Comments on: Which Cruise Lines are Best?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:07:04 +0000

Roger: While I haven’t done the Bermuda run on Celebrity, I did it this summer with Royal Caribbean going from Baltimore to Bermuda on a 5 day cruise. I honestly didn’t find the Atlantic to be that rough.

By: Nick Rosaci

Nick Rosaci — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:57:27 +0000

Oops, yeah, it’s been a few years for me. The staff captain tried to write us up, but the entertainment director argued our case. I didn’t even know what happened until I saw him in the staff bar that night and he told me what went down. He wasn’t about to let them write us up for something that happened off ship.

By: ceegers

ceegers — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:48:53 +0000

It’s called Boatyard actually, was just there a couple weeks ago.
Anyway, I feel like that may be more likely to happen on some of the fancier lines… although in any case, that’s the kinda thing that really annoys crew, when it feels like the ship’s trying to control what we do on our own. Glad you didn’t get in trouble.

By: Nick Rosaci

Nick Rosaci — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:13:46 +0000

Well, we were all riding in a cab back from the Shipyard, and she was trying to find a way to get me to pay her share of the cab. I’d say her methods of persuasion went from G rated to PG-13. All the while, we didn’t realize there were two older guests in the back seat riding with us. I guess when the majority of guests are older, that was seen as inappropriate.

By: David J. Hahn

David J. Hahn — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:30:51 +0000

What was wrong with flirting?

By: Nick Rosaci

Nick Rosaci — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:27:48 +0000

I did a Celebrity Caribbean run. Most of the ports are very similar; in the Caribbean, there’s not much to do but sit on the beach or drink cheap beer. I enjoyed both of these activities. Oh, and flying fish sandwiches in Barbados. There’s a place called The Shipyard that was originally meant for crewmembers and a place for them to unwind, but not so much any more. Some guests recognized me and a dancer flirting and complained to the staff captain. We didn’t get in trouble because it was off-ship, but were warned that we were still being watched.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:54:42 +0000

Anybody done the Caribbean or Bermuda tour on Celebrity. Just wondered how the ports are. Also heard the Atlantic from US to Bermuda can be rough.

By: C.J.

C.J. — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:34:41 +0000

Just wanted to contribute that I’ve been working for Carnival and don’t really have complaints specific to Carnival. In fact, I’m rather glad that Carnival doesn’t seem to have the issues that a lot of the people mentioned above for other lines (what Eric said is true though… luckily I’m a piano player and don’t have to carry my instrument). Overall it’s been really good :-)

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:50:24 +0000

Dana, Good to again hear that Celebrity is good. I wanted to make one more comment on Carnival. Overall it is a very good company to work for as a sax player but one thing that I do not like is that they will not reimburse travel expenses other than providing a plane ticket. As musicians, we must often carry a lot of gear along when we travel and this can get quite expensive since airlines these days are charging additional fees for checked and overweight baggage. I have had to suck all of this up even after one of my MDs went to bat for me. This is really the only thing that chapps my ass a little bit about that company. And by the way, Celebrity has told me that they WILL reimburse these expenses.

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:59:18 +0000

Hi there. I’m an Australian jazz trombonist. I did a contract on Celebrity which finished earlier this year as an orchestra musician and I had a fantastic time. The music programme was excellent at the time but yes I’ve heard stories from other musicians that have worked for the company for a long time that say they’d worked with some pretty average musicians in the past. As with anything there’s going to be times where things just click and times where because of the management of the ship or weak members in the ensemble, the job might not be as enjoyable.

I’m currently working on Azamara Club which recently split from Celebrity and now falls directly under the banner of Royal Carribean, for my next 2 contracts. The crew morale is excellent here and the level of musicians is very high. The itineraries are phenomenal because the ships are small and can get into more interesting ports. I’m returning to work for Celebrity late next year however which I’m looking forward to as well.

So for me personally, I would take the comment above about hearing nothing but bad things about Celebrity with a grain of salt.

This is a great blog David and I enjoyed reading it before I did my first contract and found it very helpful.