How Much do Cruise Ship Musicians Earn?
This is obviously one of the first questions you will have when considering pursuing a job as a cruise ship musician.
How much you will earn depends on a few factors, and there some additional things worth keeping in mind.
In particular, salaries on cruise ship gigs aren’t really directly comparable to land-based gigs for a number of reasons. The main one is that for your time under contract with the cruise line, your day to day living expenses are going to be very small, and you could actually get by without spending a penny!
Included in all the cruise line gigs we book are:
- Flights to the ship at the beginning of your contract
- Overnight accommodation prior to joining the ship
- Your flights home at the end of your contract
- Your accommodation on the ship
- Every meal for the duration of your contract
- Medical insurance for the duration of your contract
Additionally, there are discounts available in the onboard shops and bars, as well as a subsidised crew bar.
When it comes to your salary, it depends to large extent on what you’re hired to do.
Cruise ship orchestra musicians will make at least $2700 per calendar month. Some positions, such as lead trumpet and piano/keys can be hired at a higher starting salary. Also, if your initial audition performance is really strong, the starting salary can be sometimes be negotiated.
Solo performers, such as piano-bar entertainers and pub guitarists start from around $1000 per week, depending a little bit on experience.
Most of the cruise lines we work with offer regular salary increases as well, and there’s usually the possibility of promotion to a more senior role onboard such as assistant musical director and, after a few contracts, musical director.
We always recommend to our musicians to consider how much they can save while onboard. Spending money of around $200 per week will still allow you to save almost $2000 per month, so over a 6 month contract you should be able to go home with savings of at least $10,000.
This is one of the biggest advantages of cruise ship work over land-based work for musicians. Cruise ship gigs offer an unparalleled opportunity to save, while also affording you the chance to travel around the world to some of the most beautiful places on the planet!
If you’d like to schedule an online audition, simply click on the button below to complete our simple cruise ship musician job application form.