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mah jongg on Holland America


Yank

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Good evening, fellow travelers....

 

Does anybody know anything about possible mah jongg games aboard

the Eurodam? (or other Holland America ships.) My wife will be taking

an eastern Caribbean cruise on Dec. 11th, 2010, and she would be very

interested in any details concerning the above. (I will be holding court

in the casino!)

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

Yank.

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HI i am not sure how mah jangg is played but while googling my cruise date, for groups sailing on it, I saw where there is a mah jongg club group on the zuiderdam january 12th 2011. I know thats not what you asked but I thought you would be interested.

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Does your wife know about THE mahjongg cruise that leaves Miami October 31 of this year? Look up mahjonggmadness.org and check it out. Also, any HA cruises I've been on in the past have at least one set and usually more, available for check-out and use by passengers. If you ask the concierge desk early in the sailing, they can put a note in the daily bulletin, asking for mahj players to meet at a certain time and place to play.

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I have generally played once or twice during a HAL cruise. There are sets on board. Normally, you have to sign your name/cabin number wherever they keep the sets and hope someone contacts you or leaves a cabin number where you can contact them. This has been true on the three different cruise lines we have used. Your wife should definitely take her Mah Jongg card.

 

Alice

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There was a group of 4 ladies on our recent Caribbean cruise that were playing on the table next to us on the pool deck. My impression was that they were traveling together - had their own mah jongg set and seemed to know each other fairly well. I don't play but I had fun watching them - had no idea what was going on, of course.

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MOst of the people that I have seen playing Maj Jongg on HAL ships have been friends playing together. And they had their own set.

 

Many of the games on the ships after a period of time have pieces missing from them.

 

Your wife can leave her name with the Libraian who will post a note on a board or a sheet of paper asking if there are any people who want to get together to play.

 

Good luck.

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The first thing to do when you board is to meet with the Cruise Director and ask to have Maj Jongg put on the daily activities for sea days.

 

On my last two Grand cruises, Maj Jongg was scheduled at 1 - 4 PM EVERY sea day. Those that showed up played..sometimes we only had 3 people sometimes 6 or 7 showed up. We didn't play for money.

 

The ship has many sets, so don't worry, but do bring your card. On our Grand Asia trip there were many Asians who played their version of Maj Jongg, so a word of advice is to make sure the jokers and flowers are in the set you get from the ship. The ship "stocks" both versions and sometimes the boxes are marked, but sometimes they get mixed up.

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MJ? cool !!! didn't know they had sets onboard. will look for it in December. as kids, my sisters and I played. there were 4 of us so it was a perfect set. now on the cruise 3 sisters are together so we're missing a body but we can still play. wohooo !!!!! my grandma's tiles are so old, they turned yellow. As an Asian child, the first numbers I learned were on the tiles. I still get the north, south, east, west mixed up but my youngest sister knows those. I play the "chicken" way. no real rules, just play to WIN.

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The first thing to do when you board is to meet with the Cruise Director and ask to have Maj Jongg put on the daily activities for sea days.

 

On my last two Grand cruises, Maj Jongg was scheduled at 1 - 4 PM EVERY sea day. Those that showed up played..sometimes we only had 3 people sometimes 6 or 7 showed up. We didn't play for money.

 

The ship has many sets, so don't worry, but do bring your card. On our Grand Asia trip there were many Asians who played their version of Maj Jongg, so a word of advice is to make sure the jokers and flowers are in the set you get from the ship. The ship "stocks" both versions and sometimes the boxes are marked, but sometimes they get mixed up.

 

I've noticed a couple of people have mentioned bringing a "card". Just wondering what that is.

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I've noticed a couple of people have mentioned bringing a "card". Just wondering what that is.

 

Playing Maj Jongg is like playing gin rummy (but with "special" tiles of cracks, bams, dots, and cracks - not spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts). In gin rummy you can attain any "hand" at any time.

 

In Maj Jongg (somewhere around March), the Maj Jongg Society prints a "card" of "accepted" hands. In order to obtain maj jongg, you must make a hand which is listed on the current card.

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Playing Maj Jongg is like playing gin rummy (but with "special" tiles of cracks, bams, dots, and cracks - not spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts). In gin rummy you can attain any "hand" at any time.

 

In Maj Jongg (somewhere around March), the Maj Jongg Society prints a "card" of "accepted" hands. In order to obtain maj jongg, you must make a hand which is listed on the current card.

 

Thanks. A game that changes every year - eek. I have trouble remembering the rules for simple card games.

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The rules of the game do not change. What changes are the sets and runs that you must have in your hand to win. Unlike gin rummy, where you can have any set or run, the hand must contain exact sets and runs in order to win the game. There are many defined combinations on the "card" and they are grouped by themes, odd numbers, even numbers, etc. Not really as difficult as it seems, and a LOT of fun.

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This is good news ... I am just learning to play!

 

So if I am cruising in Jan. 2011 ... will everyone still be using the 2010 card? (if new ones don't come out until March)

 

Yes the 2010 card will be "valid" until March, 2011.

 

BTW, on our cruises, we have been more than happy to teach folks how to play and have "experts" by the end of the cruise. We didn't play for money, so each "loss" was a learning experience to the newbie.

 

Just remember, different from gin rummy, you need to play BOTH offense and defense in Maj Jongg.

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Does your wife know about THE mahjongg cruise that leaves Miami October 31 of this year? Look up mahjonggmadness.org and check it out. Also, any HA cruises I've been on in the past have at least one set and usually more, available for check-out and use by passengers. If you ask the concierge desk early in the sailing, they can put a note in the daily bulletin, asking for mahj players to meet at a certain time and place to play.

 

I will be on this cruise. There are other mah jongg cruises and tournaments posted at http://www.mahjong-mahjongg-mah-jong.com on the tournament page.

 

Some leave from LA.

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