Cruise lines and their agencies book comics for whole shows, not short spots: a family-friendly show and an adult one, each long enough to fill the room’s slot, with enough different material that a guest who sees you twice hears something new. Build both to the lengths the buyers publish, test them in different rooms, and count the minutes that hold.
Where you are, the tests for the next stop, and the steps between, in the order most comics take them. The
steps are the Career Field Manual's; mark each one as you go, and the day goes in your passport.
You’re here if…
Act for the travel market: building the shows
You feature or headline in clubs, and a full set holds a paying room.
You have more material than one set, and some of it is clean enough for a family audience.
You’ve read what cruise lines and agencies ask for, and found they want whole shows at lengths of their own.
You can see yourself away from home for days at a time, playing for the same guests more than once.
These are the tests the cruise buyers set in their own published rules before they’ll watch an audition. Tick each one when it’s true for you.
0 of 5 true
The playbook
15 steps in 4 parts, from the Career Field Manual. Each has its “done when”, a D.O.C. tool for it, and
your status, note and target date; star up to twelve for your 90-day plan.
Know the audiences and the rules
From the Career Field Manual: Choose your starting point and Explore specialty markets. In the D.O.C. book:
topics 1–20, 435–455, 132–142 and 143–173.
01
Choose your starting point · start-04
Identify three kinds of audiences you want to test
Done when Three audience descriptions, not follower counts.
Habits, not a timetable: the atlas has no stopwatch. Keep these going, and the proof for this stop builds
up week by week.
Run a long setWhere a room gives you the time, do the full show, not your strongest twenty.
Alternate the showsDo the clean show one night and the adult show the next, and log which minutes held in each.
Fill one gapWrite or rework one piece for whichever show is shorter.
Play a different crowdTake one set in front of an audience unlike your usual one: older, younger, mixed or from out of town.
Keep the material apartMark each bit clean, adult or both, so the two shows don’t trade the same jokes.
Re-read one buyer’s pageCheck one line’s or agency’s own page for its current lengths and content rules.
What buyers check
In their own words
Each buyer's published rule, quoted from its own page, checked on 10 November 2026. They differ, so send each one
what its page asks for, and read the page again before you send.
A cruise agency’s published criteria
Warshaw Entertainment
An original family-friendly show and an adult (18+) show, each 30–55 minutes, from comics with experience in clubs, ships, resorts, casinos and colleges. Comics are typically away three to seven days at a time.
You must have an original family friendly and an adult (18+) show, each 30-55 minutes in length.
We're looking for professional comedians with experience in land based comedy clubs, cruise ships, resorts, casinos and colleges.
Comedians are typically away for three to seven days at a time.
Ninety minutes of different material: a 30-minute family-friendly show and two 30-minute adult shows, for a gig of five performances that include repeats.
Experienced comic with a minimum of 90 total minutes of different material.
30 minutes of clean content (Family Friendly Show)
Each gig consists of 5 performances which include repeats.
Places that publish how a cruise comic gets in, each checked on 10 November 2026. Save one to your booking
desk to keep its status, a follow-up date and a note. 62 places in all, on the Career Atlas →
Published routeCarnival Cruise Line ships · Cruise line · Through an agent
Carnival Entertainment, comedians
Guest entertainers come to it through an agent. For comics: 90 minutes of different material (a 30-minute family-friendly show and two 30-minute adult shows), credits and bio as a PDF, a headshot, and two videos of show work, one PG and one adult. A gig is five performances, repeats included.
Worth knowing. It asks agents who aren’t yet set up with it to contact its guest entertainer team: without an agent, start with one.
Published routeRoyal Caribbean ships · Cruise line · Profile
Royal Caribbean, Headliner Entertainment
Its Headliner Entertainment careers list a Comedians position: professional comics who can work a comedy club or a theater setup, with at least an hour of varied material, clean and adult. Apply online by creating a profile on its site.
Worth knowing. Its list of positions loads with the page’s script. You must be 18 or older to be hired.
Published routeInternational · Cruise market · Form
Lime Entertainment, comics
Comics with 90+ minutes of clean material and the range for very different audiences: send videos of your stand-up through its application.
Worth knowing. Its FAQ says that where a line’s arrangement calls for it, it takes a commission from the salary on board: read its terms before you sign.
None of the buyers on this page publishes what it pays a comic, so this page gives no figure. At this stop the spending is yours: the stage time, the tape and the trips to the rooms where you test.
Know before you audition
The lengths each buyer asks for, in its own words, with the date you read them
Whether it wants a clean show, an adult show or both
How many shows a run holds, and whether guests may see you twice
Whether it books comics directly or through an agent
What filming a long set costs you: the room, the camera and the trip
Fill in what you know once: it fills every note below and stays on this device. Anything left blank shows in
[brackets], to fill in by hand.
Your details
The two-show sheet
[Your name]: two shows
Family-friendly show: [Your clean show, in minutes] minutes, tested at [Where the clean show was tested]
Adult show (18+): [Your adult show, in minutes] minutes, tested at [Where the adult show was tested]
Bits in both shows: [Bits in both shows, if any]
Longest set done in one night: [Your longest set in one night, in minutes] minutes
Latest tape: [Your clip's link]
Asking a room for a longer set
Subject: A longer set at [The club]?
Hi [The booker's name],
I'm [Your name], a stand-up from [Your home town]. I'm building a [The set length you want to test, in minutes]-minute clean show and would like to test it in front of a real audience.
If you have a night where a longer set would help the show, I'd be glad to do it. A recent set: [Your clip's link]
Thank you,
[Your name]
Asking to film the long set
Hi [The booker's name],
May I film my set on [The show date] for an audition reel? One camera at the back, nothing in the way of the room, and I'll send you a copy. If the room has a recording policy, I'll follow it.
Thank you,
[Your name]
The two-line cruise bio
[Your name] is a stand-up comedian from [Your home town] with a family-friendly show and an adult show. Credits, as they are: [Your credits, as they are]. Clips: [Your SUCDb record or website]
Your proof
Proof for your passport
Tick each piece when you have it: the day goes in your passport with it. The passport keeps your whole
career's record on this device, to download, print and review once a year.
The evidence
This stop is done when you have
Your status
Several sets that adapt
On your record
Nothing yet: your status changes and ticks appear here, each with its day.
The buyers' rules are quoted from each buyer's own page, checked on 10 November 2026. A buyer can change its rules at
any time, so read its page before you send anything.
The D.O.C. bookThe playbook's book topics, matched to the book's contents on 10 November 2026.
About this roadmap
By D.O.C. Editorial. This is one stop of the Stand-Up Career Atlas: cruises & travel,
stop 1 of 5. It's a way to plan, not a promise of bookings: it gives no expected years, its only figures are
the ones buyers and venues publish on their own pages, and the buyers' rules are theirs. For what cruise and casino work asks of a comic, read
How do comedians get casino and cruise ship gigs?.
