Editor’s Note: This is the 41st in a series of stories researched during Don and Nancy Harrison’s 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise from Sydney, Australia, to San Diego. Previous installments of the series, which runs every Thursday, may be found by tapping the number of the installment:1, 2,3,4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18,19,20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40.
By Donald H. Harrison
AT SEA, Aboard MS Maasdam – When Nancy or I walk into a casino, no one on the staff jumps up and down with excitement. We’re not what you would call “big gamblers.” Our practice is to quit at $10, whether we win or lose that amount. With such patrons as us, a casino could go broke.
I was delighted to learn from Linnea Deleen, a casino host aboard the Maasdam, that whenever she goes home to Gothenburg, Sweden, or to some other city with a casino, she most likely will not be tempted to go in. But if her friends really want to try their luck, then she will follow the same practice as Nancy’s and mine. Ten dollars winnings or losings is her limit.
I asked Deleen if ever in her capacity as a dealer or casino host, she had been faced with a situation where a patron obviously was losing too much, digging himself or herself deeper and deeper into a hole. I asked if she, like a bartender who is asked to serve an obviously intoxicated patron, ever feels it necessary to suggest that enough is enough.
“It’s hard to confront them,” Deleen said. “We can’t really say that they have a problem. It is not our place.”
On the other hand, she said, if someone is showing obvious signs of distress or nervousness, “we can sit down with them and see how they are feeling. It is a bit tricky but it is good for them, and good for us too.”
Whereas in the early days of the cruise industry, cruise ships retained outside vendors to run their casinos, today Carnival Corporation, operator of 10 cruise lines, runs its own—casinos being an important profit center.
When Deleen left a Swedish casino to work for Carnival Corporation, she might have been assigned to work on any of the more than 100 ships in the Carnival Corporation fleet. These ships are spread across the company’s namesake Carnival Cruises, Carnival Australia, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Lines, Holland-America Line, P& O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn Cruise Line. You might call Carnival a seagoing empire.
Today, as a casino host, Deleen describes her duties, in addition to being a dealer, as “mingling with the guests, making them feel comfortable.” She also sets up slot machine tournaments, poker tournaments and bingo games aboard. Her typical schedule: “I come to work at 11:30 a.m., check my emails, make sure everything is in its right place, keep it nice and neat, set up poker tournaments, go to lunch, come back, attend bingo sessions, distribute scratch cards, and the I usually get a three-hour beak. I come back, check emails again, and then it is more being on the floor. Usually I finish around midnight.”
Every crew member aboard Holland America’s Maasdam also has special duties in the event there is an emergency. “I would be a stairway guide,” she said. “We stand on the stair case and then direct passengers down” to the Promenade Deck, where, if necessary, they would board pre-assigned life boats.
When a cruise ship is in port, the casino is closed, so typically Deleen and most of her colleagues can spend a few hours in the port, either touring or sitting in a WiFi Café sending messages to friends and relatives. However, at least two members of her department stay on board during every port call, just in case they are needed. On our particular 39-day cruise, there were numerous days at sea, so Deleen worked many days with long hours.
Deleen started dealing at a hometown casino when she was 19 years old, and said her advice for anyone who wants to follow in her footsteps from a casino on land to one at sea, should be prepared during their interview “to smile, talk, and be social. That’s the winning combination. It is hard to combine talking and dealing, as there are a lot of motor skills going on, especially at the roulette table,” she said. “Not everyone knows that.”
She said she would advise someone preparing for a first ship contract not to overpack and to bring clothes for every season, “because you never know where you might go. Sometimes, they might transfer you.” She said in her first contract, which lasted eight months, she worked on three different Holland American ships.
Also, she suggested, “bring detergent; you don’t get it free on the ship. And don’t bring bottles of shampoo, that you can get along the way.”
Whereas some of her crewmates from such Asian countries as the Philippines and Indonesia say they can earn more money at sea than they can at home, Deleen said wages in Sweden for a casino worker are about the same, or perhaps a little higher, than what one earns on the ship. :”But then on land I also have to pay expenses, for food, electrical bills, etcetera, which I don’t pay here. So, it evens out.”
Travel is the main attraction for working on a cruise ship. She loves some of the beaches in Italy: “The buildings there are beautiful, the blue water, and the food was great,” she said. “I also liked the beach in Tauranga, New Zealand, and in Melbourne, Australia.”
Socializing with other members of the crew also is an attraction, she said. On Deck 3 of the Maasdam, reserved for the crew, “we have crew parties, and usually everyone attends. They are typically held late at night time, very late, and last about two to three hours. We have a crew bar with an Irish theme.”
Asked what she expects in her future, she responded, “I’m not sure that I will still be on ships. I’m still thinking what I want to do. I want to work with people, that is what I know. I don’t want to sit behind a computer all day long. So, it will be something in the hospitality industry.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com