Set Sail for a Lucky Streak! These Are the Luckiest Cruise Ship Casinos

Picture this: you’re out on the open seas without a care in the world. Well, aside from whether or not that sunbed thief starts to eye up your spot at the pool while you grab another Piña Colada. So, how could things get better? Perhaps you could bring home a tasty little jackpot alongside the souvenir magnet from every port.

If you’re a holidaymaker who plans the vacation around where you might get lucky at the casino, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We’ve charted a course through the luckiest (and unluckiest) casinos at sea. 

Just like online casinos and those you can drive to, cruise ship casinos are regulated, both by the country where the ship is registered and by the Cruise Lines International Association. This means that the slot games use Random Number Generators, so you could go as far as to say that there’s no such thing as the luckiest casino at sea, because every spin has the same chance of winning. But where’s the fun in that?

We decided to try to figure out exactly which cruise ship casinos are the luckiest by consulting the good people at Tripadvisor. By scouring thousands of reviews, we were able to identify a few keywords like “lucky,” “winning,” and “profit,” and based on the number of mentions, we placed each cruise ship casino on our very special Luck Scale.

We didn’t look at every cruise ship in the world, but we did aim to cover the main ones:

So, let’s talk about the luckiest cruise ship casinos before we take a quick look at the ones to avoid. 

Streets ahead of all the competition, we have Iona, which got a Luck Percentage of 25.62%, based on 175 mentions of one of our keywords. The most common word here was “won,” which got an impressive 63 mentions, followed by “lucky” with 44. This P&O ship has space for 5,200 guests and sails routes like the Norwegian Fjords, and it is complete with 30 restaurants and bars, plus of course the casino.

_{Iona sails to the top with 175 keyword mentions and plenty of winning vibes. (Image: Ascend Drones)}

According to one review, “A massive casino with all games available. Our winnings paid for our gifts we bought and drinks for the whole holiday. A shout-out to the slots manager, Jon, a really friendly guy!” while another person mentioned winning £25. Although it wasn’t all good feedback, as one review said, “Played in casino, staff constantly make mistakes paying out winnings if you're lucky enough to win and always not enough dealers.” 

Second on our list, Carnival Cruise Line Mardi Gras did pretty well, receiving a rating of 21.31%, although this was only based on 13 keyword mentions out of 61 reviews. This vibrant ship features six special on-board zones, including the French Quarter and the Ultimate Playground, so there’s plenty to do.

But if you prefer to hit the slots or tables, you might just get lucky. Although we couldn’t find any mentions of specific monetary amounts that people won, the reviews of the casino were positive, with most of them calling out the size of the casino and the good service from staff. 

Even one slightly negative comment had a positive spin: “Slots were tight, but I was at least able to play for a long time. The casino was super clean. The host Ella was super friendly and accommodating.”

The Royal Caribbean International Wonder of the Seas placed third on our list, with a Luck Rating of 21.21%, so it was very close behind the Mardi Gras. From a quick look at this ship online, it seems absolutely spectacular, boasting an entire water park and 14 different pools. So it’s no surprise that the casino is equally impressive. We took a dive into the reviews and noticed that “luck” and “won” were each mentioned several times.

_{Wonder of the Seas makes a splash with a 21.21% Luck Rating. (Image: Wayleebird)}

One review called out “The casinos...OUTSTANDING. So many jackpots aboard this ship”sounds like our kind of cruise!. On the flip side, we noticed one review from a keen blackjack player, who said, “On the last two cruises on Allure, I won $1200 on one cruise and around $800 on another. On this cruise I lost around $1,000.”

In fourth position, the Norwegian Encore got a rating of 19.11% on our scale, with 43 mentions of one of our keywords. A staggering 24 reviews mentioned the word “won,” so we were very interested to hear exactly what people were saying. 

_{Norwegian Encore ranks fourth with 24 reviews mentioning a win. (Image: Ian Dewar)}

We have to admit we were relieved to see some stories about people actually winning. As one happy seafarer put it, “My husband loved the casino. They had several Texas Hold'em tournaments that he definitely enjoyed, and he won more than he lost. A good day at the casino.” That’ll do nicely!

And finally, to round out our top five, Majestic Princess got a Luck Rating of 18.32%. 

Operated by Princess Cruises, this ship visits ports around the world, including Mexico, Canada, Alaska, and the British Isles. There’s lots to do on board, like comedy shows, nightclubs, bars, and restaurants, as well as the casino.

But while the words “lucky,” “luck,” “won,” and even “jackpot” came up, the reviews weren’t quite as positive as you might think, with one even saying, “Usually, I can get a jackpot or two on a seven-day cruise – the only jackpot that was won was by the casino in my view."

Right at the very bottom of the pile, TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff received a very dubious rating of 0%. Absolutely no one called out any of our keywords in the 91 reviews of the cruise. This ship travels to dreamy destinations like the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean, but it seems that the casino is just not very lucky.

_{TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff scores a 0% Luck Rating, oops. (Image: Ian Dagnall)}

This might be partially due to the fact that a partnership with the Merkur Group resulted in casinos opening up on board certain TUI ships as recently as 2018 to 2021, so it may just be that the reviews aren’t recent enough. But still, you might not want to take the chance.

Also scoring particularly badly was Costa Cruises' Costa Toscana, with just four keyword mentions across over 550 reviews. One review went as far as to call it the “worst cruise ever,” while another person claimed to have been charged an extra €378 for water with dinner. Too bad they couldn’t even win it back in the casino.

On the topic of Costa Cruises, the Costa Smeralda fared just slightly better than its counterpart, receiving a Luck Rating of 1.99%. The words “luck,” “lucky,” and “won” each came up a few times, so the casino can’t be that bad, right? 

_{Costa Smeralda earns a Luck Rating of 1.99%, with a few mentions of “luck,” “lucky,” and “won” hinting at a casino worth a try. (Image: Barrie Harwood)}

Well, we couldn’t find any evidence of anyone actually winning anything. One comment went as far as to say, “Children watched in awe as their parents threw away lots of money without thinking.”

The MSC World Europa also stood out for all the wrong reasons, getting just seven keyword mentions across the 300+ reviews, to end up with a final Luck Rating of just 2.21%. Even though “lucky” came up four times, none of those were in reference to the casino. Want to get an idea of the kinds of things they said?

One was not too complimentary about the food, saying, “All arriving at a snail's pace if you were lucky enough to attract a waiter.” And what about that review that just kept repeating the word “luck” over and over? “Excellence of the suite can't compensate for the lack of respect for the clients. Luck of professionalism, luck of empathy, luck of respect.” Um, excuse me sir or ma’am, we think you might have meant lack.

Methodology

Casinos.com utilized Tripadvisor reviews to do an in-depth analysis of phrases associated with lucky casinos to determine the cruise ship that has the luckiest casino. 

We calculated the percentage of luck-related mentions per hundred Tripadvisor reviews.

Keywords tracked: luck, lucky, won, winning, success, jackpot, handpay, winner, bonus, profit, good fortune;

Disclaimer 

The data in this article is intended for entertainment purposes only. Casinos.com does not claim any one cruise casino to be “luckier” than another. Please don’t use the information presented in this article as gambling or betting advice, and as always, please bet responsibly. 

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