If you live in South Florida and are a table games player, the newly renovated Majesty of the Seas has a few things to offer that the Seminole Hardrock Casino can't match: an opportunity to enjoy a great weekend at sea while playing craps, roulette or blackjack.
The Majesty, which sails from Miami on Friday evenings and has you back to start another business week first thing on Monday mornings (it also does a slightly longer cruise Monday through Friday), has just undergone an amazing renovation and has emerged virtually a new ship.
Majesty's Casino Royale features 11 gaming tables (five multi-deck blackjack tables, one single-deck blackjack table, one Caribbean stud poker, one three-card poker, two roulette and one craps table) arrayed in two banks in the center of the casino. There is also one well-utilized table for Texas Hold 'em.
 The Majesty's casino has 210 slots arrayed around the perimeter of the casino that in the evenings were quite busy. The slots range from 5 cents to $25.
Most of the table games have a $5 minimum and $200 maximum, and players -- particularly at the craps table -- appeared to be having a good time. As always on cruise ships, the lower-limit blackjack tables drew a number of inexperienced cruisers who tended make up in enthusiasm what they lacked in savvy.
 Majesty had one blackjack table with a $25 minimum and $500 maximum, and it for the most part attracted experienced players.
The casino on Majesty, particularly on the weekend cruises, generally stays busy into the wee hours, and as a result usually remains open until between 2 and 4 am.
The dealers on the whole -- as is generally the case on Royal Caribbean ships -- were highly competent and friendly, and management was particularly attentive and accommodating to higher-stakes players and members of the Royal Caribbean Players Club.
While we had a good feeling about this casino, we offer two caveats. As part of the redesign of Majesty of the Seas, some areas of the decorative ceiling in the casino were lowered, upping the decibel count a notch or two when action as at its peak.
One other factor that you also should be aware of, if you are a high-stakes player, is that the Majesty casino -- like those on all the Royal Caribbean ships sailing short cruises -- uses continuous shuffling machines at all of its blackjack tables. (Royal Caribbean does not use the continuous shufflers on ships sailing longer cruises.)
These shuffling machines eliminate the old concept of "shoes" and randomly insert discards back into the automatic shuffler after every hand. As noted before, many VIP players don't like continuous shufflers (even though they do not, contrary to popular opinion, increase the house edge).
But overall, this casino offers South Florida table games players a way to get in some weekend action -- not yet possible at the Indian casinos or any of the racinos in Broward County -- while enjoying a getaway aboard what has been transformed into the most nicely appointed ship sailing short cruises out of Miami.
--The Savvy Cruiser |
