question about VP and BJ on Norwegian Jade

Hi, folks, I hope you'll forgive a newbie question. We go to Vegas frequently, don't cruise enough (a little less than once a year), and I've never done much serious gambling on a cruise. I understand that NCL has a better players club and is a bit more generous than most lines, though. I've looked over some of the CAS posts here as well as the basic info on the NCL website.

We'll be on the Norwegian Jade in December (7-night out of Tampa). What kind of video poker can we expect to see (pay tables and denoms)? How about blackjack, what kind of rules and table minimums? All shoe games, I'd imagine? Continuous shufflers?

I appreciate any info that you guys can give me, thanks!

--Jon (St Pete FL)

Was on Jade in February. Blackjack was 6:5 continuous shuffle on the $6.00 minimum tables. I think maybe it was 3:2 on the $25 tables? - not sure about that (maybe someone else can answer) Likewise videopoker paytables were generally poor but improved slightly when I bumped up from .25 to $1.00. Fun diversion for a little while here and there but nothing like Vegas or even our local casino.

Thanks. 6:5 with a CSM isn't too impressive. I assume that the $25 game is a shoe game, then?

Do you remember any of the VP pay tables? Just curious; it doesn't sound like we'll be playing any serious money.

Thanks, I really appreciate the info!

--Jon

I'm pretty sure that Double Double Bonus was 7/5 on quarters and 8/5 on dollars? There were 4 machines that had triple play (super times, ultimate x, etc) and rest were single line, if I remember correctly.

I was just on the Gem(sister ship of the Jade). BJ was the same as any other casino at the $25 and up tables. 8 and sometimes 6 deck hand shuffled shoes, no surrender, stay on soft 17 and 3:2 on BJ. VP was better than it was the last 2 years. I was playing the max for the casino at $25 a hand(5 times at $5). There was actually 1 machine at the bar of all places that had a 9/5 on JOB. It was not as good as a real casino, but it did make it worth while playing.

Thanks, guys, this is exactly the info that I was looking for!

On the February 20th Jade cruise, there was 3:2 $15 shoe game.

If Marius is CM for your sailing, he is very accommodating.

Thanks. A $15 shoe game may work for us. You wouldn't happen to know how the penetration was, would you? Dealer stand on soft 17?

I was on the Jade last week. $15 blackjack was continuous shuffler, 6/5, dealer hit on soft 17. There was a $100 table, but it wasn't in use the entire week. There is a small high limit room that was empty the whole week, so they moved the $100 game to the main floor at the end of the week (but still no players).

The $15 game was on the side of the room with the $6 games, so I tend to think that those tables use the shuffler, while the tables on the other side (craps table side), hand shuffle and pay 3/2. I would guess that the table limits and locations change based on the mix of players. But that's just a guess.

Penetration on the $25 games seemed to be in the 30% range.

Thanks, Mike. This is helpful, don't think I'll be playing much, 6/5 with a CSM is pretty sad. So is 30% pen.

Understood. Whatever you decide, enjoy your trip!