Carnival Pride casino.

[fred549]

Hello,

 

When leaving Baltimore, does the Pride casino open the first night? Not sure when it leaves USA waters.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[EngineCo52]

33 minutes ago, fred549 said:

Hello,

 

When leaving Baltimore, does the Pride casino open the first night? Not sure when it leaves USA waters.

 

Thank you.

 

 

im pretty sure it opens up that evening. I believe it has to be so far away from port to open up to gambling. I've been on the pride a few times and can always remember gambling the first night 

[fred549]

Thank you.

[yogibear]

We were on the Pride in November 2018. Yes, it does open that evening. Depends on whether you leave Baltimore on time. 8 pm comes to mind but not 100% sure.

 

Karen

[dixieva]

This is interesting.  I have sailed on Grandeur out of Baltimore a few times and a couple of years ago they stopped opening the casino and shops the first night out.  They open them the next morning.

[ShakyBeef]

On all 8 of our Carnival Pride cruises the casino has been opened the first night, while still in the Chesapeake Bay.  Several hours out from Baltimore, as  PPs mentioned.  I can't say if this is still the case, though, since our last Pride cruise was just over a year ago. 

[Jamman54]

We were on the Pride this past October, and the shops and casino opened around 6:30pm.

[dixieva]

It's been about 2 years ago when Grandeur stopped opening the casino and shops the first night.  At the time I think they said it was because of some new state law.  But that can't be right since Carnival can still open. 

 

I'm happy to know this since we just booked the Pride for a cruise.

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by dixieva

[volfan22701]

within about 2 hours of leaving port. have cruised the Pride from there 6 times and always the same.

[bigdog1958]

17 hours ago, fred549 said:

Hello,

 

When leaving Baltimore, does the Pride casino open the first night? Not sure when it leaves USA waters.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Just off the pride last week.... yes they open about 2 to 3 hours after departure... They are not in international waters yet,  and they still charge tax on drinks, but somehow they can open the casino...  Not sure how, but they do.... takes about 7 hours before you reach international waters and they stop with the tax, but casino is open way before that time.

[ShakyBeef]

Here's a Baltimore Sun article from 1993 discussing the then-proposed legislation to allow cruise ship casinos to operate in the Bay:

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-05-1993005006-story.html

 

From the article:

 

"But port officials favor a narrowly written law that permits casino gambling only on foreign-bound ships while they are east of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Such a law, they say, would attract more cruise ships to Baltimore -- without allowing people to board ships in the Inner Harbor merely to gamble."

 

That explains why they can do this, assuming, of course that the legislation did eventually go thru.  Which it must have.