flygirlb737

I agree with NicoLee, the Oasis is the biggest I've seen at sea. It felt like a real land based casino due to the layout and size.

If anyone is confused by this thread, someone has deleted some posts that weren't in the spirit of what cruise critic stands for. Good to see CC is well moderated. Keep up the good work.:)

Thanks Sue.

I wish I had the imagination to make up those stories, could've made a hell of alot more money than I did on the ship!!

Wow, conspiracy much? As I said in my original post, I took a gap year (long service leave) and worked on the ship.

I had set the you tube videos to private because as you can see, people delve a little too deeply into your personal life. I have now allowed the ship video to be public, but as Thied so nicely pointed out, yes I have another job as seen on my Millionaire Hotseat video which is private.

Thanks guys, I learnt a valuable lesson here, I shared far too much information.

We were the oldest in our department at 35. Early 20's were common.

True Sandy, I'd better shut up now.

Dave, I can only share from a casino perspective really. The dealers get their income topped up from the other ships in the fleet. As far as other staff go, I believe the tips are included in the cruise fare. I haven't seen a big increase in fares, but I don't cruise from Australia all that much. As I said before, a lot of crew are just happy to be in Australia visiting our beautiful country, a once in a lifetime opportunity for most of them.

The last time I worked for $8 an hour, I was 15!! Not complaining, just saying.:D

The lowest we got was $250 in tips up to $480 on a very good week. As I said we were the 3rd highest earning ship, so nothing to write home about. Happy to share with you all.

I worked directly for Carnival. Carnival runs all of the casinos (for the ships in group of companies it owns), so if I was on HAL or Princess etc, I would be considered a concessionaire, if that makes sense.

The dancers have the best job of all!!! They had the same rooms as us, but they worked about 25 hours a week and were always at the crew bar. I wish I was that talented.:)

Big M, we were open everyday. Some countries allowed us to remain open whilst in port. We used to start work before the ship sailed, counting cards, chips etc and would close when the last people left and count the cards and chips once again. We did a charter with Kid Rock on board and didn't close until 7am most mornings. On sea days we started around 9am.

Each ship is different, as is the case line. Casino Managers get a commission, so it's in their best interest to keep tables open, it's not like he has to pay overtime!!! Not complaining, it's just is how it is.

I wish I could share with you all the stories of my colleagues and friends on board from war torn countries and poverty, but I don't want to guilt people into tipping. Do what feels right for you and what sits well with you.

I was on the Carnival Triumph. Would I recommend it, yes definitely, but in your early 20's when you have no commitments, cares or responsibilities. Depending on the ship, it can be ok money. I was able to see exactly what the other ship dealers were making and was gobsmacked that some were making less than $100 per week (ie. Australian ships and world cruises).

We were treated with suspicion because who in their right mind from Australia would work for $10 a day. We were also promoted a lot faster than others which caused friction as we could fully understand. The English language can take you a long way on the ships.

Ha ha, crew drinks were very cheap, but I'm not much of a drinker and by the time we closed the casino, the crew bar was closed most of the time.

Here's a short video of our room. Mind you in the hierarchy of the ship we were in the middle, below the officers and above the crew. We had a stateroom steward and tipped him $20 a week to change our towels, sheets etc and make the bed. We also used to tip our own waiters in the mess. Any questions, feel free to ask. I am happy to have had the experience and certainly appreciate my life here in Australia a lot more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDZ8rUGEMhI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hi Everyone,

I love my cruises and never agreed with tipping.....until I decided to take a gap year (at 35 years old) and work on a cruise ship. Now my perspective has completely changed. I was paid a base rate of $10us per day. I was in the casino, and the way our tipping worked, was that we only participated in the casino tip pool, but it was also shared amongst all ships in the fleet. I was lucky, we had shorter, party cruises and our ship was the third highest tipping in the fleet, so we got more than most, but did share it with the entire fleet of cainos. We worked hard for it, around 60-65 hours per week and we were not entitled to days off. We were lucky, our manager was a good bloke and gave us 1 day off every 3 weeks. I lasted 4 months out of a 7 month contract.

I had a good job, but some of the crew really did it tough. We're talking 14 hour days, no days off and sharing a room with 4 crew and 1 bathroom between 8 people. The workplace bullying is rife, I was abused everyday, I missed my family and it was so tough to come out smiling everyday, but I did. The conditions on the ships would never be allowed under Australian workplace laws.

Many staff come to Australia on their final contract. They expect not to earn much money here, but most of them would never be able to afford to come to Australia, so they take the contract.

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't tip. It's a conscience call and depends on your financial situation. I look at tipping on ships as a kind of 'charity donation', and feel good about doing it, even if it's not customary here. If it weren't for these people doing what they do, for the price they do it, our cruise fares would probably increase ten fold.

Respect Neenee, I used to be a casino host for Carnival, you deserve it! I hope you're well ahead.

I am assuming you are referring to points for cash back in the OPC. The 'on us' program is a trial in certain casino's only within the CPC. The points, ratings and benefits differ slightly to those in the OPC. For example, Companion Cards are not issued even when the points qualify for one under OPC. Depends on the Casino Manager also, on occasion there were cruises that had no 'on us' in operation. It's a step in the right direction for Carnival and good if you can qualify. Just don't "Get Caught" getting drinks for friends, I turned a blind eye, but I saw many cards pulled from people.

this should be automatic .chatting to the supervisors and being a tool playing $25 per hand at blackjack,this does not help at all

 

do alittle research before posting

Well, 16 cruises back to back would indicate to most people that I either have a load of money (in which case, I wouldn't cruise on Carnival) or worked on the ship. As a former Casino Host, I was simply trying to help you out.

Perhaps I'll keep the information to myself and let you pay for your drinks!

To anyone else, I'm happy to give you whatever information can.

Whether or not you agree with the policy, it is what it is. Don't shoot the messenger!

It's $2 per point on slots. That's total coin in.

Tables are min $25 every hand for 16 hours play. Must ask to be rated and even then, it's up to the Casino Manager to approve the card. I've seen people play $100 hands and lose thousands and get no card because they were arrogant, rude and mostly drunk. Don't even bother asking to be rated for less than $25 a hand.

Also, you're likely to get at least a few comped drinks if you tip the dealers constantly. On BJ, place a dealer bet every hand, even if it's only $1. It gets noticed and rewarded. Get the whole table doing it and you'll be very well looked after.

Texas hold em you can forget about the card. No benefit to the casino.

Don't be a tool and hassle for drinks, just get chatting to the Supervisors and be nice to the dealers. They won't do anything for you if you are a smart arse and definately won't do anything it you start demanding.

The ships are very different to land based US casinos, so don't expect the same perks as on land.

Hope this helps.

Re: Run of red or black, I've spun 27 blacks in a row. No rhyme or reason to it, then smashed everyone with '0'.

Ship Roulette is a scam, Aussie casino's have mainly single '0' wheels, better odds and you can play the grand series or tier. Lower min tables have '00'.