Casino hours

[golfer1903]

Is there a set time the casino opens and closes. And days during the cruise or is it all random

[JaxsMama]

It's opens while the ship is at sea. Don't know exact times. 

[riclop]

Ship has to be at sea.

[golfer1903]

Is it open first nite?

[JaxsMama]

Yeah, after sail away when you get into international waters.

[IntrepidFromDC]

It varies, but they want to stay open when there's demand.  The only cruise I was on where the casino closed before 2am was a cruise out of San Juan (and sadly, nearly zero Texas Hold'Em players on that cruise).  Seems San Juan is an anomaly for the casino.

[Moviela]

The casino takes orders from the Captain when to open. Just as they seldom leave the pier or anchorage at the exact time, the exact time to open the casino varies. The Captain notifies the casino manager when the ship reaches international waters. They will close when most of the guests have left. If for operational reasons caused by weather, they will close the casino when entering national waters. 

[bigdog1958]

13 hours ago, golfer1903 said:

Is it open first nite?

 

While most cruises open the casino when the reach international waters, there is at least one exception that I know

of... The pride out of Baltimore somehow opens hours before the ship actually reaches international waters. From Baltimore the ship takes around 7 hrs to reach international waters, but the casino normally opens about 3 hrs after it leaves.  The funny thing is while they open the casino, they still charge tax on drinks for the full 7 hrs until they reach international waters... I guess they get some kind of permission to open early.. not sure if other ports have this type of deal or not.

[sandyzag]

4 minutes ago, bigdog1958 said:

 

While most cruises open the casino when the reach international waters, there is at least one exception that I know

of... The pride out of Baltimore somehow opens hours before the ship actually reaches international waters. From Baltimore the ship takes around 7 hrs to reach international waters, but the casino normally opens about 3 hrs after it leaves.  The funny thing is while they open the casino, they still charge tax on drinks for the full 7 hrs until they reach international waters... I guess they get some kind of permission to open early.. not sure if other ports have this type of deal or not.

Same deal for ships out of NOLA.  Relatively quickly after leaving port, the casino opens while the ships travel down the Mississippi river for roughly 8 hours.

[evandbob]

If you are on a cruise that has been advertised as a casino fare, the hours will be later since they have more customers and activities going on.  I've been on a few where the casino closed at 4 AM.

 

They can also have the casino open in several ports, again, if there are casino fare cruisers on board, and Carnival has paid the port for the gaming license/permission to do so.

 

Gambling on the Mississippi River has been legal for a while.  I'm not sure about Chesapeake Bay.

[Davey Wavey]

The FunTimes usually lists "1 hour after sail away" as the opening time when in port, with exceptions of course. Sea days it is usually 9am. For regular cruises, 2am is closing time, again with a few exceptions. For casino cruises, they usually say they stay open as long as there is sufficient activity. The vast majority of times that has been 3am, but I did see 4am once. NOTE: This is for table games. Slots/machines are usually open all day except when restricted by being in port, +/-1 hour.

[InitialD]

One thing I learned was that Bermuda allows cruise ships docked overnight to open casinos from 9PM to 5AM. Any other ports do this? I don't think Carnival does overnight stays in Nassau any more.