AnonymousCM5
Member
Admin edit - removed profanity
Company: NCL
Ship: prefer not to disclose
Position: musician
Salary: $2800
Worked for them: 2023 & 2024
Experience: meh
Salary is ok. Starting from $2800 and goes up from there.
If you have previous work experience from other companies, you can get a higher salary from the get go.
Depends on the negotiation skills of your agency.
Food in the mess is ok, but very very repetitive and it's obvious that they don't invest much into it. Fruits and veggies can be of questionable quality so pack some vitamins with you.
Crew bar only serves beer, cider and wine, usually very limited selection.
The wines they have are pretty decent tho.
Crew bar closes at 2am and security will kick you out after that.
There is a curfew after 2am and random breathalyzer tests every month.
Limit is 0,05. Above that = trouble.
Under normal circumstances we had a crew party with free drinks once a month and different theme nights & parties in the crew bar.
However, for most of my contract the ship was on "code orange" for respiratory infections meaning all crew activities were cancelled.
My position does not have housekeeping and there is a cabin inspection every week.
How thorough? It depends fully on who does it. Some are very picky, go through every nook and cranny and give you s**t for the most miniscule things.
Some just show up, ask if there's anything to report and if not, just move on without even entering your cabin.
There is a full drill every week and IPM every 4 days as there are only 4 groups in rotation.
No rotation in passenger drill/safety briefing on our ship.
Same people, same station, same time slot throughout the contract.
Safety training on average once a month depending on your safety duty.
More critical positions (fire teams etc. of course have more)
Guest area access is very limited unless you have a yellow crew ID.
Guest buffet access only on specific times and you need to sign up on a sign up sheet and dress up when you go.
In theory you can only sign up for guest area access only once a week.
But it depends on the ship and the management how strictly these rules are enforced though.
On overnight stays in port, the crew has to be back onboard at 2am.
Regular port days crew onboard is 1hr before departure and tender ports the last crew tender is 2hrs before departure.
Though it seemed to me that by the time of the "last crew tender" you're actually expected to be onboard.
Production shows are ok and can be fun to play. Guest entertainers are a big hit or miss.
Everything else depends on the music director.
Itineraries are pretty great on the older fleet that my ship belongs to
There is a crew barber shop on my ship where a hair cut costs $10 and the crew gym is surprisingly good.
You can get a good workout there with a bit of creativity.
Management generally has an "If you don't like it here, too bad" attitude, even though there were individual members of senior management that were great and took good care of their team.
Musicians do not have side duties besides safety. Dancers have plenty.
Tendering, embarkation directional, fitness and dance classes, library etc.
Production cast singers might have to do singing workshops or other stuff as well, but not as much as dancers.
From musicians onboard only music director and solo musicians have single cabin.
Regular musicians share with 1 person.
I was lucky enough to have great roommates and it can make or break your contract.
My two cents. Hope this helps!
Company: NCL
Ship: prefer not to disclose
Position: musician
Salary: $2800
Worked for them: 2023 & 2024
Experience: meh
Salary is ok. Starting from $2800 and goes up from there.
If you have previous work experience from other companies, you can get a higher salary from the get go.
Depends on the negotiation skills of your agency.
Food in the mess is ok, but very very repetitive and it's obvious that they don't invest much into it. Fruits and veggies can be of questionable quality so pack some vitamins with you.
Crew bar only serves beer, cider and wine, usually very limited selection.
The wines they have are pretty decent tho.
Crew bar closes at 2am and security will kick you out after that.
There is a curfew after 2am and random breathalyzer tests every month.
Limit is 0,05. Above that = trouble.
Under normal circumstances we had a crew party with free drinks once a month and different theme nights & parties in the crew bar.
However, for most of my contract the ship was on "code orange" for respiratory infections meaning all crew activities were cancelled.
My position does not have housekeeping and there is a cabin inspection every week.
How thorough? It depends fully on who does it. Some are very picky, go through every nook and cranny and give you s**t for the most miniscule things.
Some just show up, ask if there's anything to report and if not, just move on without even entering your cabin.
There is a full drill every week and IPM every 4 days as there are only 4 groups in rotation.
No rotation in passenger drill/safety briefing on our ship.
Same people, same station, same time slot throughout the contract.
Safety training on average once a month depending on your safety duty.
More critical positions (fire teams etc. of course have more)
Guest area access is very limited unless you have a yellow crew ID.
Guest buffet access only on specific times and you need to sign up on a sign up sheet and dress up when you go.
In theory you can only sign up for guest area access only once a week.
But it depends on the ship and the management how strictly these rules are enforced though.
On overnight stays in port, the crew has to be back onboard at 2am.
Regular port days crew onboard is 1hr before departure and tender ports the last crew tender is 2hrs before departure.
Though it seemed to me that by the time of the "last crew tender" you're actually expected to be onboard.
Production shows are ok and can be fun to play. Guest entertainers are a big hit or miss.
Everything else depends on the music director.
Itineraries are pretty great on the older fleet that my ship belongs to
There is a crew barber shop on my ship where a hair cut costs $10 and the crew gym is surprisingly good.
You can get a good workout there with a bit of creativity.
Management generally has an "If you don't like it here, too bad" attitude, even though there were individual members of senior management that were great and took good care of their team.
Musicians do not have side duties besides safety. Dancers have plenty.
Tendering, embarkation directional, fitness and dance classes, library etc.
Production cast singers might have to do singing workshops or other stuff as well, but not as much as dancers.
From musicians onboard only music director and solo musicians have single cabin.
Regular musicians share with 1 person.
I was lucky enough to have great roommates and it can make or break your contract.
My two cents. Hope this helps!
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