At Sea

April 10-12
At sea

The 10th was supposed to be a stop at Isle of Pines, another beach island, but due to high winds and our need to tender, the port was cancelled and we simply left for Sydney. The remaining two sea days were as usual.
I’ll take this time, however, to fill you in on the situation on the ship. The Musical Director (MD) signs off on the 13th and needs to be replaced. The original plan was to have the Pianist fill in, but after a few weeks of doing the assistant MD work, the pianist opted out leaving one cruise to find a solution to the problem. I was asked about the opportunity and expressed interest, which was passed on to the head office in Miami. The new drummer who just came on the ship this cruise actually has years of MD experience but considers himself retired from the position…this info was also passed to the Miami. The verdict is that the drummer was supposed to become MD regardless of his preference and I was to assist. However, in speaking with the current MD and the replacement, it was turning out that I was going to end up doing all the work, which originally sounded great, till I found out that I wasn’t getting any extra money or privileges. Regardless, I did the training and learned what the job entails, even acted as MD for the first couple days of the next cruise (April 13th and 14th), meaning I scheduled all the bands, ran rehearsals, dealt with emails and notifications, everything. But seeing as I was doing everything without being MD and had no authority to back me up while the MD was being left in the dark, we decided the situation just couldn’t persist in such a way. I sent out a strongly worded email to the office about my demands to do the job properly and my concerns about my treatment and how this effects all the music on the ship. Long story short, we worked it out where I’ll be the AMD, file timecards (busy work) and direct the band, things that the actual MD doesn’t need to do. Meanwhile, the actual MD gets hit with all the heavy office work I’d been doing – I’m just going to have to bring him up to speed with everything I’d already done (6 full days of schedules by day 2) and teach the experienced band leader how the system works…right. Am I getting more money now...not quite. Due to the previous guy backing out last minute and having been paid for almost nothing, the office is reluctant to hand out any more money. What I do get though is the experience of directing the band, free internet access because of my timecard work, and two stellar reviews from the replacement MD and the cruise director, my division head. This should mean I get employed as an MD on another ship, or at least as an AMD, which either way, is a step in the right direction. So that’s the deal, I will be leading the band and I’ll be introduced as the musical director, but I won’t actually have the responsibility and busy work just yet.
That’s the abridged version though, this has been a situation almost 2 weeks in the making. Email me with questions if you have them, otherwise thanks for reading and stay tuned as I make the crossing! Thanks