Cruise NewsCarnival Cruise LineCarnival Cracks Down on High Stakes Activity on Pool Deck

Carnival Cracks Down on High Stakes Activity on Pool Deck

Carnival Cruise Line has cracked down on a lido deck activity that has caused a stir among passengers.

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Carnival cruise line pool deck

It’s not uncommon to find a group of cruise passengers playing a game of cards out on the pool deck.  It can be a game of Uno, cribbage, and even poker.

But when money starts changing hands as a result, the lines start to get a little blurred.

Cruise lines are required to follow federal laws when sailing out of and operating from U.S. ports.  

And when vessels are docked in foreign ports they must also abide by those local laws as well.  This is why casinos are often closed when a ship is docked in port.

Carnival’s Brand Ambassador John Heald made guests aware of a regulation that does not allow gambling to take place outside of the casino on the ship.

In a Facebook post on his page, Heald informed readers of a situation on Carnival Luminosa in which some guests were gambling with large amounts of money on the lido deck.

Yesterday I was informed that the group leader had been arranging a card game played on Lido each day where quite large amounts of money were changing hands. This was reported to me and as brand ambassador it was my duty to report that to the Ship,” Heald stated.

*Update: It was first reported that the group was playing a card game on the lido deck.  Now, it has been learned that it was a game of LCR (Left-Right-Center), a popular dice game.  LCR is not usually associated with gambling, but as it is a game of chance the group was betting on the outcomes of the 3-dice game.

It is not unusual to see cruise guests playing card games outside of the casino.  These are usually friendly matches in which large sums of money are not exchanged.

chairs on pool deck of carnival ship

Heald reminded guests that any form of gambling outside of the casino is not allowed on any Carnival ships.

The group lead leader has kindly been asked to stop doing this and since this has happened, I have received a lot of disgruntled posts let’s say referring to me as a ‘snitch’ and some other choice words,” Heald added.

A few comments showed disdain for the announcement, claiming that the cruise line was more concerned with profits inside the casino.

To this claim Heald stated that he was only the messenger, making sure guests were aware of the current guidelines of the ship, stating,

And for those in the group saying that we only are banning this so people would go running to our casino and spend their money there, well that is mot the case.
There are various laws about gambling on our ships and as the company representative, I had no choice but to report it.
 
In a second edit to his original announcement on the matter, the brand ambassador noted that the large amount of cash changing hands made it difficult for the cruise line just to ignore.
 
One of the reasons this was brought to my attention was because it was a group leader of a large group of people booked as individual guests that was organizing this game and money was exchanging hands. I am sure that all she wanted to do was provide some extra fun but when we see people holding fistful of dollar bills then this is just not something we can allow.  Gambling with dice or cards for money organized by a group leader is not allowed. It is really truly that simple,” Heald added.
 
According to Cruisemapper, Carnival Luminosa is currently sailing off the coast of Japan.  The former Costa Cruises ship will be heading to Alaska where it will spend a few days before arriving in Seattle on May 1st. 
 

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J. Souza
J. Souza
Jon is the co-founder of Cruise Fever and has been on dozens of cruises since his first in 2009. As an editor and avid cruise enthusiast he has sailed with at least 9 cruise lines and is always looking for a great cruise deal. Jon lives in North Carolina and can be reached at [email protected].
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