Casino: Celebrity must be really hurting for $ if they're ripping off players this badly in Video Poker

[Vagabond Knight]

We did some playing last time we cruised Alaska on Carnival six years ago. My husband played the craps table and I (who doesn't know craps from a hole in the ground) played the slots. He won a nice amount and I, of course, eventually lost all the money I'd allocated to lose (though the slots were generous enough that I had a great time playing for quite a while).  Ever since Covid slowed down and they started sailing again I've been getting offers emailed to me almost daily for free Carnival cruises and my husband wondered aloud why he wasn't.  "I gambled more than you did!" he complained.  "Yes dear, but you won. Who do you think they're going to want back in the casino?"  😁

 

We pretty much don't gamble on our Celebrity cruises, however. Tried a couple of times and it seemed to be the equivalent of throwing the money overboard to the fishes.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Vagabond Knight

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Definitely. BCC never offered me anything so far (first time as Amethyst now, we shall see) despite my annual MGM NOIR cruise.

 

You can call BCC and ask for a comped sailing, all comes down to play.  I overall wonder if FCV is a somewhat secret back channel to receive more generous offers.  Next time I'm on board, need to check with FCV then call BCC to find out

[sasset]

I've never gambled on a cruise. I used to gamble a bit in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. Everyone one I ever talked to said the absolute worst odds was gambling in cruise ship casinos.

[NutsAboutGolf]

5 minutes ago, sasset said:

I've never gambled on a cruise. I used to gamble a bit in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. Everyone one I ever talked to said the absolute worst odds was gambling in cruise ship casinos.

 

Pretty much accurate yet not for every game.  Celebrity does have SINGLE zero roulette (that's hard to find on land in the US), 3:2 BJ and Baccarat.  Slot payback are about as bad as it gets.

[fstuff1]

17 minutes ago, sasset said:

I've never gambled on a cruise. I used to gamble a bit in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. Everyone one I ever talked to said the absolute worst odds was gambling in cruise ship casinos.

 

table game on ships are the same as land casinos:

ie: 3to2 bj, 3/4/5x craps

 

just dont do the sidebets.

and avoid 6:5 bj

 

oh, one of the 2 roulette tables on most Celebrity ships is single 0!

[AndyCapn]

2 hours ago, Vagabond Knight said:

"I gambled more than you did!" he complained.  "Yes dear, but you won. Who do you think they're going to want back in the casino?"  😁

Even if he gambled 10 times as much money as you did, you're still more valuable to the casino because you're playing against much higher odds.

 

Over the long term, the house will make about 1.5% on your husband's bets at the craps table

 (unless he's playing silly longshots). Cruise ship slots can be as high as 25%.

 

Casinos don't care if you win or lose in a night or during the week. They know that in the long run, they're going to win.

[jules27556]

On 5/11/2022 at 2:04 PM, davekathy said:

Win win for us as we don't smoke or gamble. 😁

And if you don't drink...... the Triple Crown!!!

 

PS  For me, nothing more obnoxious than a loud/rowdy drinker(s).

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, jules27556 said:

And if you don't drink...... the Triple Crown!!!

 

PS  For me, nothing more obnoxious than a loud/rowdy drinker(s).

Two outta three and bad. 🍷😁

[Pinboy]

1 hour ago, jules27556 said:

And if you don't drink...... the Triple Crown!!!

 

PS  For me, nothing more obnoxious than a loud/rowdy drinker(s).

Agree--

Triple Crown winner here--- since, since --- Can't remember when --- 

Mind you, Is buying a Lottery ticket from time to time ( because  I had a " feeling " ) considered Gambling or Investing without " Due Diligence " ??

 

 

[jules27556]

3 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

Agree--

Triple Crown winner here--- since, since --- Can't remember when --- 

Mind you, Is buying a Lottery ticket from time to time ( because  I had a " feeling " ) considered Gambling or Investing without " Due Diligence " ??

 

 

Actually, I believe in freedom of choice.  And doing anything with grace and manners works for

me.   Casino, tipping a glass or a smoke.  😊  

[Janthere]

Can I ask a dumb question - when you say you have 7k or 20k coin in, how do you keep track of that? I know what it means but how do you personally know how many bets you have made? I know how much cash I physically put into the machine but just am not sure how to monitor bets made. Sometimes i play Ultimate x at 30 credits per hand and sometimes just single line at 5 credits. Would you stop and calculate how many bets you place for each $100 entered? 

[Fly and Sail]

1 hour ago, janbear said:

Can I ask a dumb question - when you say you have 7k or 20k coin in, how do you keep track of that? I know what it means but how do you personally know how many bets you have made? I know how much cash I physically put into the machine but just am not sure how to monitor bets made. Sometimes i play Ultimate x at 30 credits per hand and sometimes just single line at 5 credits. Would you stop and calculate how many bets you place for each $100 entered? 

 

You can measure that by the amount of points displayed in the display that earn your freeplay. 1000 points x5 = 5000 tier points = $5000 coin in (on slots). VP is $2/1 tier point.

[fstuff1]

4 hours ago, janbear said:

Can I ask a dumb question - when you say you have 7k or 20k coin in, how do you keep track of that?

 

I know what it means but how do you personally know how many bets you have made? I know how much cash I physically put into the machine but just am not sure how to monitor bets made. Sometimes i play Ultimate x at 30 credits per hand and sometimes just single line at 5 credits. Would you stop and calculate how many bets you place for each $100 entered? 

 

look at the slot screen.

multiply that by 5 for coin-in

[fstuff1]

On 5/12/2022 at 4:31 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

3) You have to pay $10/day to FCV where as if you book with BCC you avoid that fee

 

 

i booked a free cruise solo thru fcv and was charged $20/day cruise fare. 😞

 

Anyway to get this fee removed?

Can someone in Blue chip remove it?

[Mississippian]

On 5/10/2022 at 5:59 PM, WestLakeGirl said:

Let’s look at it from another perspective. You must have money to burn if you gamble on video poker odds which you know are not good 🤪

A "bad" video poker paytable is usually better than playing a slot. Not sure given these dreadful tables. On my last Princess cruise I played on dime machines. It's fun to play for low stakes, even if the paytable is awful. I won't bet any real money on one of these machines.

[the penguins]

On 5/14/2022 at 3:05 AM, Fly and Sail said:

 

You can measure that by the amount of points displayed in the display that earn your freeplay. 1000 points x5 = 5000 tier points = $5000 coin in (on slots). VP is $2/1 tier point.

Wow, I think we had better sign up for evening classes in maths. Never knew this was all so complicated. We play roulette, single Zero table,💲40 a night , play every other night, 💲5 a spin, each chip covering 4 numbers so basically an even bet. Win pays 💲8. Never play the winnings when 💲40 gone we cash in and walk away. Have made a small profit on every cruise except one. We have a lot of fun and accept we will never make a fortune.

Largest amount we ever put in a slot was 💲1200 in one go - that was for our 80 person slot pull on our last TA.

[mfs2k]

I know I saved $4500 on a sky suite on my sailing by booking through the MGM casino phone number. I don’t really care what my coin in is. The most I’m willing to lose on a Caribbean cruise is about $1,500 so I’ll come out way ahead. 
 

also I understand the odds on a ship are worse than the odds at a land casino but odds and paybacks are based on an infinite number of plays and statistical totals. Each individual player is likely to do worse than calculated odds because every once in a while someone gets lucky and hits a jackpot and skews the odds for the rest of us. But the fun of gambling is you can possibly be that jackpot winner. 
If you gamble thinking you’re going to try to win and pay for your cruise you’ll likely lose more than you planned. 
If you go to a ship casino  and have fun and gamble and stay within your limits, you can have a good time and if you get lucky maybe you’ll be the one leaving as a winner. 

[weregoingcruising]

How’s this for hand pays on video poker. Look carefully at the nickel one it’s a progressive that payed $40thosand dollars.

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i booked a free cruise solo thru fcv and was charged $20/day cruise fare. 😞

 

Anyway to get this fee removed?

Can someone in Blue chip remove it?

 

🤷‍♂️No idea, call and ask?

[AlbertaCruisers]

15 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i booked a free cruise solo thru fcv and was charged $20/day cruise fare. 😞

 

Anyway to get this fee removed?

Can someone in Blue chip remove it?

I was charged $10 per day for mine that I booked onboard.  After the cruise I called Blue Chip about the booking, I didn't ask to remove the charge (so I don't know if they could), but I was in a regular veranda and I asked that since I already paid the additional fee could I upgrade to Aqua, and they upgraded me to Aqua without paying anything else (before I have had to pay a $10 per person per day fee to upgrade to aqua).

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, weregoingcruising said:

How’s this for hand pays on video poker. Look carefully at the nickel one it’s a progressive that payed $40thosand dollars.

 

 

 

 

Call attendant indeed...

 

(pure VP Porn)

Tom

[MixerDave]

On 5/11/2022 at 1:12 PM, fstuff1 said:

 

Ncl epic?

And wow they allowed gambling in your cabin.

Wonder why they stopped that? They should be printing cash for people killing time waiting for their significant other

We just got off a Princess cruise - you could gamle anyplace on the ship with your app.

 

[Fly and Sail]

14 hours ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

I was charged $10 per day for mine that I booked onboard.  After the cruise I called Blue Chip about the booking, I didn't ask to remove the charge (so I don't know if they could), but I was in a regular veranda and I asked that since I already paid the additional fee could I upgrade to Aqua, and they upgraded me to Aqua without paying anything else (before I have had to pay a $10 per person per day fee to upgrade to aqua).

 

I was charged the typical $20/day upcharge for AQ solo onboard and just called to switch cabin assignment (a better one opened up) and to cancel one transfer that was worth $70. I was then told I had a $155 overcharge and would be receiving a refund. I stopped trying to understand their system.

[Fly and Sail]

18 hours ago, mfs2k said:

I know I saved $4500 on a sky suite on my sailing by booking through the MGM casino phone number. I don’t really care what my coin in is. The most I’m willing to lose on a Caribbean cruise is about $1,500 so I’ll come out way ahead. 
 

also I understand the odds on a ship are worse than the odds at a land casino but odds and paybacks are based on an infinite number of plays and statistical totals. Each individual player is likely to do worse than calculated odds because every once in a while someone gets lucky and hits a jackpot and skews the odds for the rest of us. But the fun of gambling is you can possibly be that jackpot winner. 
If you gamble thinking you’re going to try to win and pay for your cruise you’ll likely lose more than you planned. 
If you go to a ship casino  and have fun and gamble and stay within your limits, you can have a good time and if you get lucky maybe you’ll be the one leaving as a winner. 

 

How much did you end up paying for the SkySuite post discount?

 

I have the same approach. If I lose $1200-$1500 on a cruise and continue to be able to book Aqua Class cabins for free then I'm a happy boy. Plus it takes quite some time to see that amount of money disappear if you bet $2/spin so that's at least 3 days of casino entertainment.

[LMaxwell]

Casinos at Sea are not regulated like U.S. Land Based Casinos.  The odds and payouts usually are weak. Cruise ship gambling should be considered for entertainment only