A few days ago (April 9th) we loaded out the 8th Annual Kid Rock Cruise, putting the cap on Sixthman's Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 cruise season. We completed 10 cruises this season, sailing out of both Miami and Tampa, Florida on the Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Jade respectively.

311 playing a set on the pool deck during the 311 Caribbean Cruise 2017.

The end of cruise season is always a little bittersweet for me. I'm excited that the stress of it is over, but I instantly miss all of my insanely talented and inspiring friends onboard and can't wait to do it all over again. These music festival charters are a pretty unique way of touring and you can grow close to complete strangers in a very short period of time. We had quite a few new people join our crew this year from various parts of the country, and while some of them I never got the chance to interact with, most of them have become friends that I'll definitely keep in touch with until we pack up to do it all again.

Another part I hate about the end of cruise season is the waiting to find out if I'm even coming back for another year. This was my 9th cruise season with the company. I began working at Sixthman in September 2008 and spent my first 4.5 years working full-time, and the last 4+ years as a contracted employee. All this means is that I'm not guaranteed to come back and won't find out until later in the summer. Quite the nail-biter.

I've got some good gigs lined up for April & June. May is a little sparse and I'm looking to fill July as well. At some point I may have to cave in and go full-time somewhere again, but I'm still loving the flexibility of freelancing while my daughter is still young. I get to spend a crazy amount of time with her and I can't really put a price on that. I'll probably regret all of this when she's in high school hating my guts, but for now it's pretty nifty. That's the word I'll go with. Nifty.

Sixthman Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 Cruises