Career Milestone Highlight Paul Jarvis

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Paul recently celebrated 25 years with the company, and he shared a glimpse into his career thus far below.

I was born and raised in Leeds, United Kingdom, which at the time was famous for coal mining and having the worst soccer fans in Europe! I started in gaming as a dealer at age 18. From there, I transitioned to the cage when they were looking for volunteers and I eventually became a cage manager and trained several other cashiers over the next couple of years. I left the UK to work on cruise ships initially as a cashier, then pit boss, then casino manager. Thankfully, neither the company, nor the cruise brands I worked on exist today. Two brief jobs followed, firstly in the Isle of Man as a cage manager – it is an offshore tax haven with a single casino and was extremely dull, so I joined Carnival Cruise Line as a dealer as a way to escape. I only stayed a few months before accepting a role with a US/German joint venture as part of a start-up team to establish the first legal casino in Moscow, where I spent four years and worked in a variety of roles including cage operations, shift manager and I also learned basic accounting and trained to become assistant finance director. I moved to Miami after accepting a role as manager of casino operations and finance with Celebrity Cruises. Over the course of three years, I worked with a small team to transition their three ships from concessionaires to in-house operation, and had the opportunity to design casinos on three newbuilds. We introduced the first casino slot system on any cruise ship – it was a Bally system and it really didn’t work very well at all! I was promoted to department head, but quit six months later after the company was acquired by Royal Caribbean.

I joined Carnival Corporation as the first external hire in an operational management role and have now been here for 25 years and counting! I have been very fortunate to be exposed to every aspect of the department and indeed the broader corporation to some degree and to have held a number of roles. When asked, “What has kept you at Carnival”, I would reply with several reasons. Some of these include, the team – it has been a real pleasure to work with such a massively talented group that is truly unparalleled in my experience; the business – this is the best-kept secret in the gaming industry with a breadth of operations and growth rate that few other gaming companies can match, and also being able to positively impact the business and the careers of our shoreside and shipboard team and being involved in major strategic projects like SURF that will support and enhance our future growth over the next decade plus.

With all of that being said, a couple of my thoughts on the qualities/behaviors that may help contribute to a successful and fulfilled career:

  • Always treat everyone with respect
  • Have a constant curiosity and insatiable desire for learning
  • Embrace (balanced) risk, especially early in your career
  • Pay it forward – share your knowledge and help to develop others.