $2000 in 10 minutes.

The most I've ever won from a roulette table in a single sitting was actually on another cruise ship - the Norwegian Pearl - and it wasn't from Martingale. At the end of the cruise, I was up a net $500 from an hour here and there. While I was gambling, the intercom announced we were re-entering American waters in 30 minutes, at which point the casino was closing. I started to leave, and the dealer said, "Awww, one last hurrah?" I asked her to pick a color - she went with red (her fingernails), and I clunked my $500 winnings onto red. It spun to red. I doubled onto red, and it went red again. Table max was $1000, so I pulled $1000 back and let it ride. 8 times on red, then I quit. I asked her to spin it one more time because I had to see - and it was black. I'd just shoveled all the chips into my pockets when my wife came into the casino looking for me. She asked how I did, and I pulled out $300 in chips and was like, "Eh, not a total loss." Then I pulled out a handful and said, "Oh, these too!" ($100 chips, coat and pants all stuffed). She freaked out. Then I pulled another handful, and another, and $8,000 later, we decided to fly home first class. It's one of my most cherished memories.

I didn't "overly" mind losing $2k on the second cruise because my net winnings were up, but I was pissed the whole cruise because I KNEW BETTER and still gambled - probably because I "felt" lucky. And that's the point - if you start feeling...leave the table.

In short, Martingale's low risk is good for making money in the short term. My personal rule is 120%. I stop when I have 120% of my starting bankroll. $10,000 turned into $12,000. $500 turned into $600 (for those cheap $1 - $250 tables), but you always need double the table max to play on that table.

Make a little money, but be aware this isn't a gambling system that will get you comps. Take your Martingale winnings (if you didn't hit that rare streak) and use them to flat bet a color for hours while sipping free drinks to build those house comps (average bet per hour = points awarded). If you went with your spouse and you want to double milk the comps and spend the least amount of money buying those comps, give her half your chips or some cash of her own, and make her bet opposite you - but don't associate as husband/wife while you're doing it. You put $25 on red, she puts $25 on black. 98% of the time, you two will break even, and 2% of the time, the house will get paid on green. But you can farm those comps. Double bonus points if you slowly palm your bankroll and winnings into your pocket one chip at a time when you can get away with it, so the pit boss sees diminishing stacks in front of you and thinks you're losing more than you are.

Casinos don't like gamblers, which is stupid - but casinos are run by bean counters now, not by gamblers. Martingale is gambling, and doesn't fit into the -EV profit expectations per hour of utilization. Casinos want players to sit down, and slowly pay out their bankroll to the casino's inevitable odds. Go big or go home.

Cant answer most questions. Hubby is the roulette player, but...We had an issue with NCL too. After 26 comped cruises, either thru CAS or land based casino certificates, NCL would only give us 20% off(we get that being diamond at CET)because (as per 3 different people at NCL-one in corporate) told us, " We won money on our last cruise, so we can pay for our own cruise". We made uber amount of points, but nothing mattered cuz we won!! Hubby also bets big at roulette, but they would rather have you bet smaller and stay longer at the table-- not my husband way of gambling--so he sometimes gets poor ratings. Rated at high bets, but low time. Not so on MSC. They do not hold winnings against you.

So, after those 26 cruises, we tried URCOMPED and love them. Even without a cruise certificate, just give some proof of gaming history. They will check it out for you. If not available online, call them. They will do anything they can to comp the player, before needing to establish a gaming history. We have sailed 3 times on MSC for free. No port charges, taxes, or administration fees. We are going on RC this weekend for the 1st time thru URCOMPED. Try URCOMPED they really are great, land vacations too. Tell them Tina and Jeff recommended them

Safe sailing

 

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I e-mailed URCOMPED asking if I could use them without any existing play cruise offers (2-3 days ago) but haven't heard back. I've never heard of MSC Cruiselines; going to look them up now. And I REALLY HEAR YOU on the CAS comp fiasco.

Casinos have the wrong metrics at work, and it caters to comp farmers. I can martingale a roulette table to make $500, then spend 8 hours flat betting that $500 to "buy" comps - which is the bet/hour comp system at work. I don't want to do that. I want to go to the casino, and win or lose. All at once. If I win, I can comp myself. If I lose, I want a "Thanks for losing $10k, here's your consolation prize."

So I always get screwed with comps.

*edit* And...it looks like MSC is a Europe only cruiseline. I don't want to fly to Europe to cruise; I would cruise TO Europe and back (ala Queen Mary 2) but the time commitment is massive.

I don't know which ships have that wheel, but the email address for Casino Royale (RCCL) is clubroyale@rccl.com, perhaps they would know, and may also be able to answer your other questions. It may take 48 hours to receive a response.

I think I did that; there's a Thomas Moore from the Club Royal group (who doesn't have a direct line) trying to find out which ships (of the supposed 8 ships) have a single zero table.

I thought the only triple zero roulette table was that experimental scam at the Venetian in Vegas? o.O

Dude you are on a cruise ship, not in Europe or Las Vegas. If you do not like the casino rules on the ships then do not play in their casinos. If you lost $7,000 in less than 6 minutes perhaps you should call (626) 960-3500.

That's a great welcome to the forums here, thanks!

Is there any chance that you can help out with any of my questions? Help me find a European / single zero wheel on a cruise ship? Like I said; RCCL says they have 8 ships with single zero wheels; trying to find out which.

Hey folks!

Any Carnival cruise gamblers out there? Does Carnival even support gamblers? Is there a secret to getting in touch with them?

I tried getting in touch with Carnival to find out if any of their ships have a single zero roulette table - I wouldn't cruise on a ship that doesn't. I filled out the Ocean's Player's Club form and got contacted today by a generic reservation person who had no information about my inquiry, couldn't answer any of my questions, doesn't even know what roulette is, told me their spreadsheet of ship amenities doesn't give any details about roulette, didn't have anyone to put me in touch with, transferred me to Global Sales, who in turn spent 15 minutes trying to find out who to ask what the casinos actually have on ships, before referring me back to...the same form on the Ocean's Player's Club that led to a clueless person at reservations calling me in the first place.

Before I write off Carnival as incompetent and look elsewhere, anyone have advice?

Hey folks!

I need help, advice, and pointers.

Background:

I just signed up for these forums after reading through here a bit, and thought I'd ask you guys for help. I've only cruised with NCL for the last decade, but after losing $7,000 in ~6 minutes on my first day gambling on my last cruise with ZERO comps (beyond the free drinks and mostly-free cruises I was already getting)...then spending the rest of the week-long cruise on a ship full of mostly sick people going to ports that had been hurricane ravaged, my loyalty is broken.

I'd been planning a Vegas trip this fall to gamble with a $10k budget - I haven't been to Vegas since I started cruising, but after extensive research, perks have disappeared, comps have shrunk, and the strip resorts are nickel and diming people - while the off-strip casinos don't have single-zero roulette / European roulette, and I won't play American roulette anymore. My wife suggested we cruise again, but just choose another cruiseline, so that brings me back to research.

Research Conducted:

1. NCL has no European roulette in their fleet, so they're out.
   
2. RCCL tells me they have 8 ships with European roulette in their VIP-only section - I've asked which ships so we can explore cruise options.
   
3. I've e-mailed Carnival asking about fleet-wide casino options; waiting to hear back.
   

Problems I need Help With:

1. Table Stakes

RCCL tells me the single-zero roulette tables have a $25 minimum bet, but that the maximum bet is determined by the onboard casino manager. That's no good; All across the Vegas strip, European roulette is $25 - $20,000 for 1:1 bets, $25 - $10,000 for 2:1 bets, and $1,000 progressive. If a shipboard casino is $25 - $1,000, I wouldn't book a cruise, nor am I willing to blindly book a cruise to be able to get to the casino to ask the casino manager on the ship what the table max is.

How do I get answers?

2. VIP Section?

For those who have gambled on Royal Caribbean, what is the VIP section? Am I going to not be allowed because I don't have a play history? If I were to book a cruise, get on the cruise, then not get to gamble because the VIP section is off limits to me, I would be livid.

2. Comps

I'm concerned about starting over with a new cruise line where I have no player's card, player history, or baseline comps. I expect free drinks, priority boarding in port, and have gotten used to "mostly" free cruise offers, and haven't complained about the "Lunch with the Captain" or "Cocktail party on boarding" events - comped excursions and meals at specialty restaurants and all are nice, but at the very baseline - drinks, some sort of incentive to TAKE the cruise. Is that unrealistic? I'm not a high-stakes whale that gets comped a helicopter transit, but the idea of paying for drinks in a casino is surreal to me. my wife is going to see how much I'm drinking, be very upset, and it will mar the experience. I like free cruises because they make me feel appreciated, and that in turn builds loyalty - I just need a baseline for my expectations. Advice welcome.

3. Play Rules?

Part of what pissed me off about NCL was that they have no European Roulette wheels by default (single zero), they wouldn't cover the 00 to make it single zero, and told me that while it "can" be done, it has to be arranged with CAS pre-voyage - after which voyage, CAS told me it couldn't be done. What makes single digit roulette European are european rules: "En Prison" where even money bets are held on the board for one more spin if the wheel spins 0, or "la partage" where 50% of even money bets are returned to players on a zero spin. Things that help lessen the house edge a bit.

How do I find out if a shipboard casino has european rules or not? I can call any vegas casino and get put through to the pit boss or floor supervisor in the pit that has the roulette tables to find out what the stakes are and what kind of roulette it is - I'm hoping for a better path than "Book the cruise, get on board, find out for yourself."

4. Other suggestions? I'm not tied to RCCL; or even to cruises in the US - my wife would love to fly to Europe and cruise there; all of our cruises has been out of Florida, Texas, or Washington. I saw some of you guys discussing the "URCOMPED" website, but I have no cruise offers from anywhere, so I wouldn't be able to finish the second step of their sign up process.