Royal Caribbean wonder of the seas (1 Viewer)

[TheDonkeyKong]

Hello all! Will be heading on this cruise in a couple months time and was wondering if anyone has been on it before? They have a big casino and was curious if someone has some information on the poker scene.

 

[GreatWhiteDope]

Cruise ship poker is just bad. There is rarely a cash game until after dinner, which is fine since you are generally busy during the day. But the rake is obscene. I believe the last Royal ship I was on was 10% to a max of $25 per hand. The only rake I have ever seen that was higher was a casino in Punta Cana that raked 10% with no max. But you are a captive audience, so if you want to play, you will pay.

 

[DrStrange]

If this is a poker cruise, it should be a wonderful scene.

If it is like the bulk of cruises I have been on - the poker is infrequent at best. Often no games run at all. The dealer doesn't know how to deal poker. If there is a "floor". they too don't know much about poker. Port days the whole casino is often closed or limited.

The poker games I have seen are $2/$5 hold'em with a $100 to $500 buy in. Most buy in short and only once or twice. Rake was $15+per hand. By the end of the session, most of the money that was once on the table is taken as rake. The players are generally terrible - perhaps bad enough to offset the rake. Likely not when matched with $100 and $200 buy-ins.

Don't count on poker for a fun time. Plenty enough to do on-board otherwise -=- DrStrange

PS we do have several members who go on poker cruises that can tell us much more about how those work

 

[TheDonkeyKong]

Cruise ship poker is just bad. There is rarely a cash game until after dinner, which is fine since you are generally busy during the day. But the rake is obscene. I believe the last Royal ship I was on was 10% to a max of $25 per hand. The only rake I have ever seen that was higher was a casino in Punta Cana that raked 10% with no max. But you are a captive audience, so if you want to play, you will pay.

If this is a poker cruise, it should be a wonderful scene.

If it is like the bulk of cruises I have been on - the poker is infrequent at best. Often no games run at all. The dealer doesn't know how to deal poker. If there is a "floor". they too don't know much about poker. Port days the whole casino is often closed or limited.

The poker games I have seen are $2/$5 hold'em with a $100 to $500 buy in. Most buy in short and only once or twice. Rake was $15+per hand. By the end of the session, most of the money that was once on the table is taken as rake. The players are generally terrible - perhaps bad enough to offset the rake. Likely not when matched with $100 and $200 buy-ins.

Don't count on poker for a fun time. Plenty enough to do on-board otherwise -=- DrStrange

PS we do have several members who go on poker cruises that can tell us much more about how those work

Thanks fellas! Appreciate the insight. I was reading up online, looks like they also offer tournaments. This could make for a fun night.

 

[Baldeagle9]

I've been on several cruises, love them. But not for the gambling aspect. As poker goes the only decent thing could be a small three table max maybe four if you get lucky tournament. Regular poker table not good if they even deal it at all, cruise's are more about slot machines, blackjack etc.... Myself, I usually don't play poker at all on a cruise, once in awhile. Ill walk by dump 20 in a slot or play blackjack for a bit. Carribean stud if they have it. Just my two cents.

 

[GreatWhiteDope]

At the risk of sounding like Mr negative, the tournaments suck too. Generally very short stack so it becomes a shove fest almost immediately. Typical structure is $5000 starting stack with $100/$200 starting blinds and maybe 15 minute levels so it is done in two hours or less. But like I said, it's the only game in town so if you are in the mood to play, have fun.

 

[SwissChip]

I like the small version of a poker cruise a lot!
No rake and other boring stuff…

 

[Jaxen]

Thanks fellas! Appreciate the insight. I was reading up online, looks like they also offer tournaments. This could make for a fun night.

Often the prize up top in these tourneys is a free cruise later on. That's only a "win" if you're a habitual cruiser. And they'll only pay ~10% of the field so there won't be a 2nd prize for any money unless there's a 2nd full table.
As for cash games, they're usually using a blackjack dealer not in the rotation for it. On our first cruise I didn't come rolled for $2/5 but the dealer didn't even know to take a rake. The next night I came down ready to play and they were.
Stick to BJ, at least you'll find 3:2 on all shoe games (6:5 on single deck).

 

[JMC9389]

Thanks fellas! Appreciate the insight. I was reading up online, looks like they also offer tournaments. This could make for a fun night.

Negative Ghost Rider.

Those tournaments have awful structure. Find some like minded degens and bring a small set of Tina's and plastic cards and play in the ship's card room.

 

[JMC9389]

Often the prize up top in these tourneys is a free cruise later on. That's only a "win" if you're a habitual cruiser. And they'll only pay ~10% of the field so there won't be a 2nd prize for any money unless there's a 2nd full table.
As for cash games, they're usually using a blackjack dealer not in the rotation for it. On our first cruise I didn't come rolled for $2/5 but the dealer didn't even know to take a rake. The next night I came down ready to play and they were.
Stick to BJ, at least you'll find 3:2 on all shoe games (6:5 on single deck).

This. I cleaned up playing single deck blackjack last year.

 

[ekricket]

At the risk of sounding like Mr negative, the tournaments suck too. Generally very short stack so it becomes a shove fest almost immediately. Typical structure is $5000 starting stack with $100/$200 starting blinds and maybe 15 minute levels so it is done in two hours or less. But like I said, it's the only game in town so if you are in the mood to play, have fun.

Negative Ghost Rider.

Those tournaments have awful structure. Find some like minded degens and bring a small set of Tina's and plastic cards and play in the ship's card room.

We go on literally a dozen cruises a year, mostly Royal.
My win rate on these tournaments is over 60%. Adk @k9dr
If you know what you are doing and avoid some bad variance they aren’t that hard. I typically pay for all our gambling and in board expenses with tournament winnings.

 

[JMC9389]

We go on literally a dozen cruises a year, mostly Royal.
My win rate on these tournaments is over 60%. Adk @k9dr
If you know what you are doing and avoid some bad variance they aren’t that hard. I typically pay for all our gambling and in board expenses with tournament winnings.

The best strategy for these quick moving turbos is to wait for a premium and ship it. The average PCF meet up player is going to win lots if they understand how to play when the blinds move up quickly. I'm not calling bullshit, but a 60% win rate, even if the other players are really, really bad, sounds very lucky.

 

[fsupolo]

Went on a 7-day RC. Serenade of the seas. Had 4 tourneys and no cash games. Tourney was on a single BJ table. 7 players I think. Paid first and second. Became a shove fest pretty quickly. Each tourney was over in 1/1.5 hours. Players had to help the dealers. Still fun.

 

[slurpeee]

Did a RC 5 day recently and they had a cash game in evenings (see DrStange's post above for an accurate description). Play was so bad, it made up for the rake. Was very crappy poker, but when paired w/ the unlimited drink package, still made for a fun night. It was an interesting study in Darwinism, as by the end of the cruise the only 8 people still playing were clearly the ones that knew how to play. At that point the EV was horrible and we were all just feeding the rake.

 

[CrazyCow]

Cash can be soft enough to offset rake if the game actually runs but be prepared to quit early if there's not someone absolutely punting. Tournament structures are absolutely terrible, avoid those. I remember starting with 10BB and playing on a table game table.

 

[ekricket]

The best strategy for these quick moving turbos is to wait for a premium and ship it. The average PCF meet up player is going to win lots if they understand how to play when the blinds move up quickly. I'm not calling bullshit, but a 60% win rate, even if the other players are really, really bad, sounds very lucky.

That’s win. I’m in the money probably 80%.
But yes, it’s only when I get unlucky that’s it’s not higher.

They aren’t poker players. They are casino people that want some entertainment for about an hour. But the strategy above is basically correct - let them beat each other up with high card vs bottem pair. When you have it, shove it and hope they don’t hit their one outer. Thats my lose rate, when they hit their one outer.
But they don’t respect preflop raises, they don’t even know what that means
They don’t understand representing anything. They are stuck once they have a pair.
The corollary to above is that they are unbluffable. Don’t try.

 

[JMC9389]

That’s win. I’m in the money probably 80%.
But yes, it’s only when I get unlucky that’s it’s not higher.

They aren’t poker players. They are casino people that want some entertainment for about an hour. But the strategy above is basically correct - let them beat each other up with high card vs bottem pair. When you have it, shove it and hope they don’t hit their one outer. Thats my lose rate, when they hit their one outer.
But they don’t respect preflop raises, they don’t even know what that means
They don’t understand representing anything. They are stuck once they have a pair.
The corollary to above is that they are unbluffable. Don’t try.

The "but I have a pair" mentality is absolutely the truth. I saw a cash hand two years ago go four ways preflop. Flop was J 8 10 with two clubs. The turn brought in another 10 that brought in the flush and also paired the board.

Was heads up by the time the river brought in a blank. One guy leads out, the other calls, the guy betting turns over J 8, other guy shows J4 offsuit and two pair won it and they chopped the pot. No flush, no boat.

I shook my head in disbelief and walked away.

 

[TheDonkeyKong]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback, really appreciate it! What I’m getting at is the poker itself is not great with absurd rake but to off set that, the games are extremely soft. Thinking if tables are running late night, I would definitely dabble more so just to have a good time and a few drinks. Apparently this cruise ship is the third largest in the world with a huge casino. This will be my first ever cruise so I don’t really know what to expect.

 

[ekricket]

Cardplayer Cruises used to be good, we went in a lot of them. But not anymore, they got older, meaner, more crotchety. They went from having 15-20 tables running to barely getting one or two. They closed down for a while but are maybe trying to restart now? I wouldn’t recommend them anymore at all unless you want to play exclusively NLHE against the same eight 70 yr olds, no matter what ship you sail on. They have no plans on changing with the times or even knowing what’s going on in the poker world anymore. They played back in the 70-80’s so they know everything there is to know, just ask them.

 

[TheDonkeyKong]

Cardplayer Cruises used to be good, we went in a lot of them. But not anymore, they got older, meaner, more crotchety. They went from having 15-20 tables running to barely getting one or two. They closed down for a while but are maybe trying to restart now? I wouldn’t recommend them anymore at all unless you want to play exclusively NLHE against the same eight 70 yr olds, no matter what ship you sail on. They have no plans on changing with the times or even knowing what’s going on in the poker world anymore. They played back in the 70-80’s so they know everything there is to know, just ask them.

Does that WPT voyageur still run?

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback, really appreciate it! What I’m getting at is the poker itself is not great with absurd rake but to off set that, the games are extremely soft.

Late to the party but this has been my experience on several RC cruises over the past few years.

I don't play the tourneys, but cash games generally run every night on the larger ships from about 9pm to 2am. It's 2/5NL, $500 max at first but recently they've been allowing match the stack.

Rake is awful at 10% up to $15, but it is offset by a very soft player pool. As mentioned above, most are home game players or just there to gamble.

Play it like you would play casino 1/2. Tight at first, figure out your opponents and adjust, but stay largely in value land. Don't get fancy, don't bluff too much, and you'll easily beat the rake.