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Gambling’s Paul Sculpher is gradually working his way through the most colourful characters in Las Vegas. This month: a gondolier from the network of canals at the Venetian
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is one of the top tier properties on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s on a huge scale, and having stayed there in the past, even the basic suites are something special. As with most of the newer Las Vegas properties, they have a serious retail offer, and in the case of the ‘Grand Canal Shoppes’, you’re talking over 500,000 square feet of retail space – that’s pretty monstrous. Naturally, after wandering up and down all day grilling your credit card, you and your other half are going to want to relax… so what better way than to jump in a gondola and float effortlessly up and down the huge canal system that has been built into the shopping area, and outside the casino.
It’s a slightly bizarre concept, but typically Vegas, so we thought we’d have a chat with one of the intrepid gondoliers, Cristiano.
Gambling: Hi Cristiano. Firstly, how did you get into this?
Cristiano: Well I was visiting Vegas on holiday a few years back, and my friends said “Cristiano, we found the perfect job for you here in Las Vegas!” They took me down to the Venetian Hotel and showed me, and as I watched the gondolas glide by I thought, “perfetto!”
I guess you don’t just jump aboard on your first day – how much training does it take and how difficult is it?
Training was intense, and had to be done in the middle of the night when the gondola ride is closed, between 11pm and 5am. It lasted four weeks, and consisted of Venice history lessons, rowing technique and singing rehearsals. All Vegas gondoliers must successfully audition for the job, and are only hired once mastery of the gondola is demonstrated. The gondolas are very expensive, so we have to be ready for anything that might happen. Training was thorough, though, so I picked up the job quickly.
So have you ever seen the real thing in Venice?
Yes, I’ve been to Venice on many occasions, but not for many years. I’m hoping to return before it joins its brother Atlantis at the bottom of the sea.
Ok, sneaky question: how much of the job is rowing, and how much using the little power button under your foot (oh yes, I spotted that…)
Zitto! Don’t tell the secrets! Ok, we do have a small propeller for safety, but we don’t use it too much. Some customers prefer not to have the rocking motion that rowing causes, so we use the power for a more comfortable ride.
Right, I guess you don’t want any customers testing out the water filter system! On the serenading side of things, I assume you must have a good singing voice?
When we’re hired, we’re given a music book with suggested songs, although any Italian worth his salt knows these songs by heart. Many of our gondoliers have studied music at some point, and know various Italian arias and folk songs. There’s a funny thing about tips and singing – customers tend to associate ‘loud’ with ‘good’. The louder singers seem to do quite well with tips.
Hmmm, sounds a bit like the X Factor. You must, being in Vegas, have seen some crazy things… any 3mph crashes?
No crashes, my friend, at least none I would tell you about. We do, however, hear something new every day from the customers: “Is this real water?”, “Does France really look like this?” and so on. I’ve seen a guy drop to one knee and propose to his partner, and she blurted out “No!” followed by a whisper of “I can’t believe you would do that to me here”.
Ouch. Best get your foot on that button and get them unloaded pronto. On the other side of the romantic coin – any customers taken a shine to the handsome Italian guy in the loud stripey shirt?
Eh, I love my stripes! There is attention sometimes, but most of the passengers are families or couples in love. Every so often there is a bachelorette party, but those girls are fiercely protective of each other.
Yeah, but only because you see them early in the night. By the time they’ve hit the clubs you’d be in great shape. Any other tales of Vegas wildness?
Hey, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… ciao!
I couldn’t help but get the impression that it’s not quite as fake as I imagined it would be with these gondoliers at the Venetian, and the added bonus is that unlike the real Venice, you don’t get a horrendous smell in these gondolas for half of the year – unless you’ve put away one too many burritos. If you happen to take a look into the Venetian and the shopping half of your couple hasn’t hammered your cash too badly in the amazing array of shops – sorry, ‘shoppes’ – then get yourself out on the water, and let the main man take the strain. |
