The Hiring Process

I started working in casino's in 1999, in Edmonton, Alberta. I worked at the Palace Casino, in the West Edmonton Mall. I was wandering around the mall one day and saw the casino. It was time for a new line of work and I have always enjoyed playing cards, so I thought why not give dealing a try. After my initial interview I was told that I had been selected to attend blackjack training. The training classes were usually lasted 4 hours. We trained for 2 weeks, 5 days a week. 40 hours. At the end of the training we had to do whats called a "table test". For this test you usually have 2 or 3 supervisors from that casino come and play at your table for about a 10 minutes.

I passed my test. I still had some practise to do, but, I would be fine to work on the gaming tables. Over the next few months I worked dealing dealing blackjack only. After I was confident in my ability, it was time to learn Caribbean Stud, Let it Ride and Baccarat. These games are very easy to deal, with little training needed. Soon after I learned to deal Poker and then Roulette.

In 2002 I applied to work on cruise ships for the first time. I wanted to work with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, mostly because I had a lot of friends from the casino who had gone that way before me. The requirements were that you dealt Blackjack, Caribbean Stud and Roulette, with a minimum of 2 years experience on Roulette. I applied via email. I was 6 months short on the Roulette experience but I had also started my Craps training, and hoped that would help me out. The response I got was to reapply in 6 months. That's what I did.

When I tried the second time, the response I got was much better. The hiring partner that I applied to was coming to my city to conduct interviews and table tests. I was give a date and time to show up, and given a list of documents that I would need. My interview would be in about 3 weeks. I spent this time anxiously waiting, and collecting my paperwork. I was showed up early for my interview. I also had a friend with me who was interviewing as well. We were both dressed in suits, and I think looked pretty good. There was a group of about 20 people interviewing at the same time. We all sat in a conference room for a meet and greet, and to watch a short video about cruise employment. After that each person went to a small room to have and interview, then to another room for a short table test. After that it was back to the conference room to fill out paperwork.

I passed my interview. I was blown away. I got an email about a week later saying that I had been accepted, The email also contained a list of about 5 ships that I could choose from for my first contract, and another list of documents that I would need to bring with me. I decided To pick the GTS Summit out of the list. I called the hiring partner, and she gave me a date to be in Florida to join the ship. I would have to get a medical, and pay for my airfare. It was winter in Edmonton, and very cold. I was leaving Canada for the first time and I would not be home for 6 months. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Six Months Of Travel

When I joined my first cruise ship, I had no idea exactly where I would be going for the next 6 months. It would prove to be a long ride. I started out my contract on Celebrity Cruise Lines GTS Summit, in February of 2003 in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I quickly found out that for the first 8 or 9 weeks we would be sailing the Caribbean. My ship was doing 10 and 11 day runs. One run went to St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Aruba and Barbados. On the other run we went to places like Crand Caymen, Jamica, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

Once my ship had finished up the winter season in the Caribbean, we would be heading through the Panama Canal. This was a two week cruise, with many sea days. We started out going to Mexico, then to Aruba and then to Colon, Panama. Going through the Panama Canal was mostly very boring. Heading through the canal is a long ordeal. It took the Summit all day to get through. There was not really much to see, and it was very hot and humid outside. I remember taking the lens cap off my camera for a couple of shots and my lens had fogged up.

Once through the canal, we stopped for another day in Panama. By then winter was almost gone and it was time to head north. We made lots of stops in some great places in Mexico like Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. After that we headed up the coast of the U.S. stopping in San Diego, San Fran, L.A., Catalina Island, Seattle. We had one day in Victoria Canada, and finished that leg of our journey in Vancouver.

The whole trip from Florida to Vancouver had taken about 4 weeks. At this point I had 3 months left on my contract, and I would be spending them in Alaska. I had a great time on my first trip to Alaska. There is a lot to do if you like the outdoors. In Alaska that season I traveled to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Valdez and Seward.

I Finished my first contract after 6 long months, and many ports. It is sometimes hard to remember now the places and the times of that contract, but the experience somehow stays with me.