Entertaining On The High Seas
Cruise Entertainer Tia Thompson
Richmond Hill is fast becoming a destination and home sought by many unique people from all over the United States. Not that the native locals aren’t interesting enough, but with new faces moving into the community on a daily basis, there are bound to be some interesting people with exciting lifestyles and entertaining careers.
Have you been on a cruise ship? If you have, we’re sure you have sat down to enjoy the nightly entertainment. We’re sure it has even crossed your mind as to where the people who work and entertain on the boat live. Do they live the life of carnival acts or circus performers, or do they enjoy lavish accommodations and what seems to be a never ending beautiful day accented by a Caribbean sunset?
The answers vary, but one of the most well known Carnival Cruises entertainers lives right here in Richmond Hill.
Upon arriving at Tia Thompson’s house on a Tuesday evening, it is apparent that I, unlike her luggage, is on time. The note on the door reads…Delta Airlines please leave my baggage here at the front door. Thank you.
“That’s something you get used to in this business,” says Thompson of her tardy luggage. “When you fly in and out every week for 20 years you are bound to have luggage late, and or lost.”
It might not be so bad, but Thompson is flying out the next day to get on another boat for another weekend of entertaining. She has plenty of clothes she can pack if her luggage doesn’t arrive, but one of the most crucial parts of her performance is in her bags that have still yet to arrive…her music she performs.
“I’ll figure it out,” says the happy-go-lucky Tia.
Check…check…one-two, one-two. Tia doesn’t sweat the small stuff, and since she and her parents moved to Richmond Hill three years ago, her lifestyle has become parallel to the lifestyle of a Caribbean islander.
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Tia and her parents began searching for their place of retirement. Because of Tia’s job on cruise ships, Mr. and Mrs. T (her parents) first considered Miami as their place of retirement. However, a chance visit to Savannah would change all that, and the Thompson’s quickly grew fond of the Richmond Hill area.
“I fell in love with the area on my first visit,” said Tia. “So, here we are.”
So how does one get started in the cruise ship entertaining business? “I just got lucky…I guess,” says Tia.
Well, a little luck is always needed along the way to establishing a career in the entertainment industry, but Tia was also very talented and musically inclined at a very early age. Dancing around the house with a makeshift wooden spoon for a microphone, Tia would sing songs of her favorite influences. Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight and Bette Middler were among those she enjoyed emulating at home with her parents as her audience. “I always knew I was going to be an entertainer of some sort,” said Tia. “I just didn’t know it would be on a cruise ship.”
Prior to being hired by Carnival Cruiselines, she attended and graduated from Norfolk State University. She was playing with bands and singing on the side when she decided to teach music at an elementary school in Norfolk. She enjoyed teaching, but she knew her calling was in the entertainment business, so she just started looking at various jobs in the music and entertainment business.
Soon thereafter, Tia found herself on a cruise ship performing for the entertainment hiring committee. It was all or nothing. She had to put together an act, on her own, and hope that the group liked her. “You have to have your own music,” says Tia. “I had to get what you call “charts” done, and then give your music to the musicians there. They rehearse it once, then you perform with them, and if they like you, well…then here I am talking about it 20 years later.”
Between her weekly cruises, Tia can be found helping out with her parent’s business, Mrs. T’s Baked Goods. Known for their tasty treats and baked goodies, Tia awaits each customer with a warm welcome from behind the counter at their bakery on Edsel Drive. “I try to do my part, so they can rest,” says Tia of her retired parents. “I obviously enjoy interacting with people in my entertainment career, and it is no different when I am working in the bakery. I just love to chat with people.”
Chat she can, but singing to hundreds on a cruise ship is what she was born to do.
With no end in sight, her entertaining career has already transcended two decades and thousands of cruises - from the Bahamas to as far away as Europe. “I think I’ll be doing this until they throw me off stage,” says Tia.
Judging by her outgoing personality and quick-whitted humor, we’d have to agree that they’ll have to throw her off the stage if she is to ever stop entertaining.
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