[Cyberchomp]

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Are games on cruises raked or is your rake the fee to be on the cruise in the first place?

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Rake was a 10% to $4 max. The trip was actually a bargain. We paid $810 + tax and port charges per person. The fair was around $950 pp on Carnival.

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So that was you in the jersey... I think you called my wife on a string bet one evening. She and I are both still learning the game, and we'll work on our betting motions... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Yes, I was one of those chasers in the 2/4 games. Tried my hand at 4/8 and had my head handed to me. Not pretty.

The tourneys were even tighter. A lot of respect was handed out -- so much so, that I lasted until the mid-80s in a 180-player tourney (Thursday's $150 buy-in).

My own thoughts about the cruise (also my first Card Player Cruise):

The facilities were not exactly ideal. The poker rooms were split among two decks near the dining room at the rear of the ship. The upper room had absolutely no lighting -- unless the window shades were open, some of the tables were in twilight, giving the term "raise in the dark" a whole new meaning... The air conditioning in the upper room was meat-locker quality. I didn't go in there without a sweater or jacket. A miner's helmet probably would have helped.

The lower room was far better lit, but there were metal projections sticking out of the floor where room fixtures had been removed to make room for the tables. Players were constantly tripping over the projections.

I overheard Linda Johnson discuss the Carnival Spirit's shortcomings with one of the other CPC guests. CPC takes what the cruise line gives and they try to make do with the facilities. CPC usually books passage on Holland America because their ships are nicer, the service and food are better, and the facilities are far superior to Carnival's. However, HAL is more expensive to book than Carnival, especially for the overseas voyages (CPC uses HAL for its European and Mediterranean cruises). CPC does at least one cruise a year on Carnival in order to give players a cheaper cruising option. We came strictly for the poker, not because we like Carnival.

However, there are sights never to be seen on Celebrity or Crystal Cruises. Hairy-chest contests on the pool deck. Gang-banger wanna-bes in 'fros and baggy jeans talking on their cell phones while dishing up scrambled eggs in the Spirit's breakfast buffet on disembarkation day. Card Player Cruises guests (identified by our neck pouch/ID badges) and Carnival Vacation Club members (identified by their special neck badges) studiously ignoring each other. And more tattoos than a circus sideshow...

One of the best moments in the poker room: on the way back to San Diego, action in the lower room almost completely stopped when whales and dolphins were seen out the windows on the starboard side. Very cool. "Hey," I joked, "bring 'em on in! We can always use a few more whales at the tables."

CPC runs its cruises in a homey, seat-of-the-pants way and that ain't all bad. First day of the cruise, the staff handed out Card Player Cruise swag to CPC guests -- luggage tags, t-shirts and the like. And we had our own section of the dining room -- no reserved seating; we could sit wherever we wanted.

As with you, I, too, brought a suit to wear on formal nights. But I saw as many jeans and t-shirts as there was formal wear in the dining room on those nights. Dinner time was a mere break for most of the players before they headed back to the tables for the evening sessions.

A lot of the dealers were from Viejas and other San Diego-area rooms. We did run into a few folks from our Bay Area neck of the woods. Gary from Bay 101 is a terrific guy! We also got to hear some stories from Red, who dealt at The Oaks years ago. My wife said Red looks as if he dealt at Oaks... CPC brought over sixty dealers to get the cards in the air.

Other than the ship and the facilities, only a few peeves. The staff at the door of each room didn't always check to see whether the players were CPC guests (to be in the room, you have to have booked the cruise through CPC). At least one non-CPC player was caught before he got into the same tourney I was entered in -- he picked my stepson's name off the player list and took his seat card. And I heard that someone else bluffed their way into a 2/5 NL game early one morning and won $1500 before anyone found out. The people who ran the lists on the boards looked as if they were under siege at times. Names on the lists had a tendency to disappear unless you were standing right at the room entrance to watch over yours. And if there had been tables and dealers to spare, I would love to have bought into some sit-and-goes.

The Missus and I have done the Mexican Riviera to death, and there wasn't much we wanted/needed to see. We did book a private car and tour online prior to embarkation, and took a tour of Colima (near Manzanillo). Far nicer and less confining than the ship's bus tour, not to mention cheaper. I don't much care for Manzanillo, but we loved Colima.

We generally like what CPC is doing, and wouldn't mind booking with them again. CPC has the Mexican Riviera again in December '06, with a different itinerary -- Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta. If the bankroll is willing, we'll be there...