Luxury Cruising

Cruise drumming is a really special and enjoyable gig to have. I worked for Royal Caribbean Cruises from June 2001 – Jan 2003 performing over 800 shows and working with over a dozen Grammy Award winners.

Getting the Gig

I auditioned for an agency that came to Berklee. The audition consisted of playing a medium tempo jazz groove, a ballad w/brushes, samba, bossa nova, rhumba, and then playing along to big band charts w/music minus drums and a click track. The emphasis was on very good time keeping and chart reading.

I later learned that I could have auditioned directly for Royal Caribbean instead of going by means of an agency that wanted 12% of my pay. I suggest contacting the cruise’s “musician specialist”, human resources, directly.

Arrival

I was assigned to the Voyager of the Seas RCCL’s flagship at the time. I met the ship in Miami FL. on it’s homeport day. That’s the day/port that the previous passengers leave and the new one’s start their trip. I brought a suitcase full of summer clothes and a Tux, my stick bag, and cymbal case. The initial sight of the ship was incredible. It was Enormous! If you put the Voyager on it’s side it would be as tall as the Empire State Creating.

After obtaining on, signing in, and acquiring my closet, I mean room, I started seeking by way of the music given to me for the week ahead. Tony, the music director, gave me books of music for the Welcome Aboard, Farewell shows, two stock shows, and over 300 pages of Big Band charts….deep breath.

Day 1 :The Welcome Aboard show.

It’s a short show with snippets of entertainment to be seen all through the cruise. As the new drummer I had to speedily learn the music review piece and the play-ons. The review piece had parts from the stock shows that are played each and every cruise with the on-board cast.

Play-ons are 5-10 second sections of songs used as a sort of theme music to introduce somebody coming onto the stage. The horn sections of I Wish and Jungle Boogie are two commonly utilised examples.

The review piece was relatively effortless as far as the drum portion went. What was tricky was swiftly obtaining comfortable with playing live to a click track and canned horns, strings, and percussion that augmented the already ten piece band. It was a real rush playing in a 1,500 individual theater with a million dollar sound and light system for the initial time. Two shows a night makes 3000 men and women a day. Do not get stage fright! In scenarios like that, you just have to hang on and believe in yourself.

Day 2 : The first massive show.

On a weeklong cruise there are usually two music review shows performed with the cast. The shows are 50 minutes of virtually non-quit music. The Monday show was a mix of R&ampB, Top 40, and Cirque du Soleil. I spent a couple of hours that day studying the charts although listening to the CD’s that Tony gave me. Plus, I played a run by means of of the show throughout the cast’s rehearsal.

The stage crew places the drums so, all I had to do was give myself sufficient time to tweak the set up , make sure my charts had been in order, and adjust my headphones. Ready to go. We received our 1 min cue and…….click, click, click, click off we go. See you in an hour! It can be a blast to be in the hot seat and have to concentrate for 50 straight minutes. The very first time you nail an whole show, I mean each and every little thing, it is an accomplishment!

Day 3 : My First Star Act

A Star Act is a guest artist. They come on and rehearse with the band for about 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon for the show that night. You run down all the songs as soon as, twice at the most. You are rehearsing to make positive the band is together with the transitions and tricky bits. If there was some thing hard, you far better look at it on your own prior to show time.

Star Acts range from well-known older groups like The Drifters and Bowzer (Sha Na Na) to Sinatra impersonators, magicians, and Broadway vocalists, among a lot of others.

Sometimes you perform to a click but most of the time the song is counted off by either the music director or the artist. You only had a short rehearsal so, it’s crucial to have 1 eye on the chart and the other on the artist in case they want you to adjust the tempo a little.

Side Story. On these one week cruises, the Star Act does a Friday show for 1 cruise and then a Tuesday show for the next cruise. Seeing that I arrived on Sunday, this artist had a various drummer last Thursday. Apparently Tony had fired three drummers in a row when I got there. Becoming appropriate out of school and only twenty two, I really had to prove myself to Tony, the band, and the Act. Every night was diverse and it’s own test.

Day four : Massive Band

Alright. No Star Act. No review show to study. I got off and went to the beach in Jamaica. This was extraordinary! Particularly soon after spending the winter in Boston.

That night we set up for Big Band in 1 of the several lounges on the ship. Tony would call out tunes from the over 300 numbered charts. They ranged from Take The “A” Train to Really like For Sale. They’re all standards and mostly the original arrangements. Easy day.

Day 5 : The Challenging One

Thursday we performed the second review show of the cruise. This 1 was mostly musical theater. There were lots of abrupt tempo changes and meter modifications. High concentration is needed. Again, I spent a couple of hours reading and listening and I played the run by way of with the cast. I just held on in the course of the run through so, I did some far more studying prior to the show. It paid off.

I didn’t “own it” but I got by means of it pretty nicely and that’s what it took for Tony and the band to approve my staying in the band. The rest of the cruise was fairly straightforward soon after that.

Friday was one more Star Act and Saturday was the Farewell show. 1st cruise completed.

After a few months you truly start to feel like you can read anything put in front of you and your confidence grows. The review shows turn out to be second nature right after a whilst. It is important to be able to play with energy and concentration the first and 101 times you play anything. Tony once told me that the greatest way to keep your concentration level high is to pretend that each show is being recorded. You want to finish a show and be able to say “that’s a take”.

I try to do that with every thing I play now. It’s the very same as the legendary drummers who advise us to “Play with Purpose”.

Ship Life

O.K. yes the cabins are modest but you have cable Television and a dorm size fridge. But who wants to stay in their room anyway? It’s a place to sleep, shower, and change. You have to get out and see the world.

I’ve been all over the Caribbean, Canadian East Coast in the Fall, and Northern Europe in the Summer. I’ve spent a week in Amsterdam, many overnights in St. Petersburg, and had my favorite bars and Cafe’s in La Harve France, Stockholm Sweden, and Copenhagen Denmark amongst other people. All of this was even though finding PAID, living free of rent, and all of my meals provided for totally free on the ship if I chose.

The staff on ships are really distinctive. Of 1,500 crew members, only 50 of us had been American! You can’t beat the encounter of living next to and understanding about folks from all over the globe. You see really speedily that we’re all folks. We all have the exact same dreams no matter where we grew up. Priceless.

In conclusion, my time on cruise ships was incredible both musically and personally. From the music to the people and locations you’ll expertise, I highly suggest trying this exciting job.