Cruise Ship Drumming

Cruise drumming is a very unique and fun gig to have. I worked for Royal Caribbean Cruises from June 2001 - Jan 2003; doing 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 good time keeping and chart reading.

I later learned that I could have auditioned directly for Royal Caribbean instead of going through an agency that wanted 12% of my pay. I recommend 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 begin their trip. I brought a suitcase full of summer clothes and a Tux, my stick bag, and cymbal case. The first sight of the ship was amazing. It was Huge! If you put the Voyager on it's side it would be as tall as the Empire State Building.

After getting on, signing in, and getting my closet, I mean room, I started looking through 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 throughout the cruise. As the new drummer I had to quickly learn the music review piece and the play-ons. The review piece had parts from the stock shows that are played 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 someone coming onto the stage. The horn sections of I Wish and Jungle Boogie are two commonly used examples.

The review piece was relatively easy as far as the drum part went. What was tricky was quickly getting 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 person theater with a million dollar sound and light system for the first time. Two shows a night makes 3000 people a day. Don't get stage fright! In situations like that, you just have to hang on and believe in yourself.

Day 2 : The first big show.

On a weeklong cruise there are usually two music review shows performed with the cast. The shows are 50 minutes of almost non-stop music. The Monday show was a mix of R&B, Top 40, and Cirque du Soleil. I spent a few hours that day studying the charts while listening to the CD's that Tony gave me. Plus, I played a run through of the show during the cast's rehearsal.

The stage crew places the drums so, all I had to do was give myself enough time to tweak the set up , make sure my charts were 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 first time you nail an entire show, I mean every little thing, it's 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 once, twice at the most. You are rehearsing to make sure the band is together with the transitions and tricky bits. If there was something difficult, you better look at it on your own before show time.

Star Acts range from famous older groups like The Drifters and Bowzer (Sha Na Na) to Sinatra impersonators, magicians, and Broadway vocalists, among many 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 important to have one 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 one cruise and then a Tuesday show for the next cruise. Seeing that I arrived on Sunday, this artist had a different drummer last Thursday. Apparently Tony had fired three drummers in a row when I got there. Being right out of school and only twenty two, I really had to prove myself to Tony, the band, and the Act. Each night was different and it's own test.

Day 4 : Big Band

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

That night we set up for Big Band in one of the many lounges on the ship. Tony would call out tunes from the over 300 numbered charts. They ranged from Take The "A" Train to Love For Sale. They're all standards and mostly the original arrangements. Easy day.

Day 5 : The Hard One

Thursday we performed the second review show of the cruise. This one was mostly musical theater. There were lots of abrupt tempo changes and meter changes. High concentration is needed. Again, I spent a few hours reading and listening and I played the run through with the cast. I just held on during the run through so, I did some more studying before the show. It paid off.

I didn't "own it" but I got through it pretty well and that's what it took for Tony and the band to approve my staying in the band. The rest of the cruise was pretty easy after that.

Friday was another Star Act and Saturday was the Farewell show. First cruise completed.

After a few months you really start to feel like you can read anything put in front of you and your confidence grows. The review shows become second nature after a while. It's important to be able to play with energy and concentration the first and 101 times you play anything. Tony once told me that the best way to keep your concentration level high is to pretend that every 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 everything I play now. It's the same as the legendary drummers who advise us to "Play with Purpose".

Ship Life

O.K. yes the cabins are small but you have cable TV 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 among others. All of this was while getting PAID, living free of rent, and all of my meals provided for free on the ship if I chose.

The staff on ships are very unique. Of 1,500 crew members, only 50 of us were American! You can't beat the experience of living next to and learning about people from all over the globe. You see very quickly that we're all people. We all have the 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 places you'll experience, I highly recommend trying this exciting job.