Bingo on Voyager of the Seas.

First time cruiser on Royal next year but have cruised previously on P&0 and I'm just wondering what Bingo is like on RCI ? Is it really fun like P&O do or different? I read a post somewhere that said Bingo was all automated with machines and you don't use dabbers etc? Also what's the price and set up etc, e.g how many games do you get to play.

cheers and thanks.:)

Bingo is not my strong suit, but we cruised on Voyager in Feb and played as Mum loves it.

They use the regular paper books and dabbers (Mum bought enough for us :)). A 'full book' of 6 grids for 4 games cost around US$33 from memory. Some games they play just a line, or 2 lines etc, and the last game is a full one. The host makes it fun and the bingo regulars call out the little catch phrases etc and boo the people who have just 1 number to go - all in good fun.

Prizes were several hundred dollars each time. Mum and some other regulars said they called the numbers slower than seasoned players were used to :D

Some of our party played on other RC cruises before and it was similar. One of our group shared the grand jackpot prize on our Radiance cruise in '13.

Enjoy!!!

Aussie style Bingo is played on Australian cruises. 4 games are played with the last game jackpotting if it doesnt go under 45 numbers. Was $10,000 on our Radiance Trans Pacific cruise.

However, when cruising from other ports they use the American style game cards with push out numbers and slightly different rules. I believe that the machines are used on some of the American cruises.

Yes, i find that the call is very slow and people keep asking for the last number. Its only later in the cruise when the Jackpot game get up in dollar value that the callers get serious. But still slower than in the RSL.

thankyou all.

I'm not really a seasoned bingo player, i've just been on a couple P & O cruises and had a great time with their Bingo.

:-)

I know part of the fun with p&o is when they make a big deal of the newby's separating the sheets. Is this something that you need to worry about on RCI

I thought the fun bit was the calling of the numbers?;)

I thought the fun bit was the calling of the numbers?;)

The fun bit is calling out "BINGO" even though I've never got to do it. As I posted, our party once shared a 1/2 share of the final jackpot & that was more than enough for DW and my on-board account for the 14N cruise - thanks Ann :)

On our TP cruise last year a guy I know won a free cruise :D

Oh, and CoopColbie, yes there is some rule about not breaking up the game sheets into separate pieces. They always make that clear before the game & offer to swap them out if you already did that.

Great score with the bingo prize.

I wish someone would share their winnings with me, I would reciprocate and share my Trivia prize with them.;)

I thought the fun bit was the calling of the numbers?;)

I reckon the fun bit is calling out when you have one number to go. They usually have some cheeky word you call out and then stand up so everyone knows who you are and starts booing you.

Always fun watching them struggle with a handful of cards checking and waiting for the last number to be called.

DW usually takes a nap at 3 so i head off for an hour and try out a few cocktails during the Bingo session. Lucky to even see the numbers let alone hear them by the time they start:D

Best ever result for me was a single line at $245. Oh well, more cocktails:)

I reckon the fun bit is calling out when you have one number to go. They usually have some cheeky word you call out and then stand up so everyone knows who you are and starts booing you.

Always fun watching them struggle with a handful of cards checking and waiting for the last number to be called.

 

DW usually takes a nap at 3 so i head off for an hour and try out a few cocktails during the Bingo session. Lucky to even see the numbers let alone hear them by the time they start:D

Best ever result for me was a single line at $245. Oh well, more cocktails:)

Drinking cocktails is a nice way to spend an afternoon.:D

What do you mean by 6 grids per game? Does anyone know what the current price is?

As I recall the base price was $30. They also had a machine which gives you more games for $55. All prices are US. They had some promos at times though, but pretty limited.

Great score with the bingo prize.

I wish someone would share their winnings with me, I would reciprocate and share my Trivia prize with them.;)

What a deal, half a keyring! ;)

Table mates picked up a few thousand one cruise.

I've played bingo a few times on Royal but I never seem to have any luck. On our first cruise on the Rhapsody we had a Japanese bingo caller and she was really funny. The room was packed everyday. You need to get there early to get a get. I'm sure the cruise lines make a lot of money from bingo.

What do you mean by 6 grids per game? Does anyone know what the current price is?

You get 4 game sheets with each game sheet divided into either 3 or 6 blocks of 3 rows and 9 columns in which are random number 1 to 90. You wil note numbers 1-10 are in row 1, 11-20 in row 2 etc etc. Each of the blocks will have 15 random numbers.

A full game sheet is 6 blocks (about $32 or so), a half game sheet is 3 blocks (cheaper at about $22 but lesss chance of winning). The last game (sheet 4) is the Jackpot game. Loyalty members receive extra games free depending in your status, eg Diamond gets an extea Jackpot game sheet so you have to be able to manage 2 game sheets during the call.

The pic bellow shows 3 blocks (grids) of a full 6 block game sheet. This pic shows where i won a single line - prize was $185.

Prizes are well worth winning - much more than the miserable $5 at the RSL.

You get 4 game sheets with each game sheet divided into either 3 or 6 blocks of 3 rows and 9 columns in which are random number 1 to 90. You wil note numbers 1-10 are in row 1, 11-20 in row 2 etc etc. Each of the blocks will have 15 random numbers.

A full game sheet is 6 blocks (about $32 or so), a half game sheet is 3 blocks (cheaper at about $22 but lesss chance of winning). The last game (sheet 4) is the Jackpot game. Loyalty members receive extra games free depending in your status, eg Diamond gets an extea Jackpot game sheet so you have to be able to manage 2 game sheets during the call.

 

The pic bellow shows 3 blocks (grids) of a full 6 block game sheet. This pic shows where i won a single line - prize was $185.

 

Prizes are well worth winning - much more than the miserable $5 at the RSL.

 

Now my head hurts.

Prizes are well worth winning - much more than the miserable $5 at the RSL.

I'm sure the prizes would be greater if the games cost as much.

It's like playing at the 1c poker machine, or the $1 one.

Just off Radiance and noticed a major change to prices and the introduction of electronic (readers) to Radiance of the Seas. Apparently happened at the start of the season. Not sure if Voyager or Explorer has these as well.

I used to enjoy the Bingo but RCI has now lost a player. To have any chance of winning a prize (several hundred dollars per game) you now have to spend almost twice the money, and even the basic game price has also increased.

The machines give you the best chance of winning and although 95% of the players still used the paper cards, 50% of the winners came from those using the machines. An unfair advantage in my opinion.

The readers are fully automatic and are electronically linked to the callers device. You just sit there and wait for it to say Bingo. It even telks you when you have 1 number to go.

Oh well, guess you can concentrate on drinking that cocktail:rolleyes:

Just off Radiance and noticed a major change to prices and the introduction of electronic (readers) to Radiance of the Seas. Apparently happened at the start of the season. Not sure if Voyager or Explorer has these as well.

 

I used to enjoy the Bingo but RCI has now lost a player. To have any chance of winning a prize (several hundred dollars per game) you now have to spend almost twice the money, and even the basic game price has also increased.

The machines give you the best chance of winning and although 95% of the players still used the paper cards, 50% of the winners came from those using the machines. An unfair advantage in my opinion.

 

They're not new - Rhapsody had them here about 5 years ago.

BINGO is a big disappointment these days. Just do the Math to work out how much money they make and how much they share with you . Back from a Voyager cruise in March and there were at least 200 people playing at minimum $32= $6400 prize pool . They had 3 quick line games with prizes averaging $300 to $400 and the last and only full house gave prizes from $800 to $1200. RCI did not play a snowball jackpot So they gave out a maximum about $2500. NOT GOOD ODDS people . I have noticed there are less and less people playing BINGO these days. They didn't even hold it in the main lounge - didn't need all that room . We and many players "booed" Carnival a few years ago because of the prize pool they offered. We are off on Explorer soon so I will do a head count and prize count and report back

They're not new - Rhapsody had them here about 5 years ago.

So why were they discontinued? They were not on any of the ships in the last 4 years at least.

I know they are on the ships sailing out of the USA and are being reintroduced fleet wide as the ships leave there for Australian cruises.

I

BINGO is a big disappointment these days. Just do the Math to work out how much money they make and how much they share with you . Back from a Voyager cruise in March and there were at least 200 people playing at minimum $32= $6400 prize pool . They had 3 quick line games with prizes averaging $300 to $400 and the last and only full house gave prizes from $800 to $1200. RCI did not play a snowball jackpot So they gave out a maximum about $2500. NOT GOOD ODDS people . I have noticed there are less and less people playing BINGO these days. They didn't even hold it in the main lounge - didn't need all that room . We and many players "booed" Carnival a few years ago because of the prize pool they offered. We are off on Explorer soon so I will do a head count and prize count and report back

And now the price is almost double. Need to get the $49 option to be at least in the running. The payouts are still on $200 per game and no snowball jackpot on 45 numbers anymore.:mad:

So why were they discontinued? They were not on any of the ships in the last 4 years at least.

I know they are on the ships sailing out of the USA and are being reintroduced fleet wide as the ships leave there for Australian cruises.

I

I don't know, and didn't know they had been. But I haven't been much in the past few years as per didiAust's reasoning! I also remember seeing it on Rhapsody in 2013 though.

When I went a few times to check it out I got turned off by the fairly high cost for low returns - and big crowds (amongst other reasons).

Paper or video didn't matter, as you still are buying a chance, so like any lottery, you just pay for more chances (although they give incentives to play more).

And now the price is almost double. Need to get the $49 option to be at least in the running. The payouts are still on $200 per game and no snowball jackpot on 45 numbers anymore.:mad:

You can still buy the paper option.

Just those playing the electronic machines are buying more games. But it's just like having e.g. 3 people there in person playing paper games, so it doesn't matter what you play. Both games have the same chance of winning. You just buy more chances if you buy the electronic.