I’m back from my trip to Miami and the Caribbean Poker Classic cruise on board the Freedom of the Seas, the biggest cruise ship in the world.  This particular cruise departed from Miami, stopping at San Juan, Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St. Maarten.  A days travelling and sitting in airports meant lack of sleep and with the -5 hour difference meant some jet lag so been going to bed late and not getting much sleep for work.  I thought i’d give you a full review of the cruise for anyone interested in going on one instead of just writing about poker as this was more of a holiday for me.

The Cruise

Boarded on the Sunday from 2pm and the process was so easy and smooth I could already tell that everything was going to be like this on board. Get out of taxi > label your luggage with stateroom number > leave bags with porter > TIP PORTER > go to terminal > passport and ticket > basic security > check in and get seapass activated.

The seapass card is just a card with your name on which you use as door card and to charge everything to which can be activated by credit card then the bill is charged to the credit card at the end of the cruise.  You can also activate it with a cash deposit and then settle this at the end although this takes more time and more inconvenient.  You can also check the bill on your telly so you can check if there’s anything dodgy been put on it by mistake.

We were put on deck 6 and had a stateroom with balcony which came part of my Dad’s package he won at William Hill.  Room was noticeably small and made even worse with the pull out bed, bathroom was basically an airplane toilet with a shower which was surprisingly nice.  ‘Sucky’ toilet that is impossible to avoid skiddas.  When you get to your room it’s unlikely that your baggage will be there as they load it onto the ship separately and it’s delivered outside your room sometime during the day.  Ideal time to explore the ship and make sure you do because it’s massively and you will definitely get lost at some time.  Also, check which side of the boat you are staying on (starboard/port) as the last thing you want to do is start walking down the wrong side of the corridor only to find you are on the wrong side and have to walk all the way back round.

There’s lots to do but I think i’d struggle without the poker as a lot of the things were just not to my taste because i’m really boring and hate doing stuff and getting involved.  There is the Royal Promenade which is the central point where there are a few standard shops, cafe, british style pub, sorrentos pizza (mmm), wine bar and a barbers.  Outside there is mini golf, rock climbing wall, surfrider, basketball/sports court, kids water park and none of these I tried.  I only saw the gym on the 2nd last day and it looked like one of the most impressive gyms I have ever seen with treadmills running right accross the room infront of a big window.  Again, I did not use but might have if I was really bored.  An ice rink was made inside a mini area which you could skate on and see professional shows however I never saw this in action.  There was also this solarium place but I don’t know what that was, I think it was just a spa area with private pool and cushions on sunbeds.

I have to give sepearate paragraph to the food because it was a key part of the cruise.  I’m not a big eater or anything but I definitely apreciated the choice and quality that was available which was all included in the price so you could eat anything you wanted when you wanted.  Only had breakfast first couple of days where I could get up before 10 then slipped back into normal after 12 routine, there was loads of choice but I just stuck with cornflakes, yoghurt and fruit as I don’t like hot food in the morning.  Later in the week, lunch became breakfast and again loads of choice but went for the standard buger and chips.  The main dining room was spread across 3 floors and the room was so impressive you’d have to see it to really understand.  I didn’t realise the food was 3 course menu based before I came on the cruise which I much prefer as buffet food is generally sub standard.  The servings were smallish but satisfying and they were happy to serve you extra portions or another dish if desired.  Quality was superb with the best meat you could ever have.  Excellent service as well with 2 waiters getting anything you wanted.

There were so many staff it was unreal, I think there were only about 2/1 people to staff which meant service in every area was brilliant.  Everything just seemed so professional and organised there was so little to complain about that you probably would in a land based hotel.

While on board I watched the magic & illusionist Drew Thomas with his production show called Now You See It and was one of the most impressive things I have seen.  Followed by the ‘Love & Marriage game show’ hosted by the Cruise Director – Richard Spacey.  This guy is so funny and brilliant at what he does I expect him to be on a hefty wage, check some YouTube videos.

The ports of call weren’t overly interesting but a welcome break from the ship.  First was San Juan, Puerto Rico which is basically an old town with some shops heavily changed by the cruise industry.  St Thomas, another palce that is just full of shops targeted to cruisers with the vast majority being jewellers so overall this place was quite boring.  Last stop was St. Maarten which was probably the most enjoyable place to go.  We went on the Poccer trip from the Poker which was to a private beach with DJ and free drinks.  Weather was excellent so was a nice relaxing day as the weather had mostly been naff on board.

I need to make a final point about people who say ‘you will never feel the boat moving’ is lying unless we just got some of the worst weather.  Basically the trip to the Caribbean takes some getting used to and you are definitely conscious of the movement.  On the way back it was even worse and watching people try to carry soup at lunch was humorous.  You could also hear creaking which was a bit off-putting.  No seasickness for me cos i’m dead hard but I heard some people were ill.

I would love to go into every detail but worried I have already went on for too long so i’ll end it here.  Overall, the cruise was very enjoyable but I wouldn’t hurry to go back on one soon.  That does not mean I wouldn’t go on one again as i’d like to see different places but now i’ve experienced the biggest cruise ship i’d be spoilt to try anything else so I think the next one would need to be on the new Oasis of the Seas coming next year, hopefully there will be a poker cruise on there .

The Poker

Well first of all I dropped a bollock in only taking £400 cash with and getting less than 1.35 for the dollar as I never changed before I went.  I was hoping to be able to withdraw money out of my William Hill account but they couldn’t do it on board.  That meant I only played the $330 Freezeout, a $25 sng and $75 sng so overall disappointing with no winnings.  Didn’t realise you could pre buy in online as I was definitely palying the 300 so I could have had more money to play sngs.  Anyway, i’d love to go in depth about the tournament but it was so standard there’s not much to say.

The tournament started with 3000 chips, 30 min clock starting 25-25 and about 127 runners so suited my game.  I dunno why they didn’t just make it 6000 starting as it’s basically the same game without the annoying first level but i’m sure there’s a logical reason for Thomas Kremser’s decision for this.  I started off with a normal table, had soaps on my left and some weaker players to my right so I was comfortable.  Picked up my genuine hands in first 2 levels and picking up a few 50 and 75 pots which is not really what I wanted.  Was up to about 4k then table got broke and move to a table with good Romanian and Scandi on my right with weaker on my left.  Card dead for the most of the table so should have picked up a very tight image, probs only played 1 hand.  The scandi had been raising a few pots small and saw him fold to a re raise so I then pick up AQ and i’m down to about 15bbs after the antes had kicked in so I re shove on him, tanks for 20 seconds and calls showing AQ for a choppy chop.  I actually can’t remember much that happened after that but I had was getting short and needed to make a move soon.  Found it hard to get involved with pots as I never had a hand where I could raise and call a re raiser so I was basically waiting for push fold zone.  Even then, I was struggling for the right cards/moment with a lot of raises in front of me so anyway I somehow got down to 3 bbs utg so I was forced all in with J7h.  I was isolated by AQs, hit the 7 on the river I cool and smooth wait for the chips only to see it also have him the flush so I was busted out in around 50th.  I can’t rememeber how I got short as I normally wouldn’t let myself get down to where i’m forced all in utg.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game and was worth paying way out of my bankroll to experience this game.  I’m definitely not aggressive enough when playing live as I hardly ever re raise but I guess this will come with practice.  On another note I was so comfortable in the two sngs I really thought i’d win them but it wasn’t to be.  So after that I was broke and never played anymore.

It would be disappointing if there was not another Caribbean Poker Classic with inevitable collapsing of Cryptologic as it is a very friendly event with some interesting people.

A mention to Mark ‘soaps’ Suddes who was 6th in the 400 and 7th in a main event.

I’m just sitting here in Miami Airport on my return from the Caribbean Poker Classic while I waiting for the check in to open.  Already done the online check in with BA so I picked the seats infront of the toilets so I don’t feel bad about putting my seat right the way back.

First of all I have to say how good the flights were on the way here with quick check in from Newcastle and comfortable flight to Heathrow.  It was an early flight so had an all nighter and looking forward to try and get some kip but was not worth it on the short flight and got a nice ham and cheese panini on the way there and in no time we were arriving in the new terminal 5 just for British Airways flights.  I was very impressed with the new building despite the bad press it has already received.  Absolutely massive building and everything seems easy going (yes it’s Heathrow) after we got through the very quick transfer ready for the flight to Miami.  There is this metro thing which zips you between buildings so everything is really quick.  Had about an hour before the flight so had a seat, loaded up the internet with my work’s free BT Openzone minutes and teamdobb on my dongle so had a go at two double or nothings.  2/2 Cashes so i’m back on track for my 65% ITM.  I tried to get some sleep early on but the food was early so got that out the way then I think I got about half an hour before getting a sore wrist, yes you know the feeling when you’re leaning on it.  Loaded up the entertainment system and i’m quite wowzad at the choice of films, tv shows and albums to listen I actually just spend half an hour scrolling through the stuff but eventually decided on watching ‘Wanted’ which was very good.  Went for more kip after I discovered you could pull these things down next to your head so you don’t roll over onto the person next to you.  Arrived in Miami with a full battery on my laptop on and iPod thanks to BA.

Shortish taxi to the Alexander Hotel at the top end of Miami Beach and i’m very impressed to find a massive 2 bedroom apartment with a 40″ LCD TV, kitchen, en suite, massive balcony, jacuzzi bath and massive walk in shower.  We dump the bags and have a wander out and about, I already know we’re miles away from the action in South Beach but we head off walking in that direction anyway.  First night after 12 hours travelling, you don’t really want to walk 3 miles but that’s what we did anyway and find ourselves at Lincoln Road which is an outside mall full of restaurants, shops and bars.  Hit McDonalds and refresh with McFlurrys and Coke and I can’t remember what else we did.  I’m up first the next day which never happens and we hit the pool for a nice relaxing day and head back down to Collins Ave, this time on the $2 bus.  That is one good thing about Miami is that the buses are $2 per person, any distance with no change and are very quick.  I think if this was done in the UK, then people might use public transport more.

We did not really do much in Miami Beach except for wander about looking at shops but overall it is a nice place to see and would probably go back.  Miami is expensive even if the £ rate was 2.0 so the rate at the minute did not help things at all.  Some things I learned:

• Do exchange money before you go there.  Dropped a bollock and couldn’t get any better than 1.38 as there’s hardly any exchange places.
• Next time I would stay more in South Beach and sacrifice the massive room for smaller room, more expensive and closer to the action.  It was a bit of a pain in the arse to keep getting buses to get some food or look at shops.
• Don’t overrate the beautiful people there.  Dunno if I was just in the wrong places but there were very few nines and tens just lots of eights and sevens.
• If you like cars, walk down Ocean Drive and you’ll see plenty.  Ferraris, Porsches, Corvettes, loads of mustangs and just about every flash sports car you can think of.
• I regret not walking down actual South Beach.

That’s about it.  I’ll follow up with my Cruise review in a bit.