Sting Worked on a Cruise Ship

Yesterday I was reading an article about the launch of Sting's new album, "The Last Ship."  He performed some of the album material for the press onboard the Queen Mary 2 because Cunard has partnered with Sting to promote his new album.  In the interview, Sting revealed that at one point early in his career he did a contract on a ship, the P&O Oriana.  He played bass in a band and also sang, until they received complaints that his singing was "bothering the female passengers."  I guess it goes to show that you can't please every passenger.  Since his contract on P&O, Sting has released 5 studio albums with The Police, 11 solo studio albums, and in total between his former band and his solo career has sold over 275 million albums.  That's 275,000,000!  Throw in 16 Grammy Awards and I think it's safe to say he is most likely the most successful former ship musician of all time.

One of the best quotes was when he mentioned that performing in a band on a cruise ship gave him valuable experience.  "You had to do all kinds of music.  You had to play ballroom dancing, you had to play cabaret, pop music, disco, anything... It was a very good education for a young musician."  That coming from an icon in rock/pop music.  For anyone who has ever performed onboard a ship, they can relate to what he is talking about.

There are other performers who got their start working on a cruise ship.  Academy Award-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson at one point performed in the Hercules show onboard the Disney Wonder.  Actress Taraji Henson, who was in the movies Hustle and Flow, Baby Boy, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Think Like a Man, and the television series Person of Interest, worked on Odyseey cruise lines while attending school at Howard University.  There are also numerous singers and dancers on Broadway and West End who have spent time performing onboard cruise ships.  It provides a great opportunity to paid as well as perform, see the world, and gain valuable experience.

Reading the article about Sting led me to an important point and that is a point I have made previously on this blog, and is you must set goals to make sure that you get something out of the experience.  If Sting honed his craft decades ago by playing on a ship, then any musician can, if they have the right mindset.  Did most musicians on a cruise ship set out with this as a career goal?  No.  But they can learn from their time if they choose to do so.

There are 5 parts to how to accomplish this:

1) Set concrete practice goals for each contract.  Set minimum amounts of time to spend practicing and hold yourself accountable to it.  There will still be time to get off the ship and explore the ports, have other hobbies, and log practice time.  And the practice time should not just be shedding the music to play on the ship, which is a good thing to make sure you are prepared and keep your ship job.  But make sure to include general technique and expand on your fundamentals because this is what will make you a better musician in the future.  Determine your weaknesses and go after them.  Unfortunately I see a lot of musicians log practice hours going through things that they already do well.  Maybe it's because they want to walk away feeling good.  Practice should be uncomfortable, it should push you as a musician and as a person.  Don't play through the same things over and over, especially when you can already do it well.  Instead, find your areas of weakness and spend quality time trying to improve them.  But you have to set aside the time.  Because it is easy, I see a lot of musicians stay out late at the crew bar, then sleep until the afternoon when rehearsal starts, then repeat the process.  I find it kind of funny that it is usually those musicians who hate ships and complain about working on them.  It's all how you look at it.

2) Learn from the music you have to play.  There is a lot of music to be played on a ship.  Sting said it well in that you will play so many different styles of music every day.  It's your choice how you want to look at it.  Some people dislike the job because they are playing a lot of music, but not necessarily the stuff they want to play.  No offense, but I see that attitude most with the hardcore jazz guys.  They want to play nothing but burning, up-tempo bebop tunes to show off their chops and have some stupid showdown with other musicians on tunes like "Donna Lee" or "Giant Steps" or "Cherokee."  When solos come around, they usually play fifteen choruses of some completely unlistenable garbage full of crazy extensions and then when finished, they stand off to the side with a smug look while criticizing everyone else's solo and saying how much better his own was.  Ok, rant over.  But back to the music, there are a lot of styles I studied in school but hardly used on a regular basis  On almost every single cruise, the orchestra will play samba, bossa nova, mambo, rhumba, waltzes (English and Viennese), swing, funk, rock, etc.  Now it is up to me if I want to care about what I'm playing or go on autopilot.  Use that experience to really dig into the different styles and learn how to play them authentically.  Same it true with guest entertainer shows.  I have vastly expanded my musical knowledge by performing with the different guest entertainers, the acts who come for just a few days at a time.   I have played everything from music theater to classical to Motown and everything in between and I know I am a better musician for it.

3) Learn from the people you are working with.  I have been so fortunate to work with some really talented people from all over the world.  While I might have studied a lot of world music while in school, it was totally different seeing it up close and personal every day with people who grew up with it.  I have worked with steel drummers from Trinidad, salsa musicians from Latin and South America, and dance bands from all over the globe.  They all grew up with different perspectives on music than I did, and sometimes learning from them caused a breakthrough in my own playing.  And it's not just true with the performing side, I have also worked with some excellent production team members (stage managers, sound techs, light techs, riggers, stagehands, etc.) who have gone on to work with major touring acts such as Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, or with shows such as Cirque du Soleil and Dragone, and have worked at incredible permanent venues such as Brevard Music Center and major universities throughout the country.  Everyone working onboard is a resource if you choose to learn from them.

4) Learn how to perform.  This might seem silly, but this is an area that many musicians might lack.  They don't understand what it means to be on stage or on the bandstand and actually perform for people.  I don't mean twirling my drumsticks above my head during a show, I mean playing in an ensemble using listening skills.  I like to communicate with the other musicians, particularly the other members of the rhythm section while I perform along with them.  Because we are playing and producing sound, this usually means using non-verbal communication through eye contact.  I once worked with a bass player who  never looked up out of his stand... ever.  It was frustrating because it gave off a vibe that he just didn't care about anyone but himself.  In actuality he was inexperienced and was just trying to keep his head above water reading while the charts, but it made the playing situation more difficult than it could have been.  Learn how to listen to the ensemble and take musical cues from your colleagues, it can make a world of difference.  Musical interaction is the name of the game.

5) Develop your professional skills.  I've said it before and I will say it again and again, being a musician, singer, dancer, entertainer, etc. is still a job.  It might be a fun job, but it is still a job, meaning that it is a profession, meaning that you need to be professional.  There are parts of the job that are not enjoyable, but are necessary.  Things like paperwork or training or punching a time clock (this is required of all crew members on all cruise lines in order to comply with international maritime labor laws).  But you take the bad with the good and in the end you must weigh them all to see if the job is personally worth it.  Some people know how to be professional without ever thinking about it, but for some it is more of an acquired skill.  I see a lot of younger musicians who don't see the professional side as important because it is "just a ship."  As a musical director I try to advise them that whatever habits they are developing now will follow them in the future.  It's not like they can show up late for 6 months of a ship contract, then get a job on land and magically start showing up on time.  Habits are hard to break, for better or worse.  Might as well start good habits sooner than later.


Performing on a cruise ship offers a lot both professionally and personally.  I cannot complain with my own experience.  First, I met my wife while working on a ship.  Without the ship, we most likely never would have met.  Then there is the travel, sightseeing, and learning about other cultures.  After my next contract I will have traveled to 161 different cities in 63 countries on 5 different continents (still have Australia and Antarctica to go).  Yes, it makes picking a place for a personal vacation a little different than most people, but it has given me insight into many cultures and has broadened my own perspective, showing me how small the world is and how interconnected we all are.  I have met some incredible people from all over the world and keep in touch with a lot of them.  And I have made a living performing music and doing what I love.

Sting onboard the Queen Mary 2 (Photo from Cunard)

Agents

Visiting the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

Now moving on to the other A in the series and that is Agents.  Musicians have a choice when applying to work as a musician on a cruise ship.  They can chose to audition for an agent who will represent them to the cruise line, or they can chose to audition for the cruise line directly and handle the process themselves.  I auditioned directly with the cruise line, mostly because I was ignorant and didn't even know that cruise ship agents existed.  I was actually applying for a range of different jobs and treated it like any other application process in that I tracked down the person in charge of hiring and sent a resume and cover letter.  But for those of you in a position to choose, there are pros and cons to each side.

Christmas in Egypt was an experience

Agents: the pro side to hiring an agent is that they will take care of the negotiations between you and the cruise line.  Not that negotiations are very in depth, but they will handle it.  When the musician is looking for their next contract, the agent will contact the cruise line to see what is available.  Communicating while at sea during a contract can sometimes be difficult, especially if there is a significant time different between the ship and the office, so an agent might have better success in that aspect.  The agents are experienced and know the right questions to ask and can help guide a musician through their first contract experience.  Also, the agencies have contacts in many different cruise lines, so the musician has a lot of possibilities to get work.  The bad side is that agents don't work for free.  Usually the agent will take a cut of the musicians salary for their work in representing them.  Some agencies claim that they get their money from the cruise line, kind of a finders fee.  Unfortunately in some countries, some agents were getting money from both sides and let's just say those agencies are not in business anymore.  Also negative side is that agents usually require the musician to sign a contract, so the agent is guaranteed a cut of all future contracts.

Visiting the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai

Direct Hires: the pro side is that you keep 100% of the money you earn.  You can establish a relationship with the head office of the cruise line and can work together for many years.  I have found that the people in the office are good at communicating and they are really great people.  The negative side to being directly hired is that the musician has to also take care of the business side, which many musicians don't care to do.  Also, the musician will be responsible to make their own contacts, so after working for one cruise line, it would be starting over again to transfer to a different cruise line.  Also, communicating can sometimes prove difficult while at sea during a contract.

My wife and me at the Library of Celsus
in Ephesus, Turkey

My Experience: I have never regretted being directly hired by the cruise line.  I am familiar with the business side of music and completing my own paperwork.  Sometimes it meant that more work fell on my shoulders, but it was nothing that I couldn't handle.  When I was on a ship going to China, the office helped me through the process of securing a Chinese crew visa.  My primary, and only, language is English which is the only language of the main offices, so we have no problems with communication.    I have enjoyed working for the cruise line I have worked for, so I never wanted to look elsewhere and didn't need contacts in other cruise lines.  Also, since my wife and I have worked together during contracts, it was necessary to work with different departments to get placed on the same ship (which thankfully they did!).

Some countries don't have the luxury of choosing whether or not to have an agent, it is pretty much mandatory.  Also, while speaking fluent English is a job requirement (for safety reasons as well as interacting with guests and fellow crew members from all over the world), some musicians don't feel comfortable enough to do business in English.  That is where an agent had help bridge the gap.  The musician can deal with the agent in their native language and then the agent will communicate with the main office of the cruise line in English.  But all in all, my recommendation is to get directly hired if possible.

My wife and me at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

Getting hired directly will take a little bit of work, but it's not an impossible task.  Also remember to be patient.  Most cruise lines have a whole fleet of ships and each ship may have anywhere from 15 to  30 or more musicians, so you an imagine the number of emails they receive on a daily basis.  Because there are so many people involved, there are lots of personnel issues happening around the world, all of which need their attention.  As for making that initial contact with the office, there are some people selling contact lists to know who to contact to get hired.  I used a much more basic way when I was going about it, I just Googled the cruise line name and their entertainment department.  For example, "Royal Caribbean entertainment" or "Princess cruises entertainment" or "Norwegian cruise line entertainment jobs" or something like that.  Most cruise lines have a separate website for their entertainment division, that is your best starting point.  Look for the person who hires and/or auditions musicians and send them an email with cover letter and resume.  If you don't hear back, follow up nicely but remember that they might be busy and it could take a couple of weeks.

In the end, it is up to each individual musician to make the decision of whether to represent themselves or to hire an agent to do it for them.  There are quite a few variables involved (knowing the business side, being self-sufficient, being good with communication and follow-up, and having adequate English skills, etc.) that go into making that decision.

That does it for the second A, Agents.  So far I have focused solely on the orchestra musicians.  In my next posts I will cover some basics on the other musicians positions available onboard a cruise ship.