I'm not an authority on casinos on ships since I only pop in there recreationally. Now, when I was a student (first time round) in England, I worked in a casino as a waitress a couple of nights a week to supplement my student loans and money from my parents. This may very well be off topic, and if it is, please free to delete it/move it etc... but I noticed a difference between 'real gamblers' and people who just like a bit of fun and the atmosphere. We used to serve free sodas (as you call them and sandwiches) so we usually got decent tips. However, no disrespect to anyone here who may be a hard core gambler, but in my experience, the people who dressed to the tops, gambled little, had a drink at the bar (alcohol not allowed on gaming floor in the UK) and came in to try their luck. Serious gamblers would be there since it opened, often in scraffy clothes (nothing wrong with scraffy clothes but just to give you an idea), would seldom tip and would gamble like possessed. Now, I like to have a little game of blackjack for instance (I'm the amateur gambler type - the one in the posh dress with little cash allocated for gambling) and I have had fun nights but honestly, the serious guys got so elitist as well (one guy would only play with a very small group of people he was sort of adversarial with in a friendly way). I mean, this was England and my region had no water for pools or irrigation because of lack of investment and there was the Chairman who the accounts person told me (true or not) that he gambled on average £1 million a year (equivalent then to about $2 mill). Of course, he won about 60% back, evidently.
Now, what point am I making? Well, I'm not a kill-joy that's for sure! and I know I sound like one in this post. My advice is enjoy and take a certain amount of money with you (mentally), going over a little is fine, more than that, well... I've seen too much. This is again not aimed at anyone but say, getting drunk on deck may not be nice but your friends, wife, husband would take you to your stateroom, now getting pissed and spending the whole limits of your credit cards would not be and I have seen it!
Sorry, I'm not normally this puritanical about anything. Feel free to flame me! No offence was intended to anyone. I'm also aware that some people gamble for a living very successfully.
Connect with Facebook
Casino Winners
. $2,400 one night then $250 the next on slots. We were on the Spirit at the time. It will only take me about a skazillion cruises to break even but it is my recreation when cruising. Along with eating, exploring, swimming, etc. In fact I quess everything is my recreation when cruising 
Linear Mode
