Just back from a Caribbean cruise on Carnival lines....first cruise so I
have nothing to compare it to. Before I left I posted a question on whether
you get a W2G on a jackpot....apparently you do on Carnival as I hit a 10
coin quarter royal progressive for $2196 and received the paperwork for
taxes. Paytables were horrible - best I could find was a bank of 7/5 DDB. I
initially thought I would play BP as it was also 7/5, but upon closer
inspection it only paid 1 for two pairs....have to check every line on these
machines! In spite of the terrible play tables, most of us left with a
considerable profit, so if the machines were gaffed, whoever was the slot tech
didn't know what they were doing. I probably played more than the others in
our group - a couple of hours a night - and hit aces with a kicker three
times during the trip. Plenty of other four of a kinds, too....it was funny,
I was getting better payouts than at the Sun where the DDB is full pay.
Gave my two nieces and nephew a "lucky" benjamin each - they all added
another $100 to $150 of their own limited budgets and all managed to turn a
profit. Two of them made enough to buy new couches at IKEA with a little left
over (the couches were on their wish lists for new apartments).
Weather was warm/hot, some of the ports were very nice, not impressed by
the food on the cruise, though. So many people raved about how good the
food was and I can only assume they've never eaten in a nice restaurant - there
was way too much to eat, but the quality was much like banquet food. In
fairness, I guess when you're preparing close to 2000 meals you can't expect
much more. Had a great time with the family - we haven't all been
together since 2008. Just wanted to thank those who responded about the tax
situation, when I hit the royal I was prepared with the driver's license and
SS#
Sandy
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