Saving Money on Cruise Gigs

People takes jobs on ships for lots of reasons.  Adventure, travel, the lush accomodations, the room service…  Who am I kidding?  It’s for the cash.

It’s possible to save a lot of money on a cruise ship.  In theory.  You should be able to, right?  You don’t have to pay for food, or rent, or lots of other little things.

This makes perfect sense.  Sometimes it works out really well and musicians come back from ships with tons of bread.

How much you save will probably have a lot to do with how interesting your itinerary is.  If you are going to Europe, forget about it.  Especially with the relative weakness of the American dollar against the Euro.  But if you’re in Alaska, where there isn’t much to buy in the first place, then you could come out really well.

Here’s the secret to saving a lot of money, and you won’t like it: don’t get off the ship.

From what I’ve seen, that seems to be the trick.  Musicians that never leave the ship and live like hermits seem to save the most dough.  Other musicians that go out whenever possible with friends for drinks, or a movie, or a t-shirt, or a meal – these guys go through money like water through a sieve.

But hey, that SUCKS.  After 2-3 months of a 6 month contract, you never want to see the ship AGAIN, let alone all day every day.

And let’s be real, when on these ships, you’re likely to be in places you may never see again.  You’ll want to get out and see the world while you can!

So what’s more important?  If saving money is the most important thing to your gig, I recommend taking the most boring sounding itinerary you can find.  Something like “Anchorage to Siberia” or something wretched like that.

For example, I’m currently in Hawaii.  A gallon of WATER is $4.00 around here – imagine what they charge for something with flavor!  The best way to see the islands is with a rental car, and the cheapest ones will still cost you $60/day by the end of it.  However much you make a day, that’s not a good start.

I think you see my point.  It’s difficult to both save money and enjoy your itinerary.  But it’s not impossible.  You should try to set some reasonable expectations at the beginning of your gig and perhaps try to stay on the ship a few days a week.