Hospitality

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about hospitality/the service industry. That is what working for a cruise line ultimately means: serving a unique and unforgettable experience to the guest. My department – entertainment – is considered a part of the larger umbrella of the hotel department. We are encouraged to engage with the guests and to contribute positively to their cruising experience; we as entertainers are often told what a difference it can make to a guest to form a relationship with the staff. I have found that people are particularly eager to engage with the entertainment staff.

I never really thought about my job as a musician as part of the service industry. If anything, I’ve always felt like I’m serving myself – I get paid to play music all day, how self-serving (and awesome) is that? But it has struck me recently that our job is to deliver an experience to the guest. Of course we play for the audience, but usually the music feels so personal that it never feels like work at all. It is an experience that you and the audience share. When I think about the service industry – hotel services, tourism, restaurant staff – I picture a staff member getting paid to serve the customer. We go to restaurants because we want someone to make us food and deliver it to us. We stay at a hotel and pay for the privilege for someone else to make the bed and clean the bathroom. My job never feels like that. Celebrity goes above and beyond to make sure that the guest feels like the crew is at their service. At each and every table on our buffet deck, there is a table card with the server’s name and the following: “It is my pleasure to serve you. We are at your service.” The crew does an amazing job of making the guests feel like royalty. Perhaps I am delivering an experience to the guest – it just happens that it’s also really fun for me, too.

I’m sure that plenty of people find fun work in the service industry. As cliché as it sounds, it is rewarding to be able to deliver that unique experience to the guest. The guests provide feedback each week from as way to show their appreciation and continued support of Celebrity Cruises. The courtesy rubs off on everyone in the environment, I think. We are asked to always smile and greet, and to address guests directly whenever we pass them on the ship. We always say “Good morning/afternoon/evening,” and “How are you?” Sometimes the way we feel is a result of the way we act, and always having to smile and greet people directly never fails to put me in a cheerful mood. I wonder what would happen if I smiled and greeted strangers on the streets of Manhattan…

Plugs

Monday night the Food & Beverage Department hosted a crew toga party in recognition of our recent approval ratings from USPH (99%!) They opened the passenger club for a late night party and had tons of yummy food and champagne. Plus, of course, a bar tending contest, our a cappella sensation, and plenty of dance music. A good time was had by all.

Speaking of our a cappella sensation, a little plug for my “On Tap” friends. On Tap is our on board a cappella group (we just make fun of them because every time the cruise director announces them it’s as the a cappella “sensation”). Jake, John, Kevin, and Chase met at Lehigh University and will be on board for the next 6 months. They sing some awesome arrangements of everything from pop to rock to Motown. The passengers LOVE them (we’re not jealous, I swear) and so do we. They also sell their album, “First Draught” onboard. They’re always fun to listen to so I highly recommend you check them out! They’ve also been immensely helpful in my transition onboard :) Thanks, guys!

I’d also like to throw a shout-out to the wonderfully talented Jana Seale…singer/songwriter and guitarist. I could listen to Jana perform all day long! She has a huge list of songs which she sings beautiful – all of my favorite kinds of music (she does a mean Joni Mitchell). It’s a great opportunity to relax in the café or one of the lounges and hear some laid back tunes. Jana also sells her CD on board, and has been a huge help with my recent wrist issues. Check her out -gorgeous music!

In Which I Actually Talk About My Job

And now for a bit about my work – music! I play piano in the “Celebrity Orchestra” which mostly plays in the theater for the production shows: Welcome Aboard Show, iBroadway, Boogie Wonderland, Live at Sky, and Farewell Show. There is an additional production show called “Celebrate the World” that does not use live musicians. In addition to the theater, we also play big band sets once a week in the Rendez-Vous Lounge, the Captain’s Club Celebration, and a Jazz Brunch on Wednesday in the restaurant. I also occasionally play solo sets in the restaurant or one of the many lounges on board.

The hardest part about ship music is probably the constantly changing ensembles. During a typical 6-month contract, players could likely see 10 different people change in and out of their ensemble. For example, I’m filling in for the bandmaster’s vacation, so when he gets back it’ll be a whole different ensemble. I had never met the rest of my ensemble before, let alone played with them. Professional ensembles can take years to find a cohesive sound and create their unified voice. The only rehearsal I had with this ensemble was a sound check on my first day, and then we played shows together that evening. Every time we play big band sets, these are charts that I’ve never seen before, and songs that we’ve never before played together as an ensemble. You can imagine the difficulties, but it becomes a matter of survival instead of fine-tuning a group sound. This is not the kind of musical environment that I’m used to. As my mother ever astutely noted, our audiences are not here exclusively for our music – they are onboard for the total cruising experience: hotel, food, scenery, destination, activities, shore excursions, etc. On Broadway, the case is different.

Broadway audiences tend to be filled with New Yorkers – and New York theater professionals at that. The level of criticism, observation, and expectation is very different. The audience response here is fantastic – audiences LOVE the shows, ensembles, and performers on board. I think people are generally blown away by the talent because they are not coming expecting Broadway-level shows, and for a lot of them, the level of talent and professionalism they seen on board is unprecedented.

The nice thing about playing on the ship is that we don’t have to play the same show 8 times per week. We do have to play each show twice per night – something that Broadway musicians only face (usually) twice per week – but the shows are only about an hour so it doesn’t seem like a hassle. And since it has been 7 days since I last played iBroadway, I’m always looking forward to playing it for a second time.

Also to my surprise, no one (NOBODY) has commented on my playing – in a positive or negative way. Not my boss, not my band mates, not the cast members. I’m coming from an academic setting, which is to say highly observational, critical, and progressive. As I mentioned, the audiences have been wonderfully responsive, but the standards to which I’m used to holding myself have disappeared. Let’s hope it’s not a culture shock when I get back to school!

Halfway There

Halfway there! I’m getting excited to get back to the city and start senior year (?!) – when did that happen?

Yesterday we had a FIRE. On board. It was very scary. I was checking my email in the crew dining room when the code word for fire came over the announcements: “Bravo, Bravo, Bravo – tween deck.” Thanks to my bazillion hours of training, I knew this meant there was a fire on the deck just below mine (Deck 0, basically). But, just like at school when a fire alarm rang and you assumed it was a drill, I thought it was a drill. BUT THERE WAS A REAL FIRE. As I finished my emails and tried to leave the dining area, they were blocking off the hallways and people were running to the fire in their fire gear and had oxygen tanks. I heard people saying that there was a person down there, but they had just evacuated him. The doorway to my corridor was blocked, so I went up to deck 2 and around to get to my room (smelling smoke the whole way). As soon as I got to my room I heard people knocking on doors furiously: “Who’s in the cabin? Is anyway in the cabin? Midship! Go midship!” So I frantically grabbed my bag and exited the area. There was a TON of smoke coming from the hallway just next to mine, and the officers evacuating us had bandanas covering their faces. As I made my way midship, I heard passengers commenting about the smoke smell. Some passengers I was with saw the crew running with their fire gear, and were understandably alarmed. I was concerned, but I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I got some tea, and by the time I had to report to play our set for the night, the cruise director made an announcement that the fire had been taken care of. That was definitely the closest I’ve ever come to a real emergency – luckily we were already docked, so the threat seemed less disastrous than if we were at sea. The hardest part was not knowing what to tell the passengers – we have these code words so as not to alarm the passengers, but so the crew teams can take care of it themselves.’

Last night was also the first night in port that I didn’t have a chance to get off the ship. We have to rotate giving everybody nights off, so the orchestra played 2 big band sets in the lounge. Victoria is my favorite port so I was disappointed! I’m happy to be back in Seattle though, heading off on cruise #4. I’m going to try to see Inception in one of our ports this week!

Hiking, Swimming, Playing...Oh My

As seen on the crew bulletin board: ATTENTION ALL JAMAICANS: MEETING TONIGHT TO FINALIZE PLANS FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTY. Have I mentioned that there is a themed party every single night in the crew bar/club? I have gone to Independence Day parties for countries whose independence I didn’t even know had been granted. It’s always a party on the Celebrity Infinity…

Yesterday we had a photo op with a child who was on board with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises donate cruises to these Make-A-Wish participants and give them an awesome week. Pretty great! He got to visit us during rehearsal and took a picture with the cast and the orchestra. And by all accounts, he seemed to enjoy Boogie Wonderland last night!

Speaking of Boogie Wonderland last night… Tonight, there was nothing I’d have rather done LESS than play round #2 of Boogie Wonderland at 10:45pm. It’s notoriously ill-attended as most of the passengers are out in Juneau until late, and playing to an empty house is no fun. My hands hurt, I was bone tired, and I just want to close my eyes and rest. I also had made up my mind that playing this show would NOT put me in a better mood. (How I came to this conclusion, considering that playing disco music is basically the definition of fun, I’m not quite sure. OBVIOUSLY it would make me feel better). And it did! I love playing that music – Rod Stewart, Elton John, The Village People, etc. The energy from the performers is awesome – last night, during the ‘freestyle’ section, the cast decided to each impersonate a different Olympic sport (you can only imagine…). Plus, I LOVE this cast. Performing with them on stage every night is such a blast, and we have a good time up there. Must remember next time that there is nothing more fun than playing awesome music with a bunch of people you like – no matter how tired you are.
In other news, some of the staff went on a beautiful hike in Skagway to Dewey Lake. The views are just incredible (see pictures). We hiked to a cliff and some people went swimming – in Alaska! I even got some ‘tanning’ time in today. I hope the weather holds out for the rest of my trip! ALSO – pretty positive we caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights late last night! It was terribly cold and freezing, but we braved it to see a really cool light show.

Infinity Life

Passenger Question of the Week: "If we don't want to take the elevator, are there stairs we can take?"

...IT HAPPENED, PEOPLE. And it takes everything in my power to answer with a straight face...BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE ARE SERIOUS. After the aforementioned incident, my muster station leader told me about a question he got once that rivals mine:
"Where's the elevator that takes us from the back of the ship to the front of the ship?"
...You can't make these things up. In all fairness, it IS a pretty long ship...

Yesterday I had YET ANOTHER safety training because we got a new Chief Safety Officer on board. It was relatively painless, and the new officer is lovely, but I'm almost half-way done with my contract and I'm still training! Safe to say I am READY in the event of an emergency. We have one passenger boat drill and one guest boat drill every week...why...?

The good news is that we had yesterday off, and I get tomorrow off as well because the only music event is a horns-only gig. I've been holing myself up in the ship's library studying for the GRE, which I take 48 hours after I get home. It's so hard to peel myself away from the gorgeous outdoor scenery, but I have math equations to solve! My work schedule is pretty sparse, but between the gym, studying, and practicing piano, I feel like I'm running out of time! Plus my family is coming on the cruise my last week (!) so I want to make sure I leave that week free for sight-seeing and enjoying!

Tomorrow, some of the entertainment staff is planning on taking a hike in Skagway (we've been SO lucky with the weather). If you are reading this blog, you know how hilarious it is that I am going on a hike. In Alaska. Expect a blog post if I survive...

The Last Frontier

Time to post about some particularly Alaskan things while in our first port of Ketchikan. Things I find unique about Alaska:

-Nobody seems to serve skim milk. ANYWHERE.
-Alaska is one of the most expensive places in the U.S. Everything has to travel quite a ways to get here, of course. There are also less options for consumers up here, so places can charge more. It's much more expensive than I was expecting (and where not even up that far North...Anchorage is far more expensive).
-Everything gets done on 'Alaskan time'...a much different pace than the one I'm used to in New York City.
-Glaciers are everywhere! Alaska is home to half of the world's glaciers.
-So much salmon. EVERYWHERE. As in...they have 'salmon bakes' up here, not clam bakes.
-They still serve New England Clam Chowder...hmmm...
-The Juneau Symphony is made up entirely of volunteers.
-Juneau is the only state capital with no road access (NO road access!).
-Alaska become part of the U.S. AFTER both my parents were born.
-Alaska has it's own holiday (Alaska Day! October 18th).
-Alaska can get up to 18 hours of daylight in the summer. Because of changes in the angle at which the sun hits the earth, the northern most part of Alaska is known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun." Down South, where we're traveling. The sun sets at about 10:30pm in the summer...not bad.

Have you always wanted to go to Alaska, or would you rather vacation on the beach?