Blackjack Dealers On Cruise Ships
Dec 30, 2019 Many cruise ships and Caribbean islands also offer blackjack play. A blackjack dealer may work in any of these environments in which gambling is legal and in which people come to play table games. A dealer generally must be licensed or authorized to deal blackjack.
Any advice from those of you with more playing experience?
Blackjack Dealer Jobs On Cruise Ships
I've been able to memorize the Wizard Strategy simple exceptions by Jeff Pepper (only 18 cells to remember!). We're getting ready to go on a Carnival Cruise trip, and I verified that they do have 3:2 blackjack, but the minimum bet starts at $10. That's a bit rich for my pocket. They do have $5 minimum to play 6:5 blackjack or '21'. I am going to play recreational with a modest bankroll of $500. This will be my first time on a live blackjack table.
Any advice from those of you with more playing experience?
$10min/$1000 max 3:2 BJ was available. CSM dealt, H17, no surrender, Split to 4, DAS, NRA etc.
The $6 min table(s) are not Blackjack, but Fun21, SuperFun21 or some other variant with TOTALLY different Basic Strategy for play.
If you think you know the 'simplified Basic' from WOO (Pepper?) you probably don't in a live game setting.
You will prolly lose your money if you do play that Strategy perfect.
The more perfect you play, the longer it should take to lose.
Many people enjoy the hell out of playing, most lose.
Don't play with money you would mind losing. And yes you could win, happens frequently.
The longer you play, by Basic Strategy, the more likely you are to lose all your money, fact.
The are Advanced Strategies available, Basic is just a good foundation.
The practice game on WOO is good for practice, easy game to play.
Seems to be seriously skewed in the players favor over the long run in my experience.
Have a fun cruise! 2Feathers
2. Also, realize that the casino is completely unregulated and Carnival has been on a campaign to increase revenues from their casinos. Ask a wide-open leading question of your dealer such as 'Is this game the same as the Blackjack game that I play in Las Vegas?' which gives the dealer the opportunity to tell you about any weird differences form conventional BJ. Heaven help you if they've deleted Queens from the deck, lol.
3. Watch for dealer mistakes. The dealers are usually not the world's best - for instance, they usually work another (non-casino) job on the ship when the casino is closed.
3. Watch for dealer mistakes. The dealers are usually not the world's best
Yes! I was on a Carnival cruise last month. I was playing UTH & chatting with the dealer. He said that he had never played a hand of poker before Carnival made him a dealer!As to the OP, the last two Carnival cruises I was on, the minimum was not $5, but $6 -- they are encouraging you to place a $1 side bet. I know you said you checked, but things change without notice in casinos, so don't be surprised if you see minimums at $6. Like the others have said, I would play the $10 3:2 tables over the $5 (or possibly $6) 6:5 tables.
The good news is that a cruise ship casino is a good place to play live for the first time. You will very likely have the company of other first-timers at the tables. Even with the recent proliferation of casinos around the country, you will still find people on a cruise who have never set foot in a casino before. In my experience, the atmosphere in on-board casinos is relaxed and as stated above, the pace is typically very slow.
My advice is to play for short periods at a time and set a session win/loss limit. For instance, if you buy-in for $80, leave when you hit $160 or $0, or after 45 minutes if you haven't reached either limit. You may win, but you are more likely to lose, and when you lose, it can go fast. It would suck to lose your trip bankroll on the first day of a 7-day cruise!
And watch out, they will bring you drinks while you gamble, but they aren't free like they would be in Vegas!
1. Remember the casino is open only when the ship is not in port and not within 2 hours of U.S shores.
2. Also, realize that the casino is completely unregulated and Carnival has been on a campaign to increase revenues from their casinos. Ask a wide-open leading question of your dealer such as 'Is this game the same as the Blackjack game that I play in Las Vegas?' which gives the dealer the opportunity to tell you about any weird differences form conventional BJ. Heaven help you if they've deleted Queens from the deck, lol.
3. Watch for dealer mistakes. The dealers are usually not the world's best - for instance, they usually work another (non-casino) job on the ship when the casino is closed.
There is no 'two hour rule' to/from US shores. It varies wildly, and is distance based. Alaska cruises have some special considerations. Just ask once on-board and they can give you approx times both coming and going ;-)
Not sure about the 'Carnival has been on a campaign' remark. My impression is that Carnival's casino operations are contracted out to Oceans Players Club, as are several other cruise line's operating from US and a bunch more overseas. The terms of $$ flow between the parties is a mystery to me.
Royal Caribbean operates it's own casinos.
Norwegian I'm not sure about except there is a part ownership connection between major stakeholders in CET and Norwegian. Hence Norwegian Cruise promotions etc at CET properties.
And one last thought, you can't access gambling related sites (WOO) thru Carnival's onboard Internet service, they are blocked. You can send a hello to the Forum from a connection if you find one in your ports of call.