I emailed carnival about bj on cruise ships and received:
We deal 8 decks from a shoe. Dealer stands on soft 17. Double on any two cards. Split any pair three times into 4 hands, except aces which you can split once for one card each. Insurance is offered - no surrender. Dealer blackjacks are exposed immediately.
I am preparing another set of questions including penetration but I may leave out questions concerning counting, bet spread, etc. Its probably over their heads anyway.
This is a partial trip report from Dec 2002.
""Type vacation: Cruise
Ship:Carnival Legend
Time: Eight days of splendid cruising; Eight nights of BJ nuclear war!
Game: Eight decks/two-3.5 deck cut offs, suggested % -49.
Tools: Hi-Lo; Wonging; Dealer grifting and begging.
Net result: 30 unit loss over all at the end of the week; Roller coaster ride on win/loss.
Highs: $750 win on one shoe with monstrous TC'S. Several 100 to 500 dollar shoe wins. Was able to grift certain dealers to deal out seven decks instead of the casino directive of minimum six decks dealt out! Damn incredible experience for a six deck player. I learned a lot!
Lows: High TC's with $50 to $100 two hand each having 20 totals and end up losing to dealers 15 and 16 becoming 21! I had a plus 3-7 TC count run for three hands at the quarter table. I played three bets on three hands. Two $50 bets and a $25 dollar cap bet on a obliging neighbor. (I recieved 15 and 16 and the dealer had 20. Three Snappers on down the line. I busted and lost my capped bet which was 18!:( Shit that hurt!) No profit to take home:(! ""
As far a the penetration the dealers range from arseholes to generous. They will cut off anywhere from three decks to less than one. You should talk tothe dealers and befriend them. I was able to feel out the better dealers and get them to cut less than one deck. SOme dealers were such turd heads that they continously cut off two to three decks off. There were times when all did was Wong and had some great plays.
Also you can play two hands and you do not have to double the bet to do so. This was my second cruise on a carnival ship the previous one I took over $2000 from the casino! I found that some of the dealers were bored and lazy so the shuffles were easy to track.
This is a ploppy rich environmaent and every one of them will agressively scold you for your play. I heard it every time I diverted from basic strategy especially when I split tens! It is fun though screwing the ploppies every chance you get!
Little or no heat. I was agressive at times when wonging all I got was surprised looks but no rising temperatures. Royal Caribbean and Norwegion offer six deckers with the majority of tables at the $10 to $200 bet range. The majority of the Carnival tables were $5 with a green table near by. Theses games are fun and can be profitable for red chip and green chip action. Just be careful 8 deckers can drain you. Better to Wong them. Good luck and good fun. LTC
This is not a good idea. A public relations person may have to ask someone in their bj pit about it, which only advertises the fact that counters may have the boats targeted. If you ask any questions about bj at all I'd be sure to also ask questions about their slot machines, roulette, and craps so as to not be so obvious.
Asking the penetration (especially using that term) is most certainly a bad idea. If you could disguise it in some ploppy way like, "How many cards do you cut off a shoe because I won't play if it's an even number?". They might respond by saying that there is no way to make sure it's an even number but we try to cut off so many decks off the shoe. Asking the penetration and heat level might artificially raise the heat and worsen the pen for your trip if they know when you are traveling. Then again since it's mostly ploppies there to have a good time they might not care, you could throw them off and ask them to comp you a buffet (if meals are all inclusive). Or better yet you could talk a ploppy into asking for one.
