The first week in the life of a cruise ship casino cashier (in training)

28th April 2007

Hi guys,

Me again.

Now where was I…?

That’s right; I was being taken to my cabin by Mirel. From memory (the reason for which will become apparent) Mirel is Romanian. One thing that you get used to fast on a cruise ship is looking at peoples name badges. Not only does it tell you what their name is and what they do but it also tells you where they are from. Unfortunately I’m yet to run into a Kiwi and even more unfortunately I’ve come across 4 Australians, but back to my tour. First stop was my cabin or the shoe box. Okay, maybe calling it a shoe box is doing it a disservice but it certainly isn’t the biggest living space you have ever seen, especially given that it has to accommodate two people and all their gear. Mine had bunk beds, a small desk that was mostly taken up with a small TV, a two door cupboard, half of which was mine and a bathroom. The bathroom seemed just big enough to stand in and brush my teeth with one foot up on the toilet. The shower was of a size that no matter where I stood I would have the shower curtain plastered to some part of me or the other but it does have a really good shower rose and the water pressure is enough to slam you up against the wall or through the curtain. When I arrived at good old cabin 180 my cabin mate was home and got a bit of a shock when I walked in just as he was getting out of the shower. Hurried introductions as he got dressed established him as Phil from Geelong and that he worked in the gym. That was about the entire introduction we had time for as I had to leave my bag and go with Mirel again who was waiting in the corridor.

The next hour was a bit of a blur. From my cabin on deck 3 I was whisked up the crew elevator onto deck 9, out a door which opened into the back of the Palace Lounge (the huge 2 story showroom) and from there out into the passenger area. It was all pretty impressive, decorated in chrome and gold and really having the feel and look of a hotel lobby. The first view after the Lounge was to look down into the Grand Atrium. This ran from deck 12 down to deck 7 which meant that you could lean on the railing and stare up at deck after deck with glass fronted elevators gliding up and down or stare down at a bar complete with pianist and violinist playing to the passengers as they came onboard. To come onboard and have the first thing you see be this atrium with 5 stories of chrome, gold and twinkling lights soaring up above you must have been pretty impressive for anyone seeing it for the first time. It certainly impressed me.

Deck 9, or the promenade deck, is the main activity deck for the ship and the one that I had to be able to find as it was the one containing the casino. Decks 4, 5 6 and 7 are cabins with the information desk also on 7 as this is the deck that passengers embark and disembark the ship on. Deck 8 has the 2 main dining rooms as well as a shopping mall, library and bar. Deck 10 has the pools, a couple of bars and snack places as well as the casual bar and grill. Deck 11 has open areas looking down onto the pool and plenty of deck chairs for those wanting to lie in the sun. Deck 12 has the gym and spa and the top deck has a running track and mini golf course. That top deck is the place to go if you like wind and want to play “will I get blown off the ship or not”. There is actually a sign up there saying to hang onto small children if you want to keep them. But back to deck 9. On here is the casino, a couple of bars, a coffee shop, nightclub, teen disco, amusement arcade, conference rooms, photo gallery (as a passenger it’s near impossible to walk more than a couple of feet without a photographer wanting to take your photo which you can then buy), another smaller lounge and a cigar bar. There may even be things that I don’t know about hidden away but, as you see, there is plenty to do. Of course all this passed in a whirl for me as I got the really fast 30 minute tour of all this as well as a couple of crew places that I had to know about as well as a running commentary of what was expected of me, what areas I could frequent, where I was supposed to eat, sleep, where the lifeboats were etc etc.

Then it was on to the casino office to get the bits of my uniform I didn’t have. Of course finding a vest in their supplies large enough posed a problem but at least it didn’t have sleeves to worry about. There was also a blue shirt to be worn when the casino was open during the daytime at sea. My arms must be long even by American standards because I was in the largest shirt that they have before we found one to fit me. So there I stand, desperately trying to remember even half of what I’ve been shown and told, clutching my shirt, bow tie and vest. Then I’m told that I have to be in one of the conference rooms (which deck and through which doors?) in an hour for the first of my safety training sessions after which I can go back to my cabin, get changed and after the boat drill (?) come back to the casino to meet my boss the Head Cashier and to start working. Okay, not a problem, I’m thinking while at the same time trying to remember where my cabin was.

I got back to my cabin okay, found it was empty, dumped my clothes and then managed to find the conference room for the safety training. Everyone who had come aboard that day had to do this training even if they were coming back and had done it before. I met up with the South African again and he was looking spiffy, if slightly uncomfortable, in his white uniform. The training was given by the head security officer, an Italian named Giuseppe, who’s less than perfect English made him a bit hard to follow at times. We were all given our assigned life rafts, told about the fire extinguishers, fire doors, watertight doors, how to put on a life jacket, how not to panic in an emergency and who to ring in case of an emergency. Then we got a tour showing us where the various muster stations were for the passengers and the same for the crew. In case of having to abandon ship everyone first goes to their muster point and gets checked off before heading to their actual lifeboat. By now my head is reeling with information and I’m starting to feel that extraneous things like who I am, where I’m from and how to tie my shoelaces is being forced out of my head by the new things I’m expected to know. And I haven’t even started at my actual job yet! I head back to my cabin clutching all my safety training paperwork and the terrifying knowledge that I will have to pass a test on it all in a few days time if I want to stay onboard. It’s a written and oral exam and you have to be able to demonstrate a sound knowledge of all the safety and security procedures and equipment. Easy to say but I’m having trouble remembering where I’m supposed to eat.

Back in the cabin I unpack and manage to squeeze all my gear into the available space. Phil was impressed when I’d told him I had a laptop and planned to get online because I’d be able to keep him up to date with sports scores and put music onto his iPod. Being a geek can make you useful to people. At 16.00 Phil turns up just in time for the announcement over the PA in the cabin that the lifeboat drill is starting. All the passengers must report to their muster stations in their lifejackets as well as any crew involved. Phil assures me that there is nothing I have to do except wait for it all to be over. He just pulls out his guitar and plays while I sit there with the feeling that there must be something I should be doing. Eventually there is an announcement that the drill is over and immediately there is a loud rumbling and the entire cabin begins to vibrate. “Just the ship leaving starting up and leaving port” Phil assures me, adding that it calms down once we’re at sea. I can literally hear the water hitting the hull as our cabin is the very outside one and the wall I’m leaning against is actually the hull.

I get changed into my uniform, tuxedo shirt, vest and bowtie and head back to the casino. In the office I meet Mariana who is the head cashier and my boss. She seems really nice and friendly but I can’t remember where she’s from (the reason for which will become apparent). She is a little surprised to see me though since I’m not rostered to start work for another 2 hours, “so come back then”! I’m all dressed up and have nowhere to go so I figure that the best thing to do is just to wander the ship and try and figure out where everything is. This proves to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because I got to poke my nose into everywhere and while it may seem huge at first the ship really is an enclosed space and once you get the hang of where everything is it’s not too hard to find your way around. The bad thing was that while I was trying to figure out where things were I couldn’t walk 2 feet without being asked by a passenger where something was. I had to constantly explain that I had only been onboard as long as they had and knew about as much about where things were. Some people accepted this good naturedly but some gave me looks like I was flat out lying to them and just didn’t want to answer their question. I eventually found my way to the information desk, picked up a handful of deck plans and would hand them to people who were lost, after figuring out where we were and where they wanted to go. I also ran into an Australian in an officer’s uniform and chatted to him for a while. I noticed that he had a lot of gold stripes on his shoulder but it wasn’t until later I found out that he ran the whole passenger side of the ship (the equivalent of the hotel manager) and was right up there with the captain in terms of importance. I explained to him how long I’d been onboard and how I was handing out maps etc and he said I was doing the right thing.

The 2 hours I had to kill went pretty fast and I made my way back to the casino and was introduced to the girl who would be training me. Zowrea was South African and one of 4 cashiers on the ship (plus me). There was also another South African guy (Andrew), a Philipino guy (Luis) and a girl (Carmen) from Romania. It turned out that until the day before I arrived I had been listed in all the paperwork as a dealer so they weren’t really prepared for me to be there as a cashier. In fact the ship was really only supposed to have 3 and was already overstaffed. I was told that I was pretty much just going to be spending my time watching and it was unlikely I was going to get to do much for a while. Sounded good to me.

The cage is really tiny and isn’t helped by having a great big pole in the middle of it. I get the impression that the designer worked out where everything was going to be in the casino and after it was built someone asked where the cage was. Having me just standing there watching meant I was constantly getting in the way. I won’t go into much on the operational side, mostly because I shouldn’t, but while there were a lot of similarities to the way I’m used to doing things there are also a lot of differences. The way that the cashiers balance is completely foreign and, to be completely brutal, overly complicated and full of things that could be done better. I might keep my mouth shut for a while though until I see how the whole process works because it may make sense as I see the casino processes unfold. Essentially it’s just a matter of cashing coins, chips, traveller’s checks and answering the same few questions from the passengers over and over. Really just the same as Jupiter’s. The major difference, apart from the foreign notes and coins, is the cashless system they have in place. Every passenger is given a ‘sail and sign’ card as they come onboard. This is attached to a credit card and they use this card to make any purchases in the shops, bars etc and at the end of the cruise their credit card is debited for the total amount. In the casino they can put the card directly into the machines (or slots as I have to get used to calling them) and debit the card for how much they want to play with and then credit it with any winnings when they are finished. They can also bring it to the cashier and buy a voucher which they give to the dealer for chips. All very snazzy but you can imagine the sorts of questions it generates from the punters.

So that’s how I spend my first night at work, just watching other people work and trying to remember the answers they give to all the questions they get asked. At about 2am we finally get to shut and balance (leaving a couple of the others to eventually shut the casino down, staggered starting times for the cashiers) and I head back to my cabin, crawl into my bunk and try to fall asleep to the sound of water sloshing in my ears and the entire cabin rocking from side to side. I’d been awake about 20 hours at this point so it didn’t take much to put me to sleep and luckily I didn’t have any training in the morning, just a 18.00 start at work.

The next morning comes a little too soon but luckily Phil and I seem to work opposite hours so we both get the cabin to ourselves at times and we aren’t fighting for the bathroom at the same times. After a leisurely shower I head to the crew bar to get a cup of coffee. Now for a bit more explanation and background. It turns out that there are different classes (for want of a better term) on a ship. There are ships officers, the ones in the white uniforms; staff, which includes casino, shops, photographers, show etc; and crew, who are all the ones responsible for the actual work on the ship. There are also 3 messes’ onboard, one for the captain and senior officers, one for the staff and one for the crew. I haven’t seen the captains one but imagine it to be pretty nice. The crew one is essentially just a cafeteria style place, if you can imagine a really run down CJ’s then you’ll get the idea. The staff one (where I get to eat) is much nicer and, although you still have to line up and get your own food there are wait staff there to make sure that you’re happy, pour water for you if your glass gets a bit low and to tidy up your dirty plates after you just get up and leave them on the table. Apparently they are waiters in training and are learning on us. The only bad thing about the messes is that they are only open 3 times a day and only for a couple of hours each time so if you miss a meal it’s just too bad. Fortunately, as staff, I can eat in the casual passenger dining room at certain times on certain days or get a pizza from the pizzeria at any time. I can also get coffee and cake from the passenger coffee shop but I have to pay for that, although at a discount. I can also get coffee or alcohol from the crew bar 24 hours a day at pretty cheap prices.

So there I am cup of coffee in hand. Just outside the crew bar is the crew deck. This is a private deck inaccessible to the passengers that has a small pool, deck chairs and is pretty much a smaller version of the passenger pool decks. I was interested in seeing where the ship was because, according to the schedule, we should have been in Nassau and the ship certainly didn’t seem to be moving so I was assuming that we had docked. As soon as I stepped outside the heat hit me. It was tropical, dry and really warm. Before I’d even taken a couple of steps I heard Zowrea asking me how I’d slept and complimenting me on having found the crew bar on my own. She was sitting with Andrew the cashier; a slot technician (equivalent of a machine attendant) named Jason from England and a dealer from Romania whose name I can’t remember (the reason for which will become apparent). She said that they were just waiting for the first rush of passengers to clear before heading into Nassau and asked if I’d like to go with them. Sounded like a great idea to me, after all it was the whole point of being there and I could already see the palm trees on the beach and the roofs of the town from off the deck. As soon as we’d all finished our coffees and cigarettes (I was the only non smoker) we headed down to the gangway, went through security by swiping our ID’s in the terminal and walked onto the dock in Nassau. I had woken up in Australia, gone to sleep in Miami and then woken up in the Bahamas. Now I was heading off into a foreign port knowing that it was the first of many.

This seems to be an appropriate place to finish up this email as well. I don’t want to overburden or bore anyone with too many in one day. Tales of Nassau to continue in the next email.

Greg