Welcome Aboard – What Are Cruise Casinos?
If speed and convenience are what you’re after when gambling, use instant withdrawal casinos before or after your cruise. These platforms allow you to access your winnings immediately—no waiting, no fuss. But what happens when you’re not on land? That’s where cruise casinos provide a unique alternative.
When you enter a cruse casino, you’ll be engulfed by a plethora of casino games, including slots, blackjack, roulette, craps, poker, and more. Some cruise ships will even offer tournaments and themed casino evenings. Again, depending on the cruise liner, there could be limited loyalty programs for those players. These programs will provide free drinks, cabin upgrades, and credits toward a future cruise.
The hours of operation on casino cruise ships are based on maritime regulations. You cannot begin gambling until you’re 12 nautical miles offshore and officially considered in international waters.
Thus, the hours are typically from the late afternoon and into the wee hours of the morning. Additionally, casinos may close during port calls, but it all depends on the country.
To place wagers, most liners will have a card that you use. It’s basically like a prepaid debit card with preloaded funds. This makes playing extremely convenient, but keeping track of how much you’ve spent could prove difficult.
Maritime Gambling Laws: Why Ships Can Offer Casinos
As mentioned above, cruise liners can offer gambling once they reach 12 nautical miles offshore. For nautical miles, you can calculate this by 1.151 for a more accurate mileage reading, which is nearly 14 miles. This is a maritime law. So, when ships are out in the ocean and get within 12 nautical miles of the port, all casino play ceases, depending on your location. If you’re in a country with legal gambling, you can proceed. It’s all about the location in which the ship is approaching.
That said, a cruise ship is legally an extension of its flag country, which introduces flag-state jurisdiction. Many cruise ships register under the “flags of convenience,” which include Bermuda, Panama, or the UK. This is because of those areas’ gambling laws. For example, under UK law, there’s no authority over British-flagged ships’ casinos once they leave UK waters.
With that 12 nautical mile rule, casinos run a tight ship—no pun intended—on their casino schedules.
How Cruise Casinos Operate Differently from Land-Based or Online
Cruise casinos and land-based casinos have many differences. On a cruise, you’ll use chips or account credits, whereas at a land-based casino, you’re equipped with cash. You’ll use cash to fund the cruise ship cards, but no dealers will have cash on hand.
Cruise winnings are shown on vouchers or placed into your cruise account. You must cash out before leaving the ship. All payouts are in one currency, typically USD.
With a loyalty program on a cruise, the points are used for flight miles, free drinks, and more. Because the house edge on slots is much different than land-based casinos, you’ll typically receive more rewards when playing slots.
Speaking of house edge, the dealer games are slim at about 1%, but slots are far different. These can be upward of a 25% difference.
That said, there are some cruise liners that’ll follow a Nevada-like regulation.
Why Some Gamblers Still Use Instant Withdrawal Casinos
With instant withdrawal or online casinos, you can play these anytime, pending your state’s regulations. You can play these on a desktop or mobile device via a downloadable app. These casinos also allow you to withdraw immediately and at any time. These offer the fastest casino payouts, whereas on a ship, your winnings sit in your account until you settle with a cashier. Then, there can be crypto casinos that will also provide you with your winnings immediately.
You can also see your transactions get performed in real time. Almost all of the fastest withdrawal online casino options have a tab to view your transaction history. On a cruise, your balance could all be tied into your bill for other things, such as dining or drinks, and it could become harder to track.
Cruise vs. Online: Payout Speeds Compared
As mentioned, if the fastest casino payouts are most important to you, online casinos will likely be your go-to spot because some withdrawals can be made immediately or within an hour. This will depend on the method, including crypto or e-wallet services like PayPal.
Aboard a cruise ship, there could be a delay. Also, if you win a big jackpot, it could be handled more delicately after a review and a check is done. It could take days or weeks to get bigger payouts. Even some of the fastest withdrawal online casino options will have some slower ones, but these are more niche, like wire transfers.
It’s also worth noting that some ships will have fees or caps. Carnival Cruise has a $3 fee on withdrawals, and you have a daily limit of $5,000.
Which Experience Is Right for You?
At the end of the day, this all comes down to what you prefer.
Do you prefer convenient and fast payouts? Use instant withdrawal casinos.
Do you prefer a more social experience that involves a trip to, perhaps, a tropical island and provides a much larger experience at the cost of slower payouts? Perhaps a cruise liner casino is for you.
That said, there’s no reason why you can’t do both—you won’t be on a cruise all the time. So, go on the cruise, have fun, and use online casinos at home and always remember to have fun and play responsibly.
