My New Position

I'm now getting settled into my new job here on Voyager of the Seas as a Light Technician.  All the paperwork is done, and I've also received my next contract offer.  Leaving Voyager on Feb. 27 and coming back to the same ship (no surprises there) on May 1.  It will be awesome to spend nearly 5 months sailing out of Venice, Italy.  In fact, every port on the itinerary should be great.  I'll have to try really hard not to spend all of my money in port next contract haha.

Now that I'm a light tech instead of stage staff, my duties have changed and responsibilities have increased considerably.  My two main venues are Studio B (the ice rink), and the Royal Promenade (AKA the mall, the street, and whatever else guests call it the first time they see it).  For the technically inclined, below is a list of fixtures in those venues (which I am responsible for repairs, maintenance, changing lamps, etc.)

Studio B

Ice Odyssey ice show

• 18 Lightwave Studio Color 575s
• 12 Martin MAC 500s
• 12 Lightwave Cyberlight SVs (half of which are to be replaced by MAC 700s which we already have onboard but cannot use until the show is redesigned for them in Feb.)
• 12 Martin MAC 250 washes
• 4 Martin MAC 250 entours
• about 10 data flash strobes
• 8 "9-lites" with scrollers (AKA the biggest pain in my life right now), to be replaced by Elation LED ELAR216s (also in Feb.)
• 100 or so source 4s (combination of pars and ERS)
• dimming for conventionals accomplished by about 280 ETC Sensor Dimmers in 3 racks
• 1 DF-50 Diffusion Hazer

 all driven by a Wholehog 2 console... unfortunately (it's a really old system).

I'm also responsible for Royal Promenade lighting:

The Royal Promenade on Country Western night

• 12 Martin MAC 600s
• 12 Martin MAC 250 Entours
• 4 Martin MAC 500s
• 4 Martin MAC 250 washes
• 8 Chauvet Colorado1 LED wash lights
• about 20 Source 4 ERS and PARs
• 1 rack of ETC sensor dimmers
• 3 DF-50 Diffusion Hazers

all driven by a computer running Hog 2 PC (on loan from shoreside, the Hog2 for this venue is not working)

and the Vault Nightclub:

The Vault

• 12 Martin Mania SCX700
• 4 Martin Mania SCX500
• 8 Martin Smart MAC

Controlled by Martin LightJockey


That's 112 moving fixtures that I am responsible for, plus a bunch of other lights and associated equipment which also require maintenance.  It's a job that never ends, but I'm glad that I'll be coming back to this ship because it means I get to benefit from all of the work I'm doing right now when I come back.  Many of these fixtures have been left for more than a year without proper maintenance and therefore I have created a new maintenance schedule for my Production Manager both to track my own maintenance work and to ensure that my replacement (for my 2 month vacation) takes on a couple of maintenance tasks as well so that I do not come back to a totally broken ship (lighting-wise).

Now, off to go work on the Vault so that I can hopefully get it back to what it looks like in the photo above... it certainly doesn't look that way right now haha.

Surprise! You're a light tech.

These past few weeks have been quite eventful.  First, we had 2 very successful cruises over Christmas and New Year's, with especially high praise regarding the new year's eve festivities.  All of us on the "black shirt" (production) team worked like crazy (I was up until 5am on new year's eve programming the lighting for that evening).  We filled 2 25' balloon drops, 2 50' balloon drops, and installed rigging for a mirror ball drop in the "occulus" skylight above the promenade, with another 500 or so balloons placed around it.  The countdown was quite spectacular and I was impressed that everything went off without a single glitch that evening.  Some people had their doubts but we pulled it off and everyone loved it.  I will try to post a few photos soon.

On another note, I had some interesting news on Saturday night.  The Studio B lighting technician resigned from the company at about 9pm that evening, to depart the ship the following day in Galveston.  I had a brief meeting with the 2 production managers, who informed me that I would be officially placed in the position on a temporary basis until I after I had my interview.  From that point I had a few hours to gain whatever additional knowledge I would need from the departing light tech in order to take on the position, and that was that.  The next day (Sunday), I was no longer a stage staff.  It has been great to be able to finally take on the position that I have been training and waiting so long for.  It was all truly worth it, and I am quite a bit happier with my job now.  Since then I have been doing my best to assess the maintenance needs of Studio B and the Royal Promenade and I believe I have everything sorted out now, so I can continue to tackle maintenance projects over the coming week.

Today I had my interview with Amy and Paul from shoreside.  It was somewhat brief, I think they asked me about 5 questions pertaining entirely to my experience in lighting fixtures and control, both on and off the ship (but mostly on).  They have said to expect an official answer either tomorrow or early next week as of course this is an unusual situation I am in on Voyager right now, and obviously they would want to make sure a qualified person is filling the position.  If the decision is made to promote me, I think it is quite likely that I will be simply converted to a permanent light tech (instead of temp) and kept on this ship until the end of my contract.  Conveniently, the last day of my contract is the exact same day as the previous light tech's sign-off date, so I think this will all work out quite smoothly.  Certainly much easier than moving to another ship for my last 2 months of this contract.

I moved into my new single cabin yesterday (exactly the same layout as my old one but with the bunk beds ripped out and replaced with a double bed).  It feels good to be doing what I've been training for years to do.  I also have to admit that there are parts about being a stage staff that I won't miss if I get the permanent light tech job.

Update Jan.7:

Just got the news that I passed the interview have been accepted for the position. :)