Royal Caribbean guitarist YouTube star shows off his crew cabin

One of the most popular cruise crew on YouTube, Bryan James works on some of the biggest cruise ships in the world. He just finished four months on Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas, the cruise line’s newest ship.

James is a pub guitarist, which effectively means that although he is a member of the crew, he also receives a lot of passenger-like privileges. Can eat at the buffet or in the main dining room (although tipping is customary as crew members did not pay the same daily gratuity as passengers).

Related: Royal Caribbean Guitarist Shares Life Secrets With Crew Members

However, although he has a lot of freedom on board compared to many passengers, James lives in a crew cabin and can eat in the crew areas. It’s not uncommon for solo musicians to end up in the passenger cabins, but on the big ships James works on, there’s usually enough room for the crew.

He showed off his cabin on Odyssey of the Seas, a Quantum-class Royal Caribbean ship that’s huge, but not as big as Utopia of the Seas.

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Solo cabins are rare for crew

“I’m giving you a tour of the room I lived in for the past four months on Odyssey of the Seas. It’s a solo cabin and it’s my last day on the ship, so I’m going to show you what it’s all about before I pack everything up and get out of here,” he shared.

While solo musicians are allowed to not have a roommate, they often end up in rooms built for two.

“Now this is like one of the most common room styles you’ll find on a cruise ship, at least when it comes to Royal Caribbean ships… You’re always going to have two beds. It won’t necessarily fold. like that,” he added.

“You’ll have a desk area. You’ll have a closet and you’ll have a bathroom to my right,” he said.

Some newer Royal Caribbean ships offer solo rooms for multiple crew members, but they are smaller and have a shared bathroom. James has his own bathroom and admits how much better off he is than many of the crew.

“So yeah, two people have been living in this space right here for more than six, seven, eight months. It really depends on your contract. For me, I’m a musician. So my contracts are normally a little bit shorter, he shared. I’m very lucky to have all this space to myself.”

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Odyssey of the Seas is docked next to Oasis of the Seas.

Image source: Daniel Kline/Come Cruise With Me

James shows off his bathroom

“Okay let’s go into the bathroom, there is storage space for a lot of things and your sink. This is great because it’s ideal to have a sink in your bathroom. There are plenty of cruise ship cabins that have your sink in the room. like right next to your bed right next to your bed right here is a sink where you brush your teeth and do things,” he said.

Some individual cabins, as mentioned above, you have your own sink, but you share the shower and toilet with another crew member.

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“Those are called single pitch cabins so technically you have your own space, it’s just hilariously small,” he added.

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