Casino de Montréal - 171 Photos & 114 Reviews - Casinos ...

TSLA options
This is officially my first post to reddit. Long time reader, I also watch YouTube videos and don’t have an account so please forgive if my posting etiquette is off. Use to be a casual trader have a degree in economics with specialty in behavioral economics and minor in psychology. Also initially left college in my sophomore year (2010) to move to California and start a dispensary. I was going to McGill university in Montreal for those of you who don’t know of it(most Americans). FYI I am American myself and I’m Canada they call Harvard americas McGill (not bragging personally I still believe college is a tax on lower and middle class). I visited a friend on spring break and this is a time when a gram of weed would get you a night in jail and a misdemeanor and if you are lucky enough to live in Texas or Tennessee and be black either 1-10 in jail and at minimum they’d take your car or house or whatever expensive enclosed space you owned in which they found it or probably planted it. I could not believe what I was seeing when I went to see my friend (LA) and ultimately never returned from spring break. These were also the days when the laws in California were changing so fast that if you got a dispensary license in about 6 months you could sell the license for 10-100x what you paid for it (2k -7k if you used a lawyer or 500$ if you did all the paperwork yourself). I ended up starting the first 24hr delivery dispensary (legal) in California at that time probably the world. Needless to say it was very successful, after about a year I hired someone else to run the day to day and mostly became a semi professional gambler which many of you would consider yourselves. The difference is I was actually gambling in casinos. This is not a story in which I stupidly lose all my money at a craps table although there were some fear and loathing-esque weekends during this time that are noteworthy themselves. Also to note I decided to move with exactly 2$ to my name and my parents cutting me off because I was leaving college, luckily I also owned (or rather rented for free) a spot on my dear friends couch (who would later end up being an employee). Within 6 months I was worth about 50k within 12 I was making that much every week. This is the part where some of you may become disappointed because of all the interesting preamble that sounded like it was going to end in a crazy story where I used 50 lbs of weed to leverage a massive short on some stock because I had 24hrs to pay off the Armenian mafia or they would give me a Chinese haircut. Despite the fact that that did happen (with some minor liberties taken in the description although ones that make it actually less crazy of a story) it’s not what I am here writing about. I ended up starting my dispensary by winning 48k one night at the native casino near LA can’t remember the name but anyone from SoCal knows what it’s called. I was also a casual trader albeit very successful when I took it seriously. My dad is also a doctor so I essentially invested it all on ARNA before the fda approval of their new weight loss drug (at the time) I think it was called belviq. Anyway it was a killer, went from like 5 bucks to like 25 in a couple of days and I was looking good to start my business. Since then I’ve continued to dabble and did a lot of shorting but hated the risk, was unaware of options trading. After reading a couple articles online I started getting into it, fast forward to me studying economics (In which I didn’t learn much I didn’t already know except how to use programs to analyze massive amounts of data to find out trends that mostly my own intuition was good enough to tell me), but now atleast I’m a “respectable person” in the eyes of my parents and the business world. Ultimately since this is my first post I decided to go big and long with it because I just felt that would be proper and maybe someone would be entertained, and maybe in the future I will divulge the actual crazy shit that happened but wall street bets doesn’t seem like the right thread (?). I just wanted to introduce myself and say, when TSLA hit 964 two days ago how many thousands of wallstreeters and tens of thousands of thousands or hundreds or however many of you redditors that are trading options and know half a twats worth what you’re doing did jizz their pants and buy some puts. Personally I like to gamble only saw it once it had dipped down to 900$ before closing but was trending down already. I figured I’d buy something that had a really short execution period for cheap af at like 895$ and once it dipped to like 865 or something sell but ultimately I knew in my heart as most of u do that it was going to drop to maybe 700 or lower. Didn’t have the liquidity to do what I would have liked but called some of the rich people I know who did and they wanted to jerk me off at 11 am the next morning. The few who missed out were begging for what next. One particular who is a relative of mine and a VP at major software company (think top 3) argued that wouldn’t everyone be buying puts and isn’t that what drove the price up? Wouldn’t it be better to sell options on the tsla shares you own and then if it goes down you made some cash and buy more at the lower price. I’m sure many of you know why that is a much weaker play and has way less upside and at the same time limits your risk way less. When the morning came he and others who didn’t follow thru were dying they missed out and asking me what to do next. I hadn’t looked much but it seemed to be bottoming out at 7 and I assumed put buyers were starting to executing their contracts so I said buy calls near 700 and do it for the shortest period u can find in terms of days. By lunch time it’s at 750$ ofcourse and my suggestion of 10-20 contracts would be betting a nice 80-90k maybe more if u bought the ridiculously short term options. Most of them were able to cash out my relative who is an exec at (insert top software company here) still missed out. He had to go into a meeting and didn’t have enough time to execute and wanted to die as he watched the stock jump 50$ and the imaginary dollars that would have been piling up in his investment account disappearing for the second time in one day for the levels he trades and wanted to buy this would have been around 1m maybe he would have made. After his meeting he messages me “uhh I think I need you to manage part of my portfolio, can you do the options trading for me and manage my short term stocks? I don’t have enough time to watch the market because of meetings etc. and when I see what I’m missing out on I can’t pay attentions during the meetings and it’s fucking up my productivity.” - me : “ well I don’t want to have access to your password etc. and be responsible if some fucked shit happens in your portfolio I don’t want to be blamed. Also if I don’t know how I feel about making you millions and then accepting whatever tip you feel is appropriate. Obviously we could do like a percentage but I’d feel better about starting a separate fund and you can put in whatever you feel comfortable investing and we can see how it goes. I Send the same message to everyone in my thread. Looks like I may have inadvertently started a hedge fund let’s see how it goes. Depending on the funding I will repost with proof.

My wife just got her passport, so we were looking to make the drive to Windsor from SW Michigan. Her parents live in Detroit, so we will likely stay there.
Here are my questions:

1. Any idea on craps minimums and do they have bubble craps? I search the sub already. Last report was from 9 months ago. Tables were 10 during the day and 15 in the evenings and weekends. 2 years back some people said they found 5 dollar tables in the early mornings.
2. Best way to exchange US to CAD currency for the casino? When I went to Montreal last year for work, I ordered Canadian currency from my bank. It didn't seem too expense, but took a while. Do the casinos have exchange and do they offer a decent rate since they are likely to get it back from you in the casino? I know making the exchange at the border is usually the worst idea.
3. I saw they had a poker room, anyone spent any time in there?
4. Good food?

Thanks as always. This sub has been a great source of knowledge.

This is officially my first post to reddit. Long time reader, I also watch YouTube videos and don’t have an account so please forgive if my posting etiquette is off. Use to be a casual trader have a degree in economics with specialty in behavioral economics and minor in psychology. Also initially left college in my sophomore year (2010) to move to California and start a dispensary. I was going to McGill university in Montreal for those of you who don’t know of it(most Americans). FYI I am American myself and I’m Canada they call Harvard americas McGill (not bragging personally I still believe college is a tax on lower and middle class). I visited a friend on spring break and this is a time when a gram of weed would get you a night in jail and a misdemeanor and if you are lucky enough to live in Texas or Tennessee and be black either 1-10 in jail and at minimum they’d take your car or house or whatever expensive enclosed space you owned in which they found it or probably planted it. I could not believe what I was seeing when I went to see my friend (LA) and ultimately never returned from spring break. These were also the days when the laws in California were changing so fast that if you got a dispensary license in about 6 months you could sell the license for 10-100x what you paid for it (2k -7k if you used a lawyer or 500$ if you did all the paperwork yourself). I ended up starting the first 24hr delivery dispensary (legal) in California at that time probably the world. Needless to say it was very successful, after about a year I hired someone else to run the day to day and mostly became a semi professional gambler which many of you would consider yourselves. The difference is I was actually gambling in casinos. This is not a story in which I stupidly lose all my money at a craps table although there were some fear and loathing-esque weekends during this time that are noteworthy themselves. Also to note I decided to move with exactly 2$ to my name and my parents cutting me off because I was leaving college, luckily I also owned (or rather rented for free) a spot on my dear friends couch (who would later end up being an employee). Within 6 months I was worth about 50k within 12 I was making that much every week. This is the part where some of you may become disappointed because of all the interesting preamble that sounded like it was going to end in a crazy story where I used 50 lbs of weed to leverage a massive short on some stock because I had 24hrs to pay off the Armenian mafia or they would give me a Chinese haircut. Despite the fact that that did happen (with some minor liberties taken in the description although ones that make it actually less crazy of a story) it’s not what I am here writing about. I ended up starting my dispensary by winning 48k one night at the native casino near LA can’t remember the name but anyone from SoCal knows what it’s called. I was also a casual trader albeit very successful when I took it seriously. My dad is also a doctor so I essentially invested it all on ARNA before the fda approval of their new weight loss drug (at the time) I think it was called belviq. Anyway it was a killer, went from like 5 bucks to like 25 in a couple of days and I was looking good to start my business. Since then I’ve continued to dabble and did a lot of shorting but hated the risk, was unaware of options trading. After reading a couple articles online I started getting into it, fast forward to me studying economics (In which I didn’t learn much I didn’t already know except how to use programs to analyze massive amounts of data to find out trends that mostly my own intuition was good enough to tell me), but now atleast I’m a “respectable person” in the eyes of my parents and the business world. Ultimately since this is my first post I decided to go big and long with it because I just felt that would be proper and maybe someone would be entertained, and maybe in the future I will divulge the actual crazy shit that happened but wall street bets doesn’t seem like the right thread (?). I just wanted to introduce myself and say, when TSLA hit 964 two days ago how many thousands of wallstreeters and tens of thousands of thousands or hundreds or however many of you redditors that are trading options and know half a twats worth what you’re doing did jizz their pants and buy some puts. Personally I like to gamble only saw it once it had dipped down to 900$ before closing but was trending down already. I figured I’d buy something that had a really short execution period for cheap af at like 895$ and once it dipped to like 865 or something sell but ultimately I knew in my heart as most of u do that it was going to drop to maybe 700 or lower. Didn’t have the liquidity to do what I would have liked but called some of the rich people I know who did and they wanted to jerk me off at 11 am the next morning. The few who missed out were begging for what next. One particular who is a relative of mine and a VP at major software company (think top 3) argued that wouldn’t everyone be buying puts and isn’t that what drove the price up? Wouldn’t it be better to sell options on the tsla shares you own and then if it goes down you made some cash and buy more at the lower price. I’m sure many of you know why that is a much weaker play and has way less upside and at the same time limits your risk way less. When the morning came he and others who didn’t follow thru were dying they missed out and asking me what to do next. I hadn’t looked much but it seemed to be bottoming out at 7 and I assumed put buyers were starting to executing their contracts so I said buy calls near 700 and do it for the shortest period u can find in terms of days. By lunch time it’s at 750$ ofcourse and my suggestion of 10-20 contracts would be betting a nice 80-90k maybe more if u bought the ridiculously short term options. Most of them were able to cash out my relative who is an exec at (insert top software company here) still missed out. He had to go into a meeting and didn’t have enough time to execute and wanted to die as he watched the stock jump 50$ and the imaginary dollars that would have been piling up in his investment account disappearing for the second time in one day for the levels he trades and wanted to buy this would have been around 1m maybe he would have made. After his meeting he messages me “uhh I think I need you to manage part of my portfolio, can you do the options trading for me and manage my short term stocks? I don’t have enough time to watch the market because of meetings etc. and when I see what I’m missing out on I can’t pay attentions during the meetings and it’s fucking up my productivity.” - me : “ well I don’t want to have access to your password etc. and be responsible if some fucked shit happens in your portfolio I don’t want to be blamed. Also if I don’t know how I feel about making you millions and then accepting whatever tip you feel is appropriate. Obviously we could do like a percentage but I’d feel better about starting a separate fund and you can put in whatever you feel comfortable investing and we can see how it goes. I Send the same message to everyone in my thread. Looks like I may have inadvertently started a hedge fund let’s see how it goes. Depending on the funding I will repost with proof.

I went to the casino in Montreal where I current live. 15 dollar minimum tables as always. But less people cause it’s a Monday.
I scouted a table with just two people playing. Noticed the table was cold due to the amount of 7s being produced quickly.
So I buy in 400 dollars and play dark side on the other players. I play light with a dc when I shots
Basically I made some money from playing dark. 15 DP, hedge for 3 dollar 7. After point is made, 75 DC and 5 dollar yo hedge. Usually I do a 20 dollar 7 bet to hedge also but I didn’t this time. Was a big mistake and would 7 out when the 75 was on the DC box. Other times it worked out. I think I was ahead 100 bucks at one point.
When I played light, I did 15 Pass, 3 dollar crap hedge. Then placed the 6 and 8 for 18 each and 15 on the field to start building up more place bets. I also threw 75 DC with 5 on yo yo protect the place bets.
Needless to say, I walked out the casino with 80 bucks. 320 dollar loss within an hour, then I went home.
Usually I try my strategies on an amp until I get comfortable and go. This is the second time where I lost a lot of money in my Craps career.
I was just curious about what ya’ll think. Before I used to play at 5 dollar tables when I lived in Oregon and Montreal has high table limits where you need to go with a bigger bank roll.
Maybe I should just wait til I can travel to a place with a smaller table limit?

Sorry for the wall of text. Throwaway for reasons you'll easily see.
Freshman year of college I was part of the outdoors club at my school. Mainly we went hiking, canoeing, kayaking, etc, and some weekend camping trips. Winter break is coming up, and some of the people plan a weeklong skiing trip to Canada. It was $400, and we would ski in Tremblant for a few days, and stay in Montreal for a couple nights. I had money saved from my summer job so I signed up to go. I had never been skiing before and I was excited to drink legally, cause, Canada!
So from where we were it was about a 8 to 9 hour drive to Montreal. It went well, we had 3 cars for the 13 of us, plenty of room. We get to Montreal and go drinking the first night at a club that ended up being a goth club. Not really anyone's scene on the trip, but whatever, booze and 9/13 of us couldn't drink legally in the US.
The second night we planned a little better. We went to the casino, took a train back went to a couple bars. We're getting ready to go back to the hostel, and someone decides we should get some weed. I had toked a few times, and really had no desire to, but we were in a group of 9 guys and I figured what could go wrong. (The other 4 were a couple who'd gone out together, and the brother of the guy who planned the trip and his friend who didn't know us and did most of the trip on their own).
We're all pretty drunk, and one guy in our group goes up to this shady guy and asks if he has weed. He says no, but if we follow him, he'll get us some weed. The people who want weed are like sure, of course. The guy starts talking to us and tells us his name is Antonio, and he's Guatemalan. Then he starts telling us about how great Jesus is and asking us if we love Jesus. He slipping from English to Spanish, but one guy, Jose, tells us it's the same religious crap.
At some point, 5 people split off, leaving me with the three people who wanted weed. I didn't but also didn't know the way back, and was kinda pissed I got stuck with them. It also occurs to me that of the four of us, there's Steve, the hippy who is big but not strong, Jose who's small and also not strong, and then Samir, who's even smaller and weaker. Crap, we're gonna get mugged.
At some point Antonio starts offering to get us hookers. He knows guys who could get us hookers for really cheap, and it's right near the weed. At this point it's about 3AM and we've been with him for a half hour. He's still talking about Jesus but also about hookers. We're also now in a really shady neighborhood. He asks for $20 to get the weed, which Steve gives him and walks up to some guys.
He makes the deal, and motions for us to follow him into an alleyway. We [stupidly] do. There are mangy cats everywhere. He pulls out the bag and it's some sort of powder. FUCK! This guys trying to sell us coke or god knows what. The exchange between Antonio (A) and Jose (J) is as follows:
J: That's not pot
A: Powder!
J:Pot?
A: Powder!!
J: Weed! The green stuff!!!
A: Oohhhhh. That's ok. You try this anyways, is good. I take little sniff before.
All of us: Nope. So we start walking away and he starts yelling at us. It's in Spanish, so Jose starts yelling back at him. Apparently he was yelling he was going to come to our beds and slice us up that night. Someone had actually told him where we were staying. I don't know why he's so pissed, he has Steve's money still and now some coke for himself. We hustle out of there and walk until it looks less shady. At this point we realize we have no idea where we are or how to get back and it's 4AM.
Eventually we find an ambulance and they have GPS and gave us directions back, it was about half a mile to the hostel. We get back, our friends are asking where we'd been and all. We tell them the whole story. The kicker: two of the guys bought weed for way cheaper from a guy in the hostel.
Where this gets really creepy is that we're checking out the next day and the lady asks if we know a small Latino guy. We're all like no of course not. She tells us that last night some guy who was on something came by looking for people of our description at 5ish AM and she called the cops and he ran.
TL;DR Some of my friends tried to buy weed in Canada, almost get sold cocaine instead, let the dealer keep it. He gets pissed and tries to come attack us at our hostel.

Hey VisitMontreal my girlfriend and I are planning a trip for the end of next week and we were thinking of going to the Casino in Montreal. I notice its done by the same people who run Lac Leamy in Gatineau and I was wondering how similar the two were if anyone's visited both? Also how are the minimum bets on the tables? At Lac Leamy its about 15 bucks min for the tables (10 for Craps) any chance Montreal is a little less pricey?

Hey! So I got back from Montreal last night, and thanks to the advice I got from here, it was tremendous.
The weather had totally mellowed out from the reports of -18C and by the time we arrived it was quite pleasant as we stumbled out of the train station after sleeping all the way. We stayed at the Montreal Centrale hostel (which was very clean and full of helpful people) next to Berri Uqam, (utterly central; Torontonians read: "bloor and yonge") and got a three-day subway pass, which was totally worth it and paid for itself almost immediately. After wandering around town for a bit, we put our things away, and went out for an early dinner, since we had both been up till about 4am packing and hadn't had a proper bite to eat for ages. Brutopia does indeed have delicious beer, though from what I heard we arrived too early to really see the place hopping. Oddly enough, I ran into someone from my Roman history class in Toronto, which was sort of a mindfuck.
We trooped up Mont-Royal after dinner, and enjoyed what would have been a very pretty view of the city had I not been an imbecile and decided to wear my sneakers. Holy moley I thought I was going to lose my toes. After helping ourselves greedily to beer from the supermarket in the way that only us poor-under-the-thumb-of-a-monopoly-Torontonians can, we thought it might be good in these tight times to more directly inject money into the local economy, so we went to visit your casino. Unfortunately, while my friend proceeded to lose nearly everything he'd brought almost immediately, I was up by more than double, so I'm sorry we couldn't help out further. I wanted to stay (as everyone does when they're winning), but we were concerned about getting back by subway.
I am sorry to say that the much-feted Biodome was our biggest disappointment. It was much smaller than it seems, and was over almost as soon as it began. I couldn't help but feel that the "Laurentian Forest" section was a cop-out that was basically a Canadian habitat. However, I have to agree that the aquarium is indeed sooo in your face and was the highlight of the place. That, and the cuuuutest beaver ever that paddled by us with a piece of birch bigger than it was.
Schwartz's makes easily the best smoked meat sandwich I have ever had in my life. Holy CRAP you guys know how to eat. On the other hand, I couldn't finish a small serving of poutine--the world was fading around the edges and I felt my arteries closing, so I thought it was best to stop. Just for kicks, we also tried poutine from McDonalds, just because we thought it was neat that they served it. Mistake. Never again.
Fuck. It's hard to rack my mind for everything in the right order, because we were intoxicated almost the whole time over. Ermm..
Old Montreal is goooorgeous and so well preserved. I decided to pass on the horse-draw carriage simply because it seemed like a total tourist trap, and I navigate better on foot, at my leisure. Seeing locals zipping around on bicycles did make me miss mine though, I took it for a ride as soon as I got home. The Notre Dame Basilica is absolutely stunning, and even this hardened god-hating atheist shut up and just admired it for a bit. Then I saw the painting of natives being converted by white people and started up again. (So about three minutes from the door to the left side.) Old City Hall was a big letdown, because I first saw it here in all its magnificent glory, and this picture actually helped me decide to come visit. Unfortunately, it was being renovated and was cloaked under large quantities of tarp. Sigh.
Oh yeah, and we hit those bagels like they owed us money! They are delicious! (when we went to the subway ticket counter to try and figure out how to get there, the old man instantly knew what we were talking about and raved about "the best bagels in the world")I brought home 2 dozen of them! I'm going to have an amazing breakfast for the next week. I had actually bought more, but my girlfriend said she didn't like Montreal-style bagels, so I gave away a bunch of them to homeless people at subway stations. (You guys have a lot of those. Actually, my friend and I were passing through a station and we saw a mother sitting in a corridor begging with her daughter. I have never seen such in Canada in my five years here, and assumed it was something I had left behind and became really incensed. I eventually found a station operator and demanded he do something about it; to my great upset and disappointment, he said he could not, and the only thing to do is to give them money. Surely this is an offense under child protection laws? I care not what you do with your sorry-ass-life, but leave your children out of it.) Annnyway,
tl;dr:

• bagels
• poutine
• schwart's
• st. denis
• crescent st
• mont-royal
• st. catherine street
• brutopia
• biodome
• casino
• notre dame basilica
• gay village
• old montreal

No strip clubs. Sorry guys.
Thanks for helping bring to my trip a much-needed dose of FREAKING AWESOME! I will definitely be returning to Montreal in the future (likely when the weather turns warm) and will be dragging more friends with me. Also, if anyone needs pointers on things to do in Toronto, I would also be happy to reciprocate the happy, friendly advice I received here.

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Date: 2012-04-04
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Questions	Answers
Dose the crew have wild sex orgies below deck?	None that I knew, although I heard some funny stories. One time we got to NYC, and two (crew) guys were led off the ship in handcuffs. I guess they had made some porno in their cabin with a 17 year old girl who's parents were less than impressed. Statutory rape all around for them...not a good scene.
	But, as someone with my own cabin, who has no problem talking to girls...I did okay. Better than okay...not gonna lie. It was pretty awesome. Hard to have real relationships though...
Level any of them up to anal?	Relevant username upvote...no comment.
	Although, I do remember being in my cabin once with my roommate and we heard people banging away in the next room (walls are pretty thin, you hear everything), and we were like "wow...she's really screaming"
	And then we remembered that the two guys in that room were gay. That was kind of an OMG moment.
	Big Gay Frank...I could write a hell of a book about that guy, but I'd probably get sued.
Epic. Did you give him a high five?	No, we fucking hated that guy. We messed with his shit so much. It was actually pretty cruel. It wasn't because he way gay, just to be straight (see what I did there?), because there are more than enough gay guys on ships...but it was because he was an ASSHOLE.
	I remember one April Fools, we turned his toilet off from outside his cabin (from a lockbox in the hall) all day, and eventually he came out and complained about it...so we told him to go down and file a report. While he was doing that, we turned it back on so it worked when the guys came to fix it. They chewed him out, and left, and he went inside. We turned it off again. This happened more than twice.
	We also once taped him to a pole in the theatre with carpet tape during drydock. We had these big rolls of plastic that we'd cover the carpets with, and we just held him against a pole, taped him up, and left him there. We got in shit for that. We also got in shit for taping his door shut from the outside so he was trapped in his cabin.
	But the best Big Gay Frank story was one that took weeks to plan. We thought it up one night drunk in the crew bar. The second day every cruise we hold a "Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail" party for everyone, and I recorded what the bridge camera sees during that time that day. The next week, the night before we did it again, I put in the tape from the week before (during the afternoon, 12 hours off). It was like 5am, but we had footage from 5pm the week before. We called him, and convinced him he had slept all day, and was missing Captain's Cocktail. He told us we were full of shit, so we said "check the damn bridge channel if you don't believe us". He did. He freaked out, jumped into his suit and ran out the door. We were all waiting outside...drunk as fuck. That was awesome.
	We also turned off his alarm clock (cut power to his room) a lot. He got in shit...but he was just a prick to everyone, so we justified it that way.
I upvoted this halfway through, knowing it was just going to continue to be awesome.	We were so mean to that guy.
What was the craziest thing you did on the ship and got away with?	Fell in love with a guest. We met on a cruise. She had just gotten out of college, and was celebrating, and we hit it off immediately. We were so inseperable that I actually brought back with me on a later cruise because she fell in love with me...and then she cried the whole day when that was over (the last day we ever saw each other).
	We both knew it was against the rules, but we didn't even try to hide it. I remember sitting in the theatre one night the first week with her watching a show, and we were really cozy. One of my friends came by and was like "you're not even trying to hide it...are you trying to get fired?".
	If it happened, I wouldn't have been sad about it. It was amazing. She was amazing.
	And it never happened (me getting fired). They were so cool about it that they actually allowed me to bring her back on as a guest a month later. We still talk. She's married, and super happy...and I'm super happy for her, but I think it might have been the most romantic two weeks in both of our lives. Just wasn't meant to be...too much distance.
	That was the craziest two weeks of my cruising life for sure. Bermuda cruises are probably the best party cruises for the crews, because you actually get overnights in ports.
Wow. Cool story. Thanks for sharing.	Yeah...no worries. That was a great two weeks. Sometimes that's all you get. I'm not sad because it's over...just glad that it happened. I have photos (even the cheesy onboard ones of us in our suits/dresses).
Would have been a cooler story if it ended like Titanic.	With credits?
Yay you did one! One question, how much of the boat is never seen by patrons? I assume it takes an army to run ships of thy size.	Lots of crew spaces onboard, and most crew only see upstairs when they're working, so we need lots of space downstairs for everyone. Usually the ships have anywhere from 700-1500 crew on them...depending on size.
Unrelated question, what is the length and diameter of your penis?	Speaking of unrelated size...um...hmm. RAMPART!
What do all these people do on their downtime (if there even is any) Do you get to hang out on the boat?	I imagine you're talking about crew. The crew do a lot of working out, watching movies, drinking, hanging out in the crew badayroom, etc.
	I was lucky, I had a good position, so I was allowed in guest areas when I wasn't working...so I used to go check out the shows, eat in the dining rooms, go to the lounges, sit up on the deck looking at stars (never seen stars like that...nothing can prepare you for how many stars there are at sea, until you're out there...wow), and lots of stuff. I really enjoyed it, but we all worked really hard. I averaged 90 hours a week.
How many possibilities are there for crew to go above deck, or are you mainly cooped up in hallways / rooms while you're there? Do you get your own cabins?	Some crew members get their own cabins, and those are the same ones who are allowed upstairs. Usually crew share, and they're only allowed up when they're working.
That actually sounds really damn cool. But holy shit! 90 hours? Do you get paid by the hour or one fixed rate.	Fixed rate. I worked it out one month, and I was working for $8.50/hr. We worked like dogs, but we played like animals.
Dogs are animals. Checkmate.	Then we partied like dogs that like to party.
It's only fun if you get free beer and daiquiris And by extension, it's all gun and games until someone gets AIDS.	Crew welfare had to throw one party a month, with free alcohol. They were awesome parties. I used to DJ some of them, and wow...sweaty.
	Christmas Eve 2009 was pretty sweet. I was working in Brazil doing a fill in (couple of months), and had just been dumped by my girlfriend at home (over the phone after 4 years...sucked). I was dj-ing in the crew bar that night, and it went until 4am, and then it went back to my place until me and a girl from brazil and a girl from england kicked everyone out of my room. karma is beautiful.
	And nobody got aids.
How did you become a cruise-ship employee? What is the term of service like for that kind of employment?	I answered an ad in the weekly newspaper and had an interview with a hiring agent. It wasn't that hard to get work...I had already had a lot of experience, so it wasn't a stretch.
	Usually for people like me the contracts are either 6 months on / 6 weeks off (unpaid), or 4 months on / 2 months off (paid). It all depends on the company. Crew usually work anywhere from 6-9 months, and officers usually work 10 weeks on / 10 weeks off (paid).
What's it take to become an officer?	Not a lot...some navigation/safety courses, and then you start out as a second officer.
Ohh so many questions..! It seems you've worked onboard SP and MJ - which ship is your favorite and why? Favorite port / itinerary and why? Did you get to interact with the guests much? How did the entertainment-crew like yourself go along with the rest of the crew, say engine and hotel? Assuming you had your own company email-address as a productions manager? If yes, on avarage how many emails did you receive each day? :) What happens onboard stays onboard? Is partnering with other crew-members common?	SP and MJ...do you work for Royal Caribbean?
What are the hours like for most people working on a cruise ship? I can't imagine the standard 9-5 Monday-Friday would fit the average employee. What is the hierarchy like aboard the ship for employees? How much control does the captain really have?	I worked 10 hours a day, minimum, everyday for 6 months. Usually worked out to about 90 hrs a week. It's a crushing workload, but after ships...everything else seems easy. My job now feels like a holiday. It's a class system onboard ships. Crew at the bottom, hotel staff next, and then officers at the top. It's totally messed up, because the officers are usually the least trained people onboard, and have no transferrable job skills on land...but somehow they're gods on ships. Many hotel staff have more formal training for their jobs, but no respect from the officers...and I'd rather have a crew member save my life in an emergency than an officer.
officers are usually the least trained people on-board? What about the training they get all those years at school?	It's more like months, and then they work their way up onboard. They do basic training and certification, and then start as second officers. Most of what they learn is onboard. I had more formal schooling than all of the Captains I worked with.
Did you ever get to enjoy any of the places the ship went? After the 6 months of work, you had 6 weeks unpaid off, correct? Did you go home? What did you do in those 6 weeks?	I was lucky...I was usually first off the ship, and last on the ship. I saw EVERYTHING. I can't believe how lucky I got...I'm glad I took photos. I have 20,000 photos that I'll love looking at on my deathbed ;)
	I usually went home for vacations. I tried to do as little as possible. Slept in, was lazy, didn't answer my phone, took a time out. Ship life is hard...I needed the break.
	I did go to Montreal once on vacation to hang out with a girl I met...that was cool.
Formal schooling has very little relevance to seamanship.	They have almost the same training we do. i find it interesting that in most sea disasters, it's never the officers who help...it's usually the crew/staff. the officers are usually nowhere to be seen.
"but somehow they're gods on ships."	Just because you're trained to read a chart, or use a navigation computer, doesn't mean you're a god...by any stretch.
Because they are trained to run the ships. You're not.	I could do any job on the bridge, with less than a year's training.
SP and MJ...do you work for Royal Caribbean?	Favorite Royal Caribbean ship was the RD. Spent 2 whole years of my life on that ship.
	Favorite port was usually Vancouver, because I could go home. But, as far as places that weren't home...wow...that's a tough one. I'll think about it on my way home from work and let you know later.
	I was paid to be around guests...I was really lucky. I met some amazing people running around with my camera. I had a great job and lots of days where I was like "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this".
	Usually the entertainment dep't got along really well...we were all outgoing, and partied pretty hard, so we knew everyone. People used to hate on the singers/dancers because they hardly worked, but they always forgot how many years it took them to get to that position, and the extra month they spend rehearsing before they even get on the ships.
	I had an email...got tons. Not sure if there was an average, but it was a lot. A lot more than I get now.
	Since crew can't hook up with guests, yeah, we all hooked up with each other. I dated a lot of other crew members, and even tried to start a life with one once we decided we wanted to go back to life on land. Didn't work out though...hard to maintain a normal life when your first date was the Great Wall Of China. We kind of fizzled...ship relationships are hard to maintain, because they're so good when they start. It's hard to top the Great Wall when you work 9-5 at a normal job.
Thanks so much for your answers! I'm so excited to hear your version, almost all is pretty much identical with the stories I've heard from crew working for other cruise liners, even down to relationship with other crew members :-) The girls in the entertainment dept are hot commodity in the other departments onboard, as I've heard.. :-) I didn't notice any footage from the RD? And yes, I've heard she's a nice ship.. Btw, I work in freight forwarding, I move orders from rccl's suppliers to the ships, so I regularly email with miami and various crew onboard the ships. I know there's a lot of emails in that company.. Always fun to see the chief engineer desperate for a bolt and gasket while hotel need their wine and entertainment need their costumes and lighting, all yesterday.. Last question - did you attend any drydocks? If yes, I assume your task was to document it all? Thanks again!	Cruise ships are a big operation, that's for sure. It blew me away once I started to see what really goes into (and off of) those ships in each port. I remember a line of gas trucks in Ushuaia (Argentina) that lasted all day once. I couldn't believe we could hold that much gas. Truck after truck, after truck, after truck. From when we got there, until we left. I made this video with my own gear again, in my cabin while I was onboard. Didn't have space on the video gear upstairs, so after the drydock I put it together in my cabin whenever I had time. Sorry about the voiceover quality, it was a cheap mic, in a loud room (my cabin), on a ship. You can't get away from noise on a ship. Drydocks...intense. Other than a newbuild, it doesn't get any rawer than that on cruise ships. Those were pretty memorable experiences...almost more memorable than any experiences with guests.
What kind of personal time were you given to explore the places that the cruise visited?	I had lots of personal time. For me, I worked when the ship was at sea. When the ship was docked, as long as the TV channels were running and the satellite dishes were tracking, I could go off and explore. I did everything I could. I knew it was my once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I went for it. Usually I was the first person off, last person on...and I tried to get as far from the ship as I could. Went to the pyramids, on safari, diving, rented jeeps and cars, stayed in resorts, stayed up all night partying (all over the world).
	It was awesome. I'm so glad I did it.
What advice do you have for people who want to leave the little port "bubble" that the ships usually take you to? I did this in Cozumel and found a dive bar with cheap local beer and homemade guacamole.	The only problem with that, is if something happens...nobody is going to wait. We used to leave people behind in Cozumel every week, because they wouldn't make it back to the ship in time. If you're on a ship tour, the ship waits...if not, you're on your own.
I'd love to do it again, but I'm a little intimidated because I have no idea what is beyond the port or how safe things are beyond the bubble. Any recommendations in general about doing this, or specific to Belize would be great.	Not sure about Belize...never been.
Thanks for the reply, and thanks for doing this AMA. Your responses have been top notch!	I've got a stomach flu...haha.
For people who plan on going onto a cruise in the near future, what are a few things you think we should know before booking one? Such as stay away from this or do that etc etc...	Go on the tours, meet as many people as you can onboard, try to get cabins away from the public spaces/lifeboats, and realize that the longer the cruise...the older the clientele.
	Also...don't forget to tip people...a lot of times, that's most of their wages.
What happens to criminals on the ships? If I murdered a passenger would I be put in the brig? Did they even have a brig? Would I be arrested at the next place the ship docked?	We have security onboard. Yes, yes and yes. It's happened...a few times. Not while I was onboard, but I've heard stories.
	I heard this story from one ship that a guy killed his wife in his room, threw her off the balcony and didn't throw hard enough...she landed on the boat deck, right outside of the dining room while people were eating dinner. They went up to the room, and the whole place was covered in blood. Craazy.
If the ship is say, in Norway, would they be charged/arrested by Norway's laws?	They're usually ushered out of the country and then dealt with at home (or in the US), if it's something that happened on the ship. Local laws don't really have anything to do with crime onboard. But, if it's off the ship, then they deal with local laws.
Do you get to eat the food that cruise ship guests get to eat or do they give you something completely different?	Both.
	I was able to eat in the guest dining rooms (if I signed up to eat in there and paid tips), and I was able to eat in the speciality restaurants (discount). Most crew can, but most crew don't. There's an unspoken rule on ships that crew don't eat in guest areas, even when they're allowed. It sucks that it's that way...they're usually allowed (if they sign up and pay) but it's frowned on when it happens...so it never happens.
	The crew food is actually pretty good. In some cases better. It's realy international, and it's healthier. We don't waste as much, and we don't have the fatty sweet stuff they have upstairs.
	You could always tell when we got hard ice cream in the mess that a lot of people had died that cruise, because they used our cold storage for bodies when the morgue was full. Happened a few times...always on Panama Canal cruises. Creepy, but true.
What...the actual fuck...	I know, eh?
Not sure if kidding...	Not kidding at all. No joke. I know it sounds hard to believe, but yeah...Panama Canal cruises are killers. People go there because it's a "bucket list" thing, and the demographics on that cruise are way older than almost any other cruise. It's a big deal for old people.
	People always end up spending too much time outside on canal day, and people always die. We try to go around and keep people hydrated and out of the sun, but if they're on their balcony...not much we can do. We don't know until they're gone.
You could always tell when we got hard ice cream in the mess that a lot of people had died that cruise, because they used our cold storage for bodies when the morgue was full. Happened a few times...always on Panama Canal cruises. Creepy, but true.	Yep. And someone always dies canal day. Always. My first week onboard ships, I was sitting in the crew bar with the trumpet player in the orchestra, and he was "i'll bet you $5 someone dies canal day". I was like "fuck, are you kidding? that's sick...i'm not betting you". Sure enough someone died. I think 3 people died that day. People always die on Panama Canal cruises...they actually go on the cruise to die. I can't remember a Costa Rica port day, or a Curacao port day (either side of the canal) that we weren't met at the pier with a hearse.
Wat.
What was the highest mortality rate for any one cruise? Are there seriously fully functioning morgues on these cruises?That can perform autopsy and everything?	No, they just store people. they don't get into that. i'd say 5 people on a panama cruise once. that was a bad week. other than that, there was one or two a few times. it was fairly regular...they are big communities. shit happens.
I remember on one Panama cruise, someone died in the gym bench pressing. The captain got called and showed up and said "that's why i don't work out". Haha...awesome. Probably not the smartest thing to say, but he didn't care.	I'm just bummed I never got to play "Panama" on the ship's PA when we were going through the canal. I played it on the pool deck once, and that was fun...but I wanted to blast it everywhere.
Moving a ship that big between the oceans requires a human's lifeforce to make the trip successfully or what?	We used to joke that we ran the ship of the power of masturbation, and the broken dreams of third world children. people on ships are pretty dark and jaded. ;)
Why Panama? Yellow Fever, malaria?	No...it's old people, and exposure/dehydration usually. or just old people and natural causes. it's a bucket list cruise.
One thing that always puzzled me is how cheap these cruises are. So my guess is they make money off of casinos, drinks and food?	Yep...you nailed it. Casinos, drinks, food, tours, and shopping programs all equal $$$. People spend as much on the ship as they do on their cruise ticket usually. One ship I worked on did $1mil/week in the Casino.
Thanks for the confirmation :) Which cruise lines do you recommend for first timers if you can pick any one of them and time/location is not a factor and on a typical/average budget?	How old are you and what do you like doing? That matters a lot.
Well.. crap..	I don't know what you do for work, so I don't know. It all depends on what you do. There are lots of different jobs on ships. If you're a graphic designer, then I'd say it's not a great job, but if you're a Frank Sinatra impersonator, then it's a great job. Every country has hiring agents, and the big lines have websites that you can apply to, but I think they still use agents for interviews, so it's better just to find out who they are and go straight to them. As far as an interesting thing to do to find out about the world...hell ya. If you're young and you have nothing tying you down...it's awesome. Better than any backpacking I've ever done (and I've done lots). You get paid to freaking travel, and hang out with cool young people who have enough personality to leave home and explore the world. You might meet people in high school, and you might think they're your friends, but the people you meet on ships...they're forever. The best people I've ever met worked on ships.
Oh and, I was thinking of doing some work on a cruise ship after (danish) college, can you recommend this line of work?
How about 25 years old. Live in the US. I like all sorts of adventure sports. Cost isn't necessarily an issue. I don't want to waste money though.	Sports staff would be cool. Work on the flowriders on the big ships. I know a couple guys from Brazil that installed a few of them. Fun job. You work on the rock climbing wall, the sports deck, and the waterpark. Some other bs mixed in there during down time to get your 10 hrs a day, but it's one of the more-fun jobs for sure. One of my good friends did that, and we used to take the rock climbing gear off the ship with us in Alaska and go rock climbing on our own. So.Much.Fun. I skateboard/surf, but haven't been on a ship with a flowrider...when i take a cruise, i'll do one of those ships for sure...just for that.
A couple of questions, 1) What kind of work did you do on the ship?	1 - I started as Stage Staff (theatre flunkie), and then got promoted to Sound & Light Tech. After that, I was promoted again to Video Tech, and then again to Head Video Tech. I did that for a few years, changed companies and worked as the Stage/Broadcast Manager on a ship. I worked there for a year, and then took a break from ships. In 2009, I went back to the first company as a Head Video Tech again and worked for a year. I'm off ships now...boring!
2)Do people ever fall off of the boats?	2 - Only Oscar falls off the ship. Nobody falls out of the boats. You only get into the boats when the ship is sinking though ;)
3) Also is the music in your video from a Grand Turismo game?	3 - No, the music is from a great band from the 90s called Slide Five. Wish they were still around...they were really great.
Going from doing sound to doing video is not a promotion!	It is if that's what you went to school for, and want to do with your life.
Also, how expensive are the crew bars? Is it expensive as shit like it is for guests, or are the prices more "normal"?	$1.25 for a beer $2 for mixed drinks/wine...last time I was on a ship. Might have gone up a bit by now.
What do you do now that you are off of the ship?	High-end corporate A/V. Basically, I'm a professional mover. If you need someone to move your whole living room into a cube van and then set it up somewhere, and then put it all back in the van, and bring it back to you...then I'm your guy. That was a nice thing about working A/V on ships...everything stays in one place, and doesn't move. So nice to work a night, and then not have to pack everything up. I could set a band up, and leave them setup for 6 months. If you've ever done sound, you know how nice that must sound, eh?
I have. Did some pyro work, so I know how much of a PITA loading up road cases can be. Know any info on the IT for the ship? Do they manage every aspect of IT (POS, terminals, network, communication, etc...) or do they just manage the intranet?	They manage it all...IT really is a good job.
Where would you recommend someone go to relax and enjoy the warmth?	I like brazil, hawaii, thailand, eastern caribbean...those are all great.
Have you ever been to grand turk? I was just there with my family a couple days ago and it was beautiful. No one tried to sell you anything either like the other ports we went to.	No...always wanted to go there. I'm Canadian, so I really want to see it. I think at some point we were going to help them out and it was going to become part of Canada (but it never happened)...and I've been curious about it since then. Flew over it once...looked nice.
	The eastern Caribbean is beautiful...all of it.
	People try to sell you stuff in every port...but some are better than others.
So eastern carribean is not the same as the carribeans everyone hears about?	It's smaller scale, and not as intense. i think when most people think "caribbean", they're actually thinking Jamaica or Trinidad.
What is the punishment for drugs on the ship? if youre caught smoking marijuana for example, will they hand you ever to the cops once the cruise ends?	Yep, and then you're fucked.
What was your favorite place traveling through, or rather 'cruising' through?	Just to cruise? Alaska...by far. There aren't cruises like that anywhere else in the world, except Norway and New Zealand...which are also pretty cool, but Alaska is something else. The Inside Passage is phenomenal, and a ship is the only way you can see it.
	As far as tropical destinations...Seychelles is heaven on Earth.
Seychelles is heaven on Earth. Sounds interesting, tell us more.	It's just amazing. Beautiful island, great people, isolated, clearest water I've ever swam in...it's just perfect.
Anyone ever fall overboard? If so, what happens? Also, what are the captains like? are the cool or do they have God complexes?	Only Oscar falls overbord.
	American and Scandinavian captains are usually pretty cool, and Greek and Italian ones are usually not pretty cool. Exceptions to both rules.
	They ALL have God complexes, and they all like really young women. I remember one captain brought his wife onboard, and we were all like "hey, you brought your granddaughter...that's cool!" Not cool.
What's the best way to sneak alcohol aboard?	From what i've seen working on ships, it's NOT in your carry-on luggage. Especially once the cruise starts. You're searched every time you get on the ship, and so much booze is confiscated, it's ridiculous. You get it back at the end of the cruise, but they catch so many people.
	Security is pretty tight, and these days they open everything. I've had all my bags ripped open so many times, that you know it's going to happen...so you can't just put a bottle in a bag.
	The best way I've heard so far is to put it in a bag (in something not-so-obvious, and maybe not shaped like a bottle), and then in the most obvious place you can find in the bag (the place someone would see first when they open it), put a HUGE dildo right there. They'll see that, get embarrassed, close the bag, and you're good. Smile at him or her like you know where it's going tonight, and you're on your way.
	Worked for a friend, but you never know...that takes dedication to pull off.
	Maybe just get to know your cabin attendant, and persuade him to go buy some booze for you at the crew bar. Ya never know.
	Did I just say that out loud? No...don't do that.
What are the best and most fun jobs on a cruise ship? How can one score 'deals' related to booking cruise ships?	I would say the best job on a ship is a feature entertainer, but as far as the "real" jobs on a ship...I'd say the bridge or hotel technical/admin jobs are the best, followed by the cruise staff/activities managecruise director path. They have a blast.
	If you have a university degree and are good with kids, Youth Staff is a GREAT job. Met some really cool Youth Staff on ships...they have fun.
	Youth Activities Managers...sometimes not so fun. I remember my girlfriend on one ship was a YAM, and she came home one day...covered in food and asked me "you make the same amount I make, right?" I'm like "uh huh"...she's like "I hate you."
	Deals on ships...check their websites for last minute deals. Those are the best deals on ships.
Which are the jobs that'd allow you access to the guest facilities and most contact with the guests?	Anything in the hotel/entertainment dep't. they have the most contact with the guests, and the most privileges in that sense.
What are the worst jobs?	Bartenders, waitresses, cabin attendants, deck & engine crew (we call them blueboys)...those are shitty jobs.
	But again, they don't think of it that way. North Americans are spoiled people...we don't have as good an attitude about life as they do. They seem okay, and in their countries they're still making better money than they would at home (and a lot send most of their money home).
	We piss it away on crap in ports, and complain about having to do tour loads in the morning. We suck.
Does for example, light/sound tech count as entertainment? Or does it only go as far as singers/dancers/comedians?	Light/sound is entertainment, and they have a lot of contact with guests.

Last updated: 2012-04-09 06:23 UTC
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