Downtime on a Ship

This post comes in response to a request that I received from "miss bliss" and I will happily comply because it is a major issues and topic for any musician or entertainer working onboard a cruise ship.  I was asked to write about what people do with their downtime while working onboard a ship.  How downtime is handled can mean all the difference between a happy contract and a miserable one and also moving forward with professional goals or staying stagnant and stuck in the same cycles.

For almost all musicians and entertainers there is a lot of downtime during a contract.  Even on a busy playing day there is still a lot of time to fill.  Say that on the worst day a musician is scheduled to perform six hours (which for most positions rarely happens), that still leaves 18 hours left to fill.  Consider that on a ship musicians live where they work, there is no commute, there is no cooking as the meals are provided in the mess.  A lot of things on land that take up a person's time away from work aren't really considerations on a ship.  Port days are probably the easiest because there is always the option to go into town for a while.  But there are also sea days, where the ship will not dock while in transition from one port to the next.  Sounds easy, but put a few sea days together and most everyone on the ship starts to go stir crazy.  My personal record was 10 sea days in a row because we were going from the Middle East to Europe.  Seven sea days were already scheduled just for transit time including a day through the Suez Canal (which is still a sea day because the ship is moving and nobody can exit the ship in the Suez Canal), but then the uprisings in Egypt happened and they canceled three ports in Egypt without replacing them with another port, which meant we went 10 days without touching land.  That will test the patience and mental stability of even the most experienced seafarer.

Regular life onboard a ship is not exactly like a free weekend at home on land.  On the ship you only have access to the tv channels that they are able to get, which might be some cable channels but in other parts of the world might only include older movies and a news channel if you are lucky.  And don't think about being connected online 24 hours a day.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, the crew is charged by the minute for internet access.  The speed reminds me of AOL from about 20 years ago.  Most cruise ships use a satellite connection, which means the signal goes from the ship to a satellite in space, then beamed down to a receiving station on land, then sent over to a network, and then all goes back the way it came but in reverse.  You can see why everything from weather to positioning around the globe can make a major impact on the speed and even overall availability of access.  While most people are accustomed to being connected online 24 hours a day on land, it just isn't possible while on the ship.  You can see how much of a premium gets put on a strong wifi connection when the ship is in port.  Any place that has strong wifi will have a group of crew members Skyping, checking email, and updating their Facebook statuses.

Most musicians I know seem to either enjoy ships or hate them (or at least find them a necessary evil at a certain point in their lives) depending on what they get out of the experience.  This all boils down to planning and sticking to the plan.  I've often been asked by younger musicians  about whether they should stick with ships or give up ships and try full time on land.  My advice is always the same: if you are continuing to get something out of working on the ship, then do it while you can.  But if you no longer enjoy it and no longer find it satisfying, then it's time to find something new.  It's my advice for ships, but also my advice for any career, whether on land or at sea.  If you are no longer enjoying what it is you do for a living, then find something else.  Life is too short to spend 30 years or more doing something you hate doing every day.

Finding personal and/or professional satisfaction is key and can be different for each person.  I have worked with a lot of musicians fresh out of college looking to gain playing experience, to have a steady gig, and to have time to practice their instruments.  A cruise ship definitely satisfies those criteria.  Some musicians never traveled much, maybe even went to college just down the road from where they grew up, and want to see the world.  Working on a cruise ship that is in a different city every day is going to be a good fit for them.

But a word of caution in that cruise ships are not for everyone and they aren't usually the right fit for everyone for an entire 30 year career (although I do know some who are perfectly happy after decades in the job).  Cruise ships are full of repetition, from playing the exact same production shows every week for 6 months at a time, to playing the same or similar charts every week at jazz and big band sets, to playing the same rotation of guest entertainers every couple of months.  What might have appeared fulfilling, fun, entertaining, or even challenging at first can become part of the grind.  Same is true for the ports.  My first two contracts were on a ship in the Caribbean and we repeated itineraries every other week (one week was Eastern Caribbean, the next Western Caribbean, then back and forth every week of the year).  At first it was all new and it was nice for someone used to cold and snowy winters to be relaxing on a beach in 80 degree temperatures on Christmas Day.  But a year into it, the same 6 ports started to get old.  While at first I never missed an opportunity to go off the ship, at the end of one year I found myself staying onboard more and more often.  When I went to my second ship (3rd contract), the ship was based out of Dubai and the Middle East for 4 months of the year and doing the same itinerary week after week for those 4 months.  The first year we did 3 days a week in Dubai, then one day each in Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Fujairah, and Bahrain.  The second and third years changed by adding a sea day and eliminating the stop in Bahrain due to the political uprisings that started between our first and second years there.   By the end of my 3rd contract, those cities that seemed to exotic and interesting started to feel mundane.

But I have digressed, so back to the downtime aspect of ship life.  It is really important to have goals while onboard for a contract.  The musicians who are the happiest have something specific they want to achieve during their contract.  It might be practicing a certain number of hours on their instrument, or go through certain books, or improve in specific areas.  It might be more of a side project, something like writing or arranging.  Or it might be to go sightseeing and see new parts of the world.

If you enjoy sightseeing or history, try and do research before you start your contract.  Read up before you visit and it will make your time in a particular port even that much more rewarding.  I would research all of the new places online and save the info on my laptop, then before we would arrive to the port I would read through so I would know what to expect.  In the end it worked for me.  While I was out in the city taking mass transportation and seeing all there was to see, others stayed near the ship in a Starbucks (I still enjoy my Starbucks, I'm just saying) or an Irish bar (every city in the world seems to have its Irish bars).  Imagine what the crew members have to look back at years in the future: "yeah, I went all over the world and saw the inside of a Starbucks in 60 different countries."  I researched admission prices, opening/closing times of places of interest, as well as transportation schedules, routes, and prices so I could use my time as efficiently as possible.  I love the TripAdvisor app, and you can now download city guides for a lot of the major cities and use them offline while you walk around without having to be connected to the internet.  There is another app called Maps.me where maps can be downloaded with turn-by-turn directions and then used offline.  It can be a lifesaver if you get lost on the way back to the ship!

The people who are the most miserable are the ones that come onboard with no plan whatsoever and get bored in their first week.  Or they came with a plan but it went out the window because they either weren't focused or were just plain lazy.  Downtime can either be a blessing or a curse depending on how its used.

One major downfall I have seen time and time again is spending every night in the crew bar.  Cruise ships have a bar (sometimes more than one) specifically for the crew to use at night once they are finished with their work.  Alcohol is cheap and flows easily, which is attractive to many musicians.  One word of caution though, all cruise ships have limits on alcohol consumption, some more strict than others.  Unfortunately as a Musical Director, I have seen several musicians be fired because of drinking too much.  It is never a fun moment to have to appear with the musician in a Captain's hearing where they are fired and sent home at their own expense.  The crew bar can be a cycle, where some crew members go every night until it closes at 2am, then they sleep until Noon or later, wake up for rehearsal, eat dinner, do the shows, and then repeat the process.  One of the saddest cases I saw was an older musician who hated his job.  He spent $500 a week (which was about the average salary for the orchestra members at that time) in the bar and was eventually not re-hired because his drinking led to performance issues on the bandstand. Imagine spending every dollar you earn and then eventually lose you job over it.  I'm not saying that crew should never go to socialize, and isolating yourself in your cabin alone every night is worse, but everything in moderation.

My advice to those about to do a contract, whether it is their first or 50th, is to set concrete goals and stick to them.  Use check points throughout the contract to make sure you are staying on task and staying productive and of course modify if necessary.  If you are planning on arranging 10 charts during a six month contract, then set smaller goals, such as one the first month then two the next month and so on.  In the fourth month, if you haven't hit at least 7 charts, then you haven't been sticking to your routine.   Maybe you got sidetracked by something else productive, which could be OK, but maybe it's a sign that you have been focusing on less productive ways of spending your time.

A sad sequence of events I have seen all too often are with musicians who no longer want to work on ships but find themselves having to.  Ships are great if it is where you want to be.  But it can be a sad, lonely, and sometimes dark place if you feel that it is your only option.  I have seen musicians spend most of their paycheck either in port or in the bar due to boredom.  Then they go home with just enough cash to keep them going during their 6-8 week vacation, then find themselves without any other option financially so they come back to the ship and repeat the process over and over.  My suggestion: not only set goals for using your time, but set goals for saving money.  Make sure to come home with money in the bank.

As far as spending time productively, I mentioned arranging as an example because there are a lot of people that use it to productively fill time and also to make some extra cash during the contract.  Singers, guest entertainers, and sometimes even the ship's entertainment department are sometimes in need of new charts or updating older charts.  The ship's production cast is made up of singers, some of which are required to have their own charts.  As they perform more often, they might decide to pay to expand their personal collection of charts arranged for them, so they oftentimes look for somebody onboard to arrange for them.  In one of my latest contracts, the hotel director and cruise director wanted the orchestra to play some very recent pop music (i.e. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift).  Because the orchestra usually uses charts and not whole songs by ear, they paid orchestra musicians to do the arrangements.  Not a bad way to make some spending money.  Plus the skills that a musicians continues to develop in arranging can also pay off on land after the contract is finished.

All in all, ships can be a great experience.  I have been able to visit over 60 countries.  I have been able to play with some great musicians from all parts of the world, who have all taught me as much or more than I could in a classroom.  And from playing every night, I have been able to greatly expand my repertoire.  This past contract I wrote a music textbook/workbook because my wife and I will be opening up a music school.  And speaking of my wife, I met her through ships which would have to be the best result of them all.  Had it not been for ships I am sure our paths would have never crossed.

Another Contract Begins

It's that time again as vacation winds down and it's time to hop on a plane to join another ship.  This time I'm flying to join a ship in Athens, Greece.  I've worked on this ship back in 2012 and it's also the sister ship of the one I just finished my last contract on.  My wife is already there, so I am ready to get onboard. Vacation has been nice and it's the longest I've stayed in the US for one period of time in the last five years.  But vacation can't last forever and it's time to get back to work.

This itinerary is another world cruise type of itinerary.  I join the ship in Athens on Monday and that is the start of the crossing to Asia.  We immediately go through the Suez Canal, then through the Gulf of Aden and the pirate waters, stopping in the Middle East, then over for 3 days in Mumbai.  The next cruise will have stops in India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.  The next will get us to Southeast Asia via Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and then ending in Singapore.  We will spend 3 and a half months in Asia before heading back to Europe again, where my contract will end on the 4th of July in Southampton, England.  It's a really, really long contract but that is my wife's sign off date with her cast, so I asked to stay until then as well.  And as the corny saying goes, "home is where the heart is," so for 8 months we will just make our home all over the world on a ship.  A huge plus is that because she is a featured singer, she gets a huge guest cabin and porthole.  The porthole really helps with the sanity because natural daylight is at a premium for crew members.  Most crew live either below the water line, on the inside, or just where there are no portholes, so they live without natural light in their cabins for months at a time.  It makes it near impossible to tell what time you wake up, because 7am looks the same as 10am which looks the same as 4pm.

It's always nice to check out the itinerary before starting a contract, that way we can plan along the way. During our contract, the ship will visit 43 different countries on 3 continents (Europe, Africa, Asia).  Even though this is my 8th contract and my 3rd contract on a world cruise format, there will still be 28 new cities in 7 different countries.  It will also bring my total up to 161 different cities in 63 countries.  Yes, I'm a nerd and I keep track of these things.  But I figure not many people get to see this much of the world, so why not pay attention and take it all in.

The work will be nice, too, and it


will keep me busy.  The ship has 4 production shows (one is a cappella so no orchestra), a long party set at the pool with about 25 songs all segued together, all the different guest entertainers, shows with the cruise directors, sometimes Welcome Aboard and Farewell Shows, a jazz brunch every cruise, shows with the featured singers (which includes my wife's solo show which I enjoy playing), and various sets around the ship (welcome back from tours, jazz sets, ballroom sets, etc.).  Since I've already worked on this ship, I am familiar with the material and there are a lot of people that I know there so it will be nice to return.

I will do my best throughout this next contract to keep up with posting.  Hopefully it will become a mix of advice and insight into working on a ship as well as updates with the cool places we are visiting.  Maybe a little bit of travel advice along the way.  My wife and I are also writing an entertainment/travel/lifestyle column for a newspaper called Cebu Daily News in the Philippines so I will try and post links if you feel like reading a little more in depth about that side of things.

The Darkness

This post will focus on one of the not-so-nice parts of working on cruise ships; it can affect all areas of the crew, but for some reason there seems to be a higher concentration amongst musicians.  While the job is really nice, I have found this darkness that can come out at time.  There is even a Facebook page dedicated to it called "Dark Showband Musicians."  I think at times we all experience it to a certain degree.  It is when people aren't happy with their jobs and it starts to take them over.

I have found specific times when "the darkness" tends to show itself.  The most common is at the end of a contract.  Spending 6-8 months onboard the same ship, seeing the same people, eating the same food, playing the same shows, this can lead to some burnout.  There is also a unique element to living where you work.  That nice meal in the mess (dining room) at the beginning of the contract starts to look inedible after so many months.  Even that nice crew member who always smiles when you pass by starts to get on that last nerve.

The other time can be more calendar related and that is around the holidays.  The holidays can be fun while working on a ship, but it can also be a reminder that you aren't around your family and friends at that time of year.  Many crew members call home or Skype home, ending the conversation with tears in their eyes, then have to go work with a smile on their face.  They sacrifice time with their own family to serve other families who are on their vacation.  Holidays are also the highest fares for a cruise, so there are a lot of added expectations for the crew and oftentimes extra work which can lead to more darkness.

Then there are other times that the darkness can come out at any random time.  While it can signal other problems in a person's life, I have found five common reasons for everyday darkness with ship musicians.

1) Playing on a cruise ship often has a lot of included downtime.  Even on a busy day, there are still hours to fill.  The problem lies with the people who don't have a healthy way to spend their downtime.  The happiest musicians I've seen have something else to do during their contract.  That can be sightseeing, photography, working out, arranging songs, working on a course, etc.  The people who don't enjoy their time usually sit in their cabin bored out of their mind, or spend every hour in the evening drinking at the crew bar.  If you are about to do a contract, make of list of things you want to accomplish during the time and stick to it.  And don't count on the internet for a way to spend time because first, it's extremely slow on a ship because it is a satellite based system, and second, crew pay for internet on the ship by the minute so the cost adds up quickly.

2) The musician isn't playing the music that they want to play.  Not to generalize, but I've seen this the most with the jazz guys.  Their ideal gig would be living in NYC and playing jazz all day, every day.  On a cruise ship there is jazz, but also many other genres from classical to rock to Broadway.  A side to this is not landing the gig that they want.  In their minds, some musicians believe that they are dumbing themselves down and lowering their standards by performing on a ship.  They are unhappy that they aren't working in NYC or LA.  Truth be told, I have performed with a lot of great musicians, performers, and sound techs who have had amazing gigs both before and after cruise ships.  I played with a lead trumpet from Maynard Ferguson's band, a trombone player who toured with Tom Jones, a sound tech who is now touring with the Rolling Stones, a singer who won the NBC show "The Sing Off" ... you get my point.  The gig is what you make it.

3) They are caught in a money trap with ships and don't know how to get out.  I have met so many people (not just musicians) who have said they are doing "one last contract" and then I see them a few months later signing back on the ship.  Some people are just really irresponsible with money.  While they work on ships to save money, but they spend too much (either too much shopping, drinking, or eating off the ship) and aren't left with enough savings to support themselves when they go back to land.  When they go home for a 6-8 vacation and don't work and only spend, they go back to their next contract with no money left in their bank account.  It's a viscous cycle that they just don't know how to break so working on a ship becomes a necessary evil to them.  Set savings goals and stick to them.  It's easy so save money by working on a ship; there is no rent, basic meals are paid for

4) Some people are just not meant for ship life.  It's not a bad thing, it's just a fact.  Ships are full of rules and schedules and some musicians aren't used to it and don't want that kind of structure.  There are rules for everything and all cruise lines have a strict, zero tolerance policy on drugs and abuse of alcohol.  Crew members must wear a uniform and name tag in a public areaI'm more of a rule follower myself, so I never had an issue in this regard, but I've seen a lot of "rebel" people that just can't cope with a lot of rules.  Another aspect of ship life that is not for everyone is having to leave family and friends behind for 6-8 months at a time.  It is a very big sacrifice, especially for parents who miss out on the major milestones of their children.

5) Finally, some people are just miserable no matter what and need something to complain about.  Call them grumpy curmudgeons or whatever you like, but unfortunately these people can be detrimental to an ensemble.  Darkness just breeds more darkness.  Give them $10,000 in cash and they will complain it's not $20,000.  I've worked with several of those people.  One time we were doing 7-day cruises with an overnight in Dubai every single cruise for almost 3 months.  One day I had to call a rehearsal in the late afternoon because of the theater schedule and we were doing a show with an entertainer at night.  The keyboard player stood up and cursed at me because I was taking away some of his port time.  He didn't figure it out that 1) he is working and work does come first, and 2) we were in Dubai for two days every week for three months, it's not like asking him to come back a couple of hours early was taking that much away from his Dubai experience.


To be honest, every single ship I have worked on has had people like this, but life is short and not worth wasting time on them.  The good news is that not everyone is like that.  I was usually lucky and could find people who were happy people.  Life is what you make of it and you have the choice in your own attitude.

Advice to Future Musicians and Music Majors

Now that I am on vacation, I was asked to speak to a group of high school students about life as a professional musician and also what it took be to a music major in college.  It made me reflect back on my own experience and also the last several years of being a musical director and working with musicians from all over the world.  Here ten pieces of advice for anyone thinking about majoring in music or pursuing music as a career:

• Learn to read music as fluently as possible.  Music is a language and it is impossible to communicate professionally if you are not fluent in that language.   I know professional musicians who are able to earn a living and they don't read, but they admit they have been limited because of that fact.  In certain situations, like becoming a music major or certain professional settings such as an orchestra, learning to read is simply not an option, it is a fundamental requirement.  The most successful musicians I have worked with are great readers.  Having good ears is important as well, but being able to read sheet music gives common ground to all the musicians in the room.  I have worked with musicians who could not speak English and I could not speak their native language and we got by without a problem through the language of music.
• Play as much as you can and gain experience in as many genres as possible.  Audition for bands, find other musicians and play together.  Look for community groups (theater, orchestra, etc.) because those will help as well in the future.  When I was studying classical percussion, I was taught to be very particular about the sound I was creating; that drive continues to help me whenever I play drumset because I am more aware of the sound I am producing around the set.  When I was in high school I joined a reading band (meaning a band that rehearses but doesn't gig) that met once a week in the basement of an orthodontist's house.  For most of the time I was the youngest person there and one of the few that was pursuing music as a profession.  I didn't make any money from it since we didn't gig, but I did gain a lot of experience.  We read through 10-15 different charts each week and there are still times, 20 years later, that I am familiar with a song because of that band.
• Actively listen to as much music as possible. I hate when people ask me what is my favorite kind of music or who is my favorite artist because I don't really have an answer.  They assume that because I am a musician that it is easy to name one, but I think it is because I am a musician that it becomes impossible to chose one.  When I was in 8th grade, my band director gave me recordings of great drummers and that completely changed the way I looked at a drumset.  The first recording she gave me was Dave Weckl's solo album, "Masterplan," and I literally wore out the cassette tape from playing it so much.  That one little effort from my band director pushed me to find more good music.  I went from being a passive listener to being an active listener trying to break down the playing styles of world-class drummers.  Don't just throw on music in the background; instead, listen and analyze what it is you are hearing.  Listening to music kind of fills up this musical reserve that we all have and then we draw from it every time we play.  Learning to transcribe is a valuable skill.  I don't mean playing it back note for note, but I am a better funk drummer because I listened to David Garibaldi and Tower of Power and I am a better rock drummer because I listened to John Bonham and Led Zeppelin and so on.
• Learn how to practice.  Ok, this sound obvious, but it isn't always a skill that advanced younger musicians develop.  The problem lies in the fact that natural talent can only take a musician so far; eventually they will hit a wall.  Now when they hit that wall is different for each individual, some in high school, some in college, and some out in the working world.  But it will happen and if the musician hasn't learned how to practice at an earlier age then it will spell disaster.  Even if the music you are currently playing is easy for you, continue to develop the skills of how to practice because at some point they will be needed.
• Find information.  We live in a world inundated with information.  It's both a blessing and curse.   I wish I had access to so much information when I first started learning to play drums.  Must be nice to be able to pull up any drummer through a YouTube video.  But all of that information is nothing if we don't know how to use it.  I can't read a medical textbook and call myself a doctor just like I can't read a drum method book and call myself a professional drummer.  Find a private teacher, somebody who can guide you through books.  Plus, unless you are recording every single practice session, you need somebody to listen to and evaluate your progress.  Seek out people who are experts at what they do and have more experience than you.  I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to watch a lot of amazing drummers perform at shows, clinics, and conventions.  9 times out of 10, those famous musicians that younger musicians idolize are actually really nice people who remember what it was like to be starting out.  Chances are they will take a moment to answer questions.  Find professionally gigging musicians in your hometown and find out how they do what they do.
• Don't be afraid to try something new.  I remember being absolutely terrified of Latin styles when I was younger.  The independence required made me not even want to try.  It just seemed like something I wasn't meant to do!  Same goes when I enrolled in a basic jazz improvisation class and I had to play piano, an instrument I never had played before.  But I learned so much in both of those experiences and I am so glad I didn't let my fear stop me.  When I was in high school, I broke my foot which meant I couldn't play drumset, even though I was enrolled in my school's jazz band.  I took the opportunity to learn more about hand drums and starting playing congas when it fit.  Again, that drive to create a good tone made me think more critically about the sound I created on the set with sticks.
• Push Yourself.  You never know your true potential until you push yourself to your limits.  This is true about music and life in general.  How far can you run?  You never know until you run until you can't run any more.  I remember growing up in Cincinnati and thinking I would attend a local college because it was close to home and it was familiar.  But luckily my band director encouraged me to visit other programs and it turned out that I found a great music school at the University of North Texas.  The music school and percussion program greatly shaped me to what I am as a musician and I am so thankful that I made the decision to go there.  The program is demanding and it was never easy.  There are so many excellent musicians and it takes constant practice for lessons and rehearsals, but it all made me a better musician and a better person.
• Set goals and know what it is you are working towards.  This can always change as you are growing and developing as a musician, but continue to set goals and go after them.  Imagine just getting into your car and driving without any particular destination in mind.  Doesn't sound very efficient, right?  Same thing for wanting a particular career path but not setting goals on how to get there.  Goals don't have to be these lofty things that sound great but are next to impossible to reach.  You can have those as well, but make sure you have goals that you can reach; they can even be on the way to those bigger goals.  Going back to the driving metaphor, if you are taking a cross-country road trip from New York to Los Angeles, those aren't the only points on the map.  Instead, there are place in between, the points along the drive to make sure you are going to end up exactly where you want in the end.
• Learn when to take a break.  It is easy to get burnt out in music or in any career really.  Set aside time for other things.  Take up a hobby, and it is better if that hobby is something completely unrelated.  If you are a performance major and your hobbies include arranging music, listening to music, and attending music concerts, that's not really ever taking a break from music.  Instead, learn how to paint or write, watch a movie, attend a sporting event, or spend time with friends discussing things that aren't music.  Make friends that are outside of your professional or college major.  For me, my break is in getting out and visiting places, especially with my wife.  I like to take photos.  I also enjoy keeping up with my favorite sports teams and watching in person when I can.  Knowing when to get away is important.  There are times when spending more time practicing or more time writing starts to become counterproductive and a waste of your time and energy.  Instead, know when to walk away for a bit and take a breather.  That way when you go back to it, you come back refreshed and maybe with a different perspective.
• Always remember that music is a business.  Yes, it can be a fun and rewarding business, but it is still a business.  Return phone calls, emails, and texts and be professional.  Do not be late and have a good attitude while you are there.  The music world is a small one and word travels fast, both good and bad, so just because you think you will never play with a particular musician again, you never know who that person knows.  And just as with any other kind of job, there are probably little parts that you may not enjoy (paperwork, driving, setting up and tearing down equipment), but don't blow them off just because you don't enjoy it because it will come back to bite you later.  Whenever a bandleader is hiring, they will chose people they enjoy playing with, which may or may not be the most talented people.  Music is about interaction and collaboration on stage, in the studio, or wherever the music is happening, so don't make it a miserable experience for the other musicians.

This list is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, but just as a bit of advice.  Feel free to comment at the bottom and add your own pieces of advice!

Contract Finished!

Anna in front of the performing arts center
in Reykjavik, Iceland

After 7 and a half months onboard the ship, my contract is finally finished.  No matter how good a contract turns out to be, it is a great feeling to step over the gangway one last time to go on vacation.  No more checking your watch in port to make sure you aren't late coming back to the ship, and no more morning crew lifeboat drills.

In 7 and a half months onboard the ship, I traveled 39,107 Nautical miles (45,000 statute miles, meaning just under 2 times around the world at the equator) while visiting 94 different ports in 41 countries/territories.  Out of those places, 65 ports were new to me as were 21 of the countries.  After 7 contract working onboard ships, I have now been to 133 different cities in 56 countries.  Yes, I know I am a nerd because I keep track of everything.

Sibelius monument in Helsinki, Finland

The best part of my contract is getting to work with my wife, Anna, who is a featured singer onboard the ship.  Out of my 7 and a half months, she was onboard for 5 of them.  I am very fortunate to travel all over the world and perform and also be there with her.  I have a great deal of respect for the thousands of crew members who have to leave their families to earn a living out at sea.

Statue of Rimsky-Korsakov
in St. Petersburg, Russia

This last contract was professionally challenging, but rewarding.  For the last 4 months, I was the Musical Director onboard the ship.  This adds quite a bit of extra responsibility when it comes to scheduling and organizing the musicians onboard.  My previous Musical Director experience was on much larger ships, so I thought being on a smaller ship would be easier.  In some ways it is true because there are less musicians to manage, but when it comes to scheduling, the smaller the ship, the more schedule changes.  I think with larger ships, there are so many different pieces to the puzzle that schedule changes are incredibly difficult so they don't tend to happen as much.  On a smaller ship, there are far fewer venues and people involved so because changes can happen quickly, they do very often.

Faroe Islands, where houses have grass
on the roofs.

One of the most rewarding parts was watching my wife continue to develop her headliner show.  She had performed it in the past, but over her five months onboard she continued to make changes and add in new arrangements.  She was performing her show every cruise in the main theater which gave her the change to try things out.  It was fun watching her work with her arranger, Naldy Rodriguez (one of the best I have ever had the chance to work with!), as they added new medleys to the show.  Not just being a proud husband, but her arrangements are by far some of the best I have performed; they push the musicians in a good way, the arrangements make a 7-piece band sound really full, and there are no errors which makes for a happy Musical Director!

St. Andrew's Golf Course in Scotland.
Too bad I don't play golf!

Another rewarding part is being able to travel to so many different places.  I started my contract in Hong Kong and the ship was in Asia for the first couple of months before heading east towards the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal, then going through the Mediterranean and eventually up to Scandinavia and the Baltic, up to Iceland and back, before coming to the British Isles and I finally finished in Lisbon, Portugal.  I had never been to Scandinavia and Russia before nor the British Isles so it was nice to see whole new areas of the world.

Childhood home of Paul McCartney,
where he and John Lennon wrote hundreds
of songs in Liverpool, England.

It's time now to get caught up on the many things that need to be accomplished before going out again.  The most important is getting new pages added to my passport.  I remember when I received my first passport, I was so proud of my first few visa stamps.  I wanted my stamp from every country (even though most countries don't stamp passports for crew members).  By the end of this contract, I was counting down the last few empty pages, hoping I wouldn't run out by the end.  I finished with 2 half pages, even to get me back to the United States.  Luckily U.S. citizens can get extra blank pages added to current passports, although the price is almost the same as a new passport.  But considering I still have 4 years left of my current passport and there are important visas that are still valid and that I will continue to use, I opted to add pages instead of getting a whole new passport book.

Victor Hugo's house in St. Peter Port, Guernsey
in Channel Islands.  The black desk in the corner
is where he finished writing "Les Miserables"

Now that I am back in the world of high speed internet and no rush to get back on a ship before sailaway, I will have the opportunity to continue to add to the blog.  There are more things I want to discuss, especially things I have witnessed with new musicians over the past seven and a half months.

O'Donoghues Pub in Dubline, Ireland, where
the band The Dubliners started performing

Long Overdue Update

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

It has been a very, very long time since I've posted an update.  Almost 4 months in fact.  But I have good reasons, promise.  First, internet is not very consistent onboard cruise ships.  While the rest of the world might be all about broadband, 4G, etc. the internet onboard cruiseships takes me back to the days of AOL dialup and hearing the screeching of the modem.  There have even been parts of this itinerary where we had no internet at all.  Last month we visited Norway for a few weeks and went above the Arctic Circle.  That area is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, but being above the Arctic Circle doesn't exactly put the ship in prime locations for satellite access.  And second, since the beginning of May I have been the musical director on the ship.  While small ships mean less people to manage, it means lots of scheduling changes and extra work here and there.

The Church of Spilled Blood
 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Just since my last post we have visited 28 different countries.  Some of the highlights: doing another tour in the Holy Land, walking through Cannes during the film festival, being in Monaco during the Grand Prix, visiting the Anne Frank House on what would have been her 85th birthday, standing on Omaha Beach on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing, and seeing wild reindeer in Norway, visiting the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia (students have included Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostkovich, and Prokofiev, and Rimsky-Korsakov was a school director!).  Just in the last 6 weeks it has been a whirlwind of all new countries for me.  Here is the list: England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.  All in all I've now visited over 50 countries and still have a few more to go before I finish this contract.

The Nobel Museum in Stockholm

Traveling and working onboard a cruise ship gives some access that wouldn't normally be possible.  For instance, I'm sitting here inside a Starbucks in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Normally to visit Russia it required a lot of paperwork and expensive visas.  But working on a cruise ship, it costs me $10 per day for a "crew shuttle bus tour."  There is a visa exemption for staying up to 72 hours onboard a cruise ship in Russia, but you can only leave the ship on an organized tour.  So they organize shuttle busses for the crew and charge a small fee and we can leave anytime we want.

Nordkapp (North Cape), the northernmost point in Europe,
and only 2,093 miles from the North Pole

Anna is now down to her last 3 weeks onboard; because I've been extended I still have 6 weeks to go.    It's not fair, I signed on 6 weeks before she did!  Before she leaves we will visit Iceland, Shetland Islands, and Faroe Islands and she will sign off in Copenhagen.  After she leaves I will be visiting Edinburgh, Dublin, Liverpool, Southampton, Orkney Islands, Wales, Dartmouth, Nantes, Bordeaux, and then I sign off in Lisbon.

That's about it for this update, but it won't be as long for the next update.

Tallinn, Estonia

Reindeer sausage in Norway

At the cliffside Uluwatu Temple in Bali

Learn from the Past, but Embrace the Present

 It's been a while since my last post.  We spent almost a week in the cold of Busan, South Korea as they repaired our damaged propeller.  Since then we started a new cruise in Hong Kong and have visited the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.  I'm sitting in my cabin right now still able to get the free wifi signal from the pier (always a nice and welcome surprise!).  Anyway, this topic is something that I continue to see from musicians, and all crewmembers, on every contract...

Learning from the past is an important part of life, but so is knowing when to let go of the past.  While this is kind of a deeper philosophical concept, I want to focus on this in terms of being a musician and work.  Hopefully as a musician and a human being you are learning something everyday.  A friend of mine had a saying that “every day is a school day,” meaning that you should never stop learning.  If this holds true, then you should be wiser now than you were a day ago, a week ago, a month ago, and definitely a year ago.  That knowledge gained from the past should be used in making decisions today.  But at the same time, that knowledge has to be adapted and may change along the way.

Why am I talking about this?  In working, and especially on ships, there is a tendency for people to cling to the past.  Many times do people do something only because that is the way it has always been done.  The world changes and there may be better and more efficient ways to do it now than compared to five years ago.  Or maybe the work settings and environment aren’t exactly the same, so what worked in the past might not work at present.

Experience is a valuable thing, but it can also get people in trouble.  I’ve heard so many people say “On (insert name of ship), we did it this way…”  or “But on my old ship we didn’t have to do that.”    While it may be true and some things might be universal, maybe there is a reason for the difference.  When working in a corporate environment, there will be things in different offices, or ships, that will remain the same everywhere.  But then there are a lot of things that will differ from location to location.

For instance, on ships of the same design and layout, the safety and security procedures will remain the same.  It would not be safe and would take too long to train crewmembers from scratch every time they went to a different ship.  But then for work procedures, many times it will be different on each ship.  And that’s OK because no 2 ships are exactly alike.  Even though the design may be the same there are still a lot of ways to be different.  Ships have different itineraries, home ports, demographics and nationalities of passengers and crew onboard, lengths of cruise, and much more.  Let’s take two hypothetical ships just to make a point.  Ship 1 is a brand new huge ship, it has all the latest and greatest technologies, it is based out of Fort Lauderdale doing 7-day Caribbean cruises and is full of families and 90% of passengers come from the Unites States.  Then Ship 2 is an older, smaller ship, it has basic amenities but not all of the latest and greatest, it changes home port every cruise and goes all over the world doing cruises lasting mostly 14 days and more and has passengers from all over the world but never more than a handful of children.  Ok, I said hypothetical but I have based my 2 examples on ships I have actually worked on.  Imagine working on Ship #1 for two years and then transferring to Ship #2, would you expect everything to be ran the same?  Would you expect to play the same music?  Of course not!

My last two ships were sister ships, meaning exact same layout.  The itineraries and demographics were nearly the same: doing world cruises with the average age being nearly the same and both were itinerary-driven ships meaning the passengers chose the ships usually based on their great itineraries.  However, there were many things different between the two ships.  For instance, on the first ship the orchestra wore a black suit every single night and the dress shirt and tie combination was left up to each person.  On the second ship, we wore black long-sleeved shirts and black pants almost every night and only wore suits about once a week.  Not a major change, but it didn’t help when I showed up not needing 75% of the clothes I brought and then having to ship for more black clothes in the next port.  In between the 2 contracts, the company cut 3 musicians, meaning my workload increased when I went to the second ship.  Even though the ships are owned by the same company and both ships are identical in layout and design, there were still many things different.  I had 2 choices: to either go kicking and screaming and complain it wasn’t like my previous ship, or just go with the flow and learn the new system.

Even on the same ship, the management will change and therefore so will some of the more minor rules.  For example, I was just working with a Hotel Director that allowed crewmembers to use passenger elevators.  In fact on a few occasions I even rode in a passenger elevator along with him.  Now we have a different Hotel Director onboard and she does not allow any crew to use the passenger elevators.  Could we complain that it’s not right to keep changing the rules?  Maybe, but the better option is just to adapt and learn the new system.  Another example, on several ships I had worked on, the staff mess (dining area for crewmembers) opened at 5:30pm.  Then on my last two ships, the mess opened at 6pm.  I could choose to get caught up and complain every time how I used to be able to eat at 5:30 and now I can’t, but instead I just plan my meal times differently and go with the flow.

Of course there will always be exemptions based on your personal ethics, morals, and beliefs.  If somebody is asking you to do something you know is either wrong or illegal then by all means say something to somebody.  If you work in the shops onboard and the other staff are taking items and giving them to friends, then you have the right not to go along with it.

If you find yourself in a new environment, try the new system.  You never know, over time you might like the new system even better.  Maybe it is more efficient and you will find yourself with an easier schedule, or maybe it will give you more time to go sightseeing off the ship.  But in any case, remember your past but also learn how to embrace the present.

Headed to Dry Dock

What a crazy week this has been.  One week ago we were docking in Tokyo for an overnight.  Because our ship is smaller, we were able to dock very close to downtown, only a 20-minute drive to the busy Ginza district.  But as we were docking, they received a few warning lights signaling unusual vibration on one of the ship’s propellers.  Unknown to even most of the crew, the company hired technical divers to assess the situation and take photographs of the propeller in question.  It turned out that the propeller sustained some heavy damage to the propeller shaft as well as several of the seals.  Their guess is that the ship struck some debris along the way, which caused the damage.  When the technical divers went to check the area, they found metal wire wrapped around the damaged propeller.

As we left Tokyo the following day, the Captain announced to everyone onboard that the damage was severe enough that the ship would be operating with just one propeller on our trip from Tokyo to Osaka.  Later that night it was announced that the cruise would have to be cut short, and instead would finish in Osaka instead of a few days later in Shanghai as scheduled.   The ship would also require going into dry dock for necessary repairs.  Our next voyage, scheduled for March 3 from Shanghai to Hong Kong would also be canceled.

The guests had 2 days in Osaka to stay onboard the ship and go on tours.  Many people, myself included, went on tours to historic Kyoto.  But then 2 days ago, all guests disembarked and the ship and crew left for Gwagyang Shipyard in Jeollanam-do, South Korea.  We are currently on our way and scheduled to arrive there sometime tomorrow.  The dry dock will take 4-5 days and then we will go slowly to arrive in Hong Kong on March 17 to start our next scheduled cruise.

Ending a cruise early and canceling a cruise is a last resort for a cruise line.  The logistics alone are staggering.  The company flew a “Go Team” of over 20 people from all over the world to help with the logistics.  The cruise line had to arrange and pay for all guests to fly from Osaka to Shanghai.  Because they would arrive one day earlier than scheduled, the cruise line also purchased 300 hotel rooms at the Hyatt Shanghai in the Bund district.  Guests were given a partial refund for missing the final 2 days of their cruise.  They were also given a gift certificate that can be applied for any future cruise, the amount was worth 25% of what they paid for the shortened cruise.

Canceling the next cruise will also prove costly for the company.  All guests were given a full refund and in addition were given a future cruise gift certificate worth 75% of what they had paid for the canceled cruise.  Because the cruise was to originate in China and was canceled only days before it was to begin, I would imagine there were a number of people who were already in Shanghai spending some time in the city before the cruise was to start.

This situation has been interesting and stressful for some members of the crew.  The day when one cruise ends and another begins is also a day with turnover for the crew.  Some finish their 6-9 month contracts, while others will begin theirs.  Flights had to be rescheduled and ground transportation would also have to be changed.

My wife and the next cast of singers and dancers were scheduled to arrive in the middle of the next cruise (the one that was canceled) in Busan, South Korea.  When they announced the cruise would be canceled and we would head to dry dock, we didn’t know what would happen.  We didn’t know where the dry dock would be, if new crewmembers could sign on while the ship was being repaired, or if they would just decide to keep the cast in Miami where they had been rehearsing.  Despite numerous rumors along the way their sign on will proceed as scheduled on March 6.  They will just be joining at a shipyard instead of a cruise terminal.

The dry dock experience will be interesting.  Most dry docks are scheduled years in advance and usually are set to revitalize and update the entire ship.  A lot of things from carpet to furniture are replaced.  But this was an emergency, unscheduled dry dock so they will only be focusing on the required propeller repairs.  This is important because the ship must be back to Hong Kong in less than 2 weeks to start the next cruise.  Every canceled cruise means a total loss of revenue so it is important to remain on schedule.  Because the propellers sit under the water line, it requires the ship to be out of water (which is why it is called “dry: dock).  The ship will enter a bay area, then the water will be drained out so that crews can reach the necessary areas without having to be underwater.  Once repairs are finished, the water will be added into the bay and the ship can exit and go on its way.

This has been my second emergency wet/dry dock experience.  2 years ago when we experienced the engine room fire, the ship had to go to a wet dock (the ship stayed in the water as usual because repairs were onboard, inside the ship) in Singapore.  The cruise line is under the umbrella of a much larger corporation, but this specific brand only has 2 ships.  Although this ship is not the ship where the fire occurred, there are a few of us who were onboard for both incidents.  Luckily this one was not life threatening.

So for now we are just awaiting our arrival to South Korea.  Me personally, I’m excited that I get to see my wife in less than 2 days.  I’ve already moved into our new room and I tried to claim a little bit of closet space before she arrives!

Back on a Ship

It’s been a little over a week since I signed on my new ship.  The travel to get to the ship was long and as always there were a few minor bumps along the way.  I was sitting in a 777 to fly from Detroit to Tokyo when the pilot asked everyone to exit the plane as the toilet system was broken and he would not attempt to fly over 14 hours with no working toilets.  Luckily maintenance fixed the issues quickly and we were on our way with only a minor delay.  Finally I arrived in Hong Kong after 11pm, went through immigration, and got to my hotel after 1am.  The following morning my alarm went off at 6am to get up, eat breakfast, check out, and get on a shuttle bus taking everyone to the ship.

All in all it is nice to be back.  Taking the last year and a half to two years off helped remove the burnout that most people being to suffer after a few years at sea.  I’ve found the little things don’t bother me as much as they used to.

I wish I had wonderful stories of getting out in port to share, but so far I have stayed on the ship.  There is new music to learn, new trainings to take, and a routine to settle into.   I did this same itinerary 2 years ago and we also have one more cruise with the same ports so I am not rushing myself to get off the ship.  After all, this is work even if in exotic places around the world.

It has been fun getting back into playing with the orchestra on the ship.  I have been onboard for 9 days and every single night has been playing style of show with different entertainers.  My very first day I had to play a production show with the orchestra and the production cast of singers and dancers.  So imagine traveling over 24 hours, going through 13 time zones, getting less than 5 hours of sleep, and then get up early and go through a day of meetings and then at night having to play a one hour show with click tracks, tempo changes, and style changes in front of the passengers.  Luckily I didn’t experience jet lag and I was able to play through the show with only one run through.

A couple of things that I have experienced in the past week and a half are worth noting.  Some of them I have written about before and some of them are new points.

1) Be organized when you pack.  Don’t pack any important documents in your checked luggage.  Get a folder and place all of your documents there so you know right where they will be when you need them.  I arrived after 24 hours of sitting on planes and was 13 hours ahead of my home time zone and I found myself having to pull out all my documents to present to port immigration authorities in the Hong Kong airport.  I was so exhausted, but it was easy because I had put all the documents together in one folder in a carry-on bag.  The tie spent organizing beforehand definitely paid off.

2)  When you first get to the ship, be friendly and introduce yourself to people.  First impressions are important and can last a long time, so if you make a bad impression on your first day it may take the entire length of your contract to overcome it.

3)  While the passengers may be there on vacation, the crew is not.  If you are joining a ship, make sure that you are settled into a routine before you go off the ship.  Make sure that you can play through all of your music and can handle all of your work responsibilities first.  Many musicians I am working with were shocked I was staying onboard when we were in some great ports.  But I am there to work and I do not want to let anybody else down just because I am new to the ship.  It is rather selfish to play poorly in the evening shows because you are too busy off the ship sightseeing around town.  The ports will still be there, and most of the time the ship goes to the same ports several times over so there is no rush.

4)  Always check with your supervisor and the training board for any upcoming training.  Due to port schedules, management meetings, and other reasons the trainings can get moved quite often.  I’ve had one particular training canceled three times just in my first week onboard.  I’ve had several moved to other locations or to other times so it is important to keep up with the latest information.

5)  Finally, learn to go with the flow.  This might not be easy to understand for some people, but the world does not revolved around you.  There are oftentimes other people and circumstances to take into consideration.  Whenever you are dealing with large groups of people there is always a need for flexibility.  The day I signed onto the ship, I woke up at 6am after just 4 hours of sleep and we were rushed to the ship.  Then we waited outside of the ship for 2 hours.  Yes, it was frustrating and we were all talking about the extra sleep that we could have all had after long travel days.  But there was nothing we could do about it.  In just one week we’ve had port times cut short, rehearsal times change, trainings changed and canceled, and even discussed about missing a port altogether (we are currently in Bangkok and due to the protests we almost had to skip it completely this cruise).  At that point you have a choice, either fight the change or learn to let it go and be flexible.  If I can give a little advice, the end result is going to be the same so there is no reason to fight it along the way.

Being back has brought back a lot of memories from earlier contracts.  It is like a little reunion because I am working with several people I have worked with before on different ships.  It’s also nice to work to meet new people and build new friendships.

So now this blog will start to incorporate some new stories and some new travels.  Each week is different so hopefully there will be some good material.  But in any case, I have some music to look over!

New Journey

Today is the day.  I will be flying today (and tomorrow) to get to Hong Kong to start my new contract.  My wife and I have known about our upcoming contract for a couple of months now.  She's already rehearsing with her new cast of singers and dancers.  For the past few weeks I have been taking care of all my paperwork (new Chinese visa, medical, etc.).  I was in the middle of my last minute packing last night when I saw an email come in from Delta.  I had already taken advantage of online check-in earlier in the day so I was ready to go.  I was flying from Cincinnati to Atlanta to Tokyo to Hong Kong.  The email indicated a scheduled delay on the Atlanta to Tokyo flight which would have only given me 40 minutes in Narita airport to get to my connecting flight.  In Japan, if you are just passing through luckily you do not have to claim your bags and go through customs and immigration, but you do have to pass through the transit passenger line and go through security again.  40 minutes would not be enough time.  So I called Delta and they were quickly able to change my flights and I was even given better seats on my new flights.  I will be going through Detroit now instead of Atlanta and will even pick up the exact same Tokyo to Hong Kong flight.

I'm hoping that is the only glitch in the travel day(s).  I've learned to be as flexible as possible because anything can happen.  The timing still works out, my new first flight leaves 10 minutes later and I will still be getting to Hong Kong at the originally scheduled time.  I will arrive in Hong Kong after 11pm, will head to the hotel to get a couple of hours sleep and then get up in the morning to sign onto the ship.  It feels a little like the first day of school as I will be in a new environment and will be meeting a lot of new people.

The first few days onboard the ship are usually busy, but I will do my best to update from the ship.  It's also a crazy time of adjustment, probably the part I'm least looking forward to.  I leave today, Sunday, at 10am Eastern time and will arrive in Hong Kong after 11pm local time on Monday.  It's over 24 hours of travel time and then throw in the time differences, going across the International Dateline, and on the clock it will look like 37 hours.  Add in getting just a few hours of sleep, waking up early to sign on the ship, and then it's a full day of meetings, followed by work.  I don't typically sleep well on planes so it can sometimes make for a rough beginning.  I'm just hoping jet lag doesn't hit me too hard because I don't have time for it.  Crewmembers really hit the ground running right at the beginning of their contracts.

It's time to close up the laptop and say goodbye to the world of high-speed internet.  Ship internet is slow and can be expensive, but I am looking forward to continuing to write on the new adventure.

Happy New Year

We're already a few days into 2014, but Happy New Year!

I wanted to give an update with the blog and also let everyone know about some things coming up soon.  There is a reason that I started this blog; when I started working as a musician onboard a cruise ship in 2008 I literally knew nothing about what to expect.  I searched the internet trying to get as much information as possible and there really wasn't much out there.  I promised myself to always help people who are interested and are new onboard so that can be better prepared than I was.  After helping several musicians get hired by cruise lines and also helping new crewmembers when they come onboard, people were suggesting that I start a blog and share the information with everyone.  I gave it some thought, but I had never done the blog thing before and the idea went to the backburner.

In 2012 my then fiancee (now wife) and I took a break from working on ships in order to focus on our upcoming wedding.  We finished our last contract in May 2012 and got married in August.  Since then we have performed on land and have been living in her hometown of Cebu, Philippines.  She performed in the musical Avenue Q at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and we have both performed at different venues in Manila and Cebu.

Now fast forward to 2013 and there is another reason that the blog finally came into being.  My wife and I got offered a contract to come back to ships again.  My wife will be a featured singer in the production cast of singers and dancers and I will be playing drums in the orchestra.  I figured it would be a good time as I get ready to go through the experience again and plus I will have new adventures to write about and share.  We have worked for the company before and have even worked on a sister ship (meaning same design and layout).  One of the bonuses is that the ship is small and has an amazing itinerary.  We will be visiting 40 countries during our contract onboard.  I will be signing on January 21 in Hong Kong while my wife starts rehearsals with her cast in Florida this week.  She will join the ship in March in South Korea.  We will sail in Southeast Asia, then over to India, the Middle East, the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, and then up to Northern Europe and Scandinavia.  With a smaller ship you can get to ports that the larger ships just can't fit into.  Plus this cruise line is known for a lot of overnights and their great itineraries.  Our contract will run until August when we sign off in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The blog will continue with the theme of performing onboard an international cruise ship but will start to include some new firsthand travel experiences.  We are excited about returning and traveling again.  We are sad to leave our friends, family, and our dog but it will be fun to return to traveling to new places and performing every day.