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I will be playing on cruises this summer. Nowhere in my job description does it say I will have to do any other duties besides music, other than the internationally required safety drill inspections, which are twice on each cruise. All ship employees are required to take part in the drills by law. The pay isn't great, but it's possible to live on, especially with free room and board. I was offered a job by three lines, and they all average right around $500/week. That's two one-hour sets nightly, and not every night. I hear it's the boredom of six months trapped on a boat that makes the job unbearable.

However, most show bands are trumpet/trombone/sax combinations as such, from what I understand. Most play with a click track and a prerecorded performance by L.A. studio guys, so even though it's three horns, it sounds like a big band. Also, if an agent says something along the lines of "some ships occasionally do have a second or bass trombone, but he doesn't seem to know of any," means simply don't expect it to happen. With agents, I was told they are just waiting for a ship to have an opening, but I never got a call. That was a few years ago when I auditioned on trombone. About a month ago, I decided to do it with bass, and I just called the cruise lines directly. Don't go with agents. They will give you the runaround, and take some of your pay.

Your best bet is to take that tenor trombone and hit the woodshed for quite a few hours a day for a month or two straight, and try again. And they may say you're not required to solo as a trombone player, but I would work on that, too. I know of a few people who didn't last long because of the lack of knowledge of improvisation.

Nick

You can get a King 2B or 3B for 3-500 dollars. You don't need a concert tenor, nor do many trombone players go with a concert horn. Just get a straight horn. The two above horns are THE choice for this kind of music. As for a mouthpiece, you need something MUCH better than a 6.5 AL. Most lead players use an 11C. You should go to a shop and try a few out. I have a Warburton mouthpiece, and I like it. It's not for many lead players because of the size, but I liked it because it's only slightly smaller than my euphonium pieces. Though, it was a little expensive at around $125. The Bach lines are much cheaper.

I would never get rid of any instrument I own, even ones I never play. I NEVER consider my instruments as part of a trade, I like to have them around just in case I decide I need one. So I don't think you should get rid of your bass.

To be honest, I play a few instruments, and though I consider euphonium to be my best one, it's not my favorite. Nor is any instrument. In the words of Victor Wooten, I play MUSIC, and use whatever tool I deem necessary to bring that music into this world. If you get the chops on tenor, that would be one more instrument you could add to the arsenal. And I don't believe any musician has an affinity towards one instrument or another. It's all about the amount of TIME you put into learning how to use that tool.

Honestly, there are very few ships that would ever use bass bone, if any at all. I honestly know of none, and I am in contact with dozens of friends who do cruises. You have to remember, the general public that vacations on these ships aren't there for the music, and couldn't tell you the difference of a trumpet and trombone, let alone a bass and tenor trombone. What you do need to do is play whatever they hand you. And most of the stuff for the horn combinations will be high. That's just a matter of working on that range.

By the way, are you going through Justin Tundervary with Sixth Star Entertainment? I think they do most of the Princess stuff.

Nick

I was on a Carnival cruise ship (on vacation) during spring break. The group I saw play was one sax ( doubleing on flute occasionally),one tenor 'bone, one trumpet,keyboard,lead and rythm guitar and drums. Very sparse set up . But they all looked very young and the sax player was a freaking mad man on the solos. All very top notch musicians from what I could tell. It never seem to me that there was a back up sound track that the live musicians were playing with. It sounded to me like what you saw is what you got .
There was even a performance on the last evening of the cruise by a high school band. They were from University High School in Nashville, Tennesse. They put on a very good show and the kids all played well. That was an unexpected treat for me on my vacation .