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5 SURPRISING Things About Cruise Ship Casinos
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Jan 28, 2025
I delve into gambling in cruise ship casinos to discover how to play, what to focus on and how cruise passengers use gambling to unlock perks, freebies, heavily discounted and free cruises – without seemingly gambling much money. Whether you are a small and timid player of slot machines or a big fan of playing the tables, you will discover all you need to know before playing. GET EXCLUSIVE PERKS LIKE MEMBER-ONLY BONUS VIDEOS BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links mentioned in the videos: JensAWayCrusin tips: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/how-to-gamble-on-a-cruise-to-unlock-perks/ o USA https://www.ncpgambling.org o UK https://www.begambleaware.org BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com , http://bit.ly/TFTStore or https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers
View Video Transcript
0:00
I realized that you and I were doing it
0:02
completely wrong when I saw a bunch of
0:04
videos first by Brian Christopher he's a
0:06
popular YouTube slot machine Gambler and
0:09
he was on Carnival and he posted videos
0:11
with titles like major win on the Open
0:13
Seas triple up massive win on Carnival
0:16
and then I met a really interesting
0:19
Cruiser called Jen's away cruising and
0:21
she told me about the many many offers
0:24
she gets for free cruises she gets them
0:27
every single week so I thought it's time
0:29
that I investigated to work out how does
0:31
this whole gambling on a cruise ship
0:33
work welcome aboard I'm Gary bembridge
0:36
and this is what I found out well first
0:38
off most ocean cruise ships that I've
0:41
been on have casinos there are a few
0:44
that don't so Norwegians pride of
0:46
America or the Viking ocean cruise ships
0:49
Disney and Azamara ships they don't have
0:52
casinos on the tour nor do most of the
0:54
Expedition and river cruises that I've
0:56
been on either but those that do have
0:58
them they're always in high traffic
1:00
areas and involves me walking through
1:03
them to get to and from the theater I
1:05
guess that is to encourage us to stop
1:07
and play so bear that in mind now the
1:09
more that I explored I came across nine
1:12
key differences to land-based casinos
1:15
that I love to go to in places like Las
1:17
Vegas the most important thing I
1:20
discovered is that the odds in Cruise
1:22
casinos are much worse than they are on
1:26
land
1:27
now I'm not particularly kind of an
1:28
officiado on all the details but I found
1:31
through various gambling blogs and even
1:33
Cruise blogs like cruisley.com they had
1:35
a bunch of articles with all the details
1:38
and they say that in Las Vegas casinos
1:40
you know slot machines are likely to pay
1:42
90 and way way higher it's rumored to be
1:46
much lower about 80 on cruise ships now
1:49
in blackjack which my partner Mark plays
1:52
a lot of when we Cruise he notes that
1:54
when playing on land for example if he
1:56
bids ten dollars and gets Blackjack
1:58
he'll get back 15 but on the ship he
2:01
regularly only gets 12 and roulette also
2:04
has much worse payouts so you don't go
2:08
on a cruise to really gamble
2:09
professionally but there are other perks
2:12
and other reasons for gambling which
2:14
I'll come to in a short while the table
2:16
minimums are though much much lower on
2:18
ships than on land I've played for as
2:20
little as three dollars per bet on
2:22
Blackjack but I've seen it changed a lot
2:25
based on where I'm selling the most
2:26
amazing big change was we were on a trip
2:29
which went from Australia up to Asia and
2:31
we were paying with it like between
2:33
three and five dollar minimums we got to
2:35
Hong Kong lots of Chinese Travelers got
2:37
on board and it ramped up to 12 and on
2:39
some tables up to twenty dollars so the
2:42
price minimums do change based on where
2:44
you're cruising so because of all of
2:46
this it's much more recreational and
2:48
sociable than playing online casinos I
2:51
find it much much less intimidating to
2:54
play the tables on board ships the other
2:56
gamblers are definitely more friendly
2:58
and they're much more forgiving of
3:00
people like me who don't fully know
3:01
don't fully follow all the rules of the
3:04
exact Blackjack you know when to stick
3:05
and so on in Vegas very different I've
3:08
found if you don't stick to the rules
3:10
don't play properly they get really
3:11
really difficult uh with you also to
3:14
make it much easier the cruise lines run
3:16
classes they show and remind me how to
3:18
play all the various different games
3:20
they also which I really like put on
3:23
tournaments which are great they're
3:26
particularly for us less experienced
3:28
gamblers because they have a small flat
3:31
fee like I was recently on Queen Mary 2
3:33
crossing I don't really know roulette
3:34
that well I just paid 30 I got a big
3:37
pile of chips and I could play a relate
3:38
this experiment and learn how it went
3:40
I've also been earlier the year on
3:42
Oceania Marina and they did a slot
3:44
competition which is about for the same
3:46
amount by the way the winner actually
3:48
pocketed a couple of hundred dollars but
3:50
it wasn't me unfortunately unlike on
3:52
land Cruise casinos are not open 24
3:55
hours a day seven days a week cruise
3:58
ship casinos can only open when they're
4:00
cruising in international waters because
4:02
all the gambling regulations so if you
4:05
are into gambling you need to go for
4:07
cruises with lots of sea days or
4:09
certainly ones that leave ports early in
4:11
the evening because otherwise you're
4:12
going to have much less gambling
4:14
even on sea days though while the slot
4:16
machines will be open all day the tables
4:19
tend to have much more restricted times
4:22
also in Cruise casinos passengers can
4:25
gamble from the age of 18 versus 21 on
4:28
land casinos like in Las Vegas in the
4:30
United States although for many U.S
4:32
departing or very focused itineraries
4:34
like Alaska and even some Caribbean
4:36
cruises like on MSC they will stick to
4:38
the 21 years of age gambling rule
4:41
importantly though on many cruise lines
4:43
of course you can't drink until you're
4:45
21 so you may not actually be able to
4:46
drink when you're gambling there are of
4:48
course because of the size fewer games
4:50
and fewer tables than in those big land
4:54
casinos so on cruise ships I usually
4:56
find four key ways to gamble bingo
5:00
scratch cards those kind of arcade games
5:02
like coin pusher things and of course
5:05
casino games slots and tables now in
5:08
terms of tables I have always found
5:10
Blackjack and have found some
5:12
dealer-based poker games like ultimate
5:15
Texas Hold'em three-card Caribbean stud
5:18
and I've never been on a cruise with
5:21
regular poker games where you play
5:23
versus other guests like you know
5:24
there's big tournaments you get in land
5:25
casinos though I do believe and have
5:28
heard that Norwegian and Royal Caribbean
5:30
do sometimes run those but on most
5:32
cruises it's usually video poker game
5:35
machines I pretty much always find
5:37
roulette tables on most occasionally on
5:39
the very big ships I've seen a craps
5:41
table I've never seen baccarat but some
5:43
people told me that some ships do have
5:45
them Sports gaming by the way is not a
5:47
big thing on Cruisers yet I did actually
5:50
find it on a recent Princess Cruise on
5:52
their app which also has other games on
5:54
it where you can actually then gamble
5:56
pretty much anywhere around the ship the
5:58
seventh key difference is I can use cash
6:01
is on land but I can also charge my
6:03
gambling to my room via my cruise card
6:07
some cruise lines have even let me use
6:10
my onboard credit to gamble with like
6:12
when I was on Celebrity
6:14
Royal Caribbean but for example not 100
6:17
America so you need to check if your
6:18
cruise line will let you use your
6:20
onboard credit to charge to my room I
6:22
put my cruise card in the slot machine
6:23
and I basically charge it the good thing
6:26
about that is I've not normally been
6:28
charged a fee so that's why I avoid the
6:30
onboard cash machines they often have a
6:32
fee if you want to withdraw cash but if
6:35
you charge when you're playing at a
6:36
table there also seems to be a fee for
6:38
that on many cruise lines now unlike in
6:41
Vegas when I finish playing where they
6:42
print out that little slip which has
6:44
your balance on and you go to machine
6:46
and get the cash out on most Cruise
6:48
Lines the balance goes onto my cruise
6:51
card and I then have to take my cruise
6:53
card to the cashier to cash it out now
6:57
the balance on that cruise card does not
7:00
offset my onboard account bill it's a
7:03
separate thing so I physically have to
7:05
cash out and I need to make sure that I
7:08
always remember that at least on the
7:10
last added cash out all you I will lose
7:12
my money so make sure that you do not
7:14
miss out on that the next difference I
7:16
noticed was no free drinks in Vegas
7:18
waitresses come around offering free
7:20
drinks but I found on most cruises if
7:23
I'm playing the slots I start to earn
7:26
some free drinks points and eventually
7:28
then I earn some free drinks if playing
7:30
on the tables occasionally The Pit Boss
7:33
might offer a round of drinks but
7:35
generally speaking it's not free drinks
7:37
in a cruise Casino one thing I did
7:41
discover by the way from the point Sky
7:43
blog that is if I actually had status on
7:46
the big land-based casinos you can
7:48
actually get perks on the cruise but not
7:50
the other way around so if for example
7:52
you've got status with MGM Rewards or
7:55
the Caesar program you you'll find many
7:57
Cruise Lines will give you equivalent
7:59
benefits or even up to based on your
8:01
status free cruises so if you do have
8:03
status check with your cruise line and
8:05
find out if you can get that so are
8:07
there any similarities to land-based
8:09
casinos you're probably asking me by now
8:11
with all those differences smoking
8:13
unfortunately many many casinos on
8:16
cruise ships also allow smoking it's the
8:18
one place on many ships that you can
8:20
smoke indoors it is changing though
8:22
there was no smoking on my recent
8:24
celebrity Cunard Oceania region 70
8:27
silver sea and Seabourn trips so it is
8:29
changing another similarity
8:31
unfortunately is if you're from the US
8:33
you have to pay tax even though you're
8:36
kind of out of scene and normally what
8:37
happens is the cruise line if you've got
8:39
a big win you know over 1 200 in a pouch
8:42
I believe they will normally give you
8:44
the IRS forms the rest of which is
8:46
supposed to of course declare if you
8:48
come from the UK or many other places
8:50
you don't have to pay taxes on wins in
8:53
the casino because they don't tax
8:54
gambling wins another key similarity T
8:57
and one that has proven to be a game
8:59
changer for many is Cruise Line Casino
9:03
Lottie programs those programs are
9:06
different to the normal Cruise loyalty
9:08
programs you get for sailing and many
9:11
cruises like Jen's away cruising that I
9:13
mentioned earlier uses those to get
9:16
perks freebies and cruisers now I had
9:20
always assumed that you had to gamble
9:22
and lose a lot of money but Jen has
9:24
showed me this is not the case if you
9:26
gamble smarter and talking to a casino
9:29
host on board a cruise recently they
9:31
confirmed what Jen had said now all the
9:35
lines appear to have these Casino
9:37
programs the most popular ones seem to
9:39
include Royal Caribbean's club royal
9:41
Rewards program celebrities celebrity
9:44
Blue Chip carnivals Players Club and the
9:48
Norwegian group across all of their
9:49
lines casinos at Sea now no matter how
9:52
big or smaller gamble you are gen and
9:55
the Casino Host recommended that I do
9:58
the following few things first of all
10:01
go to the casino on the first night
10:03
because most Cruise Lines by the way
10:05
give free slot play to use on the first
10:07
day or two and secondly while there seek
10:11
out the casino host and speak to them
10:13
ask them what is the program do I need
10:16
to sign up how do I get the perks most
10:18
of them by the way just simply work by
10:20
putting your cruise card in the slot
10:21
machine now while the line can track
10:23
exactly spend you know when I'm playing
10:25
the slots it's more judgments used by
10:28
the casino host observing play on the
10:31
tables so being on their radar early on
10:34
is really important because the crews
10:35
that that Casino Host manages and
10:38
decides and allocates perks during the
10:40
cruise but how much though do I need to
10:43
gamble to get free cruises that was the
10:45
big challenge ahead of Jen now I did
10:47
look at Royal Caribbean as a good
10:48
example and according to that to get a
10:51
free interior cabin an inside cabin I
10:53
needed to get to the prime level that
10:55
was 2 500 points now you earn one point
10:58
per five dollars gambled So in theory
11:00
I'd have had place bets of twelve
11:03
thousand five hundred dollars across a
11:05
year however Jen doesn't gamble that
11:07
much and she still gets all those free
11:09
and discounted Cruise offers across many
11:11
lines Carnival Royal Caribbean Holland
11:12
America she gets us every single week
11:15
now what she does is she says she
11:17
gambles between a thousand dollars and
11:19
two thousand five hundred dollars on
11:20
Chris that is quite a lot of money but
11:22
she's been on 50 cruises and she tracks
11:25
the cost if she'd paid the going rate
11:28
versus her actual total out of pocket
11:30
which includes her gambling her drinks
11:32
any onboard spend and she's calculated
11:34
she's paid less all in than a third in
11:37
total of what the value of the Cruisers
11:39
should been on even including some
11:41
gambling losses now it's important that
11:43
she doesn't lose that amount of money
11:44
it's just the amount of money that you
11:45
put through the system now I've put
11:47
together a blog post of how she does
11:49
this in great detail including her tips
11:51
by line that you can see on my blog tips
11:54
to travelers.com casino because it's too
11:57
complicated to cover here now she
12:00
stresses getting on the Casino Host
12:02
radar and into whatever lines program at
12:06
the start is really important if you
12:08
want to go down this route she
12:09
recommends on your first cruise you
12:10
probably need to gamble put through at
12:12
least the cost of the cruise you don't
12:14
need to lose it but you just need to get
12:16
on the radar once you're on the radio in
12:18
the system you keep getting offers
12:20
they're constant of course whenever
12:22
gambling never gamble more than you can
12:24
afford to lose what Mark and I do when
12:26
we go on board a cruise is we go with a
12:28
little gambling fund we have a little
12:30
envelope with the amount of money that
12:32
we are prepared to lose we cash out
12:34
every night and we kind of know where we
12:36
are once that envelope's gone we stop I
12:39
put links here and in the description
12:41
for the gambling responsibly sites in
12:44
the US and the UK if you do need help or
12:46
does become an issue now if you find all
12:48
this interesting and want to know other
12:50
cruising hacks and tips watch this video
12:53
where I talk about the seven things that
12:55
smart Cruisers do to make their Cruise
12:58
amazing
12:59
see you over there
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