A Brief Introduction.
Cruise ship musicians occupy a distinct and often underexplored niche within the broader music industry. These performers are tasked with providing live music for a variety of audiences, in a variety of different styles all while working in a unique and transient environment. Despite their central role in the cruise experience, the lives and careers of these musicians are rarely examined in detail. This essay aims to delve deeper into most aspects of working in such an environment, looking at specific duties and responsibilities of the job, as well as some issues that might come with the job, and how the work fits into the larger context of the music industry. Through this exploration, the essay will offer a deeper understanding of the complexities of cruise ship musicians.
Qualifications and Experience required of Cruise Ship Musicians
Some larger cruises feature a wider range of job opportunities for musicians covering a wide variety of genres from across the world such as Caribbean music, Latin pop, and Irish traditional music (PEI-1). Although typically there are usually positions available playing a more generalized range of “popular music” (e.g. rock, pop, soul, Motown, jazz etc.) in either smaller “function” bands or bigger show bands.
Typically, the qualifications asked from the employers are mostly similar from one another in which they usually ask the musician has an advanced individual proficiency on their respective instrument, knowledge and experience in different styles, and the ability to learn by ear. Other qualifications are preferred rather than mandatory such as backing vocals or knowledge of specific brands or models of instruments (this is more specific to keyboardists rather than brass players for example)
However, for people playing in a function bands and bar entertainers there is the requirement to have a pre-learned repertoire of usually around 200-250 popular songs (PEI-2) which could require some effort to learn which is why typically, these sorts of bands need to maintain a high level of collaboration to thrive.
Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Qualities needed to enter the profession
To succeed as a cruise ship musician, a diverse set of musical and instrumental skills is integral. Musicians need to be completely confident in their professional instrumental skills to play a wide array of songs, often across multiple genres. A deep knowledge of different musical styles allows them to meet the diverse demands of a cruise ship’s entertainment offerings, whether playing pop, rock, jazz, or classical music. Furthermore, a deep Repertoire of a vast number of songs to cover is needed to entertain the passengers. Musicians will need to have a good grasp of how to sight read under quick conditions especially if there’s been a song requested or a sudden change in set. The same goes for the skill of improvisation which is often needed for solos or in collaboration with other musicians.
Cruise Ship Musicians also need an array of personal skills to function day to day in their job. A lot of stamina is needed to perform as the musicians will need to perform multiple times a day so maintaining energy and consistency between each show will be a challenge. Charisma is needed to captivate the audience and to maybe bring them back for later shows. Flexibility is needed in case of changes in scheduling or line ups. Another key component to working in this field is having great interpersonal skills, many musicians will be living in close proximity to other bandmates or entertainers, so it is integral to upkeep good relationships with peers.
(Ber)
Duties and Responsibilities of being a Cruise Ship Musician
Cruise ship musicians play an integral role in creating an enjoyable and memorable experience for holiday goers. Their primary responsibility is to provide live music entertainment, which can range from intimate performances in lounges to large-scale shows in theaters.
From what I’ve researched from Zack Demos’s article on LinkedIn (Zac) (someone who has years of experience in this field) Life on a Cruise Ship for entertainers is far from boring. A high level of professionalism must be maintained due to most days are fully booked with full rehearsals as well as sound checks and of course the actual show. This is why, as previously mentioned, people seeking this job must have a lot of stamina to practice and perform for so long throughout their stay onboard. All band members are expected to show up on time and with full equipment, which shouldn’t be hard considering that they will be staying where they work. As part of a large group of entertainers onboard each musician must need to be comfortable playing with one another in case of improvisational circumstances.
According to the article (Zac) another duty of the job is to take care of passengers in the case of an emergency. This is due to the fact that while Ship Musicians are entertainers, they are also considered staff of the ship. This means on top of countless practices and shows you would also be expected to perform one or two drills per cruise and undergo training and be informed on the safety precautions of the ship such as the routes to lifeboats and to know where to find many nearby fire extinguishers (Zac)
Financial and legal Considerations of being a Cruise Ship Musician
For a musician’s first contract on a cruise ship the bare minimum pay is quite decent with ensemble musicians averaging $2400 per month or $28800 per year (let’s say that the work is year-round) (Lan). According to the LinkedIn article (Zac) depending on how you performed in previous contracts, on future contracts you could be offered a raise in wages.
Furthermore, the money you make on the cruise may last longer than those performing on land as while performing you are given free lodging and meals in the cafeteria and even in some cases in the restaurants around the ship. You would also be provided with free healthcare whilst you’re onboard as well as obviously the bonus of free travel around various locations on the path of the ship. The amount of money saved on things we usually spend such as groceries and rent would provide more incentive to save money or spend it on things you enjoy. This would be a large reason why people are drawn to the job in the first place.
Legally speaking, musicians working on a cruise ship need to reach certain criteria in order to get the job. An example of this would be needing the correct documentation in order to travel on the ship such as visas or passports, otherwise you wouldn’t legally be allowed to visit outside of the country or area where you had previously worked. The cruise line may be willing to assist you obtain visas. Another example of legal requirements would be if the applicant is a threat or unsafe to work on the cruise ship which is why a background check would be required in the selection process.
Marketing and Promotional aspects of Cruise Ship Musicianship
As far as Marketing goes for being a cruise ship musician there is not more you can do other than simply show up for the job. Most of the marketing for your performances will be promoted on flyers and posters both on and off the ship, usually done by the entertainment manager of the cruise you’re working on.
However, there are many options for self-promotion and to gain recognition as an instrumentalist in general rather than just your current occupation. For example, there is always room for social media self-promotion in cruise performing. I personally can remember seeing several Instagram and TikTok accounts documenting their lives as musicians on these cruises (Tik), many people will enjoy and connect with this content, and it’ll help you get recognized as a musician, in fact this is actually how first took interest in this subject. Furthermore, if you are playing in a group that you have put together yourself (rather than just being assigned bandmates from the cruise) or if you are performing solo, there’s room for promoting your own merchandise such as CDs or T-shirts. Audience members may be more interested in buying these more than usual because they are on holiday and will be interested in buying souvenirs to remember their trip (LCON).
Intellectual and Personal Challenges
Whilst fulfilling a contract, musicians onboard might experience several challenges both personally and professionally. The life onboard as a cruise musician can be actually very isolating and mentally taxing, given the nature of the repetitiveness of performing as well as having extended period away from home, sometimes up to a year, which could be quite a drawback, especially for those who have close family and friends at home because in this significant of a time frame many important things may happen to these people.
Challenges that might impact cruise musicians professionally would for instance be things like having to learn an overwhelming repertoire of songs in time for the cruise. Even if the musician already knows the song, the structure might change according to how band members would prefer it to sound. These sometimes hundreds of songs also must be played to a consistent high quality which can be quite a daunting task to many.
Career Progression and Development Opportunities
There are several different ways that a cruise musician can further develop their career. As previously mentioned, Musicians may be promoted with a raise upon renewed/ new contracts with the cruise line they are employed by. Furthermore, there are also chances of them being promoted to bigger or more well-regarded bands or performances. For example, one might start in a small lounge band but then be asked to join the main house band for the cruise later. This can go even further in this direction in that musicians could be promoted to band leaders or musical directors if they have been with the cruise for some time and have the required qualifications.
Outside of the realm of performing on a cruise ship, having a job on a CV may prove useful in terms of future employability in the field of music. Of course, the full time, high effort job of rehearsals and performances every day means that a musician is a large sign that they are a good performer but also many of these cruise bands are rather theatric and have a lot of other aspects to them which means the musicians can have experience in arranging, composing and have knowledge in live sound design. These are all very employable skills within the larger music industry.
Final thoughts
From what I’ve researched about cruise ship musicians, I’ve learned many things about what it actually takes to be employed in such a position, that you need to be fully qualified and have a professional set of skills on hand. This job has many opportunities in terms of both finances but also could prove a very interesting life choice as you get to experience many parts of the world. It also comes with a few downsides such as the constant repetitiveness of the rehearsals and performances as well as the distance away from home. But overall, I would say that the opportunities outweigh some of the drawbacks to this job.
References:
PEI-1= Premier Entertainment International: Careers & Auditions: https://premierentertainmentint.com/all-careers/
PEI-2 = Premier Entertainment International: Party band career page: https://premierentertainmentint.com/careers/party-band-4-6-piece/
Ber = Berklee career communities: cruise ship entertainer: https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/cruise-ship-musician
Zac = LinkedIn: My experience being a cruise ship musician pt1: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-experience-being-cruise-ship-musician-part-1-zack-demos/
Lan = Landau music: An In-Depth Look at Cruise Ship Musician Salaries and Perks:
Tik = TikTok: Lsdrums: https://www.tiktok.com/@lsdrums
LCON = Leeds Conservatoire: Performing Aboard Cruise Ships: https://www.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/about-us/progression-portal/musicians-survival-guide-articles/performing-aboard-cruise-ships/
