TXCoastPatriot

Did not intend this as an Antithesis Blog... I think there are some casino chats that exist.
I will try to reiterate My Goal:
I am interested in how HIGH some of the Master's Level players will achieve in total points this year. 
If you ARE Over 100k points, please share your Expected total as of March 31, 2024!
 
 

Proud to say zero points. Casinos are too smoky for me.

🤣 well played sir. 

Tacky. Would never pay a cent to sail on such a wreck. 

They actually do. I made it to D+ on comped cruises.

The more you bet, the better the perks.  2500 points gets you to prime which means a free annual cruise and free drinks in the casino.  Points are easiest to get on the slots at 1 point per $5 bet.  Table games are the slowest and the rate you earn points is complicated and up to the pit boss who is working that night.  Also, the casino seems to value slot players the most.  I play slots, average about 1500 points per trip, and maintain prime each year; they send me multiple vouchers for free cruises at a rate of at least one or two a month -- many with offers for free balconies.  Unfortunately, I get more free cruise offers than I have vacation time.  I usually cruise about 4 times a year on casino comps.

This blog posted a loooooooooooooooong column over the weekend regarding a 'Discovery' ship class based on a 1 paragraph Facebook post by Michael Bayley.
Similar to hyperventilation article on Cruisehive breathlessly describing coming massive improvements to NCL's private island............based on a single paragraph on a Miami construction company's website that said way less than the article speculated.  
When the steel is cut and the sand and coquina are turned.........................until then, Internet/Social Media speculation and clickbait.

Expedition cruising only works with small loads such as <250. 
Expedition cruising works best under 200 guests, at 229 last week it felt crowded and the volume of guests impacted the ability of the expedition team to deal with everyone compared to a prior expedition cruise with only 98 guests on board.
I don't see Royal Caribbean International ever doing expedition cruising.  Expedition cruising is so far from the mass market nature of RCI it would not be a good fit and would cost substantially more than the mass market cruiser would pay.  Silversea expedition cruises cost a lot of money, substantially more than the non-expedition "Classic" ships in the Silversea fleet.     
Celebrity expedition cruising in the Galapagos is pretty close to the same price as Silversea in the same region so there is no secret sauce to offering a budget expedition cruise.  You can't do expeditions with large numbers, it just doesn't work given the time it takes to load zodiacs and deal with large numbers of guests doing wet landings on shore in places where local regulations often don't allow for more  than 100 passengers on land at any given moment.  This is exactly the appeal to expedition cruising. 
Expedition cruising involves small guests populations and that just isn't the RCI way of how they generate profit.  

https://www.schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten.de/news/royal-caribbean-arbeitet-am-project-discovery-neue-auftraege-fuer-die-meyer-werft-aus-papenburg/290350/?fbclid=IwAR2npaBBwHtZABZ529iS5OnwYZcHtxXTpcXGoqwIk7FvbsgI8Fg91lQ3l0Y_aem_AW-4BT96wP7yvPh-ZW1QbxYPyrLbkxjeW9fxZP0H6J73KQq8iYfJhXpH0Qmk1DckdYo#google_vignette
 
Translation: 
Around Royal Caribbean International, there are ongoing rumors about smaller new buildings under the project title Discovery. Royal Caribbean International has now indirectly confirmed that work is being done on new buildings. In the introduction text of staff captain Markus Alander, who has been working in the new building department of Royal Caribbean for several years, states that he is also working on Project Discovery. In recent years, he has accompanied the introduction of numerous new ships for the Royal Caribbean Group.
Project Discovery is supposed to be planning for medium-sized cruise ships. Since with the four ships from the Vision Class and the four ships from the Radiance Class, several Royal Caribbean cruise ships will soon exceed an age of 20, 25 or even 30 years, these cruise ships must be replaced. However, you cannot simply replace these cruise ships with ships of a significantly larger ship class such as the Oasis, Quantum or Icon Class, as these cruise ships are far from being able to sail all routes.
Royal Caribbean International has not yet placed any orders for Project Discovery. Since the ship class is currently in the planning phase, the delivery of the first ships from Project Discovery is not expected until the end of the 2020 years, provided that this ship class is ordered. Presumably, the ship class is medium-sized cruise ships for 3000 to 3500 cruise passengers. This would only mean that these ships would be about half the size of the Oasis or Icon Class ships from Royal Caribbean International.
Allegedly, Royal Caribbean International is also talking to Meyer Werft from Papenburg about Project Discovery. The shipyard from Emsland could well use orders for new cruise ships. Since the current order book for cruise ships from Papenburg only lasts until 2025, the shipyard could build a new ship class for Royal Caribbean International from 2026. In 2026, the oldest Royal Caribbean cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas reaches the age of 30 years, a year later the Rhapsody of the Seas and the Enchantment of the Seas also exceed this age limit. Royal Caribbean International will have to replace these cruise ships towards the end of the 2020s.
The fact that the Meyer Werft on Papenburg will be involved in Project Discovery is well possible but by no means guaranteed. In addition to the shipyard from Papenburg, the competition of Chantiers de l'Atlantique from France has also built several cruise ships for the Royal Caribbean Group in recent years.

But it’s not a true match. I get 5 drinks a day. Anytime, Anywhere. Celebrity limits you to happy hour. That’s not equal. I don’t want to drink 5 drinks in 2-3 hours 

Points can only be redeemed on-line using BOA website.

Love the river trip as well.  We're on this one and B2B for the next on the 9th.  Looking forward to Brilliance again; nice smaller ship.  Hope to see you there!

I'm going with Monarch of the Seas

Is that even a passenger cabin? Looks like a crew cabin 

We are Stuart & Lisa from the coastal bend area of south Texas.  Our 1st time on the Brilliance also.  I’m looking forward to getting back on Royal’s smaller ships.  Love the trip down the Mississippi River, watching the lights from the banks go by.  Look for fireworks as they send off ships.

As Texans sailing from Galveston…often, this is outstanding news for us.  Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel had become routine.  We don’t even get off the ship in Costa Maya.  Cozumel is a just a trip to the pharmacy and lunch at Poncho’s Backyard.
I agree, Costa Maya or Progresso would be great locations.
 Bring on some Wonder of the Seas!

Makes me cringe to see these images of the Enchantment (1997/2021) especially with up coming sailings on the Rhapsody (1997/2022) and Brilliance (2002/2022).

All I know is I want some of y'alls luck! 
 

On my $20k win I was betting $2.64 a spin, on my $13k win I was betting $3 a spin. If you go on Club Royale Facebook page,  you'll see plenty of folks posting wins of $10k or more betting under $1. 

my wife won $7500 platinum slot on allure 1/22. I won $1500 don’t remember slot or ship

I won $2700 on Harmony and my husband won $3500 

Nada.
but while on Enchantment a man won $95k on video poker.  He was playing high hands.  

I won both of these 3 days apart on Liberty of the Seas last July

Don't see that statement very often! 

It might not be so much about "serious gamblers" as crowd control. There's usually just one craps table on the ships I've been on, two if I'm lucky, and with only 8 (10?) spots available at a table they might want to keep from having a big crowd gathered around waiting their turns. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing like the excitement that happens when a big crowd is gathered and cheering on a shooter who's having a hot streak.