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The Buddha-Dharma spoke of right livelihood, a very basic yet often overlooked truth of the good life.  This one aspect of “the path” simply urges us as seeing beings to make an attempt to awaken to a livelihood which encourages harmony, honesty, insight, and openness.  In the increasingly pessimistic, overly pragmatic, and often dogmatic reality so many people on this planet have adopted as of late, a job that truly fosters the above ideals can seem like a dream, unattainable for a person living within ordinary reality.  I am here to present a job, a livelihood, and a life that is entirely non-ordinary, fully attainable, and offers the chance to see the world. I am a player of the trombone, perhaps the world’s most misunderstood, humorously represented, and oddly mysterious instruments ever invented.  It is also perfectly in the range of the human voice, found in all of the best funk, blues, reggae, and jazz bands of the world and looks pretty cool too.  At the age of twenty-one, I found myself dropped out of music school in New York City and not entirely sure what direction to take as the player of the odd ball instrument.  Like most every other young trombonist I knew at the time, I was working in jazz clubs for rarely more than $20 per night, living the forever fabled existence of the “starving artist,” which was steadily appearing less romantic as each day rolled on.  It was then I chose to embark on a search that eventually brought me to a life at sea as the resident trombonist on board what has turned out to be seven different cruise liners in the span of seven years.  During that time, there were many periods when I found myself playing in clubs, again on land, making attempt after attempt to keep things on the upswing, but always I ended up back on the water, feeling more at home than ever.

Christopher Robin Cox began playing trombone professionally at the age of 16 in the artistically fertile region of the San Francisco Bay area.  Many of his often Beatnik high school and college professors urged him to further his writings upon noticing his almost constant journalizing.  In the years since, he has furthered both his musical and writing talents.  He is playing in the orchestra on board the M/S Splendour Of The Seas and working on his first novel, "Slide Ride." ... Additional Resources Living Overseas  Unique Lifestyles  International Jobs Marketplace  Moving & Living Overseas Expatriate Search Tools EscapeArtist.com Homepage  Cruiseline Jobs  Cruiseline Adventures  Contact Christopher Robin Cox  .

It is safe to say that I have perhaps the best job one can have on board a ship.  The hours I work vary considerably from ship to ship and depend greatly upon the itineraries of the different voyages, but I can truthfully say that I rarely work more than two to three hours per night, with at least one night off every week in most cases.  My days are filled with free time and my nights are spent playing the horn I love with an orchestra manned by extraordinarily talented musicians from across the globe.  The orchestra I am currently a member of is made up of players from Canada, Romania, Poland, the United States and England.  This and the simple fact that I am traveling the world doing what I love more than anything else, playing trombone, makes for a truly non-ordinary experience.

Experience is a word that can certainly be applied when writing about life at sea.  As any sailor, or quasi-sailor like myself would say, the goings-on aboard a ship at sea are enough to occupy thousands of pages in a wonderfully entertaining book, filled with colorful stories, all one of a kind.  When I take a minute to contemplate the many perspective altering events I have witnessed on-board ships, there is one which strongly comes to mind.
 

In the summer of 2001, I was working for Norwegian Cruise Lines on board the Norwegian Sky, doing seven day cruises from Seattle up to Alaska,  down to Victoria, B.C., and back.   This particular day will forever be tattooed into the folds of my mind.  It was an uncharacteristically calm day on the waters of the Queen Charlotte Sound, which I soon found out is when the most unexpected events often occur.  For most of that day I was lounging in my top bunk, thinking and reflecting on the past few months, as I was due to sign-off of the Sky the following day in Seattle.  (There is an almost eerie calm that comes over a person when he or she is merely a day away from signing-off of a ship they have been on for a long period of time.)  The world of land, with it’s coffee houses, jazz clubs, newspapers, television and all of the other things that we sailors only get in very small quantities, usually for only one day at a time, was about to become a reality for the first time in several months, and I wanted to spend the day creatively visualizing it.

Just when I lit up a Dunhill cigarette and was taking my first sumptuous drag, the ship began to list heavily to the port side.  It was a fairly heavy list, but did not feel like much more than a course correction, which is very common in that region of the Pacific.  The ship did in fact correct itself from that position, swiftly rolling back to a level course heading.  Feeling at ease, I went back to dragging upon my Dunhill and my creative visions when it all started over again, only this time it was much faster and at a significantly stronger angle.  She was listing to the port so much I felt I needed to get out of my bunk while I still had a chance.
 

Climbing uphill down out of my bunk, I ashed the fag and stumbled for the door, hoping to run into somebody in the corridor who could tell me what was going on.  Instead, what I saw were several of my fellow crew members scrambling about trying to find the same information I was in search of, which did not settle the butterflies raging in my belly at that moment.  So, I did what came naturally and went up to an above water deck to see for myself what was happening.  Finding myself up on deck six, I ran into Bob Carey, the oldest and most experienced member of the orchestra, sitting in Churchill’s Cigar Bar with his trumpet in its bag at his side and a large Cuban hanging from his mouth.  Upon walking up to him, I heard a series of crashing noises from behind me and looked over to see all of the bottles and glasses from the bar sliding to the floor.  In his usual relaxed manner, Bob looked at me and said, “here’s something for your book young man.”

While he was saying that, the ship sharply and quite forcefully, righted itself once again as everything took a dive to the other side.  This would end up being the final time the she righted herself.  Everything was suddenly back on track and soon came the announcement from the bridge and the shouts and hollers from various passengers and crew who had hit the deck with what turned out to only be minor injuries.  As Bob and I casually began heading back to our cabin, we witnessed the stretcher, fire, safety, and security teams bouncing about the deck taking care of people, while the Captain did his best to explain the problem; the auto pilot system had gone off line and sent the ship into a 180 degree turn, causing the ship to list to a dangerous level.  When a 90,000 ton ship makes a turn like that in the space of only a few minutes, it can seem like the Earth has fallen off its’ axis.
 

Until this very moment, that was the only experience I have had aboard a cruise liner that I can honestly say scared me enough to make me wonder if we were going down.  But, the crew on board the Sky and most every crew I have been a part of in this industry are well trained and ready to act under the pressure of something as sudden as what happened that day on the Sky.  There have been other experiences worthy of note, ones which were quite intriguing, but in no way frightening.  In the Aegean Sea, on board the Splendour Of The Seas, we spotted a small fishing vessel, packed with several hundred Albanian refugees trying to get into Italy.  Eventually one of the other ships, with more berth space picked them up.  They must have really wanted to come aboard our ship, considering they threw back all of the water and food we sent down once they found out there was no room for them on our vessel.

September 11th, 2001, was certainly a memorable day.  Being one of only 30 Americans on board the Splendour at that time, and docked in Piraeus, Greece (the closest port city to Athens), was certainly a surreal experience.  For several weeks the only crew members allowed off of the ship in Piraeus were those who were from countries of the European Union, which was a sore spot in the spirit of many of the crew, including myself.  Kusadasi, Turkey, was another port of call, which was cancelled for two weeks after the infamous date.  We were later allowed to dock there, as it is well known that particular area of Turkey is heavily guarded and is the location of many American and British Navel bases.  This small list of experiences is just a limited glimpse into what a life at sea may encompass, but there is more.

Domestically, life at sea on board a cruise liner is like no other.   (For the sake of simplicity, I will address the following information as it pertains to the ship I am currently working aboard, the Splendour Of The Seas.) The cabin in which I sleep, write, meditate and listen to music could only be described as microscopic in its dimensions.  There are two bunk beds, the top of which I sleep in and my roommate, the second of maybe only five Americans on board, sleeps on the bottom.  Two closets, measuring about 6’x3’ and four small drawers are what we have to store the clothes that we bring for a stay that is usually at least six months.  We have a desk, a small coffee table and one end table that can be shifted around, usually in an attempt to create a bit more space in desperate situations.  If you are truly lucky, you may get a cabin with a port hole, but in most cases, it turns into the likes of an underground cavern once the lights are turned down.  There is a television set on which, depending upon the area of the world the ship is traveling, sometimes gets one international news station, often Animal Planet or Discovery Channel, and a host of different movies which are played by the video programmers on board the ship.

Considering the size of the cabins, they are generally laid out in quite a useful and organized manner.  The bathroom is an entirely different story.  The shower is barely large enough to bathe in without becoming quite intimate with its curtain.   The sink, toilet and medicine cabinet are so close together that one could effectively accomplish most of the immediate morning activities simultaneously.  (The forever running joke about the bathrooms on board cruise ships comes in the form of the nick name “sh_t, shower and shave.”)  Overall, the beds are comfortable, the amenities are well kept, and the rent is free, with the exception of paying one’s cabin steward every few weeks.  There is also one large area of the ship, usually in the forward section found on deck one or two where the crew lounges, messes, and Internet cafes are located.

The three messes, the rooms where the entire crew eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are separated by rank within the ship's organization.  The staff mess is designated for musicians, the cast of the various shows, stage crew, audio visual staff, photographers, child counselors and the casino department.  The officers mess is self explanatory, consisting of all of those who wear stripes on their uniforms.  The crew mess caters to all those whom work in the deck and engine departments, the cleaners, waiters and waitresses, bar tenders, cabin attendants and various kitchen personnel.  There are two day rooms, one for officers and staff, the other for crew, each one containing a few computers for email communications, as well as a television, and usually a small library of books.  The area where the staff and officers socialize in the evening, is called the “the staff and officers bar,” and the crew has its own bar and lounge as well.  This is the place we can partake in beer and wine.  Liquor is not served here on the Splendour  in crew areas, but this rule is different on various other ships I have worked on in the past for other companies.
 

There are a plethora of rules and regulations that all crew members, staff and officers must follow during the time we are at sea, sometimes creating a feeling of being in some kind of surreal form of the Navy.  Often when a crew member is cited for breaking a certain rule, he or she is given a “written warning,” which, after three, can result in dismissal from the company.  Getting fired from a passenger vessel is a bad trip nobody in their right mind would want to embark upon. This usually happens with little more than a day or two of notice.  The crew member is dropped-off at the pier in whatever country the ship may currently be in.  He or she is left with only the money from the current pay check in-pocket and is given a ride to the nearest airport, where one is required to pay out of pocket for the flight home.  With every great job in the world, there is always a rub.  In the cruise ship industry, the rules and regulations most often do the rubbing, but it is nothing compared to working 9am-5pm in some stuffy office where you see nothing but the wall in front of your eyes.  Out here, you see the water passing by, the clearest sunsets imaginable and your home is constantly on the move, as are the perspectives which come along with it.

Finding work on board a cruise liner can be, to put it mildly, a very tiring search if one is not prepared for what lies ahead.  Before this search is taken on, it is important that one knows what he or she is truly interested in doing on-board a ship.  The amount of positions on-board a passenger ship is massive in number.  For myself, it was quite easy to do the research, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  This will most likely not be the case for someone who does not already own the skills necessary to claim work in the trades, like carpentry, mechanics, engineering, video production or computer systems.  For instance, somebody who has experience working in a hotel may be qualified for several different positions in the hotel department on-board a ship.  Someone who has banking, accounting, payroll or extensive reception experience may be qualified for several different positions in the purser’s department.  Perhaps the most effective way to obtain work on-board a cruise ship is the oldest method known, word of mouth.  This is how I found my first position, as well as hundreds of other crew members I have met over the years.  For those many people who have not had the opportunity to meet someone who has already been at sea, here are two web site addresses which shall be extremely helpful in obtaining some very important and basic information.

www.cruiselinejob.com - This web site offers a booklet that can be purchased for $30 containing a comprehensive list of just about every employment agency in the business, as well as specific information on individual cruise lines.  Depending upon the area of the world a person is from and the type of work he or she may be interested in, an agency might be the only true way to become employed.

www.cruiseadventure.com - For those of us who often find $30 hard to come up with at any given moment and would prefer to do our own research, this web site is truly a gem.  It contains a very extensive list of almost every ship in the cruise industry, complete with its itinerary and facts about the ship itself.  Often, the itineraries are a bit out of date, but this can still be very helpful in figuring out where in the world various ships travel.  This site also contains a wealth of information on jobs available on certain ships and in the industry in general.  It would be a great place to start a search, as it is linked with other sites as well. 

Dancers, musicians and the like are best served by local talent agencies in the area they are from and, once again, by word of mouth.  Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to provide the phone numbers and email addresses used for contacting the agents that book talent for the various companies, but these are numbers which can be found with minimal research.  I wish the readers of this article much luck in finding what they are looking for on the world’s oceans and would welcome reader feedback.  I can be contacted via email at leobixby@earthlink.net 
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