Casino Royale

You may have seen my last blog a couple of weeks ago where I was lucky enough to take a trip on the new Majestic Princess from Trieste and as you may have been able to tell she is an amazing ship that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone.  Whilst on the ship I did some exploring around the casino, now the main part of the casino was pretty much your standard cruise ship casino, with a few of the games modified to Chinese tastes as she will be based out in Asia.  I did discover though two hidden rooms just set of from the main part that can be accessed to a select few guests and I must say I was taken a little aback by what I found.

The first room I found was the VIP Casino, which I have seen these on several cruise ships, which is a more discrete area of the casino for guests who would like a little more privacy where bets of a higher value can be made.  These tables can also be reserved for family or friendship groups travelling together who wish to gamble away from the public areas of the main casino.  On Majestic Princess, there were 6 tables each cornered off from each other where bets of $500-$1500 can be made.  I must admit, I was a little shocked at the value of the bets that can be made on this tables, and maybe a little bit inferior with my $20-$40 limit that I usually allow myself in there, and yes that’s per cruise (short arms – long pockets, that’s me).

(I thought I would have a go at being the dealer in the V-VIP room in the casino)

The second room I found was the V-VIP area, where there is just one table that guests must be invited into.  My jaw literally hit the floor when the steward told me that in that room, they will accept bets up to $50,000 PER BET.  This is some extreme betting going on here.  I have heard about some big bets happening in Vegas, but for a cruise ship this had me gobsmacked.

I have done a little digging into this, and apparently gambolling is illegal in most of China, so the Chinese do like to gable when they are away and so with the so called new wealth coming out of the area the cruise lines have taken advantage of this and are anticipating some rather large bets in their new casino.  I’m not sure it’s a room an average Joe like myself will be visiting anytime soon again.  I don’t think my $40 will get much access in there.