DoomSlayer

I have not seen wonder 4 tower in the ship casino where you can change the denomination from 1cent to 2 or 5cents. You can only increase your bet amount. On the stand-alone Buffalo game for example, you can touch the 1cent symbol and change it to 2cent, 5cent, 10cent, etc. The main reason to change the denomination is to switch to a PAR table that has a slightly better return to player (odds). But wonder 4 tower is still fun even though you can't change the denomination. I enjoy Leprechaun on it too, especially when he takes a full dive into the pot of gold. So to sum it up, I do prefer stand alone Buffalo for example, because I can change to 5cent denominations and play a single bet of all lines for $3. But if one is not available, I will play the wonder 4 tower at 1cent and do either the $2.40 or $4.80 bet. I hope that is what you were looking for.

I just bought and made reservations for Samba for dinner one night on Allure. I understand it is like a Brazilian steak house and am familiar with what that is. All I could find on the forum are older reviews and threads on Samba that date to pre-covid times. Has anyone had a recent experience eating here and did you enjoy it? It seems to be priced cheap compared to other specialty restaurants, should I be worried?

Someone brought ducks to hide on our March 16 Adventure OTS trip. My daughters found one right after we boarded. They would go on duck hunting adventures throughout the cruise looking for more. I think in total, my oldest found 4 and my the youngest found 5. All different colors and sizes. Somehow, my daughter found a tiny one the size of my pointer finger nail.

That is typically the case, but you probably won't play enough to truly notice in a single session. But if you are going 5x bet on a 1cent machine, might as well do the 1x bet at a 5cent denomination to get a little bit better RTP.

I have not seen that version of benefits since early last year. I am on the tipping point now that the Key is priced higher, but my wife is making me buy it for our upcoming trip in May. We used to get it close to what internet alone would cost, so we found value in it then. I tried talking her out of it as it is an extra $260 for the trip over what internet would cost, but she loves the relaxed boarding, lunch, and disembarkation. I guess Happy Wife -- Happy Life. As others have stated, Welcome lunch in the MDR and no more room service. I have had BOGO offers with the key on Day one with specialty dining, but they were unpublished and probably vary by sailing. A word of warning on the welcome lunch, it is no longer what you would get at Chops. If you order a steak, it only comes with fries, you no longer have the option to get premium sides (mashed potatoes, asparagus, etc...) or premium deserts. At best, lunch is now mediocre.

I just came back from a cruise earlier this month with my youngest kids -- 5 of us total too. We had 2 rooms, one for my wife and I, the other for the 3 teenage kids. I defiantly appreciate how confusing it all is when booking. My teenage daughters had a blast. Check out the teen programs on the ship with your niece. My daughters went the first night and found the activities were more for younger teens, but they made some new cruise friends there their age that night and they ended up hanging out together outside of the program during the evenings and at sea days.

Tier credits earned on March 31 just wind up in purgatory I guess. LOL

Sorry you are having a little bit of sticker shock. Once you start booking more than 2 people to a room, it gets complicated. As others stated, a cabin for two is a different class/subclass than a cabin for four, so you cannot compare your fare with your brother's as his will be based on a different cabin type. As far as being upset with the travel agent, I would be too. They should not have paid for the cabin for you without first disclosing the full cost for each person. Travel agents do have the ability to place short holds on rooms so they can consult and communicate with their customers about things like this. My personal experience is I call my travel agent and tell him what I want. He then does his magic with Royal and calls me back or sends me an email to confirm what he is setting up and how much it will cost. I then give him permission to charge my card if it is ok and he completes the transaction. Unfortunately, once a payment has been made on a nonrefundable fare, it is done and cannot be changed without cancelation penalties. Royal is correct by referring you back to your travel agent as you are not their direct customer. Your problem right now is with the travel agent, not Royal. I would suggest using a different travel agent in the future. Looking forward though, how do we turn this around to a positive experience? You have a large group going, would they be willing to help your brother out a little with the extra cost to make this a great experience with your entire family group? If I were facing this dilemma with my brother, I would be willing to chip in a little because I know he is on a tight budget living on military wages. Your situation may be a little different, but just trying to help turn this around. Good luck and I hope you get it sorted out and have a wonderful time!!!

I would be happy to, but it looks like the quote was written in invisible ink. What part specifically?

That screen does not show any payouts from bonuses or external jackpots and looks like it is a linked machine. Assuming that, and the progressive jackpot is decent, actual RTP will probably be 94-96%. Also, there is a statistical flaw in the machine as RTP is calculated using 300 million spins, and based on the coin in, it is nowhere close to that number. RTP is based on the law of large numbers, meaning an extremely huge sample size. This is an example of a slot I would not play because the progressive can cause high volatility and does not provide a good number of little wins. Gambling laws of the Bahamas regulate the games on the ship. The Bahamas require an RTP of at least 75%, which is lower than Vegas, which requires at least 85%. However, if the RTP is too low, people will not enjoy playing and the casino knows this. Vegas casino slots are usually set around 96 - 97% RTP for penny slots because they want the players to have a good experience and because there is competition from neighboring casinos. Cruise lines have a captive audience as it is a long swim to go to another casino with better odds. But at the same time, they know that if they set the RTP too low, players will simply not play because they won't see many wins. Most cruise ship casinos set their RTP for penny slots around 94-96%. This keeps the players happy and entertained while giving them a decent profit. However, slots are not for everyone. I would not throw money at them for points unless you enjoy playing them. I enjoy sitting next to my wife and just talking while playing. The slots give us something to do, similar to kids visiting the arcade, while we spend time together. And it gives us some time to be silly and do funny dancing when we win a little and the music plays.

I like Buffalo Gold. That was what I had my hand pay in December on. I got all 15 heads and kept spinning buffalos in the bonus!

Well, even with the deluxe beverage package you have to pay extra to get something off the top shelf or out of an expensive bottle of wine.

Slot machines are all set via PAR tables / PAR sheets which determines the payout outcome of each spin when the random number generator is stopped by the player hitting the button. The PAR table has a list of every possible payout outcome the game can have based on the random number selected. It is common for a 5 real machine to only use the last 5 to 10 digits of the random number to determine this, so the math of the number of payout outcomes is 10^5 which is 100,000 payout outcomes, up to 10^10 which is 10,000,000,000 payout outcomes. The payouts are adjusted by how much the casino presets the expected return to player, usually somewhere between 95-99%. On machines that offer multi-denominations (1cent, 2cent, 5cent, 10cent, etc.), the PAR tables and return to player are set differently for each denomination. General rule of thumb is that the higher the denomination, the better the return to player is. (Fun tip, instead of betting more per spin, change the denomination to get a better PAR table). Once the payout outcome is determined, the slot machine then determines a spin for the wheels that matches the selected PAR table payout. (It is funny, because most people think the outcome of the wheels determines the payout, but the reality is that the payout outcome determines what will be displayed on the wheels). Let's assume you are playing in a casino that has set the return to player at 97%. This means that after 300 million spins, the slot machine is expected to return 97% of what is bet on the machine. On machines that offer larger jackpots, the payout outcomes in the PAR table will have a LOWER win/loss ratio -- meaning a large probability of a loss for any given spin, but if/when you do win, it will more than likely be a bigger win. You will typically see big swings in your bankroll playing these types of machines and will require a huge bankroll to support a losing streak. This type of slot machine is extremely volatile! On machines that don't offer big jackpots or where the top normal payout is not too big, the payout outcomes in the PAR table will have a HIGHER win/loss ratio -- meaning there will be more smaller wins or break evens in the PAR table (which lowers the probability of a loss on any given spin) as compared to the machine described above. This decreases volatility and you should experience lower swings in your bankroll over time. These types of machines are what allow you to recycle money and get more points. Another type of machine to avoid are branded machines. These typically have licensed themes like Wheel of Fortune or Big Bang Theory and royalties are paid to the trademark / creative property holder to use these themes. These royalties are paid as a percentage of the money the casino makes off the machine, so the return to player on these machines is set lower around 93-95%. To make things worse, the Wheel of Fortune machine is a progressive jackpot machine, meaning the PAR table has a high percentage of losses in it. I tend to play Aristocrat games like Buffalo and Miss Kitty as they tend to have a lot more small payouts hit and I can sit there for hours playing without seeing huge swings in my bankroll. I really like Buffalo Gold Collection and spend a lot of time on it playing 2cent or 5cent denominations. I will play it on the Wonder 4 tower if I can't find a standalone game available, although it does have a fixed PAR table at 1cent and can't be adjusted. At the end of the day, don't take this as a way to beat the slots as that is statistically almost impossible. It is more of a "how do I last longer and get more casino player points" response. You can obviously run into a lot of losing spins that will cut your day and point tally short, but that is part of your choice when you decide to gamble.

I just did it on my last trip in March, did it last December, did it last September... (I could keep going). All on slots. Broke even last September, won a hand pay that more than paid for the trip in December, and lost about $400 in March. My wife and I are happy with free balconies, so to each their own I guess on that topic. Our next comped trip is on Allure in May to Honduras. I have another one in October on Voyager. I should get my voucher in a couple of weeks and will use it in December, and I expect to get a comp for a summer trip on my May cruise. Yes you cycle through money and get a multiplier -- the key there is to look for less volatile slots to play, stay away from pennies (PAR table changes with higher denominations), and play all features. There was a couple sitting next to me on Adventure last month in the casino. They must have had a huge bankroll because they were playing max bets and went from nothing to signature status in one sitting. I am sure the floor staff was a little annoyed because with bets so big, they were constantly getting hand pays. They were not US citizens, so they did not have the tax consequences with the hand pays. I am not sure how much they won or lost, but it was funny watching them squirm when they were losing and dancing when they were winning.

@tonyfsu21 I disagree with your statement as I consistently am able to get 2000 points per cruise easily with a smaller bankroll than you mention -- usually about $1000 which I budget for the casino per cruise. I have had several times I have come out ahead. Yes, the casino has an edge, but it is not as bad as you portray it to be. $1000 is a cheap price to pay and I usually get at least 2-3 comped cruises per trip. 1 on board, and then 1-2 via Casino Royale emails after the cruise -- and a lot include balcony rooms. So for a bankroll of $1000 that I may lose, keep, or come out ahead on - I get 3 cruises for two in return and do not at any time feel cheated. My only problem is I don't have enough vacation time from work to take full advantage of all the comped cruises. I have averaged five cruises per year for the past two years and have only paid for one out of my pocket.

Wow, I was on the sailing just before yours (March 16-21) and we had the two-sided magnet. I guess I had the honor and privilege of being the last person to hang "Out Catching Thrills" outside my stateroom door. We did have the once a day service too, choose evenings. Steward was super friendly and made sure we had whatever we needed between cleanings. I tipped him early on since we had two staterooms (one for my wife and I, the other for the teen age kids). He surprised the kids every evening with towel animals on each of their beds every night. That surprised me because I was used to only one or two towel animals the whole trip. Like you experienced, the staterooms did take a little longer to open. They were actually calling decks whose staterooms were ready over the PA as they were not all ready at once.

RCI must be using these forums as their QA team. It's gone now.

My wife and I were just discussing options for our upcoming cruise in May. We kind of had a reality check based on our past experiences and the new prices. For the past year, we usually got the Key at prices close to the internet package. We enjoyed the easier embarkation / disembarkation process, lunch, and being able to check our carry-ons. However, the welcome lunch has changed significantly as we found out on our cruise earlier this month, and the price has soared on the Key. We never use the privileged seating in the theaters and only use the special times for activities when the kids are with us, so no more Key for us at this price point. I will just purchase internet for 2 devices separately on this upcoming cruise. We usually were able to get the refreshment package for less than $20 per person per day. It is about $32 per person per day now, so no more refreshment package. (We are not big alcohol drinkers). Instead, we will just use our drink vouchers and prime status for any specialty drinks we want. I will probably get a soda package for myself, but wife is a tea and water type of person. At the end of the day, we will probably use the money saved on excursions anyway, so although we are cutting back in on-board services, we are still spending about the same as before. Even with the changes to the MDR menu and the once a day steward service on our last cruise, we still had a wonderful time and will continue cruising as it is still a good value to us.

Just a rule of thumb for any casino excursion -- always make friends with the pit boss. I have had several pit bosses put their thumbs on the scale by being nice with them on both cruise and land base casinos. They usually note how much you are betting at the start and assume you will be flat betting, only checking periodically during busy times to see if your bet has changed up or down. Some people say to have bigger bets when the pit boss in nearby. Personally, I don't worry about it though as I usually get enough points to maintain my status with slots over the course of they year. When I play with my wife, it is usually side-by-side slots as she doesn't like table games. But when she is not with me in the casino, I usually can be found at the BJ and Craps tables. Good luck and I hope you get the points and status you want, just be careful not to chase the points too much.

What is your passport nationality? If you are traveling with a US passport, then you will not be able to get a St. Thomas stamp because it is part is the US. There is usually a customs and immigration station at the pier, but they rarely give out stamps -- does not hurt to ask them for one though.

Points work differently depending on what you are playing and the expected house edge. Slot machines (except video poker) are the 1 point per $5 that you mentioned. Video poker is 1 point per $10. And Table games are rated based on the game you are playing, your average bet, and the amount of time played. You will theoretically earn more points in Roulette betting black/red or even/odd than in Black Jack, for example, because Roulette has a higher house edge. Table games are the hardest to earn points on in a short amount of time and they use what I call "fuzzy logic" to determine your points earned in a session. Table games are also rated by the pit boss based on how that individual decides to rate it -- and ratings can vary depending on who the pit boss is.

Usually about 2am, but it depends on sailing and location of the ship in relation to legalities.

Not sure how best to keep track of points with table games as they use "fuzzy logic" for them, maybe someone else can chime in there. If it were me, I would make friends with the pit boss and ask him where you stand as your session goes on. Slots are easy as they are tracked real time and visible to you after each spin. Tables usually don't open until about 10-11am on sea days. Slots open at 8am usually.

Accidentally answered that my daughter was pregnant in the health section of check-in which got an instant denial of boarding message for her. A phone call later and an explanation at the terminal fixed it all, but my daughter was worried they wouldn’t let her on. Gave us something to laugh about later, but it definitely had my daughter worried that she was not going to be able to go.

It is possible. You have to keep track of your points yourself though, and as soon as you reach 2500, go see the casino host. They will validate you reached prime and put a sticker on your seapass indicating that. You can then get all the prime perks immediately like free drinks in the casino. They will not seek you out once you get enough points for prime, so be sure to keep track and see the host as soon as you qualify