Why did they change horse racing?

[BrandiGreg]

On our first Princess cruise about 14 years ago, they had horse racing where a group of horse "owners" would recruit a female "jockey' and the races were the jockeys turning cranks to pull the horses along in the race with ropes. My wife was the grand champion jockey in the end and the team that chose her was thrilled....nowadays they simply roll dice, which is very boring and entirely due to luck....does anyone know why they changed this? The other way was more exciting.

[Toto2Kansas]

In the last 10 years or so, there have been lots of changes onboard all the lines we have sailed. Some good, some not so good. Hey, at least they brought some form of horse racing back, for a while it totally disappeared off all of the Princess ships. :(

[spongerob]

They no longer do the auction and decorating, unfortunately. We used to have great fun getting a syndicate together with other roll call members and buying a horse for the Derby. The reason it was discontinued, as much as I can figure out, is that there was no way to verify the dice rolls in case of dispute. We've been involved in races where there has been well over a thousand dollars on the line.

[britsbest]

........but they DO have soda cards, coffee cards, internet, and even a/c in the staterooms> Gosh things do change in 14 years - who knows they may have done away with the oars! Its was OK till the cap'n wanted to water ski:D ;)

[sfsd]

:D On our cruise last oct. they still auctioned off the horses and dressed them, We had a riot with the whole thing mary

[sultan_sfo]

Cruelty to Animals (or is it People?)!

[Casshew]

They no longer do the auction and decorating, unfortunately.

 

Really? when did it stop.. we bought and decorated a horse on the Golden, Aug 2006

[Toto2Kansas]

Really? when did it stop.. we bought and decorated a horse on the Golden, Aug 2006

 

They have had the horse auctions on the last few cruises we have been on also. So not sure what that's all about. I know they stopped it for a year or so, but started it up again. Last time I looked, it was the same as it was before they took the horse racing break.

[Pam in CA]

It could be as simple as the CD and whether they want to schedule one. Not all CDs do the same thing (thank goodness) and some are more inventive/creative than others. I've found that the ones who are essentially promoted entertainers are generally the least-creative.

[spongerob]

They have had the horse auctions on the last few cruises we have been on also. So not sure what that's all about. I know they stopped it for a year or so, but started it up again. Last time I looked, it was the same as it was before they took the horse racing break.

That's interesting...no mention has been made of it at all on the last two or three we've been on. It must be up to individual CD's to put it on.

[mich2]

I sure hope they're still doing it. We have a syndicate big enough to maybe buy 2 horses! We've heard from the people on our ship now and they are doing it.

[Sanibel*Gal]

We were on the CB - week of 9/23 and they did have the horse races but did not auction them off like previous cruises. However, I don't think they had as many races as before, I think in the 45 mins. there were only 3 races. One afternoon, they had to take a hand count of how many were going to actually participate before they started the race. (Some of the folks were early for Bingo:p which is also a big draw!) Must have something to do with the odds, pay off, etc.;)

 

Good point about the CD, wonder if they are the one who determines what activities they will have, etc.??:confused:

[ho]

It's all about making money after they cover their cost. It cost them the time of 3 CD staff to run the Horse Racing. They use to just do para mutual betting and calculate the odds based on how much was bet on each horse. Now they deduct a larger amount out of each pool before they calculate the odds. Last year I saw several $5.00 bets that only returned $3.00 to the winners. It's just not as much fun as it used to be, if your going to gamble, you at least want to have a chance to win. The only race that was legit was the owners race where Princess did return all of the auctioned money to the winner without taking out their rather sizable cut. In the old days the cruise lines would absorb some of the cost associated with entertainment, not much of that today.:(