If you love to mix some casino time with your cruising, the people who brought the world the "Love Boat" offer a year-round Caribbean opportunity to get in some gaming while sailing from island to island aboard the Caribbean Princess.

The Caribbean Princess casino -- virtually identical to the casino on the Diamond Princess -- might best be described as understated, without the glitz or strong decorative themes (ie, Czarist Russia or Japanese Shogun) often found in other cruise ship casinos.

But one thing the Caribbean Princess doesn't lack is table games, offering 17 of these, arranged in two banks on either side of the casino bar, with slot machines arrayed around the perimeter. The casino has two roulette tables, one craps table, eight blackjack tables, one Face Up blackjack, one Fun 21, one Let It Ride, one Caribbean stud table featuring a large progressive jackpot, and two three-card poker tables.

Most of the table games have a $5 minimum, and a couple had a $3 minimum on the first night of the cruise -- the lowest minimum we have recently encountered at sea.

During the day and early evening, the only higher-stakes option available for VIP players is a $10-to-$300 blackjack table. At midevening, one blackjack table is opened with a $25 minimum and $500 maximum. Unless you are on a sailing that includes a group of casino junketeers (when there may be a $50-to-$1,000 table), the Caribbean Princess probably is not the optimum cruise ship for casino high-rollers.

One of the interesting innovations now found on the Caribbean Princess -- as well as the ships of most other members of the Ocean Players Club -- is a Caribbean Stud game offering a separate chance to win a linked progressive jackpot. For a dollar side bet, a player drawing a royal flush in diamonds stood to win more than $100,000 on the early days of this sailing, and a player drawing a royal flush in any other suit would have returned from the cruise more than $50,000 happier. (The top prize reset and started back up from just over $50,000 on the next to last day of the cruise after a lucky passenger hit on another ship!)

For slot players, the Caribbean Princess has 238 machines, offering a wide range of opportunities to wager anywhere from a penny to $50. One bank of slots is linked to the Ocean Players Club progressive Megacash jackpot, which may be about due -- having climbed on this April 2006 sailing to more than $650,000!

While the casino was somewhat quiet the week we sailed, it still stayed open most nights until near 3 a.m., and dealers said the casino had been packed on several previous cruises. The dealers on the Caribbean Princess were friendly and competent, and casino supervisors were solicitious of members for the Ocean Players Club -- comping drinks, and seemingly eager to enlist new members.

Overall, this is a pleasant casino in which to gamble. And the casino offered two blackjack and two slots tournaments in the course of the week -- double the action found on most seven-day cruises. If you are looking for a week of fun in the Caribbean sun, excellent food, and some gaming-action on the side, the Caribbean Princess may be the "Love Boat" for you.

--The Savvy Cruiser