Norwegian Jewel - Craps Trip Report

[Dicenator]

My cruise was from June 18th through the 25th out of New York. The itinerary wasn't that exiting but it was a family cruise with my father in law, brother in law and sister in law. They couldn't afford a cruise where we had to fly anywhere so we had to leave from either New York of Port Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey. The stops were Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau.

 

The Jewel was refurbished early this year so everything was looking spic and span. I've always liked Norwegian from my first cruise on the Dawn in 2006. The Jewel is a sister ship so I was able to find my way around the ship after my first walk around on Saturday afternoon.

 

A few comments first before I get to the casino. Great Stirrup Cay (private island) has been greatly upgraded since my last visit in 2006. At that time I wasn't impressed but now in 2011 I found it to be first class and a stop there would not be a deterrent to my booking another Norwegian cruise if this stop is on the itineray. I also liked the way the buffet was set up with about 6 or 7 different stations for different foods. I thought that it was very efficient and prevented waiting in lines.

 

On to the casino. The dealers and supervisors were the best that we've ever run across on any cruise or land based casino. They were friendly and personable and they knew you on a first name basis after the first day. They also had a interesting and nice tradition that they did whenever they got a tip from the players. They would take the chip or chips and tap them in a "duh - duh duh - duh duh - duh duh" pattern, followed by all the dealers in the casino clapping their hands twice and then they would all yell out "THANK YOU". It was fun and I'm pretty sure that it got them more tips than usual because it really showed their appreciation.

 

My wife and I were regulars in the casino and by Tuesday we were getting all the free drinks that we wanted. My wife ordered a Margerita and they brought her 5 different styles. I drank 4 or them, after I was done playing craps of course.

 

The craps table was 12 feet long with a felt overlay. The first night the minimum was $10 and they didn't have too many players. The second day I asked them to lower it to $5 and they did and it stayed at $5 for the rest of the week. They ended up getting a lot more players after they did that.

The odds were 3X, 4X, 5X and there were no hopping bets on the table. The bet max. was $300.

 

The table had a rubber cushioning under the felt which made it extremely bouncy not quite as bad as the Celebrity Summit which I reported on in April but I'd rate it as 90% as bouncy as the Summit. I had a hard time getting my throw to work as well as I wanted it to. My inability to tame this table inhibited my betting particularly after losing $100 on the first night. For the first 3 nights I had a high hand length of only 15 throws and I didn't make a point until my 12th hand. At this point I was beginning to doubt my Underhand throw.

 

On Wednesday, we were in Nassau and went over to Atlantis. When we walked in I spotted the craps tables right away and one was open with only one player. After a while the craps fairies got me to go over and give it a try. The table min. was $10 and I was the only player there. My first hand was 11 throws but the table was 14 feet long and I had to learn where to land the dice since my throwing distance was an extra foot compared to what I usually throw. My second hand was 27 throws with 5 points made and I was up $75 over my $100 buy in. This convinced me that my throwing was OK and that I just had to adjust to the ships table better than I had been.

 

Back on the ship I had to keep my throw very low, no more than 3 inches above the table and land the dice at 21 inches from the wall using the 3V dice set. What I noticed is that the deck height was lower than what I'm used to. With my hand down closest to the table the dice in my grip were 2 inches above the deck. So for my throw I could only add 1 additional inch of height. This was very difficult to do and hit the 21 inch landing zone. After doing this I started having some better results. I had some really good hand lengths starting on Wed. after my Atlantis visit. I had an 23 throw hand, 38 throws and two hands of 25 throws each along with quite a few in the high teens. My net for the trip was up close to $300 which is nowheres near what I was hoping for but it is better than a loss.

 

My wife mostly played Ultimate Texas Hold-em and Let It Ride. She was bleeding a $100 to $150 per day until Thursday when she got 4 of a kind at Texas Hold Em and won around $400. She then went to Let It Ride and got 2 full houses and a 3 of a kind and ended up winning $800 for the day and recovered all of her previous losses and was up finally for the cruise.

 

Despite the problems I had early in the week, the craps was good and I would go on this ship again whereas I would never go on the Celebrity Summit again in this lifetime.

 

My next cruise is the Carnival Legend on August 21st.

 

Dicenator

[Casino Player]

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO dicenator: Enjoyed reading about your experience on the NCL ship. When they have super bouncy tables, which many casinos are going to now, you should roll the dice to allow the dice to roll toward the wall and not bounce off of it so much. Using a lower roll also helps. I also appreciate your comments about your experience on the Celebrity Summit. However, I just may well be on that ship next year. My wife and I like the Celebrity cruise. To seal the matter, it is going to where we would like to go next year.

[F22Smitty]

Very interesting. Thanks for the report.

 

Do you always throw the 3V set? I thought the 3V was only to throw the hard ways. Do your throws hit the wall and stick (stop tumbling) or do they continue to tumble? I try to flop, hit the wall and get them to stick.

 

Thanks again.

[Dicenator]

F22Smitty,

 

The hard way set is used to get hardways and I use this one probably 98% of the time. It wouldn't work on the ship so I switched to the 3V and also did some crossed 6's.

 

With my Underhand throw the intent is to hit the bottom band of rubber below the pyramids and have a bounce back of no more than 3 inches.

 

Intent doesn't mean you can do it. At home on my practice rig I can do this about 60% of the time. With the extremely bouncy tables it becomes much more difficult to accomplish. You have to get the throwing speed, height and landing zone just right to do it.

 

I would have to say that I don't have too much experience with super bouncy tables, I avoid them in Atlantic City where I play, and this is why it took me 3 or 4 days to figure it out.

 

 

Dicenator

[Casino Player]

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Dicenator: When playing on a table that is super bouncey use a lower arc. Also, land the dice near the Don't Come Box. I hope this helps on super bouncey tables.

[MrCo9]

27 rolls and you were up only $75?? You may "know" how to roll the dice, let me know when you're ready to learn ow to bet them. I would have $300 in the rail and tripled my starting bets if I had a shooter that rolled 27 numbers.