If you are sailing out of Florida's third busiest cruise port, Central Florida's Port Canaveral, the busiest and best casino is the one found on Mariner of the Seas.

On this sailing, Mariner's Casino Royale was packed each night with $50-$1,000 blackjack tables as well as the normal lower stakes tables customarily found on cruise ships.

The casino on Mariner of the Seas -- similar in size to the casinos on Navigator of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas -- has plenty of tables (and sometimes as a result seemed a bit crowded).

One floor above the casino, one finds the nicest poker room we have thus far discovered at sea. Most "poker rooms" on cruise ships actually consist of one or two tables in a corner of the main casino. But this elegant, paneled room contains two tables for Texas Hold 'em, as well as a blackjack table put there primarily to keep poker players entertained while waiting to enter a game.

Mariner's main casino generally offers six multi-deck blackjack games, two single-deck blackjack, one Caribbean stud poker, one three-card poker, one Let It Ride, three roulette tables and one craps table. Surrounding the tables are 204 slots offering players abundant wagering opportunities ranging from 1 cent to $25.

On this sailing, the casino frequently was still packed at 1 in the morning -- and frequently remained open past 4 am.

The dealers on Mariner were not only competent but by far the most outgoing we have encountered this year on a cruise ship.

Many of the Mariner dealers were from the U.K., Canada or Australia.

While we have spent very pleasant evenings with some of the Eastern European blackjack dealers that are increasingly found on many cruise ships, few (even though most have good language skills) have yet mastered the social interaction with players that makes the game fun -- even when the cards are not cooperating.

Casino management was extremely attentive to members of Royal Caribbean's Club Royale VIP players club. Drinks in the casino were comped, and other goodies (such as fruit baskets, champagne and boxes of chocolates) turned up in some staterooms as well.

This casino is highly recommended, and if you are looking to cruise from Florida and decide to place your bet on a ship sailing from Port Canaveral rather than the more congested ports of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, Mariner of the Seas is a big winner.

--The Savvy Cruiser