Shawnino Posted June 9, 2018 #1 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I'm told they have bridge games regularly--what's the standard of play? Obviously the passenger roster changes each cruise, but how should I set my overall expectations? Is it comparable to what might be seen at a small Duplicate club, or better, or worse? Thanks, S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Do Posted June 11, 2018 #2 Share Posted June 11, 2018 As you can judge by the lack of response to your question, bridge is not overly popular. I have been on almost a dozen cruises, though, and there has always been some level of activity. On the larger ships your analogy of a small duplicate club is pretty accurate with six to eight tables. If there are a few days at sea there always seems to be an ACBL director who gives lessons and conducts duplicate sessions. On the smaller ships there will be a signup sheet in the card room which will lead to a few tables playing party bridge. It is always a fun part of the cruise for us as you get to meet some nice people who share a similar interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawnino Posted June 11, 2018 Author #3 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Thanks Sea Do! Six tables sounds like fun. On the 2000-pax NCL ships two tables are a struggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgg Posted June 11, 2018 #4 Share Posted June 11, 2018 I'm told they have bridge games regularly--what's the standard of play?Obviously the passenger roster changes each cruise, but how should I set my overall expectations? Is it comparable to what might be seen at a small Duplicate club, or better, or worse? Thanks, S I'd suggest you set your expectations low and hope to be pleasantly surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fokeltje Posted June 12, 2018 #5 Share Posted June 12, 2018 I'd suggest you set your expectations low and hope to be pleasantly surprised. On our recent TA Montreal to Southampton the duplicate games on sea days had an average of twelve tables. Even on port days there were several hosted duplicate games, with 8 or more tables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 12, 2018 #6 Share Posted June 12, 2018 there always seems to be Bridge games announced in the CURRENTS I do not play so have no idea of the levels but there seems to be a lot of bridge players on O JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawnino Posted June 12, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted June 12, 2018 Thanks guys--sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go-Bucks! Posted June 13, 2018 #8 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I grew up in a family who didn't allow card playing, so I know very few card games. But I'm hoping to take bridge lessons on my next cruise on Insignia. I'll have lots of sea days to hopefully learn and get practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecourt Posted June 13, 2018 #9 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I grew up in a family who didn't allow card playing, so I know very few card games. But I'm hoping to take bridge lessons on my next cruise on Insignia. I'll have lots of sea days to hopefully learn and get practice. I’m with you, I play kitchen bridge but could use some lessons Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawnino Posted June 13, 2018 Author #10 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I grew up in a family who didn't allow card playing, so I know very few card games. But I'm hoping to take bridge lessons on my next cruise on Insignia. I'll have lots of sea days to hopefully learn and get practice. I would take a basic set of lessons before you go. Or buy/read through a basic book like this: https://www.amazon.ca/Club-Introduction-Bridge-Bidding/dp/0943855004 (This may well be the lesson book used at your local club if you are in N. America.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetchpeople Posted June 13, 2018 #11 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Based ***** my recent cruise which was long and had a number of sea days: The O web site noted there would be a bridge instructor on board. There was, and a VERY good one. There were 6-7 tables for duplicate, several tables for beginner bridge play, and there were 2 lessons in the morning on sea days: 9:30 AM for beginners and 11 AM for intermediate. Best lessons I/we ever had and pleasant duplicate, too. All in all, on any sea day, better than 5% and less than 10% of the passengers were learning and playing bridge. Best bridge experience ever FYI: we were on Insignia from Beijing to Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecourt Posted June 13, 2018 #12 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I was on a 23 day O cruise to the Amazon and bridge was very popular. Great instructor/teacher for all levels. Enjoyable. Even some duplicate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tansy Mews Posted June 13, 2018 #13 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Based ***** my recent cruise which was long and had a number of sea days:The O web site noted there would be a bridge instructor on board. There was, and a VERY good one. There were 6-7 tables for duplicate, several tables for beginner bridge play, and there were 2 lessons in the morning on sea days: 9:30 AM for beginners and 11 AM for intermediate. Best lessons I/we ever had and pleasant duplicate, too. All in all, on any sea day, better than 5% and less than 10% of the passengers were learning and playing bridge. Best bridge experience ever FYI: we were on Insignia from Beijing to Sydney That was my experience on our cruise that went out to French Polynesia. Excellent instructors. Lots of players. Frances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe-Neth Posted June 14, 2018 #14 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Normally there will be a bridge instructor on board when there are 3 (4?) or more sea days. But if you want to be sure, you should ask Oceania to confirm. When they can sell all cabins they will do so. It is all about the money. I have decided not to make such cruises anymore when a bridge director is not guaranteed. Probably you can check it at the website. On our last TA Montreal - Southampton the bridge instructors were very good and friendly as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeezerCouple Posted June 14, 2018 #15 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Normally there will be a bridge instructor on board when there are 3 (4?) or more sea days. But if you want to be sure, you should ask Oceania to confirm. When they can sell all cabins they will do so. It is all about the money. I have decided not to make such cruises anymore when a bridge director is not guaranteed. Probably you can check it at the website.On our last TA Montreal - Southampton the bridge instructors were very good and friendly as well. Hmmm.... any chance, do you think, they'd be there on a Caribbean cruise with 2 sea days at the start and another 2 sea days at the end? That would be wonderful. GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tansy Mews Posted June 14, 2018 #16 Share Posted June 14, 2018 You can screen voyages for bridge on this link - but do double-check if it particularly important to you. https://www.oceaniacruises.com/experience/enrichment/bridge-program/ You can see it through the Experience tab on the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 14, 2018 #17 Share Posted June 14, 2018 if you want to guarantee there will be instructors on the cruise book one of the listed cruises https://www.oceaniacruises.com/experience/enrichment/bridge-program/ Not all cruises have instructors but all seem to have Bridge games IME Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe-Neth Posted June 15, 2018 #18 Share Posted June 15, 2018 If there is not a bridge director, there will be some party bridge, but on average you will see 2-3 tables only. Besides, a real tournament is so much nicer..... Also on the smaller ships there will be a bridge director now and then. No difference with the Marina and Riviera there. Just check in advance. I read about the book of Audrey Grant. Very good indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOTB Posted June 22, 2018 #19 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Our only experience of Oceania so far is a week on Riviera from Barcelona to Rome, with ports every day. Bridge was billed in Currents and took place in the Polo Grill at 2pm. So generally only enough people turned up for one table of social bridge. It was disappointing on one occasion that we got there to find four people already playing and we waited a good while to see if another couple would turn up. They didn't. It would have been nice if the group already playing had offered to rotate with us, at a suitable break in play. This is what we would have expected to happen. We will be on Nautica's Round Britain cruise in September - just two sea days, but it might be nice to get a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieV Posted June 22, 2018 #20 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Most cruiselines just don't make it worthwhile for directors to sail. I looked into teaching bridge on Celebrity but the per diem they would charge wasn't all that much less than I could get with a good sale, and I'd rather be a passenger than working unless it was going to be really in my favour. I'm not surprised that they don't get as much interest from directors. I'm an accredited ACBL and Bridge America director and I've never worked a cruise for that reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitob Posted June 23, 2018 #21 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Celebrity does not offer duplicate or any acbl sanctioned Bridge. The best bridge experience outside of a Bridge cruise is a luxury line and a cruise with lots of sea days. CrystAl has a dedicated Bridge room! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tansy Mews Posted June 23, 2018 #22 Share Posted June 23, 2018 On the one O cruise that I took instruction in the morning and then played duplicate in the afternoon, it was really well attended. A beginners class as well as intermediate class was offered. And only on sea days. On that itinerary, there were lots! I think the instructtor had a good time too. Frances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeezerCouple Posted June 23, 2018 #23 Share Posted June 23, 2018 On the one O cruise that I took instruction in the morning and then played duplicate in the afternoon, it was really well attended. A beginners class as well as intermediate class was offered. And only on sea days. On that itinerary, there were lots! I think the instructtor had a good time too. Frances Beginners' level would be great. I'm still a bit rusty, and DH is only recently starting to play. However, our next cruise has 4 sea days, but the one after than has none. And then after that, unless our schedule changes, we'll have our first trans-Atlantic, so that will give us more time :) GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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