Monitoring slot play while in the casino, a tale of two ships

[Daghis]

I recently got back from a quasi-back-to-back cruise, first on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, followed by the Monarch of the Seas. The first cruise was a "regular" cruise, while the second one was one that I had received from my local casino.

 

Freedom of the Seas has a pretty nice casino. There is a decent variety of table games, and a nice array of slot machines. It had been just okay, but during our cruise, they installed 12 new WMS games and were also installing a few new Bally games. They had also recently installed several new IGT games. I appreciated that they were working to upgrade their slot inventory as they can easily get outdated on a cruise ship.

 

Their casino uses one's SeaPass card for player tracking. Points are earned on the SeaPass card automatically, along with whatever information is kept regarding one's betting habits. (Note, unlike some other cruise lines, you cannot withdraw money from your SeaPass account directly onto the slot machine. You must go to the cashier for that.)

 

Working with the casino host was a pleasure. He was very friendly, always offering me free drink coupons (:D), and even comped dinner at a specialty restaurant for my friends and me.

 

What I want to say about this related to this thread was that all of the player tracking was being done automatically and behind the scenes. It was nice and simple.

 

Now, the second cruise on the Monarch of the Seas was a different story. There, in a smaller and older casino, wasn't the large variety of games that I'd had during the prior week. Only a small subset of the machines supported TITO, and none of them had built-in player tracking. This meant that periodically, the casino host would walk through the casino, carrying a clipboard, and check up on your play. It was entirely done manually.

 

I'd even get asked periodically what time I started playing, or how long I was there during an earlier session. It felt very creepy and stalkerish.

 

I know that he was just doing his job and without the more modern technology to take care of that, it's probably the best he could do. Nonetheless, when I was on the Majesty of the Seas in July, which also doesn't have an automated player tracking system, I didn't feel that I was being so closely observed. The casino staff seemed to know when I was there without needing to walk around with a clipboard, taking notes on me.

 

After two days of being so obviously and actively monitored by the casino host, I stopped going into the casino. I just didn't feel comfortable in there any longer.

 

I just wanted to share my experiences here as I thought they were an interesting contrast between the two very different ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for posting.

 

I didn't realize that players are monitored.

 

Keith

[Daghis]

If you use your SeaPass card in the machine, then yes, you are being monitored.

 

In the case of the Monarch of the Seas, though, I was being monitored because I'm a member of Royal Caribbean's casino program and also because this cruise was mostly paid for by my local casino through a promotion they had earlier this year. On that ship, they don't monitor most of the players in the casino.

[cb at sea]

Thanks for posting.

 

I didn't realize that players are monitored.Keith

 

They will only monitor those who are spending GADS of money. The typical cruise ship casino patron is not spending enough to have their play "tracked". If you wish to be rated on your play and haven't been rated before, you'll need to request it on older ships without the "tracking" software!