Casino...anyone!!

[seniormiss]

Am fairly new to this board and really love it. Taking my first HAL cruise in March on the Osterdam to Mexico. So much informatiion on this board but so far have read nothing about the casinos. I am a gambling fool and curious about the casino. I know they are open only when at sea, am curious how late they stay open and if anyone has had much luck with the gambling.
All the information is so helpful, I check the site every day.

[Roadguy]

Casino seems to stay open as long as there are people there.
I won $750 on a quarter slot machine, my only "big" win.
Welcome to HAL.

[lmt1022]

My first HAL cruise was a few weeks ago. The casino was much smaller than on the other cruise line I've been on and every night we went there, there was very few people there. It seemed like there was no excitement (at like 10:00). There was only one craps table and 3 nights that we were there no one was playing. Except for the last night, the place was packed.

[Sierrachik]

They are small casinos, don't participate in anything except slots. Played the quarter and dollar machines. On our first cruise I won $1000 the night before our second sea day and won $800 on the same dollar slot in the wee hours of the morning disembarkation day.

Was waiting for the same dollar slot on our second cruise the night before the second sea day, while I was waiting the person playing hit for $1000. Didn't have as much luck the second cruise as the first. Mostly we play for fun anyway, winning was - as the saying goes - the icing on the cake :)

[bdcbbq]

I played a lot of blackjack. Some nights are busier than others. I found the casino on the cruise ship to be a little more relaxed. The dealer seemed to make sure everyone was having a good time, even when I was losing.

[doninla]

Just returned from Alaska on the Volendam. The casino was very, very quiet. The crap table was even closed one night. The most action was on the last night of the cruise. The slots, of course, were busy. Here is a tip for gambling on Holland. If you want to use your shipboard account, they charge you 3%. So you are better off bringing some cash. It is hard enough to win anyway, so why give them 3%. I think it is the only place on the ship were cash is accepted.

[Sunshine91]

I like to play the nickel slots. I can make my $10 allowance last an hour. I've never won but I don't look at my casino time as trying to win. It's play time. If I ever got "up" even $40 or $50, I'd quit & go find something else to do.

John, on the other hand, can blow his $10 in about 10 minutes. Then he sits & watches over my shoulder & annoys me. "Why are you playing that line?" "Why don't you play 5 lines?" I usually send him off to get me a drink. ;)

The casino tends to be smoky. When it got to be too much, we left. We also learned to choose machines not in the back corner but more in the center of the room, closer to the walk-thru.

John did have one machine that ate his $$ & gave him no credits. He had to go find a really cute slots manager in a tux to open up the machine to get his money back. The player on the other side of me had just finished so he played there.

We played several times during the 10-day cruise. Gonna play again come January. :)

[Balliett]

Best in the HAL casinos are the low-stakes, $5 blackjack tables, which you won't find in upscale land casinos. the slots on board are tight and the video poker has rough pay tables. 7-5 JB. If you hit a big jackpot (over $1200) you will fill out paperwork insuring that you pay US taxes, wherever you happen to be sailing. We are just back from a Regent Voyager cruise where blackjack paid 3-2, which is poor, compared to HAL's fair deal 2-1. As someone must have said already, casinos on ships are closed when the ship is in port.