The best casino for double deck blackjack as of this writing is the M Resort, which offers a few games with a miniscule 0.14% house advantage against a basic strategy player, because of the rule mandating that the dealer stands on soft 17. Other excellent games are at MGM Grand, Mirage, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and Aria, all of which also offer.

• Avoid cabins above casino; Avoid cabins under or above crew areas; Avoid cabins near multi-level atriums; You entire cruise experience can be made better or worse depending on the location of the cabin you choose. What is on the deck above or below your cabin can impact your cruise.
• This is a cool casino deck from the 80s that I recently got in a variety box from Conjuring Arts!vjose32.net.
• Baccarat is known as the casino game with the lowest house edge, however, the Tie bet can definitely tarnish its reputation. The Banker is recommended for its low edge of 1.06%, the Player is also a good option with a house edge of 1.26% and then there’s the Tie bet – standing at the staggering 14.4% house edge, defying logic and critical thinking.

CruiseMapper's deckplan services provide cruise deck plans reviews integrated with newest deck layouts and deck legends (company's cabin categories as names and color codes). Each page has a separate link to the vessel's cruise cabins review that provides information on all its staterooms (amenities, cabin types, grades) with usually included floor plans and photos. Here you can search for a particular ship (via the above search bar) or you can skip the introduction (explanations) and go down directly to our list of large passenger ships' deckplan pages.

Along with regularly updated officially issued cruise line deck plans, CruiseMapper's cruise deck plans pages also show statistical information on passenger shipping vessels (including ferries). All pages are organized as 'ship review' articles. You will know what is what, where (location on deck), serving what (functions), operates how and when (review of all onboard venues as activities, amenities, operational hours, special features).

Our cruise ship deck plans will show you what is what (activities, amenities, serving what purpose), located where, changed when (newest upgrades / latest refurbishment review). All dining venues (restaurants and food bars) reviews also contain basic menu/cuisine information, and whether the dining options are complimentary, at surcharge PP or a la carte priced. All deck plan pages include basic statistical information, such as:

• year built, vessel class and sister ships (among the fleets of all lines).
• total number of cabins, plus number per type (Inside, OceanView/RiverView, Balcony, Suite)
• capacity - passengers (normal and max/double occupancy) and crew capacity
• number of passenger accessible decks, number (in any) of swimming pools and whirlpools (hot tubs), passenger elevators, water-slide(s
• On some ships is additionally provided information regarding name origin/meaning, service history, fun facts.

Cruise deck plans (layouts) updates

Like all things in life, cruise ship deck plans do change in time. Often, cruise lines change facilities and public venues - their location, type (services and amenities) or names. Other changes may relate to new cabin categories. Often, after a major refurbishment, cruise lines add to the ship:

• new passenger cabins
• new dining venues - specialty restaurants, bars, lounges, etc
• new facilities - aqua park, water-slide(s), Spa, pool(s) / whirlpool(s), outdoor movie theater, etc
• or - simply change the names of the existing ones.

We are responsible for all these deckplan changes and keep our deck layouts and reviews regularly updated and most correct.

Cruise ship deck plan reviews

In each of CruiseMapper's ship deck plans you will find a detailed list of all cabins and facilities onboard the vessel. This information generally includes:

• ship details - year built, last refurbished (scheduled refurbishment), capacity (passengers and crew)
• total number of passenger cabins, launderettes (passenger use self-service laundry /if any), onboard credit kiosks (self-service money transfer), photo kiosks
• dining room(s), buffet restaurant, specialty restaurant(s) /at surcharge per person or with a la carte menu, dinner club, fast food bars/stations
• theatre/main show lounge
• lounges and bars, conference/meeting room(s)
• casino, video games arcade, special gaming room (like F1 simulator)
• swimming pool(s) and whirlpools (hot-tubs)
• Spa and Fitness complex (wellness facility), jogging/walking track, roller-skating track, sports court(s)
• library, art gallery, photo gallery
• atrium/lobby area with reception desk, shore excursions desk, duty-free shops and boutiques
• 'Promenade Deck' - an outdoor area that fully or partially circles around the ship
• kids and teenagers club lounges and playing zones (on some ships with pool/whirlpool), missing on adult-only vessels
• Aqua Park with waterslide(s) - on the largest cruise ships only
• unique facilities - such as rock-climbing wall(s), ice-skating track(s), Zip-line, rotating panoramic capsules, glass-floor walking paths, bumping cars, skydive and surf simulators, F1/Sports Car simulator, bungee trampoline, and many other truly bizarre cruise ship design inventions.

CruiseMapper's dedicated staff does regular updates that reflect all deck plan changes (when officially announced by the companies). We do this job properly - so you can count on us, and the information we provide to be accurate and up-to-date. Follows the long list of (internal) links, which redirect to the vessel's deck plan review. Know that these are only ocean-going ships. To see all river cruise ship deck plans, you'll have to follow CruiseMapper's river cruise lines links and explore the company's fleet. Our list of river shipping companies includes AmaWaterways, ACL-American Cruise Lines, AQSC-American Queen Steamboat Company, Arosa, Avalon Waterways, CroisiEurope, Crystal, Emerald Waterways, Grand Circle, Luftner-Amadeus, Scenic, Scylla, Uniworld, Viking, also our hubs for River Cruises (smaller companies, time-chartered boats), Russian River Cruises (boats in Russian Federation) and Nile River Cruises (hotel ships in Egypt).

Note: The following list of cruise lines deck plans includes only CruiseMapper's largest companies fleets and only ocean-going vessels. To access our full deckplan database (including small-fleet shipping companies, cruiseferries and riverboats) use the search box at page top.

The Gambler's Crimp, Shading Decks, and Other Methods for Marking Cards

In 1902, S. W. Erdnase wrote, 'A perfect understanding of the risks that are taken may aid greatly in lessening the casualties.' This is extremely profound. Blackjack table or no blackjack table, Erdnase laid out the truth about cheating and marked cards in his turn of the century publication, Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table.

My life as an amateur magician changed forever late one summer evening when my mentor gave me a copy of the Erdnase book re-titled, The Expert At the Card Table. It was my fourteenth birthday and it broke me out of my Houdini phase forever, much to the relief of my mother.

Casino Deck Checker Poker

The Expert at the Card Table is every good sleight of hand artist's primer. If you gamble for money, it should be your primer too, particularly now with casinos popping up all over the place. North American natives, privileged with 'nation within a nation' status, can now open casinos. Revenue-poor cities and states are also turning to casino gambling in an effort to refill their treasury coffers. Up and down the Mississippi, 24-hour, permanently moored riverboats have recently opened, much to the delight of everyone.

So, now that we can gamble in bars, tents and riverboats, everything is great. Right? No, not really. If you open a bunch of casinos, you're going to need a bunch of dealers. Experienced ones would be nice, but truth is you've got five riverboats with 40 blackjack tables each. Assuming your 40 tables are always busy, you need 200 dealers for just the first 8 hour shift and there are three shifts a day. Suddenly, anyone who can count to 21 and shuffle a deck of cards is looking good to you.

Now think about this. If you were a grifter hustling blackjack, would you rather work in Nevada where the patrons are guarded and house security knows the tricks of your trade, or would you rather grift someplace where no one has ever grift before?

My point here, folks, is that it's good to know thy game. Educate yourself. There are vultures. Vultures are everywhere. The majority of cheating in private games is accomplished with marked cards. Some methods are very sophisticated and some are very simple. There are lots of different ways cards can be marked. Some of these methods might work in a casino staffed by amateur pit and security personnel.

Easy Methods for Marking Cards or Exploiting Existing Marks

You can buy a factory marked, factory sealed deck of Bicycle brand readers from most magic shops. Factory marked Bicycles are examples of shade work. To shade a deck, an artist will sit with a paint brush and trim the thickness of some part or other of the design work on the back of the card. Note the flower petals in the upper right hand corners of this rider back. (See the illustraton above.)

If you have talent with a paint brush, you can find the proper shades of red and blue inks (also at the magic stores), and create customized decks for your own specific needs. The ever-popular 'Bee' back design (the standard deck in many casinos) lends itself beautifully to shade work. (See the illustration below.)

Could a cheat get his own deck(s) into a casino? It depends on how amateur the operation is... (See Steve Forte's article, 'Don't Be a Mark for Marked Cards,' for more information on cardroom controls.)

No artistic talent? Got an iron? Heat it up and press the backs of all the 10 count cards, deadening the shine. This ploy makes ready identification possible — if you know what to look for.

Don't own an iron? Put a single drop of water on the back of a card. Wipe it off in a few minutes and it will leave a small dull spot. You can see it if you hold the deck at the proper angle to reflect light. (These marking techniques are too subtle to illustrate with photos.)

Go back to the magic shop and ask the kid behind the counter for a magician's 'card marker.' (See the illustration directly above.) A card marker is a handy little device to own. The card is inserted between the jaws of the marker and pressure is applied. The resulting mark can be felt, which means an accomplished second dealer could know without peeking whether the top card should be dealt or not.

Batch variations in the printing run can also be taken advantage of by cheats. You will find that you can buy two identical decks of cards (with borderless backs, such as Bee decks) and the ink on the edges will create a specific edge shading for each deck. This shading varies from deck to deck because of the cutting and printing process. Remove the tens from one deck and replace them with the tens from the other. The variance in the two decks' edge shading makes 'reading' the edges of the tens possible.

Daub, a sticky substance smeared onto the backs of cards, is undoubtedly the most worked subterfuge in private games. This is because you don't have to bring in your own cards, but simply do your work on the spot. You can actually buy daub, but nobody does. Most folks make their own. Green or blue eye shadow works well on blue back decks, as does pencil graphite, ash from the ever present cigarette ashtray or dirt from the sole of the shoe.

Classically, daub is placed into the recessed head of a button sewn under the edge of the cheat's jacket or vest. To mark a card with daub, he simply touches the back of any card with daub on his finger. The mark is faint but good enough to be seen later — if you know what to look for.

With the exception of daub, the work discussed here has been of a mechanical nature (i.e., there is a physical, permanent mark on the card). This is why daub is good (for the cheat). Along comes the last few rounds of the game and the daub artist begins wiping the backs of the cards along the table to remove the daub as he folds. This would be impossible in a normal casino environment, and would probably be difficult for a blackjack dealer to accomplish anywhere. Every cheat worries about covering his tracks — except for the sleight of hand artist.

The Gambler's Crimp for No Permanent Mark

A sleight of hand artist uses the gambler's crimp — a method that will leave no permanent mark on the cards. If you're a cheat, this is a very good thing. If there are no marks on the cards, cheating is virtually impossible to prove. There are about a million different ways to do the gambler's crimp. Some ways are better than others.

The natural act of picking up a playing card from the surface of the table lends itself to the gaff. Simply pick up a card (see the illustration directly above.) between your index finger which is on the back of the card and the thumb and middle which are on the face. By pressing the index finger down onto the back of the card, you create a little 'V' shaped crimp in one corner of the card. There are dozens of crimping methods a dealer might employ in the 'natural' handling of the deck.

Education doesn't have to be costly. Learn the tricks of the trade to protect yourself from marked cards and other forms of cheating. I recommend Erdnase's The Expert at the Card Table, especially if you play much blackjack in boats that go nowhere, roadhouse bars, decorated warehouses, and converted fire stations.

[Editor's Note: Howard Collier is a 5th generation Texan and a sleight of hand expert. He resides in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles County. He wrote and produced the video, The Business of Blackjack.] ♠

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