Musician on a Boat

Working on a boat has its advantages if you are a musician but aren’t getting gigs at home. There will be people who will have some attitude just as those you would meet when on land but it allows you to be distracted from your normal routine and meet new contacts. Here are ten disadvantages and advantages of working cruise lines, of course there are better and worse situations depending on cruise line regulations, crew, boat size and other parameters.

1. One cruise line allows you to leave the boat for six hours and do your shopping at the port of call. Six hours is sufficient to do just that but not to do anything more extensive. So the key for the musician is  to stay close to the boat if he does not want to get fired.
2. If you are sharing a room with another musician that likes to watch programs instead of practicing his instrument you won’t be able to practice so the best thing is to find out whether you have to share or not
3. If you want to socialize with the passengers, think twice, boat cruises have their rules and you would only be allowed to mingle with other musicians otherwise you can get kicked off
4. You are going to have to put with engine noises and the like especially if you are lodging next to the motor room. That is likely to cut into your sleeping time especially if you are a light sleeper.
5. I would try to avoid fights aboard a liner; this is a good way to get fired. One solo musician had a row with a member of a Latin band and was then kicked off. It turns out that the Latin band is part of the music staple of the liner and the boat essentially depends on their nightly music for evening crowds. The same boat could do without a soloist compared to such a staple member.
6. Working in an orchestra allow you to meld with it such that if you are a weak point in your performance, it is more difficult to pick out then when you are on your own and need to depend on yourself to pick up the momentum
7. Working as a soloist could allow you to choose your own melodies but the artist has to remember that if he is brought on board as a jazz musician he is still going to get musical requests that will fall outside his abilities
8. The captain on board can be very authoritarian and musicians will have to work with that. I heard of one who treats his crew as inferiors and that can be felt even among the musicians. They are running a ship and are not there to be your friend but there should be respect coming from both sides.
9. The musician is going to meet colleagues who will be stable and unstable in character. There too he has to accept the fact that certain artists will be friendly one day and frigid the next.
10. A good cruise line will allow you to accept mail at one of the ports especially if you going to be on board for a long period of time