Cruising

[Nicholas ReedParticipant]

First off Ben, thanks for continuing to answer all these. Today’s question:

You’ve mentioned cruises and airports have a lower RTP. What is your general strategy going in? Do you play tighter on all games, or just certain ones? Are some cruise lines better than others? I have a cruise with Royal Caribbean coming up. Would love to know your thoughts.

[Ben RosenthalKeymaster]

You got it.

Cruises can be tricky. On one hand, the RTP is worse. How much worse will depend on the ship and the game, and there’s speculation all over the internet. But safe to say it’s lower, and having been on probably 15 or more cruises, I feel it every time while I’m spinning.

But on the other hand, it’s often important to show action on a cruise ship. You’re most likely going to want future offers from the cruise line you’re on. If it’s a one-time thing, then this wouldn’t apply. You can be as tight as you want and never get invited back, but who cares? I happen to have a guy who gets me free cruises, so I do try to show action so he can then say, “Guys, look at this whale I’m bringing you. Give him a bunch of slot play, free this, free that, and he’ll put a lot of coin in.”

Then, as always, it’s going to depend on the competition on the ship. If I’m sailing solo (from an AP perspective) and maybe I see a close longer-run play, I am going to let it marinate for a bit. If someone luckily stumbles upon it and hits it—whatever it is; it could be a Hexbreaker play, it could be a Wolf Run, it could be whatever—then so be it. I’ve left seven-up Hexes before in this situation since I figured I had nothing to worry about.

But if there’s actual competition, which is always a bummer when there aren’t that many slots to begin with, then I may need to take the play a little earlier than I would have liked.

I also factor in what I call “spite equity,” which is a very real thing, especially in close quarters like a cruise ship. In short, let’s say I see a Magic Treasures (Money Balls) at 12. On a cruise ship, that would never be worth playing. But you know what, I want to really discourage my competition from finding anything remotely close to +EV.

Don’t bother, buddy. You’re not going to find anything here. You might as well not even stop by the casino and get seconds at the buffet instead.

Crazy, yes, but it’s how people think out there.

Factoring all that in…y = mx + b or something like that…it’s going to depend on all those aforementioned factors. On day one of a cruise, I am getting to the casino before it opens and scoping out the best plays as it’s leaving port. I am then hoping I don’t see any competition, and I can tell right off the bat if there is some, because that person is doing the same thing I am.

Also, pay attention or ask what you need, in points, to reach various tiers from the cruise line. Some ships have special 2x points hours too, so if I can save some of those longer-run plays for those windows, I always try to. If you have competition, this won’t be as easy.

Also, talk to the casino host as often as you can. Ask for everything. Free massages, free internet, free slot play, money at the duty-free store. Many cruise lines are really tight with this, and they won’t often voluntarily give you anything. If you think you’re showing decent play, ask for the world. I always say things like, “Cruise line X gives me x, y, z.” Even if that’s not the case. I try to show that I’m a big whale action guy. I’m sure they think I’m obnoxious, but I don’t really care and also don’t ever say anything actually nasty or anything.

Airports are easier: There is no Airport Card, though man, that would be awesome if one existed. I feel no obligation or need to play some longer-run machine—Rich Little Piggies, let’s say—that isn’t at the very least at my minimum. I wouldn’t go crazy trying to tighten up every play. As in, if my min on Rich Little Piggies is 20 and I think the RTP is a certain percentage, I might in theory want to bump it up to 22 or so. I mean, you can, but that seems a little over the top.

In general at airports, I’m looking for quick-hitters. Things like Huff N’ Puff We’ve Had Enuff. Invest a spin or two and move on.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by Ben Rosenthal.

[Ben RosenthalKeymaster]

These are great questions, so continue asking, as these could be helpful for other folks too.

I didn’t really answer this part: Are some cruise lines better than others?

It’s really just what the specific boat offers. Always, always try to check YouTube for the most current “slot tour” videos. Cruises, in particular, shuffle games in and out all the time. If you see a video of your Royal Caribbean ship from early 2025, let’s say, it may be completely different in August 2026.

Yes, you’ll have to do some detective work, as many of these videos are of people quickly zooming through a casino and not focusing on any one thing. Sometimes I’m really splicing together footage from a number of people to get a good sense of what slots are currently on board. But that’s important, as if you get on a boat with barely anything AP, you’ve just wasted a week (at least from a slots perspective).

Something else I’ve considered but haven’t really acted on much yet: Where is the port located? The way I figure, a port from a state that tends to have a number of APs in a regular casino—Florida, for instance—might be more likely to have knowledgable folks on the boat too. But when push comes to shove, I usually just opt for convenience rather than a guess on a port that might have fewer APs.

If you do go this route, I think taking a cruise ship that departs from somewhere outside of the U.S. would be the best bet. That said, Europeans, for instance, might not be as gambling-heavy as Americans, so who knows? I will try this at some point and report back.

Otherwise, as always, be careful using your players card. That might sound a little counterintuitive, as you need to show play, so how do you do that without using a card? Use it for the long-run games. Do not use it for anything in the 1-20 spins category. I’ve been kicked off Norwegian because I got sloppy and wasn’t doing this. I’ve heard of people getting booted from Carnival as well.

The people working on the ship—often foreign-born folks who don’t know anything about advantage play, including the higher-ups—won’t be the problem. It’s the number-crunchers looking at your results after your cruise.

[Nicholas ReedParticipant]

This is a level of thought and details that really resonates. As always, thanks!

[Max EVParticipant]

On Ben Rosenthal said

I also factor in what I call “spite equity,” which is a very real thing, especially in close quarters like a cruise ship. In short, let’s say I see a Magic Treasures (Money Balls) at 12. On a cruise ship, that would never be worth playing. But you know what, I want to really discourage my competition from finding anything remotely close to +EV.

Don’t bother, buddy. You’re not going to find anything here. You might as well not even stop by the casino and get seconds at the buffet instead.

 

This doesn’t really work at a local casino against real professionals. Some new competition tried doing that and my only thought was “I’m going to get mine. If you want to keep taking stuff earlier, I’m just going to come earlier and stay longer.” So they’re pounding away at 305 megas on Stack Up Pays while I’m soaking up all the EV from things they can’t play while they’re sitting on -EV stuff. It is not worth grinding -EV stuff at your local casino unless you have other reasons.

[Ben RosenthalKeymaster]

Oh, I don’t think it’s a winning formula or anything. It’s kind of a lose-lose, or I suppose in your case a lose for them, win for you. Maybe on cruises it can demoralize certain folks into “not bothering” anymore, or reducing hours. But overall, my point was mostly that this is a thing (not a smart thing in most cases).

[Author]

Posts