‘I work on a cruise ship – here’s what it’s really like behind the scenes’

A cruise ship musician gave a behind-the-scenes peak into boat life.
In 2016, now-33-year-old Jack Nolan quit his full-time job to work as a musician on a cruise ship. Now, eight years later, the Exeter-born man believes it was one of the best decisions he ever made.
“Not many jobs will let you see so many countries and experience so much culture,” he told SWNS.
After going to school and working in plumbing shops for a few years, Nolan said he was feeling burned out and wanted to make a change in his career.
“I was living for the weekend [and] still often worked Saturdays, too,” he told SWNS.
He recalls receiving a call from a friend in 2016 asking if he knew anyone who could play the guitar to join a band.
“I told him I’d love to do it and from there, we recorded a promo video [and] sent it to agents and landed our first gig on a ferry in 2016,” he said.
After the initial gig, Nolan said the band received their first contract for a cruise, which sparked his travelling journey.
“I was so excited. The ships went to places like the Caribbean — and I had never been,” he told SWNS.
Today, Nolan works as a musician aboard the Virgin Voyages cruise line.
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He told Fox News Digital that the current pay each month “doesn’t sound like a huge amount, when you add in rent, bills, [and] food tax-free, it certainly becomes a great way to save cash.” He makes about $4,000 a month.
As a cruise ship employee, he gets to live on the cruise ship and performs at night, which allows him to explore new travel spots during the day when the boat docks.