Ocean Jewel - Tampa/St. Pete

[ThreeBeers]

Now that the Ocean Jewel operates 24 hours over the weekend, does anyone have any reviews?

ThreeBeers

[steamboatin]

I went a while back, I liked it.

[moose47]

I went Saturday night. Well, it was only supposed to be Saturday night but we ended up staying a bit longer than anticipated. We boarded the shuttle at about 8:00 that evening. Ride was a little bumpy which was to be expected. Nothing too serious but the weather definitely didn't look good. Anyway, around 12:00 they halted the return shuttle service due to inclimate weather and we were stuck there until 2:00 pm Sunday.

I give them credit for making the most of the situation. There were a lot of irate passengers but for the most part everyone that I saw was too tired to really complain. They gave everyone 12,000 points which can be redeemed for $20, a free lunch buffet, and a free t-shirt. They also had a free slot machine tournament going on around 4:00 am. Just something to keep people entertained. Most people crashed at Tropics, the nightclub, or at the sports bar. It was basically a free for all to try and get a couch.

All things considered I would definitely go again. I hear they are working on getting temporary bedding in case this happens again. The same thing happened the weekend before last but I guess the short noticed left them ill-prepared again. I can't really comment on the games. They were offering 3-6 limit, 1-2 NL, 2-5 NL. I'm not sure what else. I was signed up for some 3-6 but my name was erased from the list and by that time I was so tired that I just tried to get some sleep.

So if you plan on going I would recommend watching the weather forecast carefully. We knew it was supposed to be rough on Sunday but apparently it got their sooner than anticpicated. All in all, it was a different experience....

[Etaipo]

Just to re-iterate what the last poster said:

Keep a close eye on the weather report before heading out!

I got stuck on the boat LAST Saturday. Left home at 4:30 PM, got on the 6:00 PM shuttle. Was going to leave on the 12:30 AM shuttle, but they tried to fit 2 boats worth on it (11 PM was cancelled) so when we saw the crowd, we headed back to the poker room. The shuttle left a few minutes later without letting ANYONE board due to the weather.

We lifted anchor at 3:30 AM, and finally made it to shore at 8 AM. Then we find out there's a friggen bicycle race right in front of the exit, so even though I was only 15 cars in, it took me 45 minutes to leave the parking lot, and I finally made it home around 11, 11:30 in the morning.

The poker room put on a freeroll tournament, 80 people, $50 first place and top 5 get t-shirts. My No Limit table decided to play behind, and we got the manager to guarantee that ours would be the final table so it would not break. I ended up getting second of the 10 of us, so my not so profitable night turned much more profitable thanks to that.

All I know is that it would have been the wrong night to go broke on, that's for damn sure.

The fact that you can't gamble when they lift anchor really sucks ass.