How To Become A Cruise Musician - My Experiences — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hi, this is just a quick video about
2. 0:02being a cruise ship musician.
3. 0:05So, I worked on a cruise ship
4. 0:08last year from January to April.
5. 0:11It was 3 months or 3 and 1/2 months in
6. 0:14total.
7. 0:15I went to the Caribbean, I went to for a
8. 0:18month or 5 weeks, and then I went to
9. 0:21Well, it was a 5-week round trip to the
10. 0:23Caribbean from England. So, 2 weeks
11. 0:25there, a week doing Caribbean islands,
12. 0:27and 2 weeks back, and then around Europe
13. 0:29for 2 months. And I was playing every
14. 0:32night. I was playing every night except
15. 0:34one, 6 nights a week.
16. 0:36Uh
17. 0:36playing piano and singing in a band, a
18. 0:39four-piece band. So, every night we
19. 0:40would play a different set of music.
20. 0:42That was a P&O ship, P&O English
21. 0:45company.
22. 0:47Big ships, 6,000 people including the
23. 0:49staff.
24. 0:51It was like being on the Titanic.
25. 0:53It was crazy.
26. 0:55But, I liked it. It was good fun. And uh
27. 0:57it was 3 months of good work.
28. 1:00Hard work, but good. It was performing
29. 1:03four sets every night of 45 minutes. And
30. 1:05I would start at 7:00 and finish at like
31. 1:0712:00 or 1:00 a.m.
32. 1:09It used to It was 45 minutes on, and
33. 1:11then 45 minutes off, and then they
34. 1:13changed it to 45 minutes on and an hour
35. 1:15break, which meant that I was actually
36. 1:17working later in the night, which is
37. 1:19fine. It was great. And uh I was 29
38. 1:23when I did that. Now, I'm 30, and I'm
39. 1:26actually applying to do it again, but as
40. 1:27a soloist, as a singing pianist.
41. 1:30Um and so, I'm going to talk about the
42. 1:32way that I got that first cruise job,
43. 1:34and now what I'm doing to get this
44. 1:36second one, because it's different. I
45. 1:38did it differently both times.
46. 1:40Uh the first time, because I think I
47. 1:42think this might be useful for anyone
48. 1:44who's thinking about doing a cruise
49. 1:45ship, or
50. 1:46maybe your son or daughter might want to
51. 1:48do it, you know, as a musician.
52. 1:51There is lots of different bands on the
53. 1:53ships, different types of musician jobs.
54. 1:56Um or maybe it's your your uncle or just
55. 1:59a friend. Whoever it is, someone you or
56. 2:01maybe it's you. Maybe you're you're
57. 2:02you're watching this and you think you
58. 2:04might want to
59. 2:05work on a cruise ship.
60. 2:07So, the way I got the first job was I
61. 2:09was performing at a gig in Chiang Mai. I
62. 2:11live in Thailand. Look, here I am.
63. 2:13This is my office.
64. 2:15Should I show my office? This is the
65. 2:17view from my office in my apartment.
66. 2:19There's my piano there, Roland piano.
67. 2:22And I I've got a MIDI keyboard over
68. 2:23there which I never use.
69. 2:25Uh, I live in Chiang Mai in Thailand in
70. 2:28this uh
71. 2:29two-bedroom or
72. 2:31well, one bedroom and an office.
73. 2:34And it's a great place to live and I
74. 2:36love it. I've been here 2 and 1/2 years.
75. 2:37I now have a 5-year visa.
76. 2:40And it's great and I'm happy here. And
77. 2:42that's all irrelevant except for the
78. 2:44fact that I was performing on a jazz gig
79. 2:47in a in a jazz bar. I was on a gig. I
80. 2:49was performing with this piano here.
81. 2:52And someone was playing bass. He wasn't
82. 2:53the normal bass player that we normally
83. 2:55have. We normally have mostly Thai
84. 2:57players and then there's a few
85. 2:58foreigners
86. 3:00for various reasons.
87. 3:01Um
88. 3:02but the gigs don't really pay anything
89. 3:04anyway. So, it's not I don't I don't
90. 3:06play here. I don't perform in Thailand
91. 3:07for the money. I just do it for to keep
92. 3:10my abilities good as a piano player.
93. 3:12Anyway, the guy that was on bass was
94. 3:14filling in for the Thai bass player. He
95. 3:16was sick. He was ill. And he was English
96. 3:18and his name was Jake.
97. 3:20And my name's Dan.
98. 3:21Welcome to Between the Keys again.
99. 3:23Hopefully, you've watched some of my
100. 3:24piano tutorial videos and stuff. And I'm
101. 3:27now making a piano app, by the way,
102. 3:28which I'm releasing soon. Anyway, Jake
103. 3:32Jake started speaking to me in between
104. 3:34songs and we was having a bit of chat. I
105. 3:35was saying, "Hey, where are you from?"
106. 3:36and blah blah blah. And he told me about
107. 3:38cruise ships and he told me he'd just
108. 3:40done one for like 6 months
109. 3:42and he had good money and he had a great
110. 3:43time. And he told me the name of the
111. 3:45agency that he was with.
112. 3:48And he said, "Hey, you're a great
113. 3:49player, great piano player. You should
114. 3:50talk to this agency." He gave me the
115. 3:52contact, gave me the email, and you'll
116. 3:54get hired. I was like, "What? It can't
117. 3:55be that easy." But I've always wanted to
118. 3:57do it, you see.
119. 4:00I used to perform at weddings for years,
120. 4:02and I always thought about doing a
121. 4:03cruise ship. So,
122. 4:05I did it. I contacted this agency. I
123. 4:07contacted the guy. I sent some videos of
124. 4:09me singing just a few songs at the gigs
125. 4:11in China. I I used to do like Hound Dog
126. 4:13by Elvis. I used to do
127. 4:16Just the Two of Us over and over again.
128. 4:18And uh that became like my like my song.
129. 4:20And then now I do Moon Dance by Van
130. 4:22Morrison. Those are like my three songs
131. 4:24cuz they
132. 4:25I don't know. They suit my voice or
133. 4:27whatever. And I just sent a few videos
134. 4:28off, and then I got this offer
135. 4:31for 3 months and a half. Well, 3 months
136. 4:33with the possibility to extend, but I
137. 4:35needed a new passport, which is another
138. 4:37problem. You need to make sure you've
139. 4:38got a passport with a long amount of
140. 4:40time left on it. Mine was expiring, so I
141. 4:42needed a new passport after only a few
142. 4:45months. You have to have 6 months.
143. 4:47You have to have 6 months remaining on
144. 4:49your passport or more to be able to go
145. 4:52on the cruise. It can't be running out
146. 4:53soon.
147. 4:55And I could have gone on off and then
148. 4:56got a new passport and then got back on,
149. 4:58but it would have just been complicated.
150. 4:59So, I just did 3 and 1/2 months, but
151. 5:02here's what happened. I got the job very
152. 5:04quickly.
153. 5:05I took the offer. There was a few
154. 5:07shenanigans. There was a few problems
155. 5:09with the job. I was left at the dock
156. 5:12without a contract. They kept promising
157. 5:13me the contract, this agency. They kept
158. 5:15saying, "Oh, we're going to give you it.
159. 5:16We're going to give you it. It's
160. 5:17coming." I ended up working on the ship
161. 5:19for 2 weeks without a contract,
162. 5:22which was horrible. I didn't enjoy that,
163. 5:24and I wouldn't work for those guys
164. 5:25again. Let's not name any names. Water
165. 5:27under the bridge.
166. 5:29But yeah, that was really
167. 5:30unprofessional. I wasn't appreciative of
168. 5:32that, and it kind of put a damper on the
169. 5:33first few weeks not having a contract.
170. 5:35It was also a problem at the dock. They
171. 5:37were saying, "You can't get on the ship.
172. 5:38You don't have a contract. Who are you?
173. 5:40You don't
174. 5:41We don't know who you are. You can't
175. 5:42work for us."
176. 5:44So, that was terrible. But
177. 5:46uh I made great friends on the ship. I
178. 5:48had a great time on the
179. 5:58uh
180. 5:59I don't
181. 6:00Not because I'm a weirdo, but just
182. 6:02because I don't want to I just don't
183. 6:03want to share. They're tiny little
184. 6:04cabins. They're like little They're like
185. 6:06It's like this office, but narrow, you
186. 6:08know? It's like an It's like half this
187. 6:10office
188. 6:11with a bunk bed with with with double,
189. 6:14you know, single beds, bunk beds, like
190. 6:16you're
191. 6:16teenager or something. Like you Like
192. 6:18you're 11 and you need a bunk bed. And
193. 6:20I'm 6'3" and I'm like, "Bunk beds?
194. 6:23Single bed?" I had to sleep with my arm
195. 6:25hanging out through the ladder, cuz I
196. 6:29sleep on my side. So, my arm, my
197. 6:31enormous arm was through the whole of
198. 6:33the ladder,
199. 6:34and it was just difficult to sleep.
200. 6:35Anyway, but I had my own cabin. Food was
201. 6:37great.
202. 6:39Had a great time. Met people. Enjoyed
203. 6:42it.
204. 6:43Caribbean, and then Germany, France,
205. 6:45Portugal, Spain, all these other places
206. 6:47and
207. 6:48you know, I'd never been to, so that was
208. 6:50fun.
209. 6:51And I just enjoyed it. And now I'm
210. 6:53applying for a second one, but I've done
211. 6:54it completely differently this time.
212. 6:55This is not word of mouth, and obviously
213. 6:57I'm going with a different agency, but I
214. 6:59actually signed up to something called
215. 7:01Entertainers Worldwide.
216. 7:04I haven't been on the website in a
217. 7:05while,
218. 7:07cuz I've been getting a lot of
219. 7:10offers. I've been getting a lot of
220. 7:11auditions and interviews and things
221. 7:13going.
222. 7:15Excuse me. And I signed up for this
223. 7:17website, and it's 20 lb a month,
224. 7:19or 25, 30 dollars a month, whatever it
225. 7:21is in in in US. And it's completely
226. 7:24worth it. I'm not sponsored by them. I'm
227. 7:25not getting any money from them. I'm
228. 7:27just telling you,
229. 7:30Entertainers Worldwide. If you're a
230. 7:31musician or a magician or any kind of
231. 7:34performing person, this is a great
232. 7:36website. I I I hummed and hawed about it
233. 7:38for ages, you know? For months I was
234. 7:40like, "Hmm, 20 lb a month. I don't
235. 7:42really like subscriptions. I don't
236. 7:44really pay for stuff. I'm very tight
237. 7:46when it comes to
238. 7:47paying monthly. I don't like these
239. 7:49recurring monthly, you know?" But when
240. 7:51it comes to work, I was like, "Well,
241. 7:53actually, if all the jobs are listed on
242. 7:55there, and it means I don't have to
243. 7:56spend hours and hours looking around."
244. 7:57Cuz I was applying for cruise ships
245. 7:59directly on the websites and other jobs,
246. 8:01but you miss out on things. You can't
247. 8:03apply You can't find everything, and you
248. 8:04don't know where You know, you need like
249. 8:06a one central hub where everything's All
250. 8:09the jobs are listed. So what you do is
251. 8:10you you put your videos on there. Now
252. 8:13you've got an artist profile. I mean,
253. 8:15it's obvious, right? And then you And
254. 8:16then you just apply for jobs on there.
255. 8:17And every time you click apply for a
256. 8:19cruise job or They've got land-based
257. 8:21stuff as well. So they've got the
258. 8:22Maldives, which is a nice place. My mom
259. 8:25told me. I haven't been. She's an air
260. 8:27hostess, you know, so she's been there.
261. 8:29She's And And they have They have like
262. 8:31luxury hotel gigs in the Maldives, as
263. 8:33well as cruise ships and all kinds of
264. 8:35stuff.
265. 8:36So I apply for stuff on there. You click
266. 8:38apply, and then it sends you an email
267. 8:39directly with the link to wherever the
268. 8:41job is posted. And it's often Facebook
269. 8:42or Instagram, and it's just a thing. And
270. 8:44then you then send off your stuff to the
271. 8:46email in that.
272. 8:48And that's how you And I can apply for
273. 8:49loads now, you see? I can just Instead
274. 8:51of looking around for stuff, I can just
275. 8:53bing bing bing bing apply apply apply.
276. 8:56And that's how you got to apply for
277. 8:57jobs. So I applied for loads, man, like
278. 8:5950 or 100. So many. And then I went to
279. 9:02Da Nang on holiday for 3 weeks in
280. 9:04Vietnam.
281. 9:06I hurt my knee playing tennis.
282. 9:08Tore my right knee ACL completely, which
283. 9:11I'm hoping we're in the third month of
284. 9:13healing. I'm hoping I'm healing it
285. 9:14naturally. But again, that's off on a
286. 9:16tangent. Forget about my knee.
287. 9:19I carried on applying to the jobs in
288. 9:21Vietnam. I was still getting emails and
289. 9:23planning interviews and getting
290. 9:25the ball rolling with different
291. 9:26agencies, and it was all going well. And
292. 9:28now I've had interviews, and I just had
293. 9:30an audition a few hours ago with another
294. 9:32agency
295. 9:34who are offering me work doing what I
296. 9:36want to do, which is piano bar
297. 9:37entertainer, soloist, get my own cabin,
298. 9:40pay is very good, you get to see lots of
299. 9:42places, and I don't work with anyone.
300. 9:44Not only do I not have to
301. 9:46bunk with anyone and share a space with
302. 9:48anyone, cuz that's that's a prerequisite
303. 9:51for me. I won't I won't take the job if
304. 9:53I have to share a living space, really,
305. 9:55but
306. 9:56got my own cabin. I don't even have to
307. 9:58work with any anyone either. I'm
308. 9:59actually a solo act.
309. 10:03Piano bar entertainer, that's the role
310. 10:05I'm looking for.
311. 10:07So, I just have to sing the songs, take
312. 10:08the requests, be entertaining, which
313. 10:10I've already done before on the last
314. 10:11ship, make people laugh. And if that's
315. 10:12what you want to do, great, look into
316. 10:15it. Or if you just want to play bass in
317. 10:16a band, great, look into it. Go on
318. 10:19Entertainers Worldwide, make a profile.
319. 10:23You know, or don't.
320. 10:25Or just look for jobs as well. You can
321. 10:26just do it without paying that
322. 10:27subscription and and and and I'm happy
323. 10:30that I'm paying that £20 a month.
324. 10:31Obviously, if I get a cruise job, I'll
325. 10:33probably cancel it, cuz I see it's
326. 10:35throwing money away.
327. 10:37And I'm pretty close now to getting
328. 10:38something sorted. Uh they're offering me
329. 10:41work, uh potentially for within, you
330. 10:43know,
331. 10:44in a month's time. So,
332. 10:47if I'm on a ship by May, that would be
333. 10:48great. I'm hoping they're going to I've
334. 10:50just just did the audition this evening.
335. 10:52I'm hoping I'll get something come
336. 10:54through.
337. 10:55You can just sign up for individual
338. 10:57cruise lines. You can go on Disney, I've
339. 10:58done that, and make a profile on Disney,
340. 11:00and then Disney ships are apparently
341. 11:02really good. I haven't worked on one,
342. 11:03but apparently Disney is a very good
343. 11:06line. And then there's Royal Caribbean,
344. 11:08and there's Norwegian, and there's all
345. 11:09these other lines. There's so many
346. 11:11different cruise lines. You can go on
347. 11:13all their websites, and it'll take you
348. 11:14ages, and you can sign up. Or you can
349. 11:16just do it all on Entertainers
350. 11:17Worldwide, and just bing bing bing bing
351. 11:18bing, it saves you a lot of time, in my
352. 11:20opinion, anyway.
353. 11:22That's how I've been doing it this time.
354. 11:24Fingers crossed I get one this time.
355. 11:26Uh if you've got any questions about
356. 11:28life on board the ship,
357. 11:31send them, I guess, in the comments, and
358. 11:33I'll try and respond to them. It's a
359. 11:35unique job and a unique experience and
360. 11:37it's not something I think I can do
361. 11:39forever,
362. 11:41but I think once per year, three or four
363. 11:43months, might work for me for quite a
364. 11:45while. And I'm still young, I'm 30. I
365. 11:48want to do at least
366. 11:50I want to do several of these. I want to
367. 11:51keep doing it, as I say, every year for
368. 11:54I don't know how long, but
369. 11:57I'm definitely going to keep doing it.
370. 11:59It seems like a good way to earn money
371. 12:00for me, doing what I love, and to see
372. 12:02the world and meet new people and have
373. 12:04fun.
374. 12:05And that's a great great gig. So,
375. 12:08yeah, definitely look into it. I I would
376. 12:10say one of the things is
377. 12:12if you don't make friends very easily or
378. 12:14if you don't
379. 12:15if there there are times where you're
380. 12:16lonely on the ship. You kind of need to
381. 12:18be okay with your own company.
382. 12:22You kind of got to I mean, there are
383. 12:23long days at sea where it's kind of like
384. 12:26like that first five weeks on the ship,
385. 12:28I was a bit
386. 12:29It takes a while getting used to, you
387. 12:31know, okay, I read a book and then go to
388. 12:33the cinema. But if you if you enjoy just
389. 12:35going cuz there's a cinema on the ship
390. 12:37and you can go swimming, you can use the
391. 12:38facilities, you can go and sit in the
392. 12:40hot tub, you can go
393. 12:42to the gym. You can use the gym. There's
394. 12:44a staff gym and a real normal person
395. 12:46gym, which is bigger and better and they
396. 12:47let you use it. And you get access to,
397. 12:50you know, and and really good food and
398. 12:53just keep keep your, you know, you've
399. 12:55got to keep your mental health up,
400. 12:56definitely. You've got to have games.
401. 12:58Good to have I brought my PlayStation on
402. 13:00so that I could just I plugged that into
403. 13:02my TV in my little room and then
404. 13:05if I'm really bored, I can just lay in
405. 13:06bed and play the PlayStation for an hour
406. 13:08or two and
407. 13:09that passes the time.
408. 13:11You know, until you get to 7:00 p.m. and
409. 13:13then it's showtime and you're on stage
410. 13:14again.
411. 13:15It's really an evening job. You only
412. 13:17really work a few hours. There are
413. 13:19different contracts where
414. 13:21they do make you work more and you do
415. 13:22have to work all day and
416. 13:25take that if you want it. If you if the
417. 13:27the pay is good enough or if you
418. 13:29you know if it's your first time and
419. 13:31you're dipping your feet in the water if
420. 13:33if you'll pardon the pun,
421. 13:34you know,
422. 13:35maybe that's for you. But for me, I like
423. 13:38just doing the performing
424. 13:40and the whole day is free. You can still
425. 13:42do rehearsal. I still have new songs to
426. 13:43learn. There are other things, you know,
427. 13:45as a musician you've got to keep
428. 13:47keep on your toes, but
429. 13:49obviously the best job would be
430. 13:51just a few hours performing it in the
431. 13:53eve cuz it is every evening. So it's
432. 13:54it's job. After six nights in a row,
433. 13:58you might find that your voice is going
434. 14:00and you need a you need that seventh day
435. 14:02off to not perform.
436. 14:04Uh cuz you're on for months and months.
437. 14:06A lot of people do six months. I think
438. 14:08that's too long. I'm looking for three
439. 14:09or four months and that's my max. I
440. 14:11don't really want to do six months
441. 14:13because I even after three months I was
442. 14:14a bit like,
443. 14:16"Okay, I kind of miss
444. 14:18home comforts, my friends, you know, I
445. 14:20kind of I don't want to stay on too
446. 14:22long."
447. 14:23Think about it. Can you do six months
448. 14:25away from home?
449. 14:28Family, friends.
450. 14:30It's a long time on a ship, you know.
451. 14:33But new people get on, you know, and new
452. 14:34people get on. So after the the first
453. 14:36one to the Caribbean, everyone was like
454. 14:37over 70. Cuz who can do five weeks to
455. 14:39the Caribbean and back? It's a long
456. 14:41time. So everyone was really old.
457. 14:43But that's fine.
458. 14:45Uh but then next one around Europe, you
459. 14:47know, a couple of week or two weeks,
460. 14:49everyone was young. Everyone was There
461. 14:51was a lot of families that got on, you
462. 14:52know, middle-aged, 35, 40, 45, 50.
463. 14:57Different, you know, younger age
464. 15:00customers.
465. 15:01And then you might want to change, you
466. 15:03know, the way you entertain or the music
467. 15:04you play or you're going to get
468. 15:06different requests.
469. 15:08Classical pianist needed for cruise ship
470. 15:10opportunity. See, I wouldn't apply for
471. 15:12that because I'm I studied jazz and I
472. 15:14only know a few classical pieces. Jazz
473. 15:16ensembles wanted. Well, I'm not an
474. 15:18ensemble, so skip that as well. But then
475. 15:20it will say singing pianist wanted for
476. 15:22blah blah blah." And then, okay,
477. 15:25that's what I'm looking for. So, I just
478. 15:26apply I apply You can go on this website
479. 15:29and apply for what you want to apply
480. 15:30for. Look,
481. 15:31entertainers worldwide.
482. 15:34I've got my portfolio set up.
483. 15:37If I don't get this one, I can apply for
484. 15:39100 more, and I'll get one.
485. 15:41Sorry if you're shaking the camera
486. 15:42there,
487. 15:43massively.
488. 15:45Um
489. 15:46yeah, I can't think of anything else. I
490. 15:47should have written it all down really,
491. 15:48so that I knew what I was going to go
492. 15:50through. I think I covered everything.
493. 15:52It's a good life on the ship. You should
494. 15:54consider it. If you've never done done
495. 15:55that job, and it's what something that
496. 15:57like me, you've always dreamed of doing
497. 15:59it, or
498. 16:00yeah, give it a go. Apply for it. Don't
499. 16:02be shy. You can do it.
500. 16:05And uh yeah, post your comments, and uh
501. 16:10see you in the next one.
502. 16:11As I said, I've got a piano app coming
503. 16:13as well, Piano Quest,
504. 16:15coming very soon. I'm working on it with
505. 16:17Claude Code.
506. 16:19So, I'm going to be releasing that soon.
507. 16:21See you in the next one. Like and
508. 16:22subscribe, and all that.