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Cruise Ship Gigs??

#61
My teacher is actually gigging on a 4-month Caribbean cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines right now – his second in the past year. Absolutely loves it.

Couldn't tell you what booking agency he used, but he said he auditioned over a half-hour Skype call... had to play some Motown, funk, and jazz standards, and sight read a piece that he had five minutes to go over beforehand.
 
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#62
john m said:
Passenger status is not easy to get. Band leaders get it. Guest stars/acts get it. New sidemen--- not often--- you've got to earn it with longevity.
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I can vouch for this comment. I always get it because I only do cruise ships with guest acts, or I'm part of a band that brings about 800 people on a ship twice a year for a series of oldies shows.
 
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#63
in the past i answered a couple of ads & auditioned - flunked! until this thread i have never heard of a cruise ship gig ( save those " blues cruise " that used to be around, ) that didn't require sharp sight reading skills, usually from one's iPad. from what i see here it must vary with the cruise line - but i'd be wary. also, the gigs i tried for required not only a passport ( pretty obvious, ) but some other stuff like restrictions on BMI, and some had extra responsibilities as crew personnel, etc. i'm real comfortable with ships & the ocean, and i was down with everything - except the excellent sight reading ability!
 
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#64
Here in Halifax we have the graves of many of the victims of the Titanic sinking. The only member of the cruiseship band to be found and identified was the bass player. It was his first gig on a ship. (Sigh...) I've kept these photos as a reminder to *never* take a gig on a cruise ship!

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#65
It has to be said that this is TB coming through in an amazing way. The range and quality of information in this thread is invaluable for someone wanting to try a ship gig.

Never been on one but I’ve got lots of friends who did them and talked to me about them. Bottom line - yes, you almost certainly have to be able to read. But more important is making sure you’re psychologically fit for it. If you’re fussy about your living arrangements, or bothered by quirky people in your immediate orbit, or prone to addictive behaviour and looking to stay clean, take a pass.

My sense is that getting an overseas hotel gig might be marginally better. I do think that hotels tend to hire pre-formed bands. I’ve known people who’ve done them in Indonesia and Dubai. Maybe someone here with experience in both could chime in.
 
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#66
john m said:
One singer did NY, NY ala Sinatra mimicking a record with skips.
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Man, you're lucky - you got to see one of my favorite acts I've ever played, Scott Record. He's really fantastic. His 60's medley is no joke either - the tempo changes are all sudden and you just have to pull them out of thin air.
 
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#67
DaveAceofBass said:
Proship takes a cut of your pay. You’re better to go straight through the recruiting offices of the cruise line. If you’re booking your own band and it’s a headliner you can go through an agent, they will get you paid more but still take a cut.
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No, Proship does not take a cut of your pay. They get a finder's fee from the cruise line on top of your salary.
 
#69
JimmyM said:
Both are very valuable assets for a cruise ship musician, especially if your sightreading skills are up to par. A few other skills needed:

--- Can you play metal songs done up in jazz arrangements with horns and keep a straight face?

--- Can you stand living months at a time with a stranger in a very cramped room on the bottom of the ship and not kill him?

--- Can you stand eating nothing but cruise ship food, save on port days when you might be able to hit a restaurant close to the port?

--- Can you stand being told that you can't go certain places on the ship lest you come into accidental contact with a passenger?

--- Can you stand doing boat drills with the passengers?

--- Can you stand having one or two channels of decent TV, and very limited internet and cell phone service?

--- Can you stand working 7 days a week, sometimes in multiple venues during a typical day?

--- Can you stand using the crap onboard gear that should have been replaced 5 years ago due to rust from the salt water (BTW, bring a cheap bass you don't care about lest the same thing happen to it)

Other than that, yes, cruise ship gigs are great. And you won't have to own your own place as long as you're on it nor buy your own food, and you can bank most of your money.
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Jimmy
Good to see you are still around. I am the artist formerly known as Django Pastorious who was on hiatus in Africa and Kazakhstan for almost a decade. Back i the us and playing bass.
 
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#70
IamGroot said:
Jimmy
Good to see you are still around. I am the artist formerly known as Django Pastorious who was on hiatus in Africa and Kazakhstan for almost a decade. Back i the us and playing bass.
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No kidding? Welcome back! Did you ever meet Borat? :D Let us know what happens if you end up landing a gig on a ship.
 
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#71
JimmyM said:
No kidding? Welcome back! Did you ever meet Borat? :D Let us know what happens if you end up landing a gig on a ship.
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Borat is an extremely offensive movie. The Kazakhs are great people and I miss them. They are very family oriented and progressive and English is now the 3rd official language and younger folks speak it much better the russians. Btw,Borat was filmed in Romania. Kazakh are 70% descended from Ghengis Khan and 30% russians left behind when the soviet union dissolved. Russians are also very nice....but Putin is evil incarnate. Lot of my buddies married Kazakh wives and have had very long happy marriages. With exception of health care, i would prefer Kazakhstan to the US.
 
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#73
john m said:
Passenger status is not easy to get. Band leaders get it. Guest stars/acts get it. New sidemen--- not often--- you've got to earn it with longevity.
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This is not true with Princess Cruises. All musicians in that company have passenger privileges and can go anywhere on the ship (with some time restrictions/daily blackout hours like busy times in the buffet line) other than the casino. (at least up to a few years ago this was the case)

Ross Kratter said:
No, Proship does not take a cut of your pay. They get a finder's fee from the cruise line on top of your salary.
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Really? Then it has changed over the past 5 years since my last gig. This was not true of my show band colleagues who used Proship and other agencies from 1999-2012. Everyone I knew with an agent gave up 10-15% of their monthly paycheck to their agency, and had to sign a loyalty contract saying they would not take a ship gig without using that agent for up to 2 years after the last contract booked by the agent. So if you wanted to get out of using your agent on ships, you had to take a two year break from ships all together. Try to avoid using an agent at all costs is my advice. Partly because of the money, but more importantly because of how much more quick and effective your communication is directly with the cruise line when you cut out the middle man. This can make a huge difference in regards to flight/travel details to and from the ship, contract lengthening or shortening, booking a contract or itinerary you want, etc. I had a friend whose Dad died while we were at sea and he wanted to leave his contract early to attend the funeral. Death in the immediate family was allowed by the Cruise Line as a valid reason cut a contract short without affecting your standing in the company, so he should have been able to do this. But he had to ask his agent (Proship in this case) to make the request to the cruise line for him. What would've taken me one short phone call to get settled took him over 3 weeks and he ended up missing his Dad's funeral in that time. This type of debacle was common for musos with agents.

A lot of people here saying, "I haven't done a ship, but..." followed by mostly negatives (some of which don't match my experience). And there are lots of negatives, but there are also lots of positives. Ultimately the gig and your happiness on board is what YOU make of it. I've been seriously depressed working on ships, but I've also had some of the best times of my life working on ships. Some of my worst musical experiences, but also some of my most thrilling and satisfying. I've now got good friends all over the world where I have a place to stay if I visit. I've had contracts where I gained 20 pounds eating prime rib, pizza and cake every day while drinking way too much alcohol, but I've also been at my healthiest on ships where I would jog around the ship (3 laps equals a mile) and lift weights in the gym everyday (and use the sauna), and eat nothing but salads and fruit with cottage cheese everyday. It really is up to an individual's personality and mentality on whether ship work is good for you or not.

Overall, after following along in this thread I'd recommend the curious bassist to pay more attention to the guys that say, "I've done cruise ship gigs and in my experience..." instead of the guys saying, "I haven't done a cruise ship gig but I hear..."
 
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#75
IamGroot said:
Borat is an extremely offensive movie. The Kazakhs are great people and I miss them. They are very family oriented and progressive and English is now the 3rd official language and younger folks speak it much better the russians. Btw,Borat was filmed in Romania. Kazakh are 70% descended from Ghengis Khan and 30% russians left behind when the soviet union dissolved. Russians are also very nice....but Putin is evil incarnate. Lot of my buddies married Kazakh wives and have had very long happy marriages. With exception of health care, i would prefer Kazakhstan to the US.
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Whoa! Just made a little joke there! I'm sure it's a very nice place and I'm well aware that Borat wasn't supposed to be representative of all of Kazakhstan. Personally I thought it made way more fun of America than anywhere else.
 
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#77
jmlee said:
Here in Halifax we have the graves of many of the victims of the Titanic sinking. The only member of the cruiseship band to be found and identified was the bass player. It was his first gig on a ship. (Sigh...) I've kept these photos as a reminder to *never* take a gig on a cruise ship!

View attachment 2884718 View attachment 2884717 View attachment 2884720 View attachment 2884719
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^ All the proof required to cement the understanding a ship's musician is an employee. So long as all parties are good with the terms of agreement, all is well.

My personal experience is a Vegas bass audition many, many moons ago. I was there on the recommendation of a friend clear in the understanding that I possessed the required skill-set.

The light went on mid-audition when two showgirls came backstage at the end of their shift. The first thing they did was measure their waists. That told me absolutely everything I needed to know about that gig and I was on my way. Out of Vegas, that is.
 
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#79
Borat doesnt resemble Kazakhstan in any way, shape or form. Its total fiction. If he had set his story in africa or central america, people would have called him out

I worked in KZ for 4 1/2 years and loved it.
 
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