The Crossing

Well, here we are, halfway across the Atlantic.  Nothing in sight but water and sky for miles.  This actually doesn't bother me, and I've cruised from San Diego to Hawaii with my family before, so being at sea for days is nothing new to me.

It sure has been a busy cruise so far though.  With something going on during virtually every moment of every day in Studio B, we have been working much harder than usual.  I am still spending every possible moment doing lighting work in hopes that when the usual Studio B Production Manager comes back, I will be ready to get an interview set up.

It's weird not knowing when this contract will end.  If I go by my original projected sign-off date, I'll be leaving at the end of January.  However I did request to extend until the end of February and therefore it could be a month longer if that request was actually processed.  Then there's the possibility that I get and pass my lighting tech interview during the month of December and they need to transfer me to another ship and extend my contract a bit more.  So right now I don't even know if I'm halfway through or not.

Only time will tell, I'm sure I'll have at least some really good news in the coming weeks.

Finally getting to do some lighting work

After a frustrating year of trying to find a light tech willing to help me out with my lighting promotion (aside from Eric on Serenade), my time has finally come.  The new Light tech (and Head Sound & Light tech) in the La Scala theatre, Tennessee, has been very helpful to me as well as Thomas, a stage staff who is quite skilled in sound.  Last night, I fully programmed and operated lights for a headliner show for the first time and Thomas ran sound.  Both shows went quite smoothly aside from the house lights malfunctioning during both shows (not due to any error on my part).  It was great to be given an opportunity to show that I actually can do what I've been saying I can.  I've been told I am welcome to do any repairs that are needed as well... so that will allow me to demonstrate the other half of light tech skill requirements: maintenance.

Since Rey was promoted, he was to be transferred to the Vision of the Seas, so he left on Sunday.  Unfortunately, due to a visa problem, he ended up having to go home (for now) instead of to his new ship.  We didn't get a replacement stage staff for him and it appears we may not get one for a while (possibly .  Thomas transferred from Studio B to the theatre when another SS departed and we got one replacement SS in Studio B, Hine.  So for now Hine and I are the only Stage Staff in Studio B.  It'll be a little more work but really the only big pain is that the duty rotation will be every other week instead of every three weeks.

Just over 2 weeks left until the crossing.  I have seen the tentative schedule for the crossing to Galveston and there will be a LOT of activities going on in Studio B.  We will be very busy.  Somewhat dreading the 6 sea day stretch when we will not be seeing any land at all.

Transferring again??? ...or not

At the beginning of the month my Production Manager called me up to her office to talk to her.  In my experience, this is never a good sign; good news is usually delivered over the phone.  She said that shoreside had decided to transfer me to Adventure of the Seas, departing Voyager on Oct. 10.  It's amazing how everything can change so quickly with this job.  One minute you're thinking about future events on the ship and (in my case) working towards promotion on this ship.  The next minute, all of that is washed away when you're informed you're being transferred.  I dreaded the thought of packing up and moving again, not to mention the overweight luggage charge which would surely apply since I have acquired a few extra items since joining Voyager (especially my 19" LCD TV).  However, a few days later we received notification that I would be staying here on Voyager instead... was that ever a relief.

Our new stage staff, Thomas, arrived Oct. 3.  He's a new hire but is a very quick learner so there has not had to be any extra duty week(s) taken on by myself or Rey-- a nice surprise after coming off of 3 busy weeks.  Also, Rey was interviewed for the Lounge Technician position and passed the interview.  I'm very happy for him, he has worked very hard to earn that promotion.  So far he has not been assigned a lounge tech position but I'm sure that news will come soon.  Our PM, Marie, has just departed for vacation a couple of days ago, but when she comes back I am hoping that she will be able to arrange a light tech interview for me.  Just have to work at getting lighting hours in during the coming 7 weeks that she will be away so that I have some evidence of being ready for the interview when she returns.

Semi-charter cruise

A new experience for me this week:  we have a large group of approximately 700 people from the Netherlands on board this cruise.  They have booked Studio B for a few shows during the week, for which they have brought their own talent and technical team.  We are currently short one stage staff in Studio B until tomorrow.  Not sure why but it's got to be a scheduling glitch of some kind that made it impossible to bring the replacement stage staff on in Barcelona on Sunday.  Anyway, that means that myself and Rey (the other Studio B stage staff) are taking care of these events on our own without a 3rd person.  Since we just came off of ice cast install, this is now a 3rd busy week for us.  It's actually been kind of nice not being bored so much lately.  Also, it's keeping me from getting off the ship in port and spending money that I shouldn't be spending.

The Studio B Production Manager (Marie) here is great but unfortunately she leaves soon and at this point nobody seems to know who will replace her while she is away on vacation.  Hopefully we will get some news on that soon.  It would be unfortunate for her if she has to stay here longer due to not having a replacement available.  When she returns from vacation I will be following up on my progress toward light tech... she has said that as long as I demonstrate my knowledge over the next couple of months she would be willing to submit the paperwork which would (hopefully) result an interview.

Voyager Cast Install

Wow, nearly a month since my last post.  I guess that would be because not much has happened.  My family and some friends visited me on the ship a couple of weeks ago.  That was a lot of fun but also very exhausting doing my usual workload everyday plus shore excursions in most ports.  I found myself going to sleep at about 1am and waking up at 7:45 am for the next day's excursion almost everyday.

Ice cast install started on Sunday.  Haven't really had a chance to meet the new cast but I'm sure that will happen sometime this week.  I luckily managed to avoid being "on duty" this week and next which means I will miss most of the work involved with ice cast install (ice makes every couple of hours since they are constantly tearing it up).  Just a few tech rehearsals next week as they get ready to put on their first show for an audience.

2 weeks ago I purchased a TIM USB 3G Internet stick for my laptop.  It has turned out to be a great purchase because my ship ports in Italy 3x a week (TIM only operates in Italy for the most part).  Cost of about €63 to purchase and activate the card, which included 40 hours free for the first month.  Pay as you go cost of €9 per month which is also 40 hours.  Most Italy days I can be found in Studio B surfing the internet on my laptop now.  Speed is decent, with Livorno being the fastest (presumably due to having a lower population density than Naples and Civitavecchia, therefore fewer people using the service).

Getting a new roommate today.  I like to clear out of the cabin for a few hours to give the guy a chance to unpack without being in the way all the time.  So I guess I'll meet him later.

Settled in on Voyager

Now that it's been more than a week since I arrived, I am back into the normal routine of Studio B.  Sure it may be a different show than on Explorer, but everything else is largely the same.  The production team here has been great so far, and hopefully I will be able to continue working towards the light tech position.  An interesting part of working on Voyager of the Seas is that it has some weird quirks about it.  Since it was the first of its kind and as such contained many new innovations in cruising, there were of course some lessons that were learned after building Voyager which were used to improve on future builds.  This means that there are some aspects to Voyager of the Seas which do not match any other Voyager-class ship.  Those differences are among the very few things I've had to learn since I signed-on.

My family and some friends are cruising with me next week.  That should be a lot of fun and the first time such an occasion has happened for me while working at sea.

Adventure to Voyager

I’m currently at a bar at St. Maarten airport, awaiting my 4pm flight to Paris, where I will connect on another flight to Barcelona, Spain.  It’s nice to have a brief break away from a ship and still get paid for it.  I’ll be arriving in Barcelona at approximately 10:00am tomorrow and I really hope I will be able to check-in right away because I don’t have a history of sleeping on planes.  Luckily I did manage to score myself an emergency exit row seat which is very helpful for me at 6’4” tall.
My last 5 days on Serenade were great as there was an overlap in scheduling my replacement and therefore we had an extra stage staff for 5 days, and that extra was me.  Being the extra meant that I was not scheduled for many duties and with that kind of free time I was able to run lights during shows for 4 days straight.  Since I didn’t get to run lights even once on Explorer in my 6 months, this was a nice opportunity for me.