A pianist emailed me a question a few weeks ago. His question:
I was wondering if you could perhaps describe what the average first days are like on a cruise – training etc. Things like how many days is it typical for you to arrive before guests.
I thought I’d open this one up for discussion. If you’ve worked a cruise gig, please post a comment below and tell us what your first few days on the gig were like.
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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.
Days before the guests? Unless on the super rare occasion that it is a complete new/overhauled ship – You are arriving at the exact same time that guests are leaving. You are working that same day/night! There is no acclimation period. I remember my 1st night on my 1st ship, we pulled out from the dock as the band was on stage in the theater. Not that you could feel it all that much, but suddenly feeling a little woozy as I was sight-reading a chart for the 1st time in front of 1500 people while sitting on a really small platform 6 feet in the air in bad lighting, I thought to myself – school doesn’t prepare you for this! All I am saying is prepare to hit the ground running.
Your first day is pretty insane. In fact, your first two or three will be pretty insane, depending on where you have to fly from and to.
I had to fly from detroit to london, so it was a whole 8 1/2 hours on a plane – not counting the layover in chicago. Then, I was put up in a hotel, but the plane came in at 7am, we weren’t allowed into the hotel room until 2pm, so I basically slept in the lobby. Then, i had to wake up at 6am, catch a 2 hour bus ride to the boat, and then the ‘fun’ began.
A few hours for paperwork and medical inforamtion, a very quick tour, and a quick dump off at your room followed by a possible meal, and a training session, then you are on duty.
Lucky for me, the first night wasn’t too bad. The thing is – you usually start playing just as the ship is departing, so not being used to it, you can get a little dizzy/woosy, and you are reading the first night.
For us, the first cruise was all training – so you had little if any time to yourself. Two 1 hour sessions a day, plus rehearsal, plus shows, and possible big band sets or jazz jams as well. If you are part of a quartet or other ensemble, you can probably expect to either perform on stage that night or do a typical 3-4 set day.
hope that helps.
I was curious about the sound techs. I might be running sound on a ship soon and was told there would be a 2 week training period. I can only assume from this post that that is in addition to the shows…thanks for all the info on your site!
For me the whole first week was extremely frustration. Sure, it was kind of exciting being on a ship for the first time, and having to read the music and meet new people. But I had to spend about 4 hours a day, usually starting at 8 AM, in worthless training sessions. Mind you, not training sessions for your actual job, or things that might interest you, but literally worthless bulls**t training that has nothing to do with you job, like the environmental policies of the ship, team leadership skills, and endless drivel dealing with safety situations. Obnoxious “corporate training” people sit there trying to get you to be their friend while fumbling around getting their laptops to play countless cheesy little videos. Then sit through a talk from an officer about god-knows-what that you can’t hardly understand because he doesn’t really speak decipherable English. It is mindnumbing. Oh, you want to get off the ship today in the port of call? Sorry, you’ve got to be here, and then take a little quiz on it. Am I dark about it? Sure.
Sounds like working for any state agency, except on a boat.
Hi Claire,
I hope your first contract went great (op from 2009) but for anyone else looking to work as a TECHNICIAN should know that your very first week or two of your first contract are usually spent with the previous technician, learning the ins and outs of the ship and the job. Conversely, YOU may be expected to train your replacement on the way out.
Regards,
Ace