Well the last cruise of the season has started, and we are very much on our way to Dry Dock soon. We finish this cruise and head to Freeport, Bahamas on April 29th. We then arrive back in Florida to pick up Guests on May 6th and head to Europe.
We finally recived our Genie Super Straddle. This is a device used to elevate a Genie Lift over seating. This enabled us to be able to get our new Mac 700 lights installed and move some of them to the missing light positions. So now every light in the theatre is working.
But still so much to do before I can get a good nights sleep without having to think about work, and maybe have time to go out for a beer or two.
In a few days we will take the last 2 lights down for our Centrum upgrade project. We also recieved the rest of the new lights that will be going along the elevators. More new toys!!!!
I am totally finished with the Seconday Lounge [Safari] and every light works, has a scroller, and is addressed correctly. The only thing left is to blow out the dust.
More updates in a couple of days. Now if only the Thin Mints from Mother would arrive!!!!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Thursday, April 07, 2011
So Little Time, So much to Say
Wow, I know I have been very bad at not updating this Blog, but I just looked and I haven't posted anything since I arrived. Just goes to show how busy I have been.
First of all updating from the last blog, yes the lights did come back from Martin, no they did not all work. I wasn't too happy that I had to fix one of the lights myself, all said and done it was about 6 hours of work, but I digress.
Currently I have everything onstage working, all new lamps (well a month ago). Dimmer belts changed in some lights, shutters in others. I have rotated out four of the profile lights with the two units that had gone for repair and then repairs of my own. I still have 2 broken units, but I am not worried about them as I have 2 other units that will be taking there place soon.
Above the orchestra pit in the area we call the Black Zone, my front lights that are used as specials mainly I only have 3 out of 4 units, but soon I will be replacing all 4 of these with newer model lights. Two of the units will then take the place of the missing 2 side specials that have been missing for a very long time. The last unit will then have to be repaired; the poor light needs a tilt motor so bad.
We tried to put up my new lights (I have had them ready to go for so long) but we don't have enough pieces for our scaffolding to reach them, and it is a very dangerous spot to use our Genie Lift at. We have ordered what is called a Super straddle for our genie lift. This allows us to put the genie over the top of the seats. It's going to make our lives so much easier.
I now have both of the lights that are above the sound console fixed and reinstalled. The shows look so much better with them working.
I think that is about it for the theatre, as for the rest of the ship things are looking good, well except for the disco.
The Centrum is in good shape at the moment. All the lights along the elevators are working, except the missing lights on deck 11 that no one notices are missing. I'm not putting those back up because we are getting new lights in Dry Dock anyway. Most of the elevator lights are being replaced, all but 2 decks. Three decks will get new Martin Smart Macs, and 2 decks will get Martin Mac 101 (LED) moving lights.
We are currently replacing all of the lights over the Centrum stairs and above the band will Smart Macs. It's a slow process.
Step 1 - Take down the old non working light and the ceiling mounting plate.
Step 2 - Take the plate to the repairman to have the new Smart Mac mounting system welded on. These are supposed to be bolted to the wall or ceiling but that's impossible, so we are welding them to the old plates. The repairman also has to remove the parts from the pates that held up the old light.
Step 3 - After the welding and grinding we have to take the plates to the Bosun to be painted.
Step 4 - Find time to remount the plate in the Centrum then hang the new light. The new lights hang so much easier.
Step 5 - Power and address the fixtures.
Currently we are done with step 4 for 1 out of 6 lights, 3 lights are done with step 3 and step 4 in a couple of days. The last 2 lights will be done right before Dry Dock as the old lights are still working.
None of the lights can go to step 5 till all 6 are done with the first 4 steps and the programmer comes on.
When all is said and done in Dry Dock and we have 12 new Smart Macs and 4 Mac 101, it's going to look amazing.
The secondary lounge at the back of the ship (Safari Club) has all new LED strip lights over the stage. I finished installing them last week, and programmed them into the lighting computer. They still aren't programmed into any cues so the lounge tech as to manually set them, but that's alright.
I have repaired all the broken lights in the crew bar and also the kids disco.
Some of the things going on in the upcoming dry dock.
The Safari Club and the Theatre are both getting new digital sound consoles, and if they arrive in time, the whole ship is getting new wireless microphones.
For Lighting, in the theatre we are getting all new LED lights to go around the edge of the Proscenium. That will look great. No other new toys other then my new Mac 700's that I have had for a while. I talked about them earlier.
We are going to replace all the gel in the strip and cyc lights, and in all of the side light CXI scrollers. I hope to get the supplies for these tomorrow so I can start before Dry Dock.
The new LED's on the pool deck (installed before I arrived) will be getting wireless DMX control installed.
In the disco, I have many repairs to be done on the Mac 250's and some on the wizards. We used to have a set of Martin 918's around the outside of the disco, but they all needed so much repair, and being that they have been discontinued for so long, it just wasn't cost effective to fix. I have 6 new Mania SCX 700's coming to replace them. The total cost of these units is probrobly less then it would have cost to fix 2 of the old lights.
Well I think the next time I will update this will be after Dry Dock.
I want to say Happy Birthday to my niece Izze, she turned 2 last week, and my nephew Korban turned 3 a few weeks ago.
Big hugs and kisses to both of them, and also to there new little brother's and sister's, Beetze, and Sha Sha. Uncle David misses all of you very much.
First of all updating from the last blog, yes the lights did come back from Martin, no they did not all work. I wasn't too happy that I had to fix one of the lights myself, all said and done it was about 6 hours of work, but I digress.
Currently I have everything onstage working, all new lamps (well a month ago). Dimmer belts changed in some lights, shutters in others. I have rotated out four of the profile lights with the two units that had gone for repair and then repairs of my own. I still have 2 broken units, but I am not worried about them as I have 2 other units that will be taking there place soon.
Above the orchestra pit in the area we call the Black Zone, my front lights that are used as specials mainly I only have 3 out of 4 units, but soon I will be replacing all 4 of these with newer model lights. Two of the units will then take the place of the missing 2 side specials that have been missing for a very long time. The last unit will then have to be repaired; the poor light needs a tilt motor so bad.
We tried to put up my new lights (I have had them ready to go for so long) but we don't have enough pieces for our scaffolding to reach them, and it is a very dangerous spot to use our Genie Lift at. We have ordered what is called a Super straddle for our genie lift. This allows us to put the genie over the top of the seats. It's going to make our lives so much easier.
I now have both of the lights that are above the sound console fixed and reinstalled. The shows look so much better with them working.
I think that is about it for the theatre, as for the rest of the ship things are looking good, well except for the disco.
The Centrum is in good shape at the moment. All the lights along the elevators are working, except the missing lights on deck 11 that no one notices are missing. I'm not putting those back up because we are getting new lights in Dry Dock anyway. Most of the elevator lights are being replaced, all but 2 decks. Three decks will get new Martin Smart Macs, and 2 decks will get Martin Mac 101 (LED) moving lights.
We are currently replacing all of the lights over the Centrum stairs and above the band will Smart Macs. It's a slow process.
Step 1 - Take down the old non working light and the ceiling mounting plate.
Step 2 - Take the plate to the repairman to have the new Smart Mac mounting system welded on. These are supposed to be bolted to the wall or ceiling but that's impossible, so we are welding them to the old plates. The repairman also has to remove the parts from the pates that held up the old light.
Step 3 - After the welding and grinding we have to take the plates to the Bosun to be painted.
Step 4 - Find time to remount the plate in the Centrum then hang the new light. The new lights hang so much easier.
Step 5 - Power and address the fixtures.
Currently we are done with step 4 for 1 out of 6 lights, 3 lights are done with step 3 and step 4 in a couple of days. The last 2 lights will be done right before Dry Dock as the old lights are still working.
None of the lights can go to step 5 till all 6 are done with the first 4 steps and the programmer comes on.
When all is said and done in Dry Dock and we have 12 new Smart Macs and 4 Mac 101, it's going to look amazing.
The secondary lounge at the back of the ship (Safari Club) has all new LED strip lights over the stage. I finished installing them last week, and programmed them into the lighting computer. They still aren't programmed into any cues so the lounge tech as to manually set them, but that's alright.
I have repaired all the broken lights in the crew bar and also the kids disco.
Some of the things going on in the upcoming dry dock.
The Safari Club and the Theatre are both getting new digital sound consoles, and if they arrive in time, the whole ship is getting new wireless microphones.
For Lighting, in the theatre we are getting all new LED lights to go around the edge of the Proscenium. That will look great. No other new toys other then my new Mac 700's that I have had for a while. I talked about them earlier.
We are going to replace all the gel in the strip and cyc lights, and in all of the side light CXI scrollers. I hope to get the supplies for these tomorrow so I can start before Dry Dock.
The new LED's on the pool deck (installed before I arrived) will be getting wireless DMX control installed.
In the disco, I have many repairs to be done on the Mac 250's and some on the wizards. We used to have a set of Martin 918's around the outside of the disco, but they all needed so much repair, and being that they have been discontinued for so long, it just wasn't cost effective to fix. I have 6 new Mania SCX 700's coming to replace them. The total cost of these units is probrobly less then it would have cost to fix 2 of the old lights.
Well I think the next time I will update this will be after Dry Dock.
I want to say Happy Birthday to my niece Izze, she turned 2 last week, and my nephew Korban turned 3 a few weeks ago.
Big hugs and kisses to both of them, and also to there new little brother's and sister's, Beetze, and Sha Sha. Uncle David misses all of you very much.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Like Riding a Bike
Well I am now back on my old ship the Jewel of the Seas. It's like riding a bike, not very much has changed. The main thing is so many lights are having problems. The lights have not been taken very good care of in the last two years. I have already fixed so many things I am starting to loose track, and we are in cast change and handover. It means we have been working very long days. It will be great next cruise when I can have the stage a lot to just work on things, and not have to work such long hours.
The ship has four lights out for repair at Martin and I hope those come next week, it will make the shows look so much better.
I still have to check the rest of the ship, I have been so busy that I haven't even been out of the theater yet.
I have so much to do to get ready for Dry Dock in April. Then we cross to England.
Well we might be having a blackout test soon so I have to cut this short in case I have to turn the computer off.
More later.
The ship has four lights out for repair at Martin and I hope those come next week, it will make the shows look so much better.
I still have to check the rest of the ship, I have been so busy that I haven't even been out of the theater yet.
I have so much to do to get ready for Dry Dock in April. Then we cross to England.
Well we might be having a blackout test soon so I have to cut this short in case I have to turn the computer off.
More later.
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