Blackjack Rules By Ship / Line?

[Johncn]

Hello,

 

It seems that ships and cruise lines vary somewhat on their blackjack rules. I just spent 20 minutes on the Celebrity website trying to find their casino gaming rules, but failed.

 

Would a thread listing rules for Blackjack by ship or line be useful to others?

 

Does anyone know Celebrity's rules? I'll be on Constellation in December and although not a particularly experienced player, I want to practice with the correct rules ahead of our trip....such as dealer hits soft 17 or not, and so on :D

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Johncn

[Yo Eleven]

Your idea of a thread as you described is a good one but would be diffulcult to make. Keep in mind that ships have blackjack tables with all sorts of different rules on each table. Generally the vary with what the table minimum is. What you need to do is simply prepare yourself for anything that you may see. Learn it all.

[Johncn]

Your idea of a thread as you described is a good one but would be diffulcult to make. Keep in mind that ships have blackjack tables with all sorts of different rules on each table. Generally the vary with what the table minimum is.

 

Right....and that is why I think it may be a good candidate for a sticky type thing the admin could lock, but the thread could be updated by our "Cruise Ship Casino Users" ;-) You know, you get back from a trip, and update the thread. Other people might appreciate it.

 

Hey, if we weren't all a little OCD, would we be hanging out in a forum on cruise line casinos? :rolleyes: I'm just saying....

 

I do know that some cruise lines post the details of their casinos on their websites, as the ICCL recommends....but many do not. Celebrity, for example, has nothing about their gaming rules posted.

 

It's just a thought. I am not a regular here, and nor do I gamble much. For my job I maintain other forums, and there are certainly frequent questions about the policies and play on different lines.

 

If there is interest, I'd be glad to do a bit of investigative reporting on my return from Constellation ;)

 

What you need to do is simply prepare yourself for anything that you may see. Learn it all.

 

Oh, I am not particularly concerned. It just would be nice to get the reflexes and doubling down strategies right for the tables I intend to play. Like I said, I'm a bit OCD!

 

Thanks for your response and have a good one.

 

Johncn

[Huddler]

I love this idea and will post the rules I find on my Eurodam cruise coming up December 26th through January 2nd...

[cb at sea]

Even land casinos have different "rules/odds"...always try to play "by the book"...it truly improves your odds!

[Johncn]

Yes, I agree. I'm a basic strategy player...straight formula, not a counter. The odds and the "correct" plays vary based on the rules.

 

For instance, doubling down for the Ace combos is not allowed on some lines, and the dealer hitting on soft 17 versus not impacts some of my plays. Doubling down is called on for some combinations of Aces and the dealer bust cards, but some lines ban doubling except on 10s and 11s.....etc :(

 

So, although I will be prepared to play straight basic strategy, I'd like to know what to plan for in terms of that strategy. Does that make sense?

 

Here is what folks have sent me so far for Celebrity's casino's from recent trips:

 

Celebrity Casino Blackjack Rules Summary

Seems to be Confirmed (Multiple Reports)

 

Dealer hits soft 17

Doubling seems to be unrestricted (Ace combos & 9s OK)

Splitting and doubling on split seems unrestricted (split your splits if needed, double down rules as usual)

Payout 3:2 ratio on all blackjacks

No mention of push rules yet (hopefully the STUPID dealer wins ties rules not in effect)

Two reports say they use a 6 or 8 deck shoe, no CSM for the

main tables (!?)

 

Maybes (only a single report):

 

Single deck table is available, pays lower ratio

Single deck table has no doubling down after splitting and only doubling down on 10 or 11

I will continue to post additional info if there is interest, and would be happy to post actual rules for games upon my return.

 

Thanks for your responses.

 

Regards,

 

JTC

[AndyTheK]

Rather than a sticky, you might want to consider maintaining a spreadsheet with the data. We're doing that for the Roll Call on my upcoming cruise in three weeks, and it is working well. One of the members has some web space, and when new people come on, he updates it.

 

Since blackjack rules are a "moving target" likely to change every so often, this makes sense to me. You could have rows with each rule (and date entered), and columns for each ship.

 

Something to think about.

 

Shalom. Andy.

[Johncn]

Rather than a sticky, you might want to consider maintaining a spreadsheet with the data....Since blackjack rules are a "moving target" likely to change every so often, this makes sense to me. You could have rows with each rule (and date entered), and columns for each ship.

 

Andy,

 

Yes, I realize that it would have to be a single page, not a "thread", but sticky type pages are usually editable. What I forgot is that although I am a moderator on several OTHER forums, I would not be able to maintain a sticky here. Hmmm.

 

I do work in IT, and maintain dozens of servers either directly or indirectly. I could easily maintain the information as a spreadsheet, a list, a page or whatever on a server I own, if there was interest, and we could link it here.

 

Let's see if there is interest, and go from there. I could also volunteer to moderate here, but not sure what the process entails.

 

So, I guess what we really need to know is whether or not you (and others) would find something like a regularly updated, user-contributed list of casino gaming rules by cruise line or ship useful?

 

Thanks, Andy, for your feedback!

 

Regards,

 

Johncn

[highflyingrealtor]

Last trip was on the Crown Princess and seems to me the blackjack dealer said that they pull all the queens from the decks. I'm mostly a craps player so I didn't pay too much attention to his comment nor did I notice if he was right. So are the ship casinos allowed to pull cards from the decks? :confused:

[grod19]

Last trip was on the Crown Princess and seems to me the blackjack dealer said that they pull all the queens from the decks. I'm mostly a craps player so I didn't pay too much attention to his comment nor did I notice if he was right. So are the ship casinos allowed to pull cards from the decks? :confused:

 

I believe spanish 21 is played this way, someone with more expertise can probably answer that better

[MrSchwump]

On my last Princess cruise the blackjack dealers didn't use a regular shoe. They had a device called (I think) a Shufflematic. As a hand ended, the dealer would feed the cards from that hand back into the machine and it would continually reshuffle them. I suppose it would be theoretically possible to get the same exact card on consecutive hands. It seems that would defeat the card counters.

 

I remember playing Spanish 21 on my first princess cruise. There were no queens in the deck, but any combination of 21 was considered Blackjack and paid as such. There were a couple of other wrinkles that sounded like it favored the player but I'm sure the odds were in favor of the house.

[GD2J]

Here is what folks have sent me so far for Celebrity's casino's from recent trips:

Celebrity Casino Blackjack Rules Summary

 

Seems to be Confirmed (Multiple Reports)

 

Dealer hits soft 17

Doubling seems to be unrestricted (Ace combos & 9s OK)

Splitting and doubling on split seems unrestricted (split your splits if needed, double down rules as usual)

Payout 3:2 ratio on all blackjacks

No mention of push rules yet (hopefully the STUPID dealer wins ties rules not in effect)

Two reports say they use a 6 or 8 deck shoe, no CSM for the

main tables (!?)

 

Maybes (only a single report):

 

Single deck table is available, pays lower ratio

Single deck table has no doubling down after splitting and only doubling down on 10 or 11

Just off the Celebrity Mercury on 12/12/09, and can vouch for the above. Regarding pushes, the dealer DOES NOT win those. A push is a push. There were no CSMs, and the shoes were 8 deck. One single deck table was available, with a blackjack payout of 6:5, and the number of hands between shuffles depended on the number of spots being played. Lastly, for single-deck, there is no mid-shoe entry, players had to wait for the next shuffle.

 

I know that a lot of people don't like the 6:5 payout, but in all honesty - your money is really made on the straight 2:1 wins where your total is higher or dealer busts. The natural blackjack just happens too infrequently/unpredictably to be any kind of real moneymaker. For that reason, I ended up playing single-deck far more often.

[Tmrlovesjr]

Just off the Celebrity Mercury on 12/12/09, and can vouch for the above. Regarding pushes, the dealer DOES NOT win those. A push is a push. There were no CSMs, and the shoes were 8 deck. One single deck table was available, with a blackjack payout of 6:5, and the number of hands between shuffles depended on the number of spots being played. Lastly, for single-deck, there is no mid-shoe entry, players had to wait for the next shuffle.

 

I know that a lot of people don't like the 6:5 payout, but in all honesty - your money is really made on the straight 2:1 wins where your total is higher or dealer busts. The natural blackjack just happens too infrequently/unpredictably to be any kind of real moneymaker. For that reason, I ended up playing single-deck far more often.

 

 

1 deck huh, my husband is very interested. Can anyone verify if this is available on all Celebrity ships?

[Johncn]

1 deck huh, my husband is very interested. Can anyone verify if this is available on all Celebrity ships?

 

Just got off Celebrity Constellation, and have all the rules for their casino. i'll post tonight or tomorrow. I have their rule placards scanned ;-)

 

There was one table that was single deck blackjack every day of the cruise, and it had $10 minimum most nights.

 

Celebrity Single Deck Blackjack Rules - From rule card in casino

 

Very similar to the game of blackjack above with the following exceptions

No mid-deck entry: players must wait until the shuffle to join the game

 

No double down after splitting

 

Blackjack pays 6:5

 

Insurrance offered, but not even money

Hope this helps,

 

Johncn

[matt0148]

wizardofodds.com has a good site which outlines the impacts of all the various differences between various blackjack games and how they impact the house edge - http://wizardofodds.com/blackjack - scroll about half way down the page.

 

Personally, I avoid 6-5 singledeck like the plague - but that's just my personal preference.

[oldmedic]

wizardofodds.com has a good site which outlines the impacts of all the various differences between various blackjack games and how they impact the house edge - http://wizardofodds.com/blackjack - scroll about half way down the page.

 

Personally, I avoid 6-5 singledeck like the plague - but that's just my personal preference.

 

just a question from a non-player... sorry if it sounds stupid, but what does it mean 6-5 payout?

[matt0148]

just a question from a non-player... sorry if it sounds stupid, but what does it mean 6-5 payout?

 

No problem. It means when you get blackjack, you get paid out at 6-5 versus the norm of 3-2. So if you bet $10, you would get paid $12 as opposed to the norm of $15.

[Tmrlovesjr]

Just got off Celebrity Constellation, and have all the rules for their casino. i'll post tonight or tomorrow. I have their rule placards scanned ;-)

 

There was one table that was single deck blackjack every day of the cruise, and it had $10 minimum most nights.

 

Celebrity Single Deck Blackjack Rules - From rule card in casino

Very similar to the game of blackjack above with the following exceptions

No mid-deck entry: players must wait until the shuffle to join the game

 

No double down after splitting

 

Blackjack pays 6:5

 

Insurrance offered, but not even money

Hope this helps,

 

Johncn

 

Thanks it sure did. He is verrrrrrrrrryy happy now.

[spiritkat090909]

Excerpt from review not yet posted & rearranged somewhat:

CASINO/BLACKJACK:

To my surprise the Casino play was excellent. I couldn’t find anything online ahead of time to indicate much more than that there were about

4 blackjack tables.

Dealer hits soft 17

Standard blackjack payouts

6 deck shoes

Manual shuffle

Dealer rotation had no real pattern

Minimums typically $5 with a $500 max

 

 

They would open a $25 table minimum at player request, as well as a non-smoking table if the majority of the players requested it. They treated us like high rollers, I’m guessing because we tipped a minimal amount. Usually just $2 at start of shoe, $1-2.5 per blackjack, $5 on leaving. Typical standard for low bets. Our minimum bet is about $10. NOT large bettors. The play is very loose with most players needing & getting help from the Dealers. We found that as the week went by the number of knowledgeable players was about what we find at home & we all tended to congregate together. The players who didn’t know how to play at the beginning of the week had strategy cards, if they wished, & an improved game (& wallet) by the end of the week. The Dealers were fantastic! The Pit Bosses would usually open a table for us when we came in if the others were full & make it non-smoking. I’d go back on this ship again JUST TO PLAY IN THE CASINO WITH THEIR DEALERS!!!!! They made our week & we even walked away with an extra $1K. We played every evening they were open. A skilled player following basic strategy can even the odds & do well. Fair game.

 

Usually I don’t bother playing on cruises because most of the players are ten-splitters & the rules are typically unfavorable.

 

 

Princess cruise lines has automatic shufflers & puts all of the played cards back in the shoe after 1 or 2 hands. No odds ever in the player favor, even with basic strategy...no entertainment value unless you enjoy losing, and losing, and losing. Always play the table minimum if you are wasting time.

Royal Caribbean has a single deck shoe (on the Voyager in March) but the payouts aren’t worth increasing your bet for a blackjack....it’s worth playing for entertainment value only. We managed to take home (unexpectedly) a bit of change from that one as well. On that cruise we only played about at total of 3 hours in between shows, still left with $1500. I don't know how. Luck factor, I suppose.

[oldmedic]

Excerpt from review not yet posted & rearranged somewhat:

CASINO/BLACKJACK:

To my surprise the Casino play was excellent. I couldn’t find anything online ahead of time to indicate much more than that there were about

4 blackjack tables.

Dealer hits soft 17

Standard blackjack payouts

6 deck shoes

Manual shuffle

Dealer rotation had no real pattern

Minimums typically $5 with a $500 max

 

 

They would open a $25 table minimum at player request, as well as a non-smoking table if the majority of the players requested it. They treated us like high rollers, I’m guessing because we tipped a minimal amount. Usually just $2 at start of shoe, $1-2.5 per blackjack, $5 on leaving. Typical standard for low bets. Our minimum bet is about $10. NOT large bettors. The play is very loose with most players needing & getting help from the Dealers. We found that as the week went by the number of knowledgeable players was about what we find at home & we all tended to congregate together. The players who didn’t know how to play at the beginning of the week had strategy cards, if they wished, & an improved game (& wallet) by the end of the week. The Dealers were fantastic! The Pit Bosses would usually open a table for us when we came in if the others were full & make it non-smoking. I’d go back on this ship again JUST TO PLAY IN THE CASINO WITH THEIR DEALERS!!!!! They made our week & we even walked away with an extra $1K. We played every evening they were open. A skilled player following basic strategy can even the odds & do well. Fair game.

 

Usually I don’t bother playing on cruises because most of the players are ten-splitters & the rules are typically unfavorable.

 

 

Princess cruise lines has automatic shufflers & puts all of the played cards back in the shoe after 1 or 2 hands. No odds ever in the player favor, even with basic strategy...no entertainment value unless you enjoy losing, and losing, and losing. Always play the table minimum if you are wasting time.

Royal Caribbean has a single deck shoe (on the Voyager in March) but the payouts aren’t worth increasing your bet for a blackjack....it’s worth playing for entertainment value only. We managed to take home (unexpectedly) a bit of change from that one as well. On that cruise we only played about at total of 3 hours in between shows, still left with $1500. I don't know how. Luck factor, I suppose.

 

just a question from a non player- why shouldn't a person split 10's? doesn't that increase the players chance of getting 21?

[Johncn]

Excerpt from review not yet posted & rearranged somewhat:

CASINO/BLACKJACK:

To my surprise the Casino play was excellent. I couldn’t find anything online ahead of time to indicate much more than that there were about 4 blackjack tables.

 

Thanks Kat,

 

I probably missed it, but what ship / line was this, and when?

 

Regards,

 

Johncn

[Johncn]

just a question from a non player- why shouldn't a person split 10's? doesn't that increase the players chance of getting 21?

 

Hi,

 

Well, frankly, no ;)

 

Most of the players here are referring to one version or another of what is called "Basic Strategy", or the calculated best odds for each possible player vs. dealer scenario. Basic Strategy (BS) aims to narrow the house advantage to the slimmest margin possible. A BS player in a casino with decent rules can play very close to even with the house over the long term.

 

The odds are better to leave the very strong hand of 20 (tens, face cards other than aces) in place than risking a hit to two separate hands with a ten for the first card.

 

Here is a great resource for learning about and practicing (for free) Basic Strategy play. There are slight flavors of BS plays based on rule variations, but the vast majority of calls remain the same.

Wizard of Odds - Blackjack

http://wizardofodds.com/blackjack

 

After writing this, I noticed a better explanation than I gave posted here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1122379

 

The rationale is the same, but you may want to check both.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Johncn

[spiritkat090909]

Thanks Kat,

 

I probably missed it, but what ship / line was this, and when?

 

Regards,

 

Johncn

 

John,

 

It was Crystal's ship the Crystal Serenity. January 4-11, 2010. Last week.

 

Kat

[AV8rix]

Hi all:

 

I'm a blackjack player (both tournament and live table) in real life and I will take my first RCI cruise on May 8. Here's a thread I found discussing the blackjack rules on RCI in case anyone's interested:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=821079

 

However....that thread is a couple of years old. Does anyone have anything to update on RCI? I'm curious, naturally.

 

Susan

[ParrothdJH]

wizardofodds.com has a good site which outlines the impacts of all the various differences between various blackjack games and how they impact the house edge - http://wizardofodds.com/blackjack - scroll about half way down the page.

 

Personally, I avoid 6-5 singledeck like the plague - but that's just my personal preference.

as well you should