This past January my mom and dad took me on a 10 day cruise to the Panama Canal for my 40th birthday although it was about a year late, Anyway we cruised on the Island Princess which made stops in Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Jamaica. I had an incredible time, great food, great entertainment and great port stops, now the only thing that disappointed me was the fact that the Princess Casino was tiny, Still it was that smallness that allowed me to get to know all the dealers, boxmen, pit bosses and casino cage personnel and they knew me. I also got addicted to eating at the Horizons Court buffet with the fantastic variety of food, just a warning though if you go on a Princess Cruise ship and order a grilled cheese sandwich they will smear it full of mayo, I nearly gagged when I took a bite.

I also had the chance to play in the finals of a Blackjack tournament, At one point I was up about $3,500 in chips but stupidly I started playing agressively, $500 to $1,000 a hand and in the ended was left with $800 in chips which I went all-in on a hunch that I'd get a good hand the next deal, unfortunately I was wrong and I ended up a loser. On the link below is one of the articles that I posted on my website about the trip with two pictures, one of me standing in front the Blackjack Tournament Final Game Qualifier Board (I just qualified as the 6th Player with $1,500 in chips) and below that is the $100 tournament chip that is now part of my collection.

http://www.blogofcrappyness.com/2009/01/on-board-love-boat-day-2-january-25th.html

F.Y.I., not sure if this applies to all cruise ships but about an hour after we pulled out of Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale the casino opened and for that night only all of the table games had $3 minimums, For the second day and the rest of the cruise the minimum was bumped up to $5 and unlike normal land casinos the minimums never changed or fluxuated for the entire cruise.

Hope you have a great cruise Charles and don't eat too much in the buffets.

Rick