Cruise Ship Casinos: Which Ones Float Your Boat?

by Bodog Casino | Mar 5 2009

We don’t know about you, but ever since those SNL (Saturday Night Live) cats released the hip-hop video spoof “I’m on a boat” we’ve been itching to purchase our own boat, pop champagne and gamble the night away (featuring T-Pain of course).

But unless we win a free boat ride from a cereal box it’s probably not going to happen. The next best thing is getting ourselves on a cruise ship that offers Cristal and, most of all, gambling.

But which cruise ships allow you to tan, party and gamble? And when did gaming start on boats anyway?

Well, get your paddles and flippy-floppies ready, we got the 411.

History of Sailing and Gaming
To truly connect the dots in the history of the Casino Cruise, you have to rewind back to when states started offering Riverboat casinos.

Riverboat casinos started popping up all the way back in the 19th century. However, the Civil War derailed much of its early existence. After that, boat casinos basically disappeared until late in the 20th century, when states looking for new revenue sources that would be appealing to voters.

Because, outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the United States has fairly strict casino laws, Riverboats became the loophole which made gaming legal in many states. As long as, at some point, the boat sailed three miles out (which would put the casino in international waters) it was perfectly legal to offer gaming in places like Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi. Eventually, many states even loosened up those laws and many Riverboats today have become stationary.

With the solid revenue these boats were bringing in, cruise ships started offering elaborate casinos that would rival any Riverboat. At first many had strict betting limits, but because of competition nationwide those have loosened up considerably. Presently, you’d be hard pressed to find any cruise that doesn’t offer at least a little bit of Blackjack, slots, and Roulette.

Best Boats for Blackjack Etc…
Like we said, you’re going to have plenty of trouble finding a cruise – whether they’re luxury or mainstream – that doesn’t let you play a little Blackjack. But which cruise line is best overall?

Crystal Cruises’ ships have a coolest casino feature of all the lines. It’s called Caesar's At Sea - an ocean version of the gigantic Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas . Caesar's At Sea ships have five blackjack tables, baccarat, a roulette wheel, a craps table and over 80 slot machines on their Crystal Symphony ship, and more than 100 slots aboard their Crystal Harmony ship.

Other than the Crystal Cruise lines there’s Carnival, Holland America, Princes, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), and Royal Caribbean International. They all offer enough gaming to help you dodge those corny cruise song-and-dance shows.