My poker bud wants to go on a Carnival cruise this fall that is a poker cruise with cash games and tournaments. I've heard the rake on the cash games is unbeatable. Anyone have any real experience with poker at sea?


Years ago when the electronic poker tables were a thing, I was on a cruise and the rake was set at 10% of the pot, uncapped. I don't want to get into that sort of situation where I don't want to play and I'm stuck there for a week.

The first thing you’re describing sounds like a Cardplayer cruise — I have never been on one, but my understanding is you have to register for the cruise directly through them and then you have access to their poker room and tournaments (if you register through the cruise line you can’t use their poker room which is only available to people who register with them is my understanding). I think they have a normal rake (not the ridiculous one you describe that you see on cruise ships typically). Obviously it is hard to know exactly what you’re talking about without more details.

Agree the Card player poker cruises must be booked thru the CP setup or agent; not direct via Carnival.

Has Carnival removed electronic tables? My last Carnival cruise was preCovid, 2018 IIRC and at least some ships still had them. The rake was ridiculous (though might have been capped at $25) but usually the quality of them made up for it. On cruises where games went daily and late (I was on one cruise where game went first night and then never again for 6 nights) I have a couple times made enough to pay for everything cruise related; cruise, taxes, port fees, excursions, specialty dining, tips, etc. They really are that soft. Did not always make that much but $200+ in an evening was frequent with low variance.

While I don’t enjoy electronic tables in “real” land casinos in USA, I prefer them on cruises. Cruise casinos are horrible at running poker with bed rule set, poor procedures and dealers tend to be even worse. The machines actually run the games better than the casino. Two thing to watch for imo are OPTAH and collusion. But avoiding those and games are easy.

Cardplayer cruises are normally on Royal Caribbean ships, not Carnival. I was due to go on a Cardplayer cruise March 2020, but it was cancelled. I have been on three cruises where I played poker. All the rakes were absurd, like 15% uncapped. The upside was the players were in general terrible. But, you can't beat that rake in the long run. I think I paid for my cruises just by playing, but that won't always happen.

I don't know the quality of the players on Cardplayer cruises. I know some are new players, and the photos I see on their website show mostly older players, but that is your best bet for playing poker on a cruise. The rake is normal, and Linda Johnson runs them. The games I think only typically go up to NL 2/5 though, but they have daily tournaments and a big tournament. NCL normally has a big tournament cruise once a year, the WPT just had a poker cruise last year.