Tuna Dave's Blackjack Diary

St. Tropez - Update - 06/19/04

My wife treated me to a St. Tropez casino cruise as a pre-Father's Day present. Since there have been some changes since I was last on the ship, I thought I would update you as well.

The food on the ship is still good. One change is that now, along with the buffet, there is an "ala carte" dining option. It is a bit expensive - $25/person - but the menu looked interesting. We decided not to opt for it as we didn't think it would be worth the extra. The buffet is $15.99/person, and is satisfactory for us.

Another change is that the hours of sailing, at least on Saturday night, have changed. The hours posted on their website are 7:45 P.M. to 1:45 A.M. However, when we were out of port, we found out that the ship now comes back at 12:45 A.M. It seems too many people were complaining that the cruise was out too late. I, for one, was not pleased with that change. Now, instead of 4-1/2 hours of gambling opportunity, there are only 3-1/2 hours. That is a significant difference when you are in a "limited time" gambling situation.

The other major change that I noticed was that the red-chip tables have converted from 8-deck games to 6-deck, which I am happy to see. Also, the table minimums have been raised from $5 to $10. It is possible that there were one or two $5 tables. However, when I was traveling the room, I did not see anything other than $10 tables. They still have $25 and $50 tables in another room. The blackjack rules are pretty good (DOA, DAS, S17). However, there is no surrendur option on red-chip tables, no no resplitting of aces is allowed. From what I could see, the dealers were all putting the cut card at about 1-1/4 decks, which is pretty favorable.

Other than the foregoing, the observations I made in my previous review of the St. Tropez (02/16/04) are still accurate.

St. Tropez - 03/20/04

Saturday night, I gambled and lost. And it had nothing to do with betting any money!

My wife and I decided to go out again on the St. Tropez gambling ship out of Fort Lauderdale. The problem was that the seas were scheduled to be 5-7 feet with winds of 15-20 knots.

Silly me; I figured that it would not be a problem, since I NEVER get seasick.

Well, guess what? I was wrong. About two hours into the cruise, I started getting queasy; and it did not end until right before the ship came back to port.

So, the evening was a relative disaster. I did get to play in two blackjack sessions, which I will recount in a separate posting. However, I was in good company. Probably 25% of the passengers on the ship were laid out, one way or another.

Take it from me, folks. It was not a good time. I have learned my lesson. No more casino cruises when the seas are over 3-5 feet.

Gambling Cruise Review: SeaEscape

My wife and I went out on the SeaEscape Saturday evening. As is my custom, I'd like to provide you with my impressions of the ship and its amenities.

This SeaEscape ship, called the Island Princess, docks at Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderdale, at Pier 1. It is a fairly clean ship, bigger than the St. Tropez. It has cabins available, as well as upscale dining. Also, since it is not simply a gambling ship, it has other amenities, such as onboard movies, shows, musicians, dancing, etc. This is a cruise for people who want to party as much as for gamblers.

St. Tropez

My wife and I went on the St. Tropez casino cruise Sunday night. I'd like to provide my impressions of the boat and the amenities.

The ship is a rather old one, and not all that well maintained. It docks in Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderale, at Pier 22.

It is a small ship, refurbished to eliminate any cabins and replace them with casino space.

There are lots of slot machines, as could be expected. The major surprise is the number of blackjack tables. I did not count them. However, a rought estimate would be around 20, ranging from a $5 table minimum to a $50 table minimum. They also have three roulette tables, three or four craps tables, one Pai Gow table, one Let It Ride table, two or three Baccarat tables, and two Caribbean Poker tables.

I don't play any table games except for blackjack, and occasionally pai gow poker; so I cannot comment on the house rules of the other games. However, blackjack is played to liberal Las Vegas rules, with the dealer standing on a soft 17; however, no surrender allowed (except perhaps in the higher stakes games). The $10 dollar tables, where I play, use an eight-deck shoe... not my personal favorite, but workable. Penetration is pretty good. From what I saw, the dealers consistently dealt through at least six decks before shuffling. No shuffle machines; all hand-shuffling.