C. is a drummer and asks:
I want to know about port cities. From what I’ve been told, musicians get to go on the port cities just like the passengers do, obviously when we’re not playing, that is. How does it work? Can you plan your day around the port city to make sure you’re back to play a gig, or is it like a doctor, you’re on call on the ship so you can’t go to port?
Visiting foreign countries and cities while working on a cruise ship is probably the #1 reason people take and keep these cruise ship jobs. I had a good friend once who worked in the gift shop that had traveled to over 120 countries.
Most of the crew members on a cruise ship work too much to be able to get off the ship and see the destinations consistently. But the same isn’t true of musicians. For the most part, the majority of your performing will be when the ship is full of passengers. When the ship is in port all of the passengers are out seeing the destination – so why would the ship provide entertainment?
This isn’t always the case – I remember on one ship I used to have a 3:00-3:30pm set for their fancy coffee hour while in port. But that set was only scheduled now and then. Also – there are regular drills for the crew that the musicians always take part in. They are usually in the morning and last an hour or so. How frequently drills happen is up to the captain – sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month.
There is also situations where – much like a doctor – a certain number of crew members must stay on the ship on call. This has to do with regulations and making sure the ship is adequately manned in case of an emergency. If you are designated as one of those people, you’re not allowed to leave the ship. This is something I’ve only heard about, though, and I’ve never had to do it personally. I doubt you’ll have to either.
Aside from these situations – yes! You can see the world while on a cruise ship. I saw 29 countries on my first contract. It was great. Usually your ship will get into port early in the morning – perhaps 7 am – and leave between 4 pm and 7 pm. You’ll rarely have sets before the ship leaves port, so you are free to explore your port cities just like a passenger. But – also like a passenger – make you you get back before the boat leaves!
Here’s one thing though – your schedule can be constantly changing on a ship and you’ll sometimes find out your next day’s schedule only the night before. It can be hard, then, to plan things ahead.
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.
On our ship – ports can sometimes be easy to get into and sometimes not at all. Normally – you can get off just fine wherever you are. Here are a few things that keep you from getting out:
1) Scheduled crew drills. On our ship they often happen about 10:30am. We usually dock somewhere between 7-8am, and leave around 3pm. So you get a few hours in port, but not all day.
2) Immigration – if you are constantly going in/out of a US port, the first one you come back into the US on will have an immigration time for new/leaving crew. I’ve seen it be over anywhere from 11am to 2pm. There has been 1 day I’ve only gotten 1 hour in port because immigration took so long – and they don’t let any crew out until all have passed through it
3) Rehearsal/Gig – sometimes you will be scheduled to play early. usually this isn’t the case – but if you work in one of the lounge bands/etc you will probably have to play an afternoon gig around 4 or 5. It can cut an hour or two off your port time.
4) Tenders/emergency weather/etc – we had one day where we had to do tenders (sitting in the harbor and having boats run people to shore) and the crew was not allowed off the ship. It’s happened once – almost twice. It can usually depend on whether.
5) Port Manning – some ships require a certain % of each crew area to remain aboard for safety reasons. You may be on this list and have to stay on the ship. For us, it happens only when we go overnight somewhere – and you have to be back on board by 8pm. The list is usually on a rotational basis.
Hope this helps!
Hey Ryan – I’d forgotten about immigration. Sometimes that takes forever. That’s usually on embarkation day, no?
This list is really helpful – thanks man!