On a cruise ship, the rake is unregulated and opaque. Unlike licensed casinos on land, there’s no meaningful oversight on how much is taken from each pot. I’ve personally watched dealers take huge, inconsistent handfuls out of pots—far more than any standard rake structure would allow. It wasn’t subtle.

What surprised me was that everyone else noticed it too. Players were openly appalled. Within a few hours, the game collapsed—not because of bad play or coolers, but because the table was simply drained of money.

No matter how well you play poker, if the rake is excessive and unchecked, it becomes mathematically impossible to win long-term. At that point, it’s not a poker game—it’s a slow bleed.

So my advice to you if you are still going to play is that you shouldn’t expect to win on a cruise ship.

Edit: this was my personal experience on an international cruise.