How To Get Work as a Guest Entertainer on Cruise Ships - Part
III
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.
Cue Sheets
Always have your cue sheets ready to give the production
manager. These will include any music cues and lighting cues.
You will always get time to rehearse and this will be the time
to go over any cues. The stages on the ships today are
incredible and have everything. Prepare cue sheets for light and
sound technicians. Early upon your arrival on the ship the stage
manager will contact you. He or she will want to know what
special requirements you need and how much rehearsal time to
schedule. You should be familiar with your technical
requirements. Talk to him about the kind of lighting and sound
you need and any backstage help you will require. At rehearsal
you should be able to supply written cue sheets that explain how
and when all the technical things happen during your act. For
recorded music I use a programmable mini-disc unit. If you use
recorded music I recommend that you put it on the highest
quality playback method you can. If you use extensive and
complex lighting, I recommend you bring videotape of your act to
show the lighting technician how you'd like it to look. Light
fixtures change from place to place, but the same mood and
affect can be created from various sources.
Live animals
Some acts do use live animals on ships, to do this you need to
get pre-approved by head office of the cruise line you are
working for so they can sort out the paper work well in advance.
To travel with livestock is the responsibility of the Guest
Entertainer.
Theatre Conduct
It is important that you are familiar with stage deportment; how
to enter, exit, and take a curtain call. This is all part of
professionalism, simple theatre 101. First impressions matter,
but never more than when you are on stage. During the first 30
seconds, your audience will size you up. They make judgments
about you that will color their attitudes about what you do. The
first moments are critical. You need to strategically decide how
you will present yourself immediately upon your introduction.
Likewise you should give careful consideration to the end of
your act. How will you finish? How will you exit the stage?
Cruise ship shows all have emcees, so you will be called back to
the stage for a bow. Usually, an act will finish their last
routine and take a bow as the M.C. announces the act's name. The
band will play a quick and bouncy piece of music as the
performer walks off stage. The emcee will then ask the audience
to "call the performer back," with another round of applause. At
this point the entertainer walks back to the stage to receive
the applause. The theatres on cruise ships today are more
equipped than most theatres on land, with the latest sound
equipment, lighting and video equipment. Try and view your act
as theatre and make use of all the technology available to you.
In my act I use a video montage to introduce my Chaplin act. I
have also performed close-up magic on the main stage and had it
projected behind me on a large video screen. On a cruise you
will be expected to know how conduct yourself and your act in a
real theater setting. This is not always something a magician
that is used to working solo is familiar with. You will deal
with other professionals like the an emcee, stage manager, sound
engineer, light technician, orchestra leader and other
professional entertainers that you will share the stage and
dressing room with. You should know stage terminology, blocking
and what light designs you will need. If all this is foreign to
you, get some experience before trying the ship market.
CONTRACT
A Guest Entertainer Independent Contractor Agreement will be
issued each time a Guest Entertainer is contracted to work on
board. The contract should be reviewed carefully and signed
accordingly. The contract will say how much money you are being
paid on a weekly basis and your travel dates. You will also get
a boarding letter. This letter will come in useful when going
through immigration as they may ask to see it. Quite often when
traveling through US immigration I am taken in to another room
while they confirm with the cruise line that I will be joining
the ship. This agreement will also give your flight details, the
port agents details of the country you will be flying to and
often your return flight. There are times where you don't get
your return flight until you are onboard. Always have a copy of
your contract and boarding agreement with you. You will need to
show the boarding agreement to the security officer when you get
to the gangway on the ship.
CONTRACT PAYMENT
Each company differs on their pay system. There was a time when
I would be paid on the ship on a bi-monthly basis, but this is
no longer the case. In my case my agent gets my money on the
15th and 30th of each month and she then transfers it to my
account. I prefer this because then she can take out her
commission and it saves me having to send her the money. I know
there are still ships where they act gets paid onboard and also
some acts who have the money deposited directly in to their bank
accounts.
During a ship's drydock, refit. Or maintenance period that falls
within the duration of a contract, it is at the company's
discretion to either pay the Guest Entertainer on a pro-rata
basis or provide a round trip airfare to the Guest Entertainer's
"home" airport and back to the ship. When I finish this contract
next week the company is accommodating me for two nights in
Gibralter before I transship to another ship for a week. They
will pay for my hotel, food and any travel while I am staying in
port.
Guest Entertainers are paid for the day they embark the ship,
but not for the day they disembark the ship. Travel days are not
usually reimbursed unless otherwise agreed.
For US citizens the company must report all earnings and a 1099
form will be issued at year end. All Guest Entertainers are
responsible to payment of government taxes and so forth. In my
situation I am a non-resident of any country having left New
Zealand almost five years ago on a full time basis and so I am
in the fortunate position of not paying tax. I have set up a US
bank account so that I can have a US visa which I find very
handy when paying onboard accounts.
Cruise Director
While onboard the ship, it is the Cruise Director who looks
after the Guest Entertainers and is the person in charge of
scheduling performers and putting together the daily 'newspaper'
on what the days activities will be. More often than not, it is
the CD that will be introducing you, so have a very short and
precise introduction prepared so that s/he can use it to bring
you onstage. They don't like to read long winded introductions
so my advice is to keep it short and simple. The cruise director
is also the person who will be reporting back to head office
about your act and how it was received. You will never really
know what the CD is thinking and in my time on ships I think I
have seen it all. You get the cruise directors who are very
professional and care about their guest entertainers, yet on the
other hand you get those that don't care at all. In one case, I
had a CD who didn't even bother to turn up and introduce me, so
I had to do it myself AND take myself off stage. The next night
he never showed up and so another guest entertainer introduced
the act. Without a doubt the worst CD I have ever worked for,
just plain lazy and didn't care. When I approached him on the
matter his comment was "I could get more money working at
McDonalds" ... I told him maybe he should go there and work
instead. This same CD I made a noise complaint because there
were parties next door in the cabins every night going on until
3am, this went on for almost 2 weeks until I complained. We had
the dancers in the hallway and none of the guest acts could
sleep. When I complained the CD told me not to hassle his
dancers, then I found out that he was the one holding the
parties!!! Sometimes you can't win. I try to keep out of the CDs
way, just go on, do my job, be polite and that is it. They do
have a very busy life on a ship and they run a large department
so as little hassle from guest entertainers makes their lives
that much easier.