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Mel Harvey's Choosin' Cruisin' as a Career
40 pages, A5, Softback
Published by Mel Harvey
Reviewed
by MagicWeek
"Choosin'
Cruisin' as a Career - A helpful guide to the ups and downs of cruising! PLUS
Advice on how to become a successful cruise ship entertainer and travel the
World at someone else's expense!"
Mel packs lots of tips gleaned from his experiences of cruising into this compact book which will be of great interest to anyone contemplating working on cruise ships. The first chapter on Transfers offers tips on getting through customs with ease, and a few essential "do's and don'ts".
Chapter two It's Not About Your Show read more like "Choosin' Schmoozin' as a Career" as opposed to "Choosin' Cruisin'" - with far too much emphasis on, well, schmoozing with the passengers.
Putting on a Show offers some good advise on putting on a show... what to perform, music etc.
The Comments Sheet and "CLP's" explains how acts are rated, but then goes on to focus on schmoozing again. Mel is working on some of the finest ships in the world, but they are also small, with only 250 passengers or so. The larger ships that also use magicians have thousands of passengers, so all the advise on mixing with the passengers doesn't really apply so much.
Getting the Gig has some solid advise on getting the gig!
Getting Ready to Go again offers some solid advise.
The book continues with Spin Offs, (I guess this is where all that schmoozing pays off!) Onboard Publicity, Children's Shows at Sea, Flotsam and Jetsam, and more. 40 pages, 7 photos, including one of Mel when he was 3 years old!
All in all well worth reading, with a number of funny lines thrown in for good measure.
©
Duncan Trillo, October 2006
£9.99 (including postage in the UK only) To order a copy direct from Mel Harvey email mel@melharvey.com for details