People continue to get sick on cruise ships. In 2017 I led more than 20 cruise casino machine installs and trainings for major cruise lines in the Canada, US, Italy and St Thomas. Found some old photos and I thought a thread with some insight below could be interesting to others.

Every install started by arriving at the port extremely early. Contractors would always go in through the lower gangway and enter through the crew marshalling area as everyone was going off. Most people would be surprised how easy it was to get on and how few checks were done.

Once you get on, a lady takes your picture and gives you a card to clip to your shirt. You fill out a health declaration that asks you if your sick, but times when I was sick and said so, I was never stopped nor questioned. Beyond the lady you're basically free to roam around.

Machines arrived from the cruise ship warehouse on the loading dock. They arrived along with food, booze, duty free and anything else. Each ship had either one or two fork lifts. Because the marshalling area in the ship was so small, it was a fight by all parties to get the fork.

Depending on the tide, often times extremely expensive machines would have to be "slingshot" into the ship. This involved a crane (on a good day) or a forklift and rope (on most days) two swing machines down off the dock into the ship. To say it was dicey, was an understatement.

Once the machine was inside the marshalling area, it was a free for all to secure space. All of the departments (house keeping, casino, food/bev, hospitality) compete against each other. I never took pictures of this, but you can do a search to see the chaos.

Because elevators from the bottom deck were rarely big enough, we often had to carry machines up anywhere from 2-8 flights of stairs. For the most part these were quite steep and shallow. It would take between 6-8 guys per machine - and is common practice for all departments.

Depending which ship you went on, you could get a new modern casino or an outdated casino that has not been touched since the 1990's. Slot machines had a maximum payout of ~85% RTP, for the most part blackjack was 6:5 and video poker was 92%. Refurb machines syphoned cash.

The ships I worked on were not regulated by any gaming standard, so they could offer any form of gambling. On 9/10 ships the most popular machine is cash crane (claw). Each ship I would ask how the drop was. On average for a 3 day cruise the machine would drop between $14K-18K.

Another extremely popular machine is the pusher. While these did not often rival cash crane, each ship would have a few scattered on the floor and make a killing. When passengers would come on board, many would make a bee line for either of these machines and start playing.

But back to the point with Covid and why so many are getting sick. In addition to the installs, I did dozens of ship visits to fix tech issues. 9/10 issues were with touch interference. From dry pools of grease to cigs, gum and a sock under an edge rail, machines were FILTHY.

The amount of shit I found on machines untouched for days was disgusting. It got so bad, that our company had to send out cleaning instructions to try help prevent spending excess cash to send repairs or others to recalibrate and adjust machines. Casinos are not cleaned well.

The demographic of cruisers does not help. We had to adjust our original product because guests were often too fat to fit their legs under the table. 2,500-4,000 of this demo with a high median age coming and going was the worst combination possible for the spread of this virus.

But then you add in 1,000 staff people, 60-70% of which interact with these people every day. I do not think most people realize how tight crew hallways, eating halls and social gathering spots are. It is impossible for crew to have any personal space to themselves at any time.

Depending on your staff level, you either sleep 2 or 4 to a room. Dealers/attendants were usually in 4's. Pit bosses and supervisors were in 2's. Managers got a room the size of a bed with a tiny bathroom. Although they work on 6-9 month contracts, new people constantly cycle.

If someone can be asymptomatic for days, any cruise staff worker could have interacted with thousands of people from hundreds of countries, been in extremely close quarters with staff - then switched ships and done the same. It was literally the worst case scenario possible.

While ships have napkin dispensers by every door with a handle and signs to remind you not to touch anything, between the open food and extremely close quarters, it is impossible to dodge others. Unlike planes, cruise ships don't have purifiers, so when the AC is on its recycled.

The food is an enormous question mark. It comes up from the bottom deck. I have been in elevators with gaming machines sweating my ass off shoulder to shoulder with a porter pushing a cart loaded with buffet food wrapped in cling wrap. EVERYTHING comes in cans and bulk.

This thread is not to shit on cruise ships. I met hundreds of workers who were amazing people. Most work an average of 12 hours per day at least 6 days per week for 9 months straight to send money back home. These people bust their ass off as much as anyone I have ever met.

But until there is a vaccine for this you are walking into an terrible situation if you book a cruise. On the best days due to how these companies run the ship these are some of the most unsanitary environments on earth - especially casinos. With things now, its an enormous risk.