[Gaming Ore]

I've just returned from a 9-day cruise aboard the Island Princess (Princess Cruise Line). The cruise was a "re-positioning" cruise, where the ship was moved from it's Los Angeles/Hawaiian Islands circuit, to a Vancouver/Alaska circuit. We sailed from Los Angeles, to Santa Barbara, to San Franscisco, to Sitka, to Ketchikan, to Victoria (British Columbia) and ending up at Vancouver.

While on-board I played poker and scavanged all of the value chips in the scan, except the fifty center and the snapper ($2.50) which I got from a blackjack table.

The Casino Manager was kind enough to give me the green Win Cards chip, as they are no longer doing the Win Cards program and he had one laying around.

ALL OF THE $5 CHIPS are so worn, I only took one of each! Maybe down the line, I'll be able to upgrade them, but I didn't want to be saddled with duplicates that are very worn.

As I stated above, the ship was the Isalnd Princess and she had chips made in her name. On-board were $1's, the two $5's (a rack issue and the Inagural), $25's and $100's. Note that there were no "Island Princess" snappers ($2.50's). Supposedly they exist, but not on that ship. All snappers were from the Diamond Princess. Interestingly, about 50% of all the $1's were also from the Diamond Princess, while the others were from the Island Princess. The casino manager said that they got the shipment intended for the Diamond Princess. Perhaps the Diamond Princess got the Island Princess snappers?

That "LTD" (Limited) to 10,000 is joke among collectors. Generally, after 2,000, a casino exeeds what we would call "limited". Notice the older $1 and $5, they are hard to find. The cage purposely pulls them from circulation.

Anyway, I did pick up extras of both $1 chips. My poker play was horrible! I should have just bought chips instead!

Thanks for looking. (The top scan show one side of all the chips, the second scan shows the backs of all chips that are different than the front.)

Jim (Gaming Ore) Follis

[jamby]

Welcome back to the mainland, Jim and congrats on your chip take-away.

I especially like the $5 Hat & Cane chip with the shaped inlay. Too bad they're worn. The condition looks pretty decent in your scan.

-jamby

[Harlequin011]

Nice little chip run!

How would you describe the poker on the cruise?

[tomb1]

Welcome back Jim, what a nice itinerary. I hope Alaska was scenic!

Like Jamby, I love that classic TH&C red chip. Mine is very worn, too. Do they play with the new chips in the crew holds and only release them to the paying customers when they get worn? J/K

[Jambine]

Great looking group there. The “CI” mark is very prominent on that $5 Chipco. Or maybe it’s just a really good scan.

[Gaming Ore]

Originally Posted by jamby

I especially like the $5 Hat & Cane chip with the shaped inlay. Too bad they're worn. The condition looks pretty decent in your scan.

-jamby

Jamby, thanks. Although you probably know this, in the chip collecting community, that specific shaped-inlay is catalogued as a "hub" inlay.

Regarding the condition... If I was using the CC&GTCC Official Condition Guide, I would rate the chip "A" (as in average) if I was selling and definately "WU" (well used) if I was buying.

It definately requires some magnification to detect extent of cross-hatching remaining. I might need a vise to display it standing on edge.

Jim

[boondocker96]

Sweet additions!
Love the $5 grand princess Angelfish chip.

[Gaming Ore]

Originally Posted by Harlequin011

How would you describe the poker on the cruise?

Every house has it's own rules! The only game at the only table was 3/6 hold'em. Tables was OK, but chairs were horrible!!!! (They fit the decore of the ship, not the casino.)

If you missed Big Blind, but came back before small blind, you could not buy button. Except for start-up of new game, all new players needed to post or wait for blind when joining in.

Dealers were taught (required) to spread flop at top edge of chip tray. This consistently gave dealer best view of community cards at all times. The process to get a fill was for the dealer to use a two-way radio. If they forgot radio, a player would be the two-way. Dealers consistently did not call for a fill until the tray was both empty and they needed to provide player checks (i.e., a buy-in). This was so consistent, it appeared to be a rule, no fill until you have a buy-in issue.

However, when the buy-in happened, the dealer was allowed to exchange the cash for chips from another player at the table, while they waited for a fill. But cash was not permitted on the table (i.e., cash did not play) the player selling chips was allowed to pocket the cash!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw several hundreds of dollars leave the table this way!!!!

They also had a rule that said if I had face cards in the hole, I could get face cards in the flop, and vice-versa!!!

It was interesting that one of the players brought a set of home chips (generics) and ran No Limit, Sit 'N Go's ($20) in the card room (bridge, hearts, etc.). (I did not play there.)

Jim

[Gaming Ore]

Originally Posted by tomb1

I hope Alaska was scenic!

Very! No rain and many Bald Eagles!!!!

It was great, but too early for salmon.

Jim

[Gaming Ore]

Originally Posted by Jambine

The “CI” mark is very prominent on that $5 Chipco.

They used black ink in the transfer for the "CI", instead of their normal method of thinning the mixture of the color around the "CI" to get a subdued/faint "CI".

Jim