A lot of musicians who have worked on land in the past, playing in 9 piece orchestras for strict tempo dancing, or in show bands now find that cruise ships are the ideal place to consistently find work and get paid enough to save for their retirement. It's an unbeatable proposition for most. Most bands on ships include brass sections and saxophones, a keyboard player, drums and bass guitar.
If you are proficient pianist with a good knowledge of popular standards, there is a cocktail pianist on pretty much every ship. They enjoy being left to do their job entertaining solo in a relaxed atmosphere. A lot of the job is a social one. Being well liked is almost as important as the ability to play. Some ships also employ a harpist who also plays solo in a relaxed atmosphere, perhaps trading sets with a cocktail pianist.
If you are more of a singer/solo entertainer who likes to play electronic keyboards along with a lively electronic accompaniment including a drum machine and electronic strings etc. and you know a lot of popular standards, there are a lot of ships who like solo pub entertainers or solo nightclub entertainers. These entertainers often work later hours and are paid slightly more, but more energy is required.
Caribbean and other nightclub bands are still found on most ships. They play every evening, usually backed up by a DJ. Contracts are usually 6 months or so and the job can be fun when lively crowds are in the night club. Good bands enjoy something of a hero worship but they need to know a lot of songs to avoid repetition and also different genres to please different and sometimes older crowds.
The other alternative is to become an act in your own right. I've seen acts who play alpine horns, a collection of bells, a vibraphone, as well as more conventional acts like violinists and trumpet players, and multi instrumentalists who play all different instruments. If you do something a bit different you find an opening as ships tend to be over saturated by the same acts. That said, being an act is all about ratings. Although there are numerous pianists and singers traveling between ships doing similar acts, the good ones get more work than anyone as ratings inspire cruise directors to invite them back. Acts generally earn in the region of $2000 per week for just 2 shows so successful acts can make a lot of money.
