Going To Work On A Cruise Ship Part 2

So I had been in Florida for all of about 12 hours before it was time for me to go and join the ship. I got to the pier at around 9:30am but didn't board the ship until around 11:30. It was winter when I left Canada, and here it was hot and humid. I was not prepared for the heat. Anyway walking onto the ship for the first time I made a huge sigh of relief as the air con hit me. Someone was there from the human resources department to meet us when we got onto the ship, and they brought up into the cafeteria where we had some orientation, and before long someone from each department came to pick up their new staff.

When the supervisor from the casino showed up (he seemed very busy), he gave me an envelope with a welcome letter from the casino manager. The letter also contained details on my cabin, my work schedule, and a safety card. My new supervisor showed me to my cabin, where we dropped off my bags, then gave me a quick tour of the ship. I had a safety meeting at 2pm and at 3:30 my supervisor would be back so I could go and get uniforms.

I'll never forget my first cabin mate. He was a Filipino guy, who had worked on the ships for a long time. He was very quite, and slept a lot. He finished his contract 2 months later, and I never saw or heard from him again.

My first shift started at 6:30. The suit had come back and I had gotten my uniform, but my new waistcoat was missing a button. I had my door propped open, and heard music coming from next door, so i went to investigate. I didn't have to go far because next door was 5 feet away. When I looked inside, I saw these two guys, getting ready for work, so I asked them for a hand. One guy was English and the other was from New Zealand. They helped me out, and I really hit it off with the English guy. It was his first contract too and he had been on board for about 3 weeks. His name was Jason and we quickly became best friends.

When I got to work I had a quick 30min training on some rules that may have been different from home, then it was strait to work. Being a casino dealer is a real easy job. You typically work for about 45min to 1 hour, the take a 20min break. My first break, the boss saw that Jason and I got along so he sent us on break together. we went to the bar and had a smoke, talked about travelling. At around 9pm the bar opens and people from other departments, who have already finished work, start coming to the bar. We would take all our breaks in the bar, and by 10 or 11 we were drinking on break. Everyone seemed to do it. Sometimes I would come into the bar at 10 O'clock, and there would be 4 or 5 people from the casino having a beer or drink while on break. It got pretty crazy.

By 2am the casino was shutting down, and so was I. Jet lagged, working in a new environment, meeting so many new people, the slow rocking of the ship, I was wiped. Somehow I let Jason talk me into going back to the bar after work. About 10 people from the casino stayed there drinking until about 6 in the morning, myself included. Tomorrow was a sea day. I had training in the afternoon, and a long shift to follow. Man was I going to be hungover...