Norwegian Gem - Trip Report

[Dicenator]

NORWEGIAN GEM - 11/20/11 TO 11/27/11

The Gem is a sister ship to the Norwegian Jewel which I was on in June of this year. The itinerary was identical, Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau. This cruise was a last second replacement for the one we lost a few weeks ago when our flight to Miami was delayed for 3 hours due to fog.

The only difference between the 2 ships was furniture in the common areas, carpet coloring and other decorative items. The washy washy girl was there at the entrance to the garden cafe (buffet). In the casino the dealers did the same routine with tapping the tip chips, double clapping and then all yelling out "thank you".

We went to one show and this was a hypnotist and what she had the 18 or 20 people doing was hysterical. We didn't make it to the adult rated show later in the week.

The first stop was Port Canaveral and I went on a pontoon boat wildlife adventure. This was cool because I got to see manatees and also dolphins along with a host of herons, pelicans, cormorants etc. I tried to get pictures but the shutter on my camera takes about 1 second to trigger the picture and in that 1 second the animal was gone back underwater. I think I got 2 dolphin pictures.

Great Stirrup Cay is Norwegian's private island which is essentially a beach day. This late in November the water was a little too cool for my liking so I only went in up to my chest and only stayed for a few hours.

The final stop was Nassau and because of the water temp. we decided not to do anything water related. We've been in the Atlantis Resort a number or times and I reported on it in my Norwegian Jewel trip report. So we went to the Wyndham resort and Casino by taxi. It's in Cable beach about 5 miles from Nassau. The casino while not as large as Atlantis was very nice and brightly lit. I didn't play craps here because on a weekday with nobody in the casino the minimum bet was $15. I don't get it. All of their table games had high minimums. Let me describe their craps table for anyone who might have the urge. It was 12 feet long with a smooth micro fiber surface and hard as a rock. The micro fiber was laid down right on the wood base. When the dice hit the table you could really hear it. What I did play was a video computer based Ultimate Texas Hold Em game. These are the large machines where 5 people can sit and play at one time. It was a triangular shaped bank with blackjack, Ultimate hold em and 3 card poker. They had other versions which had let it ride. On this game you can make minimum bets of $1. I put $20 into it and 30 minutes later I left with $122, so the trip was worthwhile.

Our last night, Saturday, we had dinner at Cagneys which is their extra cost ($25/per person) steakhouse and it was excellent.

On to Casino world. The layout of the games was somewhat different that what I experienced on the Jewel. The craps table was located in a dimly lit area of the casino. Both ends of the table were in shadows about 6 inches wide. The craps table was 12 feet long with micro fiber but this micro fiber was different than the smooth micro fiber I've seen. This had some sort of knap to it although not like felt. If you touch it you feel some type of texture. The bounce characteristic was neutral although I can only vouch for this for a low throw. I didn't make any high throws at all so it could be bouncy in the vertical plane. The craps players were different than I've experienced on most of my previous cruises. I was the only regular. I saw a lot of the same faces day after day but they didn't play long and as usual I was the only DI. I found this table to be extremely good and I set a PERSONAL RECORD ON MONDAY OF 54 THROWS WITH 10 POINTS MADE USING MY UNDERHAND THROW. Here is my issue with craps on this ship. There were 3 at-sea days, Monday, Friday and Saturday. The craps table opened around 2 pm on Monday. On Friday and Saturday they never opened the table until 5 pm. For 2 days I got no daytime playing in. On 5 of the 7 nights after dinner (around 7:30 pm) when I'd go to the table they only had 1 dealer and a stickman and there was already a player there and they were set up for shooting only from the left side. There goes my underhand throw. A second dealer would typically show up around 9 pm. For most of the trip I had to use my Parr throw from SL1.

One final issue with the craps at this casino. For my last 5 or 6 cruises I've brought a pair of dice from home to practice on the craps table. I typically practice early in the morning around 8 am when the casino is closed and nobody is around. Nobody has given me any crap about it until this cruise. On Wednesday morning the security guard told me I couldn't make any practice throws on the craps table. I said why not and he said it was their policy. The casino manager was not on this ship because he was at some kind of training or seminar but the assistant manager was there in the casino at this time. I went to him and asked him why not and he gave me the same answer and then he substituted his ass for his mouth and told me what if somewhat brought their own ball and wanted to practice roulette. I told him he was nuts to make that comparison and I then told him that I would bring this issue up with Stewart Sanford the director of casino operations for the Norwegian cruise line. Not being able to practice my Underhand throw on a daily basis is what kept me from going to stick right in the evenings when they fully manned the craps table. For the whole cruise I only had 9 hands with my underhand throw and 17 with my Parr throw. This is less than half of what I usually get in for a 7 day cruise. On the Jewel, a sister Norwegian ship I practiced every day without anyone saying boo to me.

Now for some results. I'm going to include my wife's results also because although she didn't play nearly as much as I did, her throwing was very good.

Day #1 11/20 Sunday

Eva Parr 17 throws 3 points 2 co winners

Bob UH 6 throws

Bob Parr 7 throws

Bob UH 15 throws 1 point 3 co winners

Day #2 11/21 Monday

Bob UH 54 throws 10 points 1 co winner afternoon session

evening: only the left side was available until around 9:00

Bob Parr 26 throws 1 point 3 co winners

Eva Parr 21 throws 2 points 1 co winner

Bob Parr 5 throws 1 point 1 co winner

Eva Parr 6 throws 1 co winner

Bob Parr 10 throws 1 point

Eva Parr 14 throws 2 points 1 co winner

Day #3 11/22 Tuesday

Eva Parr 46 throws 9 points 1 co winner

Bob UH 30 throws 2 points 2 co winners

Eva Parr 8 throws

Day #4 11/23 Wednesday

Bob Parr 15 throws 1 co winner

Eva Parr 14 throws 1 point 7 co winners

Eva Parr 7 throws

Bob UH 11 throws 1 point 1 co winner

Day #5 11/24 Thursday

Eva Parr 16 throws 2 points 2 co winners

Bob UH 11 throws 1 point 1 co winner

Eva Parr 19 throws 1 point

Bob UH 9 throws

Eva Parr 2 throws

Bob UH 3 throws

Bob Parr 16 throws 2 points 5 co winners

Bob UH 5 throws 1 point

Bob Parr 41 throws 7 points 4 co winners

Eva Parr 10 throws 1 co winner

Day #6 11/25 Friday

Eva Parr 5 throws 2 co winners

Bob Parr 11 throws

Eva Parr 10 throws

Bob Parr 11 throws

Bob Parr 12 throws 1 point

Eva Parr 19 throws 1 point 1 co winner

Bob Parr 6 throws 1 point 2 co winners

Eva Parr 7 throws 1 co winner

Bob Parr 7 throws 1 point

Bob Parr 20 throws 2 points 1 co winner

Bob Parr 11 throws 1 point 1 co winner

Bob Parr 12 throws 2 points

Day #7 11/26 Saturday

Eva Parr 11 throws 2 points

Bob Parr 29 throws 4 points 3 co winners

Bob Parr 16 throws 2 points 1 co winner

Eva made 23 points in 17 total hands for a ratio of 1.35 points/hand.

Bob's Underhand throw made 15 points in 9 total hands for a ratio of 1.67 points/hand.

Bob's Parr throw made 26 points in 17 total hands for a ratio of 1.53 points/hand.

The craps part of the trip was successful with a $750 win but unfortunately Eva couldn't stay away from Ultimate Texas Hold em and lost at least that much if not more.

Craps was good. My results were 5 hands of 25 throws or more in 26 hands. I had a 54 and a 30 throw hand using the Underhand throw and a 41, 29 and 26 throw hands using Parr. I would play on that table any day. Unfortunately there was no comraderie at all and the amount of playing time available was really very limited.

I would be very hesitant to book another cruise on this ship because it was not fun despite being profitable.

Dicenator

[altarr]

what is your dice set/method?

[Dicenator]

altarr,

 

I always (90%) of the time use the Hard way set with the 3's on top and the 5's facing me.

 

I use 2 different throwing methods:

 

1- Underhand from SR1 or SR2

2- Parr (Overhand on-axis) from either SL or SR.

 

 

Dicenator