Maasdam Blackjack Rules

[vincentvega]

I was wondering about the blackjack rules on the Maasdam. How many decks do they use? Are the decks shuffled after every hand or is there a discard shoe?

I would presume that all the normal rules apply. That is, dealer stands on soft 17, double allowed on any card, doubling allowed after split, and blackjack pays 3:2. Is this true?

[Pilot70D]

You are correct about the blackjack rules. They do not allow surrender on their regular blackjack games. They are experimenting with two other types of blackjack. One is face up blackjack where both of the dealer's cards are dealt face up. They also have fun blackjack hwich is based on regular blackjack but with some slight changes.

If interested in the details forr either game let me know.

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

[jaxson]

On our last 2 HAL cruises the dealer could indeed hit on a soft 17! Advantage CCL bottom line.

[Pilot70D]

We just returned from the Volendam December 6th cruise. The house had to stand on all 17's at the regular blackjack tables. In answer to a previous question all blackjack tables had an eight deck shoe.

They were experimenting with 'Fun 21' and 'Face Up Blackjack' during our cruise. In Fun 21 and only in Fun 21 was the house allowed to hit a soft 17.

I don't play the slots but I did spend lots of time in casino playing blackjack. Here is my observation. The slots in the casino had a smaller payout for any winning spin of the wheel so to speak when compared to land based casinos but they were set looser than any slots I have observed in other shipboard casino.

May all your hands be 21.

[vincentvega]

Thanks for the info re: 8 decks. Do they shuffle after every hand or do they have a discard shoe?

[Stakeout]

was on the Volendam 11/6 cruise.. they have a discard shoe... only re-shuffle when the 'red cut card' gets dealt out

earlier this year and part of last year, Volendam ( might have been other HAL ships) was using 'automatic shuffling shoe' for BJ...after every hand or second hand the dealere would put the discarded cards back into the shuffler.. they have since stopped using it.. we were on the Volendam January this year.. power surge in casino.. guess what.. they couldn't deal and use the automatic shuffling shoes.. so play stopped on all BJ tables ...power stayed out about a few minutes then came back on...still the automatic shuffling shoes stayed 'down' as they scrambled around to try to fix them.. kind of funny to see the casino staff scrambling in 'panic mode' ...so much for high-tech BJ

[Pilot70D]

They have done away with the automatic shuffling machines on Volendam.

[jaxson]

oops, it must have been "fun 21".