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Chris Westfall Loyal user Toronto, Canada 252 Posts |
Just curious on peoples strategies on booking cruise ships or how it is that performers go about it?!?!
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Michael Messing Inner circle Knoxville, TN 1817 Posts |
Chris, here's an older thread that should help (please ignore Bill's sarcasm in this thread): http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=44&8
It's been 20 years since I worked a cruise ship but I doubt the hiring process has changed much. (By the way, Jim Snack got permission from me to put my comments in that thread in his course Success-in-Magic.) The biggest change I've read about since is some close-up workers have managed to get work on ships and that really didn't happen when I was working them. Hope this helps. |
ya4davecox Regular user Los Angeles 124 Posts |
Michael - that's some great info in the other thread!
I was a regular on NCL and Princess before I started working on TV, and it took me YEARS from the time I decided to try to work on ships to actually get booked. I haven't been out much, lately, but I'm headed to the Med on Crystal in May. When I was starting, I took everyone I knew who worked on ships out to lunch, one at a time, and asked their advice. It basically came down to this - to get the work,you need a STRONG DVD of your show. It CAN be standards, if you present them well, but they really do look for original material, or at least original presentations. You have to get an agent to look at your stuff. The best way is to send it in, keep following up in a friendly manner, and, best of all, have someone who know the agent knows and trusts make a call for you. To KEEP the gig, you have to travel light (unless you're an illusion show doing 5 month or year long runs); you have to KILL it onstage, or, if you're not killing it, at least be likable enough that passengers feel that they should say nice things about you on their comment cards; you ave to be ready to JUMP on a ship your first few times, because the only way they're going to try you out is if someone is unavailable, most likely last minute. My first shot fell through because I didn't have a valid passport handy, and couldn't get one after 5 on Friday to get on a plane on Saturday to meet a ship in South America on Sunday. It took another 8 months to get another shot. You have to work clean, socialize, make the entertainment directors job easier, and be friendly and outgoing to the passengers. A hundred positive comment cards are good. One negative comment card can be disastrous. And passengers will leave negative comments if they don't like you - they're, by and large, great folks - fun, friendly, and looking for a good time - but there are some that feel that they've paid the money, you work for the ship, you OWE them. If you don't want to jump through their hoops in the exact way they want you to, and give them the show or show them the attention they feel they DESERVE, they may get their petty revenge. The ONLY negative card I got, my entire cruise career, was from a group of Germans, who saw that there was a magic show, and were ****ed that there weren't tigers and illusions and dancing girls. They walked out of the show, went to the desk, and immediately filled out a strong complaint that there wasn't a tiger in the show. In a 20 minute welcome aboard show. I still had to have a meeting with the cruise director, and my agent got a letter asking if I could do something a little bigger on stage. I sent a lot of options for illusions, quoted freight, expressed my eagerness to do a much larger show, and they dropped it all in favor of the easily transported show that they knew and that most passengers seemed to really enjoy. But, all that over one angry group of Germans with unreasonable expectations of a kind of show that I wasn't booked to do. So - if you're not the kind of person that enjoys being friendly and meeting people - or can just hide in their cabin - then this gig is not for you. Your theater is going to be either a lounge of several hundred people, or the big theater of 800-1200 people. If you can't fill that with your personality, this gig is not for you. If you can't quickly adapt to changing requirements, weird travel arrangements, getting abandoned in the middle of Turkey, riding in small boats in rough seas out to the ship, and cabins that occasionally smell like the last guy roasted a goat - a sweaty, sweaty, flatulent goat - then this gig is not for you. If you think this gig IS for you, get to work on some great material, tailor it for the line you want to work - Crystal is VERY different from Carnival, which is VERY different form Disney, get it on a DVD, make sure there are PLENTY of audience reaction shots and that you mic the audience so that you can hear their laughter, send that DVD to the agent that books the line you want to work, find someone who you know or who respects your work to make a phone call for you, be ready to go, passport in hand at a moments notice, have your equipment in an easy to checkable case so they don't have to pay freight, and then go have the time of your life! Until you get sick of it. It's great, but it's lonely. And back on shore, everyone who ever booked you will forget you. And, unless you're on a long tour and can hook up with a crew member (not advised), a passenger (SUPER not advised) or a dancer (also not advised, for different reasons, but, if you do, whoa Nelly!), you have no shot at romance. And it's like Groundhog Day - except it's the same WEEK over and over. Cabo on Monday, Show on Tuesday, Ketchikan on Wednesday, Seafood night on Thursday, getting hit on in the bar by 60 year old widowed fans on Friday... on and on and on. A friend of mine calls it a honeyed trap. Another calls it "the black hole of show business." Another calls it "where mediocre acts go to die." I call it a great time. Best of luck! |
Michael Messing Inner circle Knoxville, TN 1817 Posts |
Great post, Dave.
I love when those with experience share the truth! |
Chris Westfall Loyal user Toronto, Canada 252 Posts |
Michael,
Your great man! I can feel the passion and you put a lot of work into giving me that info. I was looking for a vague answer for my interest, and got a great one! I have saved your words and will look back if and when I decided to pursue this. Thanks |
Michael Messing Inner circle Knoxville, TN 1817 Posts |
I'm glad you find it helpful. If you decide to pursue it, I wish you the best.
I know I enjoyed it when I was doing it. (What could be better than having a steady gig that pays well, provides you accommodations and meal, and lets you hang out in the Caribbean!0 |
JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
What's the pay like and how many shows a week do you do? Great post!
Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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Michael Messing Inner circle Knoxville, TN 1817 Posts |
Wow, that's probably changed since I was out there in the early 90s. (Some lines were starting to reduce performers pay when I last did them.)
At the time, a featured performer was getting anywhere from $700 per week to $2,000 per week. The average seemed to be $1,000 - 1,250 although I didn't get to that level. The number and types of performances varies from cruise ship to cruise ship even within the same line. The cruise director and the cruise ship performing conditions dictated that. When I was on the Holiday, I did my 35-minute illusion show twice on one evening. (There was an early show and a late show.) I also did a 30-minute "Midnight Special" once per cruise. This was during a 7-day cruise. That's all the performing I did. On the Tropicale, I couldn't do my full illusion show because the stage was not set up for that. (The band was behind the stage, the ceiling was low and there were no wings backstage. There are likely very few ships that have those kind of performing conditions. Carnival has replaced all 3 of the ships I worked on with larger ships that have large theaters.) On the Tropicale, I was part of the review show so I did a 20-minute performance during the show. (Again, there was an early and a late show.) I also did a "Midnight Special" on the Tropicale. I have friends that worked for Premier when it was affiliated with Disney and they did small performances daily and did featured performances a couple of times a week. Maybe, someone who cruises today will jump in with the current pay and number of performances. |
Jerskin Inner circle 2497 Posts |
Pay is now $2500-$3500. You need at least 45 minutes but as much a two 45s and a 20. Cruise lines book stage acts only.
GrEg oTtO
MUNDUS VULT DECIPI |
tacrowl Inner circle Maryland 1633 Posts |
Late to this conversation - but for anyone interested in working cruises, I've got a couple of guests on Entertainment Experts that will be sharing great tips about getting work on cruise ships and working the dates. The first is Niels Duinker, a professional juggler out of The Netherlands: http://entertainment-experts.com/would-y......e-ships/
The second is AGT juggling star Charles Peachock - he has yet to appear on the site, but gives some great information. You can find a video clip of our interview at: http://youtu.be/bQzrqFcOgqc Cruise ship magician Fred Moore will also be sharing a lot of advice on working cruises. His clips will start showing up this summer. If you'd like to know when their tips will be available, subscribe to our Youtube channel or on the web site mailing list. |
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