[jwasbury]

You can leave the cruise ship experience off the resume and say you were taking time off travelling if you think it may hurt you...

I personally don't see how it would. As someone who does some hiring, I understand that the economy is bad. I'd rather see that you were working for the last 6 months (even if its not exactly an "on-topic" job), and not just looking for work. It shows that you're hungry and not willing to stagnate.

The 6 month commitment part means you may miss some opportunities, but you seem to think that in your field those opportunities are in NY and LA and you are in FL at the moment.

I have a musician friend who has done the cruise ship thing (played in a jazz ensemble). It was a pretty nice gig, he had no expenses, room and board was taken care of.