Royal Princess casino question.

[sueandkent]

Just wondering if anyone who’s been on the Royal in the past few months know if they have any $5 blackjack tables, dealer tables not slot machine ones?

[tawlaw1526]

Yes they do.   Most of the tables are $5.00.   

[Steelers36]

MOST??!!  Ships I have been on lately have only one minimum level BJ table (regular game).  One of those ships was Majestic and another was Regal, sisters to Royal.  Also, as I understand it, the minimum is now $6.  And a BJ no longer pays 2:1, except in the tournament they run each cruise.  I believe it is 6:5.  Other than the BJ tournament, I tend to play Hold 'Em Poker.  

[sueandkent]

Thank you

[lstone19]

The conditions should be the same on all Princess ships. I was just on Coral Princess where there were two BJ tables. The lower minimum one had a $6 minimum but paid 6:5 for Blackjacks (but note that if you bet $6, you'd be paid $7 for the BJ which is even worse - you need to bet a multiple of $5 to actually get 6:5.

 

The other table had a $15 minimum and paid 3:2 for BJ (despite steelers36 comment above, 3:2, not 2:1, was the norm for casino BJ before Las Vegas started to get greedy and many casinos went to 6:5; 6:5 compared to 3:2 increases the house advantage by about 1.5%).

 

But I recall from last year that the minimum (again on Coral Princess) was $25 for 3:2 so unless I'm misremembering, maybe Princess has realized that switching to 6:5 caused action to drop more than expected. On that cruise, I did not play at all as I do not ever play 6:5 blackjack.

[diane.in.ny]

I was on the Regal in September. The regular BJ table, with automatic shuffler which I am not a fan of, had a $5 minimum and paid 6 to 5. The Fun 21 table had a $6 minimum but had a dealer shuffled shoe and paid 3 to 2

[BarbinMich]

Just wanted to point out that the casino on the Royal/Regal is very small compared to those on the older ships, which I acknowledge had a lot of wasted open space.  But they went overboard in the other direction on the new ships IMHO.  The space is quite small, with the tables against the outer wall and very close to each other and just a few feet from the slots.  The space for the slots is also very tight.  You'd think they'd make the space a bit more comfortable where they want pax to spend lots of money 😉

Edited October 27, 2019 by BarbinMich

[Steelers36]

On 10/25/2019 at 11:26 PM, lstone19 said:

despite steelers36 comment above, 3:2, not 2:1, was the norm for casino BJ before Las Vegas started to get greedy and many casinos went to 6:5; 6:5 compared to 3:2 increases the house advantage by about 1.5%).

Oh my!! You are so right.  I typed my post too fast without thinking.  Of course 3:2 was the standard.

 

[Steelers36]

18 hours ago, diane.in.ny said:

I was on the Regal in September. The regular BJ table, with automatic shuffler which I am not a fan of, had a $5 minimum and paid 6 to 5. The Fun 21 table had a $6 minimum but had a dealer shuffled shoe and paid 3 to 2

Whatever combinations they can dream up, they will try and you can be sure none of them are in the player's favor.

[lstone19]

From what I've read, Fun 21 is not that bad a game. However, Fun 21 strategy is different from regular 21. You'll get fewer blackjacks (due to the fewer 10s) and you need to hit 12s and 13s more than you would in regular 21 (due to less likely to bust). Play Fun 21 with regular BJ strategy and you are sure to lose.

[USCcruisecrazy]

Do the casinos have that same $5 minimum for other table games?  Like craps or 3-card-poker?

[skynight]

2 hours ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Do the casinos have that same $5 minimum for other table games?  Like craps or 3-card-poker?

Craps had a $5 minimum this past February and August. Pass line bets have double odds. If I remember correctly place bets to win were normal and pay 7:6 for the 6 & 8, 7:5 for the 5 & 9 and 9:5 for the 4 & 10. I think you can play as little as $1 in the center box bets. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by skynight