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1 week aboard an MSC Cruise Ship - My play and information

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by makuk, Apr 16, 2017.

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  1. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    I have just returned from a 2 week trip to the US from the UK and spent 1 week on an MSC Cruise out of Miami to Bahamas, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica.

    This trip was comped through UR Comped (thank you UR Comped) and I thought I would provide you with my feedback about the gambling on board the ship in case anyone else was wondering what it was like or are looking to take a trip.

    Firstly the casino is only open when the ship is at sea (table games and slots), therefore, as the ship usually sales from about 5pm the casino opens about 1 hour later.

    The casino on board this ship has no set closing time, therefore, if the casino is empty they will close it even if they are at sea and it is only 2am.

    I gambled all 7 days I was on board, from anywhere between 4 and 8 hours a night, I was told by the pit boss at the end of the cruise that I gambled over 50 hours (total) in the week.

    Your cruise card which gets you in to your room is also used on board as your players card, each time you play on the slots you put your card in the machine and it adds the points directly to your card, this is the same for tables, you hand over your card and they record your play.

    I am pretty sure you earn 1 point for every $2.50 play on the slots, for the tables I have no idea how they work it out!

    For every 500 points you earn you receive $5 free slot play.

    If you register your credit card with the cruise you can quickly and very easily take money directly from your card in any slot - very dangerous! This is also the same on the tables, if you run out of chips just ask them for more and they bill it to your card!

    I earnt a total of 10,300 points in the week, if you earn 9,999 or more they guarantee you a free cruise on any of their ships, therefore, I earnt myself a free cruise, however, this free cruise is for an inside cabin without a balcony and not something that I would be interested in taking.

    SLOT & VIDEO POKER PLAY
    There were about 150 slots on the ship and 6 poker machines, some of the modern favourites and a few classics are available.

    When I first arrived on the Saturday I dropped about $1500 in the slots playing max bet from $2.40 to $6.00 a spin, when I did eventually hit a bonus (this took over $400 at times) the bonuses were bad, sometimes only paying out about $30.

    The video poker wasn't much better either, they only had 6 video poker machines in total and they were always empty, I played the same machine for about 3 or 4 days and probably dropped about $800 into those with nothing much to talk about.

    Because the play on the slots was so bad I concentrated on table games for the rest of trip (see below) however, on our last night (Friday) my wife joined me and wanted to play slots so we played! When she first started playing slots I gave her $500 and I had about 8200 points, by the time she had finished I had around 10,000 points, therefore, I know we played through about $4,500 and she gave me $400 back (she knows the rules!), so that was $100 loss in about 5 hours - Pretty good!

    She hit multiple (good bonuses) ranging from $80 to $400 and she hit multiple progressives for anything up to $600, so the machines were much loser on our last night, that may say something or it just may mean she is a lot luckier than me!

    The same night I decided to try the video poker again, I played Double Double Bonus and hit Quad Aces with a 3 kicker and hit for $2000, 5 hands later I hit Quad Aces again with a 6 kicker for $800 - So again, much better results on our last day of the trip.

    TABLE GAMES
    They had about 7 tables:

    1x 3 card poker
    1x Ultimate Texas Hold 'em
    2x Regular Blackjack
    3x Spanish 21 Blackjack

    And 2x Roulette Wheels.

    The min and max bets on all the tables were low all starting at $5 and during happy hour (usually when the casino has just opened) you could play all table games for $3.

    The low max bets was a little frustrating for me as when I was chasing it was nearly impossible to get back up with BJ having a max bet of $100 or $200 and Ultimate Texas Hold 'em having a max bet of $50 per spot. I asked them if they could increase the max bets (even when the casino was empty with just me playing) and they weren't interested, I think they were afraid to be fair.

    I had some good play on the tables, my best hand was quad 3's on UTH with $50 on each spot so won about $2000 on that hand, a guy next to me hit a Royal with $5 on each spot and won $3000, shame I didn't hit that as that would have really hurt them!

    Blackjack was steady with the regular ups and downs and the idiots sticking on 13 and 14 with the dealer showing a 10!

    I am not a big roulette player but played a couple of times and hit for about $1000.

    All in all I was really happy with the atmosphere, the dealers were very polite and professional and fun to play with.

    Yes the trip was free, however, I paid for the trip and some with my gambling losses but I would definitely go back and highly recommend it.

    Here is a video of a walk through of the entire casino on the ship:



    And here are some photos:

    If you have any questions feel free to ask.
    1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg 9.jpg
     
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  2. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Sounds like you had a great time!

    Grand Cayman has been my favorite place in the Caribbean to visit so far.
    I loved Stingray City sandbar--and that's coming from someone who can't swim!

    I love that Nassau pic at the end, too!

    What port did you visit in Jamaica?

    Thanks so much for sharing your observations and experiences regarding the onboard gaming! :D

    RICHARD
     
  3. Candy Apple

    Candy Apple VIP Whale

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    How was the food, service, and shows (if you saw any)?
     
  4. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    Hi Richard, we went to Ocho Rios (or somewhere spelt something like that lol)
     
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  5. Scotch12rox

    Scotch12rox Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the report. BJ pay 3:2 or 6:5? On Norwegian, it is 6:5 on the $6 tables, 3:2 $15&up.
     
  6. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    Hi, the reason I didn't mention that side of the cruise is because we stayed in the Yacht Club on board which is different from the rest of the ship, we had a private butler, pool and restaurants and everything on board was free for us including drinks, there are only about 70 (out of 1700) cabins that have this service and facilities - So for us the service was outstanding.

    Of the food we did eat it was amazing, especially the steaks :)

    I didn't see any shows (they don't interest me, plus I was too busy gambling!) but of the ones my wife saw she said they were very good and worth seeing, however, they are very short shows only lasting between 30 and 45 minutes.

    Literally my intentions on this cruise were to sun bathe during the day and gamble at night, and I achieved that for 7 out of 7 days :)
     
  7. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    BJ paid 3:2 on all tables even when min was $3

    Spanish 21 also paid 3:2
     
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  8. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    Something I forgot to mention in my initial report was that they had some very strange and annoying rules.

    1. I was not allowed to borrow (lend) anyone any money, you know when a player sitting next to you wants to double and is $5 short, you toss it over to him and he gives it back when he wins as he doesn't want to change up any more cash - They will NOT allow you to do this and told him to give me my $5 back - Sheesh really!!!!

    2. My wife was sitting next to me at BJ and I was playing $200 max on 2 boxes, she ran out of money so I gave her $200 so she could carry on playing, they then told me that as we were sharing money she could not play any longer as I was theoretically playing 3 boxes (which is not allowed)!

    3. Even if the casino is empty my wife could not sit in a chair next to me and not play as seats were only for players!

    There were some other strange rules that I cannot remember.

    NOTE - Fortunately all of the above happened on the first night, and I called bull shit on all of their random rules and they backed off on every single one of them and none of those issues were raised with me again.
     
  9. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Sweet! I did too! That's where my avatar pic was taken!
    (If you look closely you can see my feet in the lower right corner.) :D

    RICHARD
     
  10. nhcris

    nhcris VIP Whale

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    Thanks so much for the information. I just picked up a comped MSC cruise from Mohegan SUN, and we have been debating whether to just do the Caribbean or fly over to Europe and do the Med.

    At least the VP paid 7/5. Pretty much everything on Princess and NCL is 6/5 regardless of denomination. Nice job on the Aces!
     
  11. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report and some nice Aces!
     
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  12. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    Hello Makuk, Since you have been offered a FREE INSIDER CABIN. ....You can say okay and then play extra money for the type of cabin you would like to have like a window. You should only pay not more than $99. for a window cabin. Also say you want a VIP special card that you can use to eat at the main restaurant or a specialty dining restaurant for free. I would give you all that if I was a manager of a casino. VIP Casino players can go to the front of the line to go eat on all ships. The Casino managers don't want you to wait in line to go eat when you can eat right away and go gamble again.

    Did you make friends with the casino boss or manager? They can help you to get a better cabin too. But have your travel agent ask in advance before you book your cruise.
    You are a big time casino player. LucyR.

    I heard the casinos on all ships pay better on the first day and on the last day.
     
  13. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    Thank you for that info LucyR, I was comped in the Yacht club aboard the MSC Divina, I was not in a regular balcony cabin, the price per person was approximately $1700 totalling $3400 for the trip and in addition on this cruise I also paid for 2 extra cabins totalling nearly $7,000, the price for a standard inside cabin is about $600 per person, therefore, the price for me to pay to upgrade would be around $1100 each, so If they want me to pay the upgrade fee on my next (free) cruise I will just go to Vegas instead and stay a week for free in the Augustus Tower at Caesars, however, if they want to comp me the same cabin I will take it :)
     
  14. makuk

    makuk Low-Roller

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    Just do the Caribbean ;-)
     
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