Spirit / Alaska question

[Vol Fan Mom]

My family and I just booked our first Alaska cruise on the Spirit. My question is about the casino. I know on Caribbean cruises the ships have to be a certain distance from shore in order to be open. How does that work in Alaska? It looks like we will almost always be near shore.

[phoenixlady]

We cruised on the Spirit from Seattle. The ship has to get out to sea (I thought I read somewhere that it's 3 miles). The Casino opens the first night at 11:00 pm. As I recall it stayed open all the time until the night before we got back to Seattle. Definitely try to slots. My husband and I won a total fo $5,000 on them and now it's paying for another cruise on the Spirit to the S. Caribbean in March. We were able to book the same cabin because we liked it so much. You're really going to enjoy the Spirit. She's a beautiful ship with elegant decor, wonderful staff, great entertainment, and quality food.:D

[hannahsdad]

The Spirit's casino is huge. I recently read an article that some independant company did an audit of their slot payouts and that they were higher than Vegas or Reno...I'm sure it's not by much..but still higher is higher!

 

The general rule for ships sailing Alaska is to be one hour from port as opposed to the ten mile limit imposed in most areas. On the first night the ship however sails from Seattle, Washington and must go through Canadian water and so it has a late first night opening. After this intial start the casino must close each time they are in port and then can re-open once again after the hour departure rule. This is similar to the shops hours, with the exception of the Canadian restriction.

 

Have fun...

 

Play the game ...not the cards...