Thinking about a poker cruise

A company that has a poker podcast I listen to regularly (I don't know if I can say here which company it is) also sponsors poker cruises regularly. They mostly sail out of Florida but also offer other locations for cruises. They get group discount rates for the cruise and bring in dealers and usually have specialty tournaments and free classes by professional players.

I've never been on a cruise before and have wanted to. I love the idea of going on one of these which gives a great poker experience along with the cruise. Perhaps it will be a bit better competition that the regular "fishy" cruise casual player (I guess that's both good and bad!).

There is one next August (2016) to Alaska (leaves from Seattle) and I think that one will combine our desire to take a trip out to the Pacific Northwest and see some really beautiful areas.

Has anyone here been on a cruise like this? What was your experience? Would you recommend it?

Mixed reviews about the poker on these things, all second hand for me, by the way, but, everyone I know who has taken a cruise loved it. Overwhelming reaction, all regretted not taking a longer cruise.

I just got back from a Celeebrity cruise that had poker. No live dealer with a 20% rake on 9 spot SNG's.
Cruises are for old people that like onboard shopping. If you want to play poker go to a poker room and play with real poker players and skip the marketing efforts of cruise lines.
Or go on a cooking cruise or a disco cruise or whatever other type these slick marketers have to offer as a way to sell their over priced merchandise and over priced drinks to a captive audience.
And that is all I have to say about cruise lines.

What I'm talking about here is different in that it is a group rate for poker players specifically. They bring in live dealers and hold tournaments and live games and training sessions. May not change the age demographic (and depends what you define as old; I'm not exactly a young thing at this point in my life!) but does change the rake/experience/presence of "real" poker players.

You Only Live Once my friend

Well, most regretted anyway.

Disclaimer duly noted!

OK Warren but did you enjoy it??

Cruising ain't my thing Martin.
I just came out feeling old and the game was a crazy structure with rapid and huge blind increases. Every game lasted less than 45 minutes.
An actual poker cruise may draw a younger crowd. I usually like to hang with peeps that have the same maturity level as I do which according to my wife is around 6 years old.
I say go for it.

I have actually been on one of these cruises. We sailed on Oasis Of the Seas, one of Royal Caribbean's largest and most luxurious ships. I love cruises anyway, we have been on several. This Poker Cruise was the absolute greatest experience of my cruising life. They brought their own dealers, as you say, and tables and chips and everything else you need. The poker room usually opened at noon if I remember correctly. It was run like a regular poker room. They had seminars about poker. Everyone was very nice.

The poker was NLHE and I don't know the blinds, cause I don't play NL. They also had 2/5 and 5/10 fixed, which I do play. And Omaha 4/8 fixed. I am sure they would have spread anything the players wanted. They have a core group of players who know each other and the dealers know the players. This could have led to a clickishness, but it did not. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming to us. We loved it. And also went home with at least $600 in winnings.

The best part about this trip was that I won it in an online poker game!!! I would never have done this if I was paying for it, because I don't like to spend money on the unknown. But now, I would love to do it again. The Alaska trip sounds wonderful. Go for it.

That sounds like it would be alot of fun.

I have been on several cruises. I would only caution against cruising on a "small" ship. These I would say are the small ships the Big cruise companies have sold off to small "gambling" cruises.

I would ask that you post here the name of the cruise line and the name of the ship. The more information you give the more help you will get. Feel free to PM me with any questions I may be able to answer.

If they are playing live then I wouldn't have any issue playing. Most cruise ships have Poker Pro and the rake is outrageous. There was a $150 tournament last cruise I was on and only $90 went to the prize pool, $60 was the rake!!!!

I absolutely love cruising. I have tried Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America and one of those "gambling" cruises.

The gambling cruise went out of Fort Lauderdale, and was horrific. There were more people who were sea sick than people who were not.

If I had my way I would cruise every vacation.

For my money, Carnival is the best. Celebrity does tend to have more retired people than any other I have been on

I say, if you can go on a cruise, and play live poker it's BONUS time. Go and enjoy yourself. Do as much or as little as you wish. It's your time.

There are a couple of poker theme cruises out there, WPT puts one on and Card Player also.

I am so glad to hear you say that. I like Carnival the best also. They have the best food for sure. The ads make it sound like a young swinger's cruise. Not at all. Old people seem to be the majority. My favorite Carnival ship is the Conquest out of Galveston. The food on The Oasis Of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean, was not great.

I'll forgo posting the links and hopefully there won't be any issues posting here. The cruise is sponsored by Ante Up. Details as follows:

Ship: Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas
Departs from: Seattle, Washington
Ports of call: Juneau, Alaska; Skagway, Alaska; Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska; Victoria, British Columbia
Cruise highlights: Our first cruise to Alaska will afford guests majestic views while enjoying some great poker action! The Ante Up Poker Room will be open at least 73 hours and feature two free poker courses and six Ante Up Poker Tour tournaments, including our Tidal Wave Main Event!

• Friday, August 26
  5 p.m.: Open-bar welcome aboard ****tail party
  8 p.m.-3 a.m.: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments/Tidal Wave qualifiers
• Saturday, August 27
  Enjoy a relaxing day at sea!
  9 a.m.: FREE Poker 101 course (taught by Ante Up publishers Chris Cosenza and Scott Long)
  10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.-3 a.m.: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments/Tidal Wave qualifiers
  10 a.m.: $20 no-limit hold'em rebuy tournament (unlimited $20 rebuys for first hour, with one $20 add-on at first break)
• Sunday, August 28
  Enjoy metropolitan Juneau, Alaska, from noon to 9 p.m.!
  10 a.m.: $50 Sudden Death no-limit hold'em tournament (players remaining after two hours split the prize pool)
  9 p.m.-3 a.m.: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments/Tidal Wave qualifiers
  9 p.m.: $75 no-limit hold’em bounty tournament ($25 bounties)
• Monday, August 29
  Enjoy rustic Skagway, Alaska, from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  8:30 p.m.-3 a.m.: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments/Tidal Wave qualifiers
  8:30 p.m.: $75 no-limit hold’em bounty tournament ($25 bounties)
• Tuesday, August 30
  Enjoy viewing the majestic Tracy Arm Fjord from from 7 a.m. to noon!
  10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.-midnight: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments
  3:30 p.m.: $30 All In or Fold no-limit hold'em tournament
• Wednesday, August 31
  Enjoy a relaxing day at sea!
  9 a.m.: FREE Texas Hold'em strategy roundtable discussion (led by Ante Up publishers Scott Long and Chris Cosenza)
  10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.-3 a.m.: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments/Tidal Wave qualifiers
  10 a.m.: Last-chance Tidal Wave qualifiers
  11 a.m.: $350 Tidal Wave Main Event tournament
• Thursday, September 1
  Enjoy stately Victoria, British Columbia, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.!
  8 p.m.-midnight: Room open for cash games/single-table tournaments
• Friday, September 2
  Arrive in Seattle at 7 a.m.

That sounds like a ton of fun. I imagine the games would be really soft. Not to mention seeing beautiful Alaska is never a bad thing either.

Holy Cow!!!!
This sounds amazing! I wouldn't have any second thoughts on this.

Explorer is an older ship, recently renovated. And, although, not as big as the newer ships, like the Oasis, it is a big ship, 139,000 tons I believe, and over 1,000 feet long. My last cruise we were on a 110,000 ton ship, ran into several extremely windy days at sea, and, never once felt the ship rocking excessively.

Wish I had another vacation I'd be there with you.

The only thing missing is some salmon fishing. LOL

Go and have a blast....

Sounds like a nice cruise. I went to Alaska a few years ago and it was nice.
I regret not going on the helicopter trip to hike on a glacier but it was around $400 per person and I was too cheap and went whale watching instead which was alos awesome.
Have fun on the cruise and good luck at the tables.

We have been on several, just got back from one last Saturday. It's always a great time, professional and no abuse tolerated.

The players aren't very fishy, even at 2/4, but you will still have a wonderful time.

Woo Hoo - cant beat that !!

I am not sure if u want to be, so to say "sea locked" on a big ship, on a poker cruise, and u turn out to be the fish boooooy u will have a rough sail, to say the least walking ATM, soon as u sit on a table, everyone flocks to it, no soft table around the corner if u played and bust in a casino on main land, so what are your choices if this happens on the cruise, lock your self in your room till the end of the ride, or try to out swim the sharks in a desperate attempt to save the rest of your money by trying to reach the main land
Just kidding, try it, might turn out to be fun