I wanted to respond to a comment I received a few months ago on the Adjusting to Land After a Cruise Job post. My apologies to Michael for taking so long to get back to him. This is the comment:
Dave,
Thanks so much for all your entries. I’ve read them all tonight looking to find better insight into this industry and that I have. I study drums at Berklee and finish this May and highly considering this for a while. Your last sentence about finding disgust with your “company” has throw me afoot. I’d love to talk more as I’ve read some of your daily blog too and see you’re still playing. Maybe via email you can fill me in more about your liner you worked with and all that jazz, thanks again so much, this has been a huge help in going through my decision process. -Michael
First off, many thanks for the comment, Michael. I enjoy hearing back from people that read the site.
Second off, Berklee puts you in a good position for work in commercial music. There’s a lot of criticism of Berklee, I know, but I will say this – there is a Berklee cat on every gig I play. Everywhere I go I gig with guys from Berklee. So as you graduate, keep your head up and throw around the name of your alma mater. I think you’ll find it helps.
Yeah, the gig had some darkness in it. The first ship I did was 4 years ago, and enough time has past now that you’d think I’d have the darkness all wrapped up into a nice perspective, able to dole out with aged wisdom. I’m not sure I do.
It was a weird thing, really. You were on this ship, and you got to travel the world, and eat lavishly, and drink all you wanted and play music. It was like a heathen playground of excess at times. Maybe that’s an exaggeration – all I mean to say is that it was a classic sweet situation.
Nevertheless, everybody was dark. It was weird! What was there to be dark about? We were living in the garden of eden! I remember being to confused at first why there was such a general grumpiness in all of the crew members. I wrote about it at the time.
And yet, but the end of it, I was the same way. I started counting down the days until I could leave – I started at 41! I marked them off a calendar like it was prison. What was the deal?
I’ve come to believe that there are three things that are important in life. People, place and work. That is, who you’re with, where you are, and what you’re doing. The best you can expect in life is for two of those three things to be going well at any given time. You should never settle for less than two, but sometimes you have to. Sometimes you have to deal with none of them, but that’s rare as long as you stay out of, say, prison and the military.
I think maybe what happened is that people came on to the ship expecting to find all three things waiting for them, and were disillusioned when those things came up short.
The places you go are great, but you quickly find that the place you live is a tiny crew cabin below deck, sharing a bunk with a smelly, drunk reed player and possibly his girlfriend-of-the-week.
The people you meet are fun, too. But you quickly find that everyone’s on a different contract schedule, so the fun-loving Aussie you just met is leaving in a week. And the cool Scottish dude in the bar is leaving in a month. And then somebody else come on, and they are great, but you’re leaving in a month. Or worse, there’s that one officer who’s a total jerk, and he’s staying indefinitely. After awhile its like – why bother meeting anyone?
Granted, I’m kind of a nostalgic, social guy – especially when I was younger – and this kind of thing probably wouldn’t be a problem if you’re a little more stoic about social arrangements. Its best to enjoy the time you have with people and let it go when its done. There’s a lot of that on ships. Its not fulfilling.
And regarding the work…as a musician it can be very boring, or it can be grueling. If you’re in the show band, you better bring a hobby. If you’re the piano bar singer, you better bring some tea and honey, because you’ll be singing 5 hours a night, 7 days a week. And furthermore, both of those schedules are exceptionally light compared with the hours that everyone else is working. 12 hours shifts, 7 days a week for 9 months can be the norm for some of the jobs. People work incredibly long hours without any break. (And the fact that you sit around deck all day reading a book and eating dessert doesn’t make you very popular, believe me.)
In the end, I think it was a deterioration of expectations that made people dark on the ship. I’ve seen this before, too. In college I worked as an intern at Walt Disney World in Florida. I adored the job, but lots of people hated it. They came with the wrong expectations – they thought working at Disney World would be a lot like taking a vacation to Disney World. And when they had to take out the trash and clean up vomit…they became severely and irreversibly disappointed with the whole thing.
That may not be an apt comparison, but the point remains – a job in paradise is still a JOB. And it sucks sometimes just like all other jobs. And if you’re not expecting that, it can be a real shock, and it can make you really dark.
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.
Beautifully said. I feel that people lose perspective when they’re out on ships too long (then the already dark guys make the new guys dark). It IS a job, you are supposed to work, and coming back on land and working 40hrs a week after doing ships is a rough adjustment. Bringing a hobby is crucial! (transcribing got me through a long contract). You hit the nail on the head Dave. Unfortunately I might resemble the “smelly, drunk reed player and possibly his girlfriend-of-the-week” comment a little more than I’d like. Good stuff man.
Nice blog. Having worked 3 different cruise lines I know a little of what you are saying. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side so I will list both dark and light aspects.
DARK:
disgrunted officers
constant confusing enviroment
boat drills
dea raids in cabins
number 1 dark reason- PORT MANNING
cruise director speaking on speakers too loud throughout ship
cant wear blue jeans in guest areas
no transportation on land(unless you rent a car)
dark ,maniacle MD’s
detachment from family and friends
LIGHT:
the job (yes, I actually like the marterial used)
no cooking (sometimes dark)
no dishes to wash
no vehicle maintenance
no gas to buy
no tailgaters
for the most part, no screaming kids
no dogs barking
interesting ports sometimes
some hilarious commerodity
if your’e american, a sense of detachment from the problems in the US we are reminded of on a daily basis, if you watch too much news as I do.
the crew bar.
When on contracts, it takes me a month or two to feel normal. I do treasure the experiences I’ve had, and occassional nightmares also.
hey man, you nailed it with this article. i did my first contract for carnival in ’97 during summer break from college on the ms holiday, doing the catalina ensenada run week in and week out for 3 mos. there are only so many times you can see freaking catalina and ensenada. so there was that to be dark about. and the muster stations.. and all the maritime law crap you had to learn. and the lido burgers.. many things to be dark about. i went on to do some caribbean contracts as well and all and all, it was a great & invaluable experience and a way to see parts of the world i wouldn’t have otherwise seen. also got my chops up pretty good. but yeah, the crew cabin.. total bummer. anyway man, love this blog of yours as i find your insights to be mostly spot on.
cheers.
Although it has been 20 years since I last worked a boat it seems things are not near as loose as they were back then. I can’t believe you are trapped on board in port . Has a former “ship rat”(6 years/8ships) I would like to pass on these simple rules.1.Don’t fall in love 2.If you don’t like it leave(this ain’t art)3.When in doubt refer to rules 1&2. Follow them and most of darkness can be avoided.
I’m one and a half months into my first contract (5 months). The cruise industry is so bizarre. It is a day-to-day thing for me. One day I’m loving this, loving making money playing my instrument, etc. The next I’m really, really pissed off about lots of things, one such being deprived of the basic freedoms and things you take for granted on land. I’ve been told by many musicians here, and have convinced myself of the same, that the key to this job is to utilize your free time well. I’m in the showband, and I have to work around 30 hours a week (which I hear is much more than musicians used to have to work). The rest of it is MY time. I’ve been reading lots of books that I get at a used book store in the home port, I’ve been trying to going to the gym everyday, and learning new music for my own repertoire. The plain fact of the matter is that this is a JOB, and you can’t confuse your passion for making music in your own way with executing your part in the band on the job. Sure, you can enjoy the playing for the job, but that should NOT be your musical satisfaction on the gig. I’m sure I’ll have much more to say by the end of my first contract…if I make it through!!!
Just finished reading your article and you definitely hit a right note about the realities of ship life. I just finished a six month stint as an AV tech for Carnival Cruise and now that I look back I realize how different life is on sea. During my first two months I was working no more than five hours a day. It felt literally felt like I was on a paid vacation. However, once I was transferred to another ship the workload was bit more but still not that difficult compared to working a typical nine-to-five job. For one, you are fed everyday. You also get to see some of the most amazing places in the world. If you life to the drink, alcohol is very cheap for crew members. It’s pretty much a breeding ground for alcoholics. However with all these things provided for you, ship life is a totally different beast to battle compared to on land. A lot of people I’ve talked to compared ship life to being in a minimal security prison with all the rules and regulations that you have to follow. Also like you said, after a while you start to loose perspective. Ship life is a far cry from reality. It’s hard for someone who’s never worked on a ship to understand what it’s really like. All of my friends just thought I was getting paid to be on vacation. One of the harder things for me to deal with like you said in your article was that people are always constantly coming and going. Everything is very temporary including the friends you make on the ship. I’ve learned the hard way, that its not good to get to attached to someone. You’re only setting yourself up for disappointment. With all that said, I still look back and think fondly of my experience and all the great people I met. Now that I’m home I don’t quite feel the same as I did six months ago. Everything still feels really strange. Any ways great article I could definitely relate to many of things you were saying.
David–
Two things.
1) Great blog. Definitely a niche market you’re filling, but that’s all good.
2) You’re right on with this post. As someone who’s done about four years of ships myself…. you nailed it.
It’s always hard to explain to people just WHAT about the ship experience makes you get so DOWN. I think a lot of it has to do with not being in control of your own destiny. You don’t decide where the ship goes. You don’t decide when you can get on or off. You can’t wear whatever you like (anywhere, if you share a cabin), and you can’t run down to the store to buy some ding-dongs at 2 AM if you feel like it.
Stupid things that you probably don’t end up doing back on land — it’s the lack of being able to even CHOOSE them on a ship that makes it really tough.
Plus, three words:
ALL CREW IMMIGRATION.
Ouch.
I am 32, from the north of England and would really like the experience of working on a cruise ship for at least 6 months or more before I start teaching privately at home.
However, I have a few questions to ask beforehand.
1. How much money do you get paid approx (I assume it varies) and can you save anything for when you return?
2. I have heard that it can be possible for illegal drugs to be planted in your cabin by other crew members who are due to get off (even by your former ‘bunk mate’). How would you deal with this?
3. When the ships do go into port, can you get any shore leave?
Many thanks
Hi Richard –
Take a look around this site, you’ll find answers to most of your questions. Start here:
Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Musician
Regarding your 2nd question…well, that’s a very specific, unfortunate situation. I’ve never heard of that happening, but if it did, I’m not sure I have a good answer for that.