A Day At Sea

Travelzoo had a deal they emailed me a while back which offered a cruise on the Victory Casino Cruise out of Port Canaveral. $27 for admission, buffet, 2 drinks and $10 for the slots. Not bad, I thought, so I bought it and redeemed it today. I remembered the last casino cruise I'd been on and thought it was a decent enough deal for a day on a boat. And this time I got free drinks and a little bit of gambling money.

The weather was great, nice and sunny, although quite hot. Well what do you expect in Central Florida in the middle of summer. As you can see it the pics below, there was a little threat of some rain as a squall passed nearby but it avoided us and we stayed dry. Good thing for this fair weather too since, as usual, I was almost immediately bored with any type of gambling.

I played my voucher card with the $10 at a $1 slot machine which I couldn't really figure out. Pretty much lost it all in two "spins." Some of these touchscreen LCD newfangled slots are so confusing. They look so pretty and have lots of stuff going on replete with appropriate "exciting" electronic sounds. I think it's just to make hapless people think they have more control over the odds of their winning. Or maybe it's to further dazzle them into a distracted stupor so they don't notice how much money they're losing. I actually overheard some old bird complain that the machines let you win a little but never as much as you're putting in. Wow lady, you just figured that out now!?

Like all casinos, the stuff many people find fun just doesn't do it for me. I overheard a couple of guys talking excitedly about some game they were playing and one of the guys had a "system" like counting cards but based on the numbers he was talking about and how often or not some "came up" I think he was talking about roulette. He had a piece of paper where he'd taken notes of all the numbers that came up. My science-based mind is perplexed at this. How could tracking the sequence of numbers that hit on a roulette wheel be of any use? Isn't it totally random? Counting cards in blackjack...yes, I understand that there is the use of statistics and diminishing odds in that, but roulette is just a little ball spinning into a rotating wheel filled with numbered slots. Beats me. But the thing is, even if they're just fooling themselves into thinking they know better than the actual facts (ie. that every game in a casino have odds overwhelmingly in the house's favor) they're getting enjoyment out of it, so at least that's something. For me, I'm to much of a realist. I feel like I'm just giving my money away and getting nothing in return when I'm gambling. And I don't think it's going to a worthy cause. Casino owners are certainly not in need of my charity.

So despite the heat, I opted to spend the majority of my time on board on the top deck, soaking up some much needed Vitamin D. Maybe a little too much from the look and feel of it as I glance down at my sunburned arms and legs.

Here are some shots of the pretty water and the awesome-looking rain squall directly over Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and Kennedy Space Center.





There was a lot of excitement from passengers on the deck as this passed by. It's a submarine.


Here's a zoomed-in shot of it. I assume it was going out to patrol since there's a Delta IV rocket launch scheduled for this evening. Don't they need submersible vessels to retrieve separated stages and such? But where's a sub going to put that shit? Don't mind me, I have no idea why it was there.


Finally here's a shot, and video of a huge cruise ship passing us on her way out to sea as we were returning.