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Royal Caribbean Cruise Poker (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bezerkus
- Start date
We cruise on the 22nd out of Fort Lauderdale on the Allure, which ship are you on?
We are on the Explorer of the Seas, one week later out of Miami. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/nor/no/cruise-ships/explorer-of-the-seas?country=NOR
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Sounds like table games more so than actual poker. But not sure
Mariner has not a single traditional poker table, not even electronic.
Was on Independence of the Seas 2 weeks ago. Was with family so didn't get a chance to have any casino time (my kids kept reminding me I didn't need to go lose money).
While walking through, saw 1 traditional poker table and several 3-card poker tables. I saw a Sit and Go tournament advertised but no idea about turnout nor if normal nightly games ran.
I know this isn't that helpful of a post but at least establishes there was a table and advertised tournament(s).
While walking through, saw 1 traditional poker table and several 3-card poker tables. I saw a Sit and Go tournament advertised but no idea about turnout nor if normal nightly games ran.
I know this isn't that helpful of a post but at least establishes there was a table and advertised tournament(s).
ekricket
Royal Flush
Some cruises you can’t get a game going, some cruises it’s waiting list all night. Typically their tournaments are satellites to a final for a cruise if there is enough entrants. If not they disperse the cash to the winners of the main.
We just finished two Cardplayer cruises, one out of LA one out of Galveston (flying home today). If you want to play poker a lot and cruise a little it’s the way to go. I didn’t go to a show or event on either cruise, too busy playing poker!
judgeanjury
Flush
Going on the independence in two months, was it a good ship? Did see the single poker table with a SNG being advertised one day of the cruise. I did read somewhere though that the cash games have an uncapped rake of 10% which sounds crazy.
Would love to hear experiences too!!!
Enchantment of the seas 1st week of May
Poker Tournament 3 days of the cruise with only 10 allowed to play. Had to sign-up first thing in the morning but it filled quickly so I never got in. 99% of the cruise the one and only Hold 'Em table looked like this :
Some ceramic chips:
Better action in Aruba, but didn't have the time with the excursion with the kids. My wife, I and my 4 kids (+son's girlfriend) still had a ball in the Star Lounge with with my chips. Good luck to those cruising!
Some ceramic chips:
Curaçao:
Better action in Aruba, but didn't have the time with the excursion with the kids. My wife, I and my 4 kids (+son's girlfriend) still had a ball in the Star Lounge with with my chips. Good luck to those cruising!
judgeanjury
Flush
What was the prize for winning the single table tournament? What was the buy in?
Good question, the Royal Caribbean app only said there was a fee and a prize, so not sure as I never got on the sign up list in time.
ekricket
Royal Flush
We are in Copenhagen, headed out on a couple RC cruises. I’ll be checking their chips over here!
Have fun in Stockholm, too bad I couldn’t meet up. We’re going on family vacation monday morning to Gotland
ekricket
Royal Flush
Ok I won’t be checking the chips so much. Not a poker table on this ship. Not even electronic. It’s all set up for the Asian market, if you want to play sic Bo or baccarat there are about 30 empty tables nobody is using. Tonight there were 6 people at roulette and 4-5 playing slots.
That’s all that was in the casino cause this is not an Asian market, Copenhagen to Stockholm. Idiots.
Quoted for truth, and I wish it was more consistent than this.
I've sailed on RC cruises where you couldn't get a cash game going at all, and others where there was a table or two with a list from 9pm-2am every single night.
ekricket
Royal Flush
I’ve heard “we are short staffed” once and if I hear it again I’m going to complain. There are less than 1200 people on a 3200 person capacity cruise.
If they are going to reduce services then I think they should reduce prices as well, or let us know up front so we can decide ourselves if it’s worth going with a skeleton crew. It’s nice to have a mostly empty boat, but not if you can’t do anything.
We're sailing RC this November, and I was mildly concerned about this as well.
But it sounds like Florida-based cruises to the Caribbean are back to pre-COVID levels (crew and passengers), so it should be sailing as usual.
I cruised with Mariner of the Sea back in 2018, they had similar ceramic. 50c chip was exactly the same
500$ chip was oversized
judgeanjury
Flush
Literally on the bus back to the airport right now from my cruise on the independence. Only got one poker game going the first night but it was super super soft. It's was me and probably 2 other guys who knew how to play poker. The rest had no clue what was going on. I'll share one hand to give you an example.
$2/$5 game
Villain raises to $30
Hero - AQs raises to $100
Everyone folds Villain calls
Flop - 7, Q, 9 rainbow
Villain checks, Hero bets $75 (probably too much)
Villain folds and shows T5s
Villain then asks could you have beat that?
Just an example of what I was playing with.
The only bad part was Royal Caribbean took a 10% rake up to $15 every hand
$2/$5 game
Villain raises to $30
Hero - AQs raises to $100
Everyone folds Villain calls
Flop - 7, Q, 9 rainbow
Villain checks, Hero bets $75 (probably too much)
Villain folds and shows T5s
Villain then asks could you have beat that?
Just an example of what I was playing with.
The only bad part was Royal Caribbean took a 10% rake up to $15 every hand
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Exactly my experience on the Oasis a couple years ago. I paid for my shipboard expenses with poker that week.
One guy who was there every night always had a pocket full of $500 chips. He played almost every hand (of course) and routinely went through multiple buy-ins. But periodically he would fold pre, go to the roulette table right next to the poker table, drop a few of those $500 chips on red or black, then come back for the next hand. I recall chatting with him about it one night and he told me he was down several grand that day like it was $50.
There was only one other player who was very solid and who I tried to mostly stay away from. He was always very quiet and serious at the table. I ended up chatting with him the last night after the game broke, and turns out he was a super nice guy. He was also a little surprised when I told him, "You were the only one at the table all week that made me nervous." I don't think he realized the kind of image he was projecting.
PlayerADK
Flush
I went on a RC cruise in 2016 (or close to 2016, can't remember) and they had electronic holdem. Everybody sits around the table but it's all screens. I didn't play 
Yeah, been on a couple ships with these too, but not recently.I went on a RC cruise in 2016 (or close to 2016, can't remember) and they had electronic holdem. Everybody sits around the table but it's all screens. I didn't play
It consistently sucked - almost never a cash game going, and when it did happen it was only 3-4 players. It was harder to be social on an electronic table, and the rake was brutal so the house was the only winner.
Never again.
ekricket
Royal Flush
Headed out on a cardplayer cruise end of month. Here’s the schedule.
DrStrange
4 of a Kind
The rake is high vs my experiences in American casinos. 10% up to $15.
The buyins are often short. e.g. $100 on a $2/$5 table.
The dealers are highly irregular but mostly bad. Had one who insisted on raking uncalled bets. Had the floor come and say "yep, we rake the bets even if uncalled" Preflop too.
All of this makes the house edge very hard to beat.
Many cruises never get a game going. a few times you hit the jackpot.
If you are thinking of a cruise as a poker event, only focus on the cardplayer cruises
The buyins are often short. e.g. $100 on a $2/$5 table.
The dealers are highly irregular but mostly bad. Had one who insisted on raking uncalled bets. Had the floor come and say "yep, we rake the bets even if uncalled" Preflop too.
All of this makes the house edge very hard to beat.
Many cruises never get a game going. a few times you hit the jackpot.
If you are thinking of a cruise as a poker event, only focus on the cardplayer cruises
Jimulacrum
Full House
This is also my experience on cruise ships.
The worst I've ever seen was on the Norwegian Dawn, back when they still did live games. Rake was 10% capped at $25, with rake applied to uncalled bets, as you mention. The rake would make the game simply disappear in a few hours. Totally unbeatable.
E-tables are much more common than live tables now, and those run the additional risk of not only high rake cap, but a higher rate than 10%.
Last cruise I took was on the Royal Princess, where I met my future wife. Their $1/2 NLHE game was raked 15% to a cap of $8. And virtually no perks. We got one (1) free drink for everyone at the table, once, toward the end of the week-long itinerary.*
Your best bet in general is to take a CardPlayer cruise, or bring chips of your own and organize a private game.
True story: I ordered a hot chocolate with whip cream. Future wife was my server. She still gives me a hard time about it to this day—not just because she had to travel like 5 decks away to get it, but because hot chocolate is cheap and earned her practically no commission, and I'd just spent the whole week ordering nothing but water. Apparently I should have ordered a double of expensive scotch.
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