Pianos on cruise ships

Hi Gang,

I just got back from 7 days on Royal Carribean's Explorer of the Seas. My family and I had a wonderful cruise. It is our third family cruise. As a musician I am always interested in the musicians and pianos on board the cruise ships. I thought that I would report back to the group that Royal Carribean does a nice job with both.

There were Yamaha C3's all over the ship, and a C6 or C7 in the main dining room. I spoke with one of the pianists, a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. The other pianists came out of Berklee and Moscow (not Idaho!). The quality of the musicians was fantastic.

The pianist I spoke with told me that every grand piano was tuned every Saturday in Miami when the ship was in port and any concerns that the pianists had with the instruments were taken care of immediately. He told me that one of the pianos was not getting good reviews by the pianists and that major action work was done on it.

I'm not sure what the life of a musician is on board a ship. I suppose it would be fun for s couple of years after college and before settling down. On the other side of the coin, I would love to be able to play the piano and cruise as a substitute musician, so I am not away more than a month or two at a time. That might be fun. Damion Bertram, pianist, conductor

Do they let guests have use of the pianos for practice?

On this particular ship there was a C3 in a lounge which was for the express use of the guests on the ship. Damion Bertram, pianist, conductor

When I was on the Golden Princess all the piano's were locked when not in use. I imagine that if you got to know one of the Pianist's you could bribe them with a few bottles of Jamaican Rum!

Take your Yamaha key with you. On the Disney cruise all the pianos are C3s and C7s. They stay locked and the key is under the control of a maintenance guy. He was never around when I needed him, so I took my C3 key with me and had no further need of the house key. Apparently one size fits all. This let me practice in the cocktail lounge during the day when it was closed.

Can anybody tell me how I can get connected to play above a cruise-ship? Who's doing the bookings and all?

Many thanks, TG

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Did any passengers step forward and play it?

Find out where the corporate offices of the Cruise Line is, call them, and talk to the entertainment department.

Or get an agent that deals with the cruise lines. Some lines only deal through agents.

Regards,

Rick Clark

Being able to play the theme from the 'Love Boat' is also a major asset; or so I've been told...

(singing, 'the looooooooooooove booooooooat, soon will be making another run.....' *snicker*

Raise The Titanic,

We were on a Holland America cruise a few years ago, and they let us use the pianos, but they kept moving them from room to room! Finally I wised up and made friends with the dining room crew; they didn't mind us playing when they weren't serving meals. Lovely piano.

Cheers, Michele