Cruise ship poker?
 

Hi all. I'm new to posting but have been lurking for a while now.

I'm going on a cruise later this month, but the ship's casino doesn't offer poker (my wife, bless her, got all excited for me after she booked the trip: "I asked, and they offer poker! It's called 'Caribbean Stud' or something like that."). I was thinking about taking some chips and seeing if anyone wanted to play some small-stakes NL tourneys.

Anybody seen this done or know if it is kosher? There was a brief thread on something like this a couple of years ago, about a guy who ran his own $100 buy-in tourney on a ship. There wasn't much more info than that.

Thanks for any help you can give me -- I'd rather not play blackjack all week if I can get a poker game together. (But I don't want to get thrown off the boat, either.)

-- Mike

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi all. I'm new to posting but have been lurking for a while now.

I'm going on a cruise later this month, but the ship's casino doesn't offer poker (my wife, bless her, got all excited for me after she booked the trip: "I asked, and they offer poker! It's called 'Caribbean Stud' or something like that."). I was thinking about taking some chips and seeing if anyone wanted to play some small-stakes NL tourneys.

Anybody seen this done or know if it is kosher?
-- Mike

[/ QUOTE ]

I was on a cruise to nowehere out of NY some years ago, and I recall an impromptu 7-stud game going in some room off the casino proper.

I doubt it would be sanctioned by the boat, but as I recall almost every ship has a "Card Room" for bridge, etc. No need to bring your own chips, just buy from the cage (better security that way). After the blue-haired ladies retire for the evening, you find an off-duty dealer and ask if he wants to make some $$$ dealing poker; cruise employees are noting if not responsive to an opportunity to earn a tip. You comandeer a table in the "Card Room" (that's what its there for: cards, right?) and play away. You might not even have to supply your own cards. Talk to management, they may be eager to please; once outside territorial waters anything goes. By the same token, know you won't have a floorman to settle any disputes. OTOH, skip the center-dealer if that proves difficult.

The only other thing I know about this is that the on the CardPlayer cruises, they say you have to be registered with them (and buy your cabin through them) to play in their room, which is also separate from the ship's casino. That may be driven as much by CP to protect their comission on cabin sales to poker players as anything else (i.e., you can't get on the boat from some discounter then play anyway).

Good luck, and have a good cruise in either case!

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

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That may be driven as much by CP to protect their comission on cabin sales to poker players as anything else (i.e., you can't get on the boat from some discounter then play anyway).

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I believe it's mostly a desire to know the number of people ahead of time, so everyone that registered has plenty of room to play and is able to get their expected level of service from CPC staff.

Martin

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

Mike,

I'm leaving for a cruise in a few weeks and I'm faced with the same dilemma you had. Just curious: how did your "floating" game turn out on the cruise last Fall?

Thanks,
Nick

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

I've read reports of Holdem being spread in the Casinos on some the Princess cruise ships. I hope this is true.

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm leaving for a cruise in a few weeks and I'm faced with the same dilemma you had. Just curious: how did your "floating" game turn out on the cruise last Fall?

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I never got a game together. I did encounter a group of older guys playing on the deck by one of the pools, but they looked like a group of buddies and I decided not to ask them if I could play.

Craps, however, treated me very well the three times I played. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I'm sure you could get a game going if you tried hard enough. I just didn't really meet enough people who I thought would play.

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

Thanks for the update, Mike. Sorry to hear you didn't make the game, but congrats on the dice - I've got a few dollars budgeted for the craps table as well.

I have an edge for this trip: friends are getting married on board and there will be about 50 people in the group. If I can't find 6 people for a game, I'm not trying hard enough. I'm also going to put a post on a cruise message board for the sailing I'm on to see if I get any bites. The ship has a beautiful card room and I may even take Rams' suggestion about hiring a dealer after hours.

Thanks again,
Nick

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

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I have an edge for this trip: friends are getting married on board and there will be about 50 people in the group. If I can't find 6 people for a game, I'm not trying hard enough.

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That's great, man. Have a blast. And watch out with the booze -- it's easy to run up a big tab when you just sign for every drink. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

Recently returned from a cruise on Norwegian Dream out of New Orleans. They spread a 5-10 HE game every night, one table only Checking the cruise boards, it seems that most of the Norwegian ships are now spreading poker. Hopefully this will spread to other cruise lines.

Game was super soft with almost all virgin HE players, but the cruise line was killing us with rake - straight 5% with NO cap. Still, it was better than no poker.

Re: Cruise ship poker?
 

My buddy just got back today from a 7 day Mexican cruise on Carnival. I asked him if they had poker on the boat and he told me that they had three poker tables at the casino, but there were no casino dealers. Instead, the poker tables were used by guests for impromptu "kitchen table" games. I'm really surprised the ship isn't making money off these tables, but it's cool that the tables are there.