How To Get Work As A Guest Entertainer On A Cruise Ship Part Ii

Writen by Paul Romhany

This is part TWO of a series of articles I have written to help entertainers get work as Guest Entertainers on cruise ships.

Discounts This varies from cruise line to cruise line, so again, either ask your agent or check the Guest Entertainer Manual of the cruise line you are working for the discounts you are allowed as a guest entertainer. The general rule for most ships is that there is a 25% bar discount for guest entertainers and a 20% discount in the boutique shops on board. At the end of each cruise when you get your bill, make sure that the discounts have been taken off the final account. It has happened on so many occasions where the final discount was wrong or not taken off. For whatever reason these days, the bills are always wrong and most guest entertainers have to end up going down at the end of a cruise and sorting the problems out. I often believe the problems on ships are due to simple lack of communication between departments! There are the top end cruise lines where you don't have to pay for any drinks at the bar, but that is the minority. There is also a 21-year minimum age requirement for purchasing alcohol on most cruise lines. Everything you purchase is put on to your account so ships are a cashless society, however I always take a few dollar bills and leave them as tips. Note:- As of re-reading this book the company I work for has now taken off any discounts in the shops on board for guest entertainers.

Requirement of Shows Each cruise line will have different requirements from their Guest Entertainers, what I offer is simply a guidline –

Length and number of shows I checked the guidelines in the manual for the cruise line I work on and they state that a minimum repertoire of two 30-minute and one 15-minute show is required. On longer cruises it may be necessary to perform three of four 30 minute shows. On the ships I work I have never done two different 30 minute shows, rather one full show and a split show with another act or two different 45 minute shows. On the cruise I am on at the moment, as of writing this book, I am performing two 45 minute shows and a close-up show. The close-up show is at my suggestion to the cruise director as it gives me another chance to push my DVDs plus I thoroughly enjoy close-up magic. How many shows you are required to perform depends entirely on the length of cruise. If you are doing the short seven day cruises then more often that not you will only be required to do one full show, perhaps maybe another show sharing the bill with another act. On the longer cruises of say twenty four days you can be assured you will need to do two different full shows. This requires a lot of work and it is important that your second show is as strong as the first. Speaking from experience I prefer just to do my one main show as it contains all my number one material, rather than try and split it up between two shows. After experimenting with my act I realized how important it is to make sure your first show is very strong, that way people will talk about you, get to know you and come back for the second. You will hear other entertainers say they have an A and a B show, in my opinion if you want a long career in Cruising make sure both your shows are A material. If you can do a close-up show then by all means mention it to the cruise director as it all helps in the long run keeping your name in front of the passengers when they fill in the comment cards. The general rule of thumb is that you will do your main show twice in one night.

Your schedule

Your schedule will vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise. Generally speaking, on a seven day cruise you will be required to work one night with your main 45-50 minute act. This you will do twice, once at the early show, usually 8.30pm and the other at 10.30pm for two different audiences. On the larger ships they are now getting us to work more, so we will work one night with the two shows, then repeat the show again the next night for the crowds who missed it. The large ships now carry up to 2800 passengers so you are required to do an extra show. On the seven day cruise you may also be asked to do an extra ten to fifteen minute spot on the last night, along with other guest entertainers.

Because I have two different full 45 minute acts plus the close-up show, I tend to get the longer runs which also means the better contracts where the ships travel to more exotic locations around the world. It makes sense to keep me on a ship longer as I can do two different nights of entertainment and the close-up show on a sea day. However, having said that next week I will be leaving the ship I have been on for three months and transshipping to another ship for a little over a week where I will be on the last part of the cruise and the beginning of a new one, then fly to join another ship for a little over a week, then fly to another ship for only one night before flying home. There is no set rule for how many times you will perform and you usually only find out when you join. My advice is to make sure you are prepared before starting your cruise ship career, otherwise it will be short lived and chances of getting re-booked are very slim.

There somehow seems to be an invisible network amongst the Entertainment Department in the cruise industry and word travels fast. Remember that Carnival cruises owns about 70% of the cruise industry including; Carnival Cruise Lines, Windstar Cruises, Cunard Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn. That is a huge market and Entertainment is now overlapping with these companies as they all come under one umbrella.

Material I have always made sure my material was never 'adult' orientated or 'blue', unless asked to do the midnight show – in which case you can do routines that are a little more on the edge. Make sure you find out the demographics of the cruise line you will be working for. Because of my Charlie Chaplin act, they tend to put me on longer cruises, which suits me fine because they have the better itinaries. There is a joke amongst entertainers when asked the average age of the passengers they say, "between dead and deceased!" I am currently on a 24 day cruise as I write this and the average age would be sixty plus. On the shorter cruises, such as those in the Carribean, you will find the average age much lower with children traveling. One of my good friends works for a cruise line where he is required to do a 30 minute family orientated show and a 30 minute midnight adult show, so he obviously has his material suited for those audiences. According to marketing the cruise ship attracts a vacationing crowd from a cross- section of North America, the UK and sprinkles of other nationalities so your material will need to be international. I have appeared on cruise ships where the majority of passengers didn't speak English, magicians at least have a sleight advantage over comedians in that we have the visual aspect of our shows to help in these conditions. My advice is very simple, chose material for your act that is suitable for all ages.

Music for the act You have the ability to work with a live band on the ship. If you plan on working on ships a great deal you may wish to utilize this lost resource although the way things are changing the idea of having a 'live' band is becoming less and less. There was a time when working on ships that my advice would have been if you currently use no music at all, consider the use of the band on the ship, however, with cut backs and so on don't rely on having a back up band! Most Cruise Director's will expect "play on and play off" music for you and if the band is available then they often have stock 'tabs' that can be used. As a backup I would have all my music on CD or mini disk.

There are bands on board the ships, but the way things are changing cruise lines now prefer guest entertainers to have their own backing tracks, either on CD or minidisk. Some of the music acts obviously require the 'band' or 'orchestra' to back them and they bring their own musical arrangements. The more self relient you are in your act, the more you will keep working. There was a time when there were two different orchestras on ships, one for the main show lounge and the other for the smaller lounges where most Variety acts worked. However, with cutbacks ships are using all backing tracks for the larger shows and a much smaller orchestra for the other rooms having only one orchestra on ships now. I always take back up music and make sure I have my music in a variety of formats. When I give the Production manager my music, s/he gets a mini-disk and a CD of it, just in case something happens during the show and a machine breaks down. This I tell you from experience because it HAS happened!

I travel with my laptop, which makes life so much easier for me. If I need to change the show in any way, I can easily record a new audio CD of my show and everything is in order so the production manager isn't skipping from one music track to another. I like to make everything as easy as possible so I can concentrate on my performance rather than worry about technical aspects of the show going wrong. Remember also that you may be transshipping, ie. going from one ship to another and have little rehearsal time, so having cue sheets and your music all in order will make life that much easier.

Paul Romhany is a professional comedy magician who has worked as a Guest Entertainer on cruise ships for the past six years and continues to work for the top cruise lines as a headline act and also tours the world with his original comedy magic act. He is also author of several books including his new book on How To Get Work on a Cruise Ship. He has performed in over 50 countries and in over 17 National TV specials with his incredible act, considered to be one of the most original and funniest acts in magic today. His act has been desribed by many cruise directors as 'the most original' act on cruise ships today! To see Paul Romhany on stage is to witness a magical transformation. While his skills and artistry as an illusionist are unsurpassed, Paul takes his performance to another dimension when he applies makeup as the audience watches, suddenly leaving behind Paul Romhany and becoming Charlie Chaplin. It is a mesmerizing spectacle as "The Little Tramp", Chaplin's most famous character, emerges to complete the illusion.