Carnival valor -trip report 8/29

[Dicenator]

CARNIVAL VALOR - TRIP REPORT - 8/18 THRU 8/27

(THE CRUISE FROM HELL)

There were 8 of us all together on this cruise. Me, my wife Eva, Amy and Diane, teachers from my wife's school, Mike and Sandi, friends from Canada and their two daughters, Carly and Cassie. We all went down to Miami on Friday the day before the cruise and we all met up in the cruise terminal at noon on Saturday. On every cruise I've ever been on you were able to board the ship at 12 noon but not on this cruise. There was a full terminal of people left waiting until 2 PM before we could start the boarding. The boarding process itself took much more time than we were used to for an unknown reason. The scheduled departure was at 4 PM but we never set sail until 6 PM because some old timer had a heart attack on the ship and had to be medically evacuated which caused the delay.

We had the anytime dining and were all able to meet at 6 in the Lincoln dining room where we had dinner every night for the whole week. We had a problem at the Philadelphia airport when going to Miami on Friday. Amy and Diane didn't have credit cards to pay the $25 luggage charge for checked bags. The counter people wouldn't accept cash. It took 30 minutes to get this situation straightened out. No sense for either one of them. They were paying cash for their on-board accounts also.

After finally setting sail at 6 PM on Saturday, the next day was an at-sea day with perfect weather so I spent the morning at the pool soaking up some sun. On at-sea days the casino opens at 7 AM for slots, 10 AM for table games and the craps table opened anywhere from noon until 1 PM.

First stop on Monday was the Turks & Caicos. Where Carnival ships go is Grand Turk Island which in my opinion there is absolutely nothing to do there. However there is a great complex right at the dock which I think was built by Carnival. There is a great beach, a Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville with a huge pool and all of the typical shops, jewelry, native crafts tee shirts etc. So Monday was a beach day from 9 in the morning until around 3 in the afternoon. I was extremely cautious with the sun on this trip and avoided the sunburn I've gotten on the 3 previous cruises.

Next stop the following day was La Romana in the Dominican Republic. This was a new island for all of us. Again my opinion is that there is not too much to do since there is no town right where the ship docks. What we did was go to a beach resort, Cacao (I think) which was a 25/30 minute taxi ride from the ship dock. The cost for the day pass was $30 which covered the beach, pool, buffet lunch and all the drinks you could consume. The 4 of us who went there spent close to 5 hours and we really got our money's worth on this stop.

Day 4 was Aruba, unfortunately we didn't dock there until 2 PM so we didn't feel that we could really go and enjoy Eagle beach so Eva and myself went into town just walking around since we've been here on 2 previous vacations over the last 10 years. We spent an hour at the Crystal casino in town. Eva played some 3 card poker and blackjack. Poker was a loser but blackjack was a winner so she left being up about $100. There was one craps table which was not opening until 8 PM. Back on ship for dinner and Mike Sandi Eva and myself decided to take a taxi after dinner and go to the Alhambra Casino and try some craps. We arrived around 7:45 and the table was open with a $5 minimum. The table was felt, 14 feet long and bouncy. Mike, Eva and I gave it a try and all of us did pretty well. I only kept track of 2 of Mike's hands and they were 16 throws and 11 throws with 3 points made. Eva started off with a 24 throw hand making 1 point but 3 come out wins. My first hand was 8 throws with 2 points made. Eva's 2nd hand was 11 throws with 1 point but 4 come out winners. My second hand was 25 throws with 2 points made. The table was filling up so we stopped playing with all 3 of us being up. Eva went to blackjack and so did I but different tables. I only played for no more than 10 or 15 minutes because there was a typical vacationing butt head at the table doing things like staying on a 15 with a dealers up card of 10. Mike went to 3 card poker which Eva had taught him only the day before and on his second hand got a straight flush and left the Alhambra up maybe $250 for the evening between craps and 3 card poker. We then went back to the ship where the casino is allowed to be open while in dock. I got in 3 more hands at craps with 29 throws, 15 throws and 8 throws. The ship was scheduled to leave Aruba at 11:30 PM.

The next day Thursday we were supposed to stop at Curacao which is only maybe 40 miles east of Aruba. This is where the HELL part of this cruise begins. Before we left Aruba the Captain announced that because of Tropical Storm Issac we were going to change our itinerary and skip Curacao and speed north going to Nassau so that we could cross ahead of the storm. The next 2 days were sea days with the ship doing 25 mph and we did cross between Haiti and Cuba well ahead of the storm. But the storm was so big with wind fields of at least a 300 mile diameter, that we were still hit with rough seas at times being 20 feet high with 40 mph winds. For these 2 sea days it was cloudy and windy and not conducive to being out on the deck at the pool. So these days ended up being casino days. The problem that I had was because of the bad weather every craps player on the ship was in the casino from the moment it opened until closing. So instead of getting in a lot of hands I got in very few because I won't play at a full table of chicken feeders. It would get empty occasionally and I would go buy back in but as soon as they saw someone at the table they would immediately start flocking again. NO FUN AT ALL.

On Saturday we docked in Nassau again with high winds and cloudy conditions so it was no beach day. Mike, Sandi, Eva and myself took a taxi over to Atlantis where Mike and I tried craps. We each tried 2 hands with neither of us getting past 5 or 6 throws. This table was 14 feet long with micro fiber and was extremely bouncy. I had reported on Atlantis in one of my trips a year ago and did not find the tables to be this tough to play on. When I checked they still has some felt covered tables along with the micro fiber, so the last time I played it might have been on a felt covered table. I don't know I'll have to check.

The ship left Nassau at 6 PM on Saturday and was supposed to dock in Miami at 8 AM on Sunday. But Captain Messina got on the PA system and told us that the Port of Miami was officially closed and they did not anticipate it opening until Monday at noon. So we set sail north by northeast to keep as much distance as possible between the storm and the ship. Despite this it was still rough and windy the whole time. Sunday ended up being an extra day for us and due to the conditions became another casino day where the same issues I just reported on continued. Our flight was scheduled for 2 PM on Sunday going to Philadelphia but the Miami airport never officially closed and we couldn't get on the internet so we didn't know if our flight had been cancelled. We were making contingency plans to rent a car and drive home if needed. At 7 AM on Monday morning we finally were able to make a call to US air from the guest services desk and found out that our flight was cancelled on Sunday but we were rescheduled for 6:15 AM this morning. Well it was already past that time and the port wasn't opened yet. We rescheduled our flight for 2 PM on Tuesday and reserved a room at the Miami airport Hilton for Monday night. So yesterday our flight was on time, we landed in Philadelphia at 5 PM and walked through the door at home at 7:30. On Monday the port of Miami wasn't opened until 2 PM and we didn't dock until 5. There was nothing to do on the ship, casino wasn't open so most of the day we spent just waiting around our stateroom, HOW BORING. For 3 days all the passengers were going crazy trying to make new travel arrangements without having enough information to do it accurately. Many passengers booked flights for Monday afternoon which they missed so Carnival gave them all vouchers for a hotel room and a meal. Am I glad that this ordeal is over. This is 2 years in a row with hurricane related travel problems. Last year the hurricane hit the east coast and closed Philadelphia airport so we ended up driving home. I'm really beginning to question whether I should book cruises for August in the future.

I guess I should get into craps now. The table was 12 feet long with smooth micro fiber. $5 min. and $200 max with 2X odds. No proposition bets at all. There were C & E, Horn and Hard way bets.

All of the previous Carnival tables I've rated as neutral + but this one I rate as bouncy but still playable. I brought a pair of dice with me but really didn't practice with them. The first afternoon when we got on board the ship I made maybe 15 throws just to see what it was like. Maybe a few days later at 6 in the morning I went down to the casino and practiced another 20 throws or so. With all the sea days the casino was opening at 7:00 AM with some casino personnel being there plus with all the practicing I've been doing this past month to beat bouncy tables I felt pretty confident. Mike who I met last year on the Carnival Legend in August was just a beginner at that time. For the last year I've been trying to coach him as much as possible long distance. He did decide that the Parr throw was easier for him and he does have a nice throw. Since the table on the ship was bouncy I had him adjust his throwing height and landing zone. He is right handed and was throwing from SR but I had him go to stick left and I think his results improved somewhat. Again I wasn't tracking his throwing results so this is just an impression. We got his wife Sandi to try maybe 4 or 5 hands near the end of the cruise. She is a natural who would be fantastic if she practiced and played more often. Her throws were so soft that they just kissed the wall and stopped within a few inches. I tried to fix a few things that I thought she was doing wrong. First her grip was a 2 finger front which I had her change to a 3 finger front and secondly she was making her throws toward the middle of the table so I had her retarget to hit the wall more directly. I didn't track her throws but one of her 4 or 5 hands had to be 20 throws with 3 or 4 points made. Most of my hands were Underhand from SR1. I had no more than 5 Parr hands, one Dice Magic (off-axis) and maybe 5 or 6 hands of a new type of push shot that I've been practicing. Instead of a pincer grip, I use the index finger and thumb front to back on the seam of the dice. The dice are parallel to the wall. I make this throw trying to not have any spin or motion at all on the dice. It's almost like throwing a knuckle ball in baseball. I only used this throw when I couldn't get SR because they didn't have the craps table fully manned.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS:

8/18 SATURDAY

BOB UH 11 THROWS 2 PTS 1 CO

EVA PARR 6 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

BOB UH 24 THROWS 2 PTS 2 CO

EVA PARR 9 THROWS 3 CO

BOB UH 6 THROWS

BOB UH 7 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

BOB PARR 11 THROWS 1 PT

BOB PARR 11 THROWS 2 PTS

8/19 SUNDAY

EVA PARR 10 THROWS

BOB UH 11 THROWS

EVA PARR 23 THROWS 5 PTS 3 CO

BOB UH 10 THROWS 1 CO

EVA PARR 7 THROWS

BOB UH 13 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

EVA PARR 7 THROWS 3 CO

BOB UH 20 THROWS 2 PTS

8/20 MONDAY

BOB UH 10 THROWS 1 PT 5 CO

BOB UH 23 THROWS 2 PTS 3 CO

EVA PARR 14 THROWS 1 PT

BOB UH 6 THROWS 1 CO

BOB UH 13 THROWS 2 PTS

EVA PARR 10 THROWS 1 PT

BOB PARR 6 THROWS 1 CO

BOB UH-LEFTY 8 THROWS

BOB PARR 7 THROWS 3 CO

BOB D MAGIC 9 THROWS 3 PTS

BOB PUSH 25 THROWS 3 PTS 1 CO

8/21 TUESDAY

EVA PARR 15 THROWS

BOB UH 11 THROWS 2 PTS 2 CO

EVA PARR 29 THROWS 4 PTS 7 CO

BOB UH 22 THROWS 2 PTS 2 CO

EVA PARR 10 THROWS 1 PT

8/22 WEDNESDAY

EVA PARR 24 THROWS 1 PT 3 CO

BOB UH 8 THROWS 2 PTS

EVA PARR 11 THROWS 1 PT 4 CO

BOB UH 25 THROWS 2 PTS 1 CO

BOB UH 29 THROWS 4 PTS 3 CO

BOB UH 15 THROWS 2 PTS

BOB UH 8 THROWS 1 PT

8/23 THURSDAY

BOB PUSH 14 THROWS 1 PT

BOB PARR 7 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

BOB UH 8 THROWS 1 PT

EVA PARR 10 THROWS 2 CO

BOB UH 7 THROWS 1 PT

BOB UH 8 THROWS

BOB UH 17 THROWS 3 PTS

BOB UH 18 THROWS

BOB UH 7 THROWS

8/24 FRIDAY

EVA PARR 20 THROWS 3 PTS 3 CO

BOB UH 10 THROWS

BOB UH 18 THROWS 3 PTS

BOB UH 11 THROWS 2 PTS 2 CO

BOB UH 4 THROWS 2 CO

BOB UH 9 THROWS 3 PTS 1 CO

EVA PARR 19 THROWS 3 PTS 4 CO

BOB UH 10 THROWS 2 PTS

BOB UH 6 THROWS

BOB UH 24 THROWS 3 PTS 2 CO

BOB PUSH 13 THROWS 1 PT 3 CO

8/25 SATURDAY

BOB UH 13 THROWS 2 PTS 4 CO

EVA PARR 32 THROWS 2 PTS

BOB UH 12 THROWS 2 PTS

8/26 SUNDAY

BOB UH 15 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

BOB UH 8 THROWS

BOB PUSH 20 THROWS 3 PTS 1 CO

BOB PUSH 11 THROWS 3 PTS 1 CO

BOB PUSH 7 THROWS 1 PT 1 CO

BOB PARR 11 THROWS

BOB UH 9 THROWS 2 CO

BOB UH 19 THROWS 3 PTS

BOB UH 21 THROWS 2 PTS 4 CO

Eva made 23 points in 17 hands for a ratio of pts/hand of 1.35 Bob made 75 points in 54 hands for a ratio of pts/hand of 1.39.

Eva made 33 come out winners in 17 hands for a ratio of 1.94 per hand.

Bob made53 come out winners in 54 hands for a ratio of .98 per hand.

Bob had 10 hands of 20 or greater out of 54 for a ratio of .185.

Eva had 5 hands of 20 or greater out of 17 for a ratio of .294.

We both threw the dice very well with Eva getting the edge in my opinion. She had the best hand length with a 32 throw hand. My best was only 29. Our point production was identical but she surpassed by almost doubling my come out winning performance.

Eva also learned to play the Poker Pro electronic poker game on this cruise and played very much over the last 3 or 4 days.

Its always a learning experience playing craps on the cruise ships. As always I was the only DI on this cruise. I would give Eva this rating if she practiced more; I consider her more of a rhythm roller. Mike and Sandi have the potential but I don't think they have the opportunity to play too often so it will be a struggle for them. I bet on both of them on every hand and overall they contributed to a positive outcome at craps.

The bottom line is that craps was up approximately $500 but we gave more than that back at poker, 3 card poker, roulette and blackjack.

I did solve a puzzling problem that has been plaguing me since the Carnival Victory cruise this past April. At that time I had noticed a high percentage (10-20%) of my shots had one or both dice bouncing into the left side corner usually resulting in a 7 out. On this cruise I was still seeing some of this maybe 5% or so and I finally figured out what was causing it on the last night of the cruise. For some unknown reason I picked up the dice after gripping them and was checking my finger alignment when I noticed that the fingers were not perpendicular to the bottom face of the dies. So I was gripping them at an angle which would cause the bounce to the left. After I noticed that I checked it with every throw on my last 2 hands of the cruise and had a 19 throw hand followed by a 21 throw hand so it looks like I may have hit on something.

Dicenator

[Asiba]

Hey Hey

[Asiba]

Are you sure that you went on a cruise or a casinoruise

[Dicenator]

Asiba,

 

I enjoy everything on cruises from the meals to the shore excursions, the shows and the casinos.

 

I think that you are implying that I spend too much time in the casinos. I'll admit that the casinos on the ships are a big attraction for me. As you can see my game of choice is craps.

 

Most of my craps playing is in Atlantic City and even during the week when I usually go there a lot of times the table is pretty much full resulting in not too many hands during the day.

 

My experiences on most, not all of the casinos on the ships, is that the table population at the craps table tends to be low. So I get the dice fairly quickly which is good in my opinion. Now I never play more than 2 hours at a time then I'll leave and maybe go back an hour later.

 

On a one week cruise I can get in anywhere from 70 to 90 hands at the craps table. In Atlantic City I'm lucky to get in 6 or 7 hands in a day covering 8 hours.

 

 

Dicenator

[Artemus]

Would it be possible to get the cliff notes version? Lol:)