HI,

I worked on all the major and some minor Cruise lines for 20 years, a total of 56 ships. PM me if you need more details and horror stories. 10 of those years were spent as Musical Director and musician "Baby Sitter" ie>

1. Making sure all the musicians showed up on time.

2. Getting called by the Hotel Director or Cruise Director at 3am because one of my muso's had a "Problem" and was in either the ships jail or medical center.

3. Firing musicians for either>Being drunk during a show/set, doing lines of Coke in the musicians corridor, Vomiting into the salad bowl at the passenger buffet, having a 13 year old female passenger in their cabin at 4am, throwing deck chairs off the ship in a drunken rage, Knocking 3 teeth out of the Chief Engineer's mouth in the crew bar, throwing the Dance books overboard to avoid having to play dance sets (didn't work) As well as the "Normal" reasons (Can't read music, can't play a production show, no chops, no solo chops, don't know any tunes, playing out of tune, etc.

Carnival generally has the most laid back atmosphere for both Passengers and crew, Princess is a tad more uptight, Royal Carribean can be a Pain in the A#$, Celebrity, Holland America and Cunard are similar to Nazi prison camps, I would not recommend working for any of these lines.
In general, the Showband musicians are at the bottom of the entertainment totem pole, which is hard to understand as they generally have the most musical skills and education. They almost always have to share a SMALL cabin, and have the most rules to follow.
The loungeband acts sometimes have it better, but almost always have to play more sets. This includes solo musicians.
The best gig is the "Fly on" entertainer. You get a nice cushy cabin, lots of bread, no drills or other crew BS. And there is no justice in Entertainment on a Cruise ship. Often these people flat out SUCK, but they talked their way into the gig. It gets harder to swallow living like a prisoner in a Federal prison and making around $2,500 a month while having to fix the show book for some 70 year has been who is making $5,000 for 1 week and maybe appeared in 1 episode of "Fantasy Island" 30 years ago.......

Sorry for being dark, this is the reality of cruise life,
Ed