Does anyone else take the 7 Stars cruises?

[Dan Druff]

Thanks Dan. This is really interesting and valuable information. I have taken the Norwegian cruise a couple of times (last New Year's Eve) and will probably take another one this year. We happen to like Norwegian. I will definitely work in some of your suggestions, even if we end up taking the December Seven Star cruise out of New Orleans. My main problem with cruises is that I have some rather serious health problems which make boarding and disembarking rather difficult. Any suggestions here? Oh yes, every chance I get I plead for them to combine the Norwegian and Harrah's points systems. That only makes sense to me, but thus far it has fallen on deaf ears.

Ah yes, I forgot to mention the 2014 Signature Event cruises, which are a bit of a different story. I'll get to that shortly.

Regarding your health issues, I'm pretty sure if you approached the NCL staff about your disabilities, they would be happy to help. There are actually a number of disabled passengers on cruises, as well as extremely old people who can barely walk. If you have medical documentation of your disability (I'm not sure if it's obvious from seeing you), then you should bring that along in case they give you static.

To NCL's credit, I found the staff to be nice and helpful during embarkation and disembarkation, although the embarkation process was a bit long and confusing for my taste.

[Dan Druff]

Signature Events Cruises (2014)

If you live on the east coast, or if you can easily get there without a lot of expense, you might want to consider the "other" Seven Stars cruise option, new for 2014.

These are the "Signature Events" cruises.

These cover a lot more expenses, but are restricted to very specific itineraries and dates. You can pick one:

NYC/Bahamas/Florida June 7-14
NYC/Canada/New England Sept 27-Oct 4
New Orleans/Carribean Nov 23-30 OR Dec 7-14

These cruises are a lot more "free" than the standard Seven Stars cruises.

You DO NOT have to pay the so-called fees and taxes.

You DO NOT have to pay tips (Caesar's covers them).

You get 3 signature meals for free.

They also give you transportation to and from either Harrah's New Orleans (for the New Orleans cruise) or Caesar's Atlantic City (for the NYC cruises).

If you are local to either of these two areas, you truly can cruise for free.

But what kind of stateroom do you get? Nobody knows. This was never made clear.

How do you book it? Again, nobody knows. In true Caesar's fashion, this was also never made clear.

Can you combine it with your Annual Trip to New Orleans or AC? Perhaps, but again, this is not clear.

Contact your host to find out.

Ideally, you could combine your Annual Trip with this, and make a completely free trip out of it, even if you're out of the area.

Of course, you will have to want these specific itineraries, and need to be able to make these specific dates.

I would avoid the NYC/Bermuda/Florida one, as those dates are lousy. It will be hot and humid in all three places (especially Bermuda/Florida). The other two are good dates weather-wise.

[Rob.Singer]

I didn't see the cruise to Italy in there that Dancer's talking up on vpFree and that he and that old lady he dumped his sick wife for are going on June 15th. Seven Stars must have been meant good gambling for him also--he's begging others to help him find a cheaper way to see Rome, Milan & another city by sharing the limo costs.

I would think someone so advanced in ripping entities off would be able to figure this type of problem out on his own. Or maybe Shirley was the brains of the operation. It's obvious she ended up with most of the money....

[FABismonte]

If you have an odd number of people in your party, such as 3, there is a huge benefit you can use that is barely known by anyone. What is that benefit? The odd-numbered person can get their own room without paying any surcharge for having a private room! On cruises, they typically DOUBLE the fare (or something very close to it) for people staying in their own room without a second person. This is because space is at a premium on these ships, so you're really paying primarily for the room, and not everything else. When two people are in a room, if the cost per person is $600, you should really think of it as a $1200 room. Again, this differs from a hotel, where they don't care if there's one or two people in the room. On a cruise, it's a huge difference, and they will charge you very close to the 2-person rate if you're just one person. This is not the case with "casino" bookings. You can buy an additional room for the "odd" person, pay only the normal "per person" rate, though you will NOT get the 10% discount discussed above!

Hi Dan:

Sorry to tell you this, but NCL has changed its policy on odd numbered people. Starting last week there is no longer any additional staterooms which can be booked through "casino" bookings. Yesterday the NCL representative read me out the email. If I want a second room for my daughter, I now need to pay the price of a double occupancy room. (NO THANKS) In fact the NCL casino line operator could not even entertain or quote me a second room. I needed to be transferred to a separate operator who did not have any access to the casino line information on my voucher.

I could, however, use the NCL casino line operator to book another person in my stateroom and I wound up booking (for now) a mini-suite pending the 75 day deadline for the cruise since I wanted enough room to breath as the standard balcony my wife and I are entitled would be pretty crowded.

Regards, FAB

[Dan Druff]

Hi Dan:

Sorry to tell you this, but NCL has changed its policy on odd numbered people. Starting last week there is no longer any additional staterooms which can be booked through "casino" bookings. Yesterday the NCL representative read me out the email. If I want a second room for my daughter, I now need to pay the price of a double occupancy room. (NO THANKS) In fact the NCL casino line operator could not even entertain or quote me a second room. I needed to be transferred to a separate operator who did not have any access to the casino line information on my voucher.

I could, however, use the NCL casino line operator to book another person in my stateroom and I wound up booking (for now) a mini-suite pending the 75 day deadline for the cruise since I wanted enough room to breath as the standard balcony my wife and I are entitled would be pretty crowded.

Regards, FAB

This is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrible news. But thanks for alerting me to it.

To be honest, I've never understood why NCL's Casinos at Sea department gave those perks for the 2nd room. Obviously they were getting very little out of it, because the second room is likely to be inhabited by a non-gambler (or a light gambler). Amazingly, this "third person by themselves" perk was available to any CAS booking, including those cheapo inside cabin vouchers that Caesars and other casinos hand out like candy.

I had a feeling this might be coming, as they had already taken away another 2nd room perk (10% discount) earlier this year.

Have you ever been in a mini suite on an NCL cruise?

I ask this because I think the mini suite is the worst value type of room on the ship. It's basically a balcony room with a little more room, but much more expensive, and without the usual suite perks.

How much are they charging you to upgrade? I imagine it's a lot.

When are you taking your cruise?

You might want to look for "free upgrade" promotions, as you can cancel and rebook your balcony room and get the upgrade for free. That's how I got my upgrade from Oceanview to Balcony on the Alaska cruise I just took.

In general, upgrading these "free" cruises is a bad idea, as you usually end up paying a lot of money and wipe out most of your 7 Stars discount. In fact, you should see if buying the minisuite outright for 35% off (Seven Stars discount) will work out better than upgrading!

Is your daughter still going on the cruise? You might want to wait until fairly close to the cruise (14-50 days out) and look if they are "dumping" inside cabins for very cheap. It may end up cheaper to put her in a 2nd room (and pay the single supplement charge) than adding her to your minisuite! Even if she's under 18, you can put your wife in that 2nd room and put your daughter in yours, and then just sleep with your wife, with your daughter in the other room. You can cancel out a third person up to 14 days from sailing at NO CHARGE, so this is always a trick you might want to consider.

I am pretty much an expert at gaming the NCL system at this point, so tell me your situation and I'll try to give you the best advice.

[FABismonte]

I am pretty much an expert at gaming the NCL system at this point, so tell me your situation and I'll try to give you the best advice.

Hi Dan:

I have taken two NCL cruises before, both in the Eastern Mediterranean. Both on CET issued vouchers on balcony rooms. The second cruise was with our two kids, a year and a half ago when my son was 17 and my daughter 14. For that second cruise I bought an inner room across the hall from my balcony room under my wife's name and then had the kids stay in that inside room while the wife and I slept in the balcony room.

Now my son is at college (and not going on the cruise) and my daughter is 16. We are planning on taking the Western Caribbean cruise out of New Orleans on February 15th (NCL Dawn) coming back Feb 22. So it is something like 154 days out. I am told that the 75 day (prior to departure) deadline to cancel is December 2.

I am ambivalent as to whether I want my daughter to have her own cabin but explored it anyway with NCL.

I have never stayed in a mini-suite before and while I understand it lacks the amenities of a true suite, it is supposedly 284 sq. feet compared to a balcony suite of 204 sq feet. I think I may be a bit cramp in a regular balcony. But the upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite is a total of $400. My daughter will cost an additional $430 whether it is a balcony or a mini-suite room. I booked a mini-suite knowing I can cancel without penalty up to December 2 but am willing to reconsider.

I did not spot any upgrade or discounts on the NCL website. If you have any a suggestions, I will appreciate hearing them.

Regards, FAB

[Dan Druff]

Wow, I had a long post typed back out analyzing this, and it got lost because the system logged me out for taking too long.

My fault. I'm the admin here and should have set that timer to be longer.

Really frustrating, but I'll try to type it again from memory (I'm not going to recalculate everything again).

I am assuming that your daughter is $430 AFTER tax, which I found to be $108 per person for your sailing. The taxes are the same for each person, no matter where they stay on the ship, so we will ignore tax for everyone for this discussion.

That makes your daughter $312 to add before tax. Her own room would be $1018 -- a difference of $706. Ouch. But keep in mind you are paying another $400 to get the minisuite, so the difference isn't as great as it appears. What you need is to wait for a drop in prices.

Your minisuite upgrade is not a very good deal. Your balcony room would be category BB, which is $859 right now per person. Minisuite category MX is $969, and MS is $1029. So depending upon which minisuite you upgraded to, you should be paying either $220 or $340, not $400. But that's what happens when you upgrade these "free" certificates.

I would suggest the following:

1) Downgrade back to a category BB balcony

2) Wait until late December, and then start looking at the price of inside cabins. Keep looking until February 1.

3a) If you see a huge price drop (currently listed as $529 per person -- you're looking for something $300 or less), drop your wife off your room (it's free to do this) and buy an inside cabin for her.

3b) If you reach Feb 1 and you DON'T see a price drop like that, call and upgrade back to a minisuite.

You are gambling a bit that the minisuites could sell out, but I wouldn't worry too much. The price for the insides will drop far below where they are now (your sailing date is not popular), so if the minisuites are gone, you can still just buy your wife the inside cabin for whatever price is there, and still likely have a better situation and comparable overall price.

Look at it this way: To add your daughter to the room AND upgrade to the minisuite, it will be $712 before tax.

To get your daughter her OWN room and stay with a balcony, it will be LESS than $712 before tax, provided the "per person" fare is like $370 or less, which I think it will be at some point.

It is pretty awful to cruise with 3 people staying in one room, even in a minisuite.

Benefits to a second room:

1) Extra bathroom
2) Extra place to nap during sea days
3) Lots more storage space
4) Private time with your wife

[Dan Druff]

Oh, and you're right, there are no specials right now. But one may appear soon. You definitely should keep checking for these (especially ones called "Free Upgrade"), as this might allow you to upgrade to a mini suite for free.

At the very least, look for at least an on board credit special and rebook then, because you'll at least get that (though it will be something like $50 or less).

[Dan Druff]

To show you how well my tactics worked on my Alaska cruise (albeit with the "old rules", not the ones you're subject to now)....

I was entitled to one oceanview room for two people.

To add another person to the room, it would be $599 plus tax (which is $199 in Alaska!)

Instead, I paid $349 plus tax extra, and I got:

- A third person on board
- A balcony stateroom
- An inside cabin two doors down from our balcony room
- $40 on board credit

And to show you how great that $349 price was, the non-commisioned fare on those Alaska cruises is $240, so even if my wife had her own "free" certificate, she still would have paid $240. Here I didn't have a certificate and just paid $109 above that to get a second room for one person, $40 on board credit, and also got a huge cabin upgrade.

Took a lot of work with the price watching, though.

[seemoreroyals]

Anyone else doing a 7 star cruise this year? We had such a great time doing a 7 star event cruise last year on the NCL Dawn from NOLA we are going to do our first ever 7 star regular cruise this year. We are going to Alaska on the NCL Jewel in September. Unlike the event cruise we will have to pay the taxes and fees and gratuities that add up to about $900 for two people. But we have been wanting to go back to Alaska. And thanks to CET we saved around $2000.

[Rob.Singer]

Anyone else doing a 7 star cruise this year? We had such a great time doing a 7 star event cruise last year on the NCL Dawn from NOLA we are going to do our first ever 7 star regular cruise this year. We are going to Alaska on the NCL Jewel in September. Unlike the event cruise we will have to pay the taxes and fees and gratuities that add up to about $900 for two people. But we have been wanting to go back to Alaska. And thanks to CET we saved around $2000.

How much have you lost to save $2k? Or are you a winner like everyone else?

[seemoreroyals]

Keeping it real we usually lose money every year. Between the two of us it is in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 per year. This is he 5th year for us to reach 7 star card level. We can afford to lose the money. It's cheaper than a country club membership or owning a second home. If you add up the entertainment value of gambling, the 60 plus nights of free rooms per year, the free meals, free concerts, free airfare and other forms of free transportation, and all of the other perks such as diamond lounges and 7 star lounges, etc., etc., etc., the benefits we receive year in and year out far exceed the money we lose gambling.

[Rob.Singer]

Keeping it real we usually lose money every year. Between the two of us it is in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 per year. This is he 5th year for us to reach 7 star card level. We can afford to lose the money. It's cheaper than a country club membership or owning a second home. If you add up the entertainment value of gambling, the 60 plus nights of free rooms per year, the free meals, free concerts, free airfare and other forms of free transportation, and all of the other perks such as diamond lounges and 7 star lounges, etc., etc., etc., the benefits we receive year in and year out far exceed the money we lose gambling.

It's nice that you can self-value all of that "free" stuff in order to justify losing. By the way, owning a 2nd home would've meant $75k to $100k in money not sent south on the quickest train to nowhere. And playing for slot club status is hardly anything to be proud of. I could also afford to lose $20k a year but I learned how to win instead. When people play to lose, they lose. When will gamblers learn....

[seemoreroyals]

Give me a link to your special plays / strategies Rob. I am willing to try them out with an open mind. Practicing at first at home before risking with real money at the casino. At the present time I strictly play the math and rarely if ever make any mistakes playing primarily DDB, JOB, and some DW variations. I am intrigued with the possibility of other strategies that are out there that might make it possible to win. I do not play any carnival type games such as ult x or stp. I do normally play either triple play, five play, or 10 play. Other than moving to a different machine or switching to a different game on the same machine or switching up the speed of the game or the pace at which I am playing I am at a loss at what I can do to increase my chances when I draw three of a kind or four to a royal and the card or cards that I need do not show up. Looking forward to your help and your advice.

[Rob.Singer]

I guess I'm just at a loss on how & why people play the way they do, that's all. What you do and how you do it is what most players do. I did the same things years ago.

I would love to be able to help you understand the special plays that deviate from optimal strategy, but that's just a part of the overall strategy. We would have to sit and talk for a bit, then there would be training at the machines. I'd be able to meet up in Nov. sometime, and it would be no problem for me at all. Where do you live?

For now, drop the JoB game. You can always expect to lose on it unless you hit a royal or have a visit with an inordinate number of quads and SF's. People only play that game for points & comps, not money.

[seemoreroyals]

We live in Texas but we go to Tahoe several times a year. We will be there in 3 weeks. We will also be in Tahoe the end of July for wife's birthday and to see Kenny Chesney in concert and the Pink Floyd light show. We will also be in Vegas in August for the 7 star event. That is all that we have definite to Nevada at this time. Our home property is Horseshoe Bossier City. If you are ever in the area and we have enough notice we would love to meet you there. They still have some fairly decent video poker available there but like everywhere else the pay tables have been trimmed a bit.

[Rob.Singer]

We left Lake Tahoe a week ago and are now traveling. Our favorite place on the earth. That Pink Floyd Light Show is excellent. I saw it in Munich some years ago and it was great then, so it's probably even better today.

We won't be in Nevada again for a while, but after Nov. if you do get to LV then I'll be around. I owe Alan dinner and I plan on fulfilling that in either Nov. or Dec.

I've been to your "home" casino 3 times. Great trips, but too many mosquitos for me.

[seemoreroyals]

We prefer Tahoe in the Summer as a place to get out of the Texas heat but we usually go at least once in the Winter. I would not advise traveling to Texas anytime soon as we are getting way too much rain. As soon as it quits it will be just at the time when it begins to turn hotter than hell around here and those mosquitoes you are referring to are likely to carry you and your motor home away.

In the meantime I googled your special plays and surprise, surprise it linked me back here to Alan Mendelson's website. I am in the process of reading through them. Some of them like holding the ace and tossing the 4 to a strait make sense but I don't know about others such as tossing the three queens and keeping the 3 to a royal. I do like your thought though of realizing that the sessions we play are in the short term while the math that dictates long term optimal strategy is based on the long term. That is the intriguing part of gambling, taking chances along the way to increase the number on opportunities you have to get a few extra premium hands. And we all know that if you do not get your share of premium hands you are going to lose because the house has the edge in video poker just as it does in every game at the casino.

[Rob.Singer]

You have the right mindset about game opportunities. There's so much more to explain about those special plays, and I hope I have the chance to do that. For instance, almost every time I would hold 3 Q's just like everybody else since it's the obvious optimal hold. But in my strategy, at the top 2 levels only, only on BP, only with 3-to-the-royal, and when hitting the quad would not allow me to recover enough to return to at least the next lowest level PLUS pocket a "soft profit" of a minimum 40 credits at that lower denomination, only then would I toss a hand as strong as trips. I've only made this play twice in my life. It worked once.

So I hope you see there's much more than meets the eye here, but you have to have the stomach to play the strategy that's been so successful for me (which really means "bankroll", and any 7-stars player would seem to have that).

I've read about the rain & flooding down there. I can just imagine what the mosquitos would be like. I'm 100% Italian with olive oil in my skin--just what they like.

[seemoreroyals]

Rob, do you play any triple, five, or ten play or do you think that single game play is the best overall way to play at the casino? The main reason I like the multihand is it seems that it takes some of the variation out of the game. That and I feel like I get more 4 oak''s this way.