Anyone here played poker on board a cruise ship? I don't mean the WPT events, just on one of their regular cruises? The wife and I are cruising for 7 days from Alaska down to Vancouver Canada in late May on board the Carnival Spirit and the ship's info says they have poker so I'm definitely going to check it out. I might even do some sort of trip report if I can stay out of the restaurants long enough.

I played on a Celebrity ship and a Holland America ship. Both had human dealers on felt tables.

Players and dealers were horribly slow. Dealers were mediocre. Games were a bit sporadic. But the players are horrible. Incredibly positive EV to play.

Try it out and see.

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I was on a Celebrity cruise around Xmas, and the poker was horrible. Since it was a smaller ship, it was tough keeping a full table,and the rake on their 2/5 was absurd...10% uncapped. The tournaments, which they focused more on, had an even worse structure than Mirage's sng's.

FWIW, I think Carnival ships have Pokertek tables.

I have cruised around the Med with RC ( Royal Carribean) the last two summers.1/2 $ NLHE was played every night/day that the ship was in international waters.Only one table always full with a few good players ,always cash games, with occasional $50 Sand G.
The previous year (i forget the name of the ship) they played a 7 table (one table a day) 7 seater $50 buy-in ,with the winner of each table proceeding to the final table.Anyway i get entered in seat 7 table 7 playing for the last seat at the final table.A very memorable HU with a young guy from USA ended when he goes all in with 77, i have him covered and call with KQ ,flop 8 9 10, rainbow, i call for any picture, turn a blank river Jack.The other guy jumps clean out of his seat after hitting his straight ,before his family explain i have the higher straight.Anyway at the final table very first hand i pick up pocket Aces and continue to run over the table to win.I think i got $750 a polo shirt and a little trophy.
The dealers told me that the cruises around the Carribean which had a lot more USA based folk provided lots of action, .loose play and very big pots.

Hmmm. Well, this could be interesting then. What I will want to know is, since this is a cruise in Alaskan waters, what happens when a whale (humpback, not rich gambler dude ) is sighted and everyone at the table except me sprints out to see it? Do I automatically get the blinds and antes?

I'll let ya know.

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I was on a cruise about 4 years ago and they had a two table room. They played 3/6 with a $5 max rake and 6/12 with a $10 max rake The minimum rake in 6/12 was $5. So if you were the BB and the whole table folded you were out $2. The dealers were terrible. One dealer would slow roll rivers. Another dealer had a flop check around and she went to first position again to give him an option. I'm sure they were rotated in from the table games.

Sheesh! Let's hope things have improved over time.

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Actually, if they're staying in Alaska, they might not even get into international waters, and therefore might not actually offer poker.

I was on the Carnival Liberty last summer, cruising in the Caribbean. They had one electronic NLHE machine. I'm not sure if that is the norm for Carnival Cruise Lines or not.

Recently overheard another player talking about a cruise him and his wife went on. It was a poker cruise with some celebrity instructors and poker classes etc. He said it was a lot of fun and they, being newbs, learned alot. I am sure if your search the net you can find something about these cruises.

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