Our friend Steven is leaving very soon for a cruise ship gig that’ll take him all over the western hemisphere. He starts in the Baltic, drops down to the Mediterranean, trans-Atlantic’s it over to NYC, up to Canada, then down to the Caribbean. Not bad, eh? That’s the way to do it. I wish him luck, it sounds like a fun itinerary.
He wrote to me asking for advice on a packing list. It can be so difficult to know what to pack for so many different climates! I can certainly relate. Between tours, cruise ships and regional theaters, I haven’t lived in one place for more than 3 months in over 2 years. I’m perpetually packing and unpacking. I was at my parents house for a few days last week and visited the rest of my clothes. They were in a closet! There were so many of them! It was amazing!
Unfortunately, I had to pack only a few of them in two suitcases and leave for the next gig. One day I will take them all with me – along with the record player, those fancy glass tumblers Chief gave me, and all of my music books. (sigh)
Alright, so what do you pack for an adventure like Steven’s? Well, he sent me his list and I decided to make a mock list of my own. They are both presented below as two examples of what to pack for a cruise ship job. You’ll see, actually, that they are mostly pretty close. Sometimes he uses the British term and I use the American.
It’s important to note that not every gig requires a tuxedo. Some ships just don’t use them anymore, which sounds strange and feels stranger. Make sure you check with your agent about what exactly to bring to the ship.
As for advice, my only advice to him was to bring some office supplies – meaning pens, pencils, tape, paperclips, sticky notes. Those things are strangely hard to find on a ship and will be a big help in rehearsals for taking notes and marking scores.
Private clothes
A few t-shirts
A few nicer dress shirts
2 x Jeans
2 x Dress shorts
1 x sports shorts
1 x Tracksuit pants
1 x Casual slacks
1 x Hoody
2 x jumper
2 x jackets
1 x Cap
1 x Beanie
1 x Scarf
1 x gloves
Belts
Socks and jocks
Work Clothes
2 x Dress black slacks
2 x Tux shirts
2 x white double cuff shirts
1 x regular white shirt
2 x black double cuff
1 x regular black shirt
2 x Tux jackets
1 x waist coat
Cufflinks
2 x bowties
1 x long black tie
1 x long white tie
Shoes
Patent black dress shoes
Regular black dress shoes
2 x trainers
Flip flops
Misc
Toiletries
Shaver
Laptop
Hard drive
Cables and adapters
Headphones
Phone and charger
A few bits of music and exercise books
Camera
Collapsible music stand
Mutes
Trombone
Metronome/tuner
CD wallet
MP3 Player
Passport
Documents
Casual
2 pairs jeans
4 pairs of shorts
1 swimsuit
7 t-shirts
3 collared, casual shirts
2 polo shirts
1 fleece vest
1 hoodie
1 thin rain jacket
1 winter hat
1 wool scarf
1 package of white socks
brown dress shoes
flip-flops
tennis shoes
brown belt
Work:
1 Hawaiian Shirt
1 pair khaki pants
1 black suit
1 black tux
1 white tux shirt
1 black tux shirt
cufflinks & studs
2 bow ties
1 black vest for tux
1 cumberbund for tux
black dress shoes
1 package of black socks
black belt
Stuff:
combo alarm clock/flashlight/thermometer
collapsible laundry basket/bag
computer
hard drive
cords
iPod and earbuds
camera
extra AA batteries
4 gallon zip lock bags, 2 medium zip lock bags, rolled up and tied with a few rubber bands
paper clips
pencils
pens
a book of manuscript paper
2-3 paperback books
2-3 music instructional books (orchestration, technique, Bach, etc.)
toiletries
cell phone and charger
hair clipper (my barber!)
Passport
Xerox’d copies of IDs and credit cards
Documents
You’ll notice that neither of us are apparently bringing any underwear. You definitely don’t want to be our roommate.
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
[...] also the Detailed Packing Lists for 2 examples of item-by-item packing lists – one from a keyboardist and one from a [...]