Day 7 - Still At Sea

Well still at sea. The time changes aren't effecting me too much, but the amount of time at sea is nuts. I don't know how the explorers did it. Crossing that took about a month, yuck. This is the longest crossing I have ever done. Ususally you stop in Bermuda or someplace, but this time nothing. Only one more sea day till we get to Ireland. I think some of the crew is going to kiss the ground when they get off the ship.

The weather has gotten drimatilcally better. I haven't been outside much do to all the technical rehersals we are doing, but I hear it has been sunny the last few days.

We all got sweatshirst from the ship the other day. They are nice and lightweight, with the Jewel logo on them and they say Jewel Crew Europe 2007 on them. So something to remember the crossing with.

tonight we have a double magic act. the office sent us a magic act even though we already had one, so we put them on the same night, so the pax wouldn't say, I already say a magic act, I don't need to see another one. Should be a good show. One does comedy magic, and the other one "Slide" of Hand magic. It's actually Slight of hand, but the Cruise Compass spelled it wrong.

Day 3 - At Sea

Well I am now between shows for the night. Early shows tonight, because we loose another hour of sleep tonight.

Most of the day was taken up with Tango Rehearsals. We finished running thru the show with the cast. It was very interesting with all the ship movement. The stage staff had to do a lot of extra work to keep things from moving around on stage, or from falling in the pit.

Fixed a lot of light cues. Lot of changes with the new tango dancers from the last cast.

Well we weren't exactly sure if we were going to do the production show from the other night, but we set up the set anyway. We have done the first show, with minimal problems, and now have one more to go. The old cast is very exited. This is the last show they have on the Jewel. I have about 2 hours of programming to do after the show, to be ready for the tech in the morning, but shouldn't be too bad.

tomorrow we add the spots and costumes to the show. Should be interesting.

The captain changed direction and headed towards Bermuda, and it had defanitly calmed down. Interesting to hear that the port of Bermuda was closed due to wind, so the Navigator is stuck at sea also. Guess we would have been at sea even if we were scheduled to have an overnight in Bermuda.

Day 2 At Sea

Well we are now on Day 2 so 1st day at sea. Last night we had to tie everything down as we are heading into a storm. If you have heard about all the wind on the East coast, well we are getting it. As I write this, if I am not careful my chair will fly across the room. We have already canceled our first production show, or rather postponed till a later date. The weather is expected to last like this through tomorrow night.


Part 2

Well the night is finally over. Lets see, we indeed did not do our production show, we will try again tomorrow night, but I don't think so. The act that we did plays the piano so we had it center stage. The locking wheels are great to a point, and today we found out that point. We had to put a rope on each side of the piano and rope it off into the wings. Looked like someone was playing tug-o-war with the piano. A keyboard fell of it's stand and broke in the back lounge. I heard that the shops had to close because the liquor all fell to the floor two times. We had a passenger run into the wall when he got up out of his seat after the first show, and the ship listed and he went running. We are all beat, and now it's time to get some sleep and start things all over again in the morning.

Heading North???

yes you heard me correctly, we are heading North to Europe. Well actually we are heading north toward Canada, then turning Right and heading to Ireland. I expect that the weather while heading north shouldn't be too bad, but the crossing of the North Atlantic at this time of the year, could be unpredictable.

Our fill in cruise director left today, and trust me everyone is happy about that. he wasn't the nicest person to work with in the end. We are all so glad that we don't have to do his silly game show any more. We can all finally sit down after the show tonight and have a nice dinner. We usually like to go to the stakehouse, but they are closed tonight and the italian resturant is open. We haven't been able to go in so many weeks, that we don't care. Good food and wine, is all we ask for tonight.

Also today the new cast arrived. Didn't get much of a look at them yet, but I think I know one of them. Should be a very busy couple of weeks with all the cast change rehersals. Mario and Daniel are on board to do the install of tango and also thier own guest show. I can't wait till Tango opens. I got Mario, Daniel, and myself some very nice cigars to celebrate the opening. They like to do that sort of thing after celebrating. Daniel made an interesting comment to me today when we were talking. He said, "so are you ready to go to Vegas." Not too sure what he meant by that. Could be nothing, but I hope maybe it means something. I shall have to find out more. Stay tuned......

Cell Phones On ships

Warning to everyone that goes on a cruise. No matter what they tell you, don't use your cell phone on a ship. Unless you don't care how much your bill is. Yes almost all ships these days are equipped with cell towers, but, they cost you a fortune. Even if you don't answer a call you still get charged. When you get to the ship, turn it OFF!

I just have to laugh every time I see teenagers talking on their cell phones like they are at home. I would pay money to see the look on their parents face when they see the cell bills after vacation.

A new one, today I saw some kids talking with each other on their cell phones from across the theatre. If they only new that it was costing something like $5.00 a minute to talk to someone on the other side of the room. Good god, I think a 900 number might be cheaper.

Just some words of advice!

Now let me just also say this, it is a great thing to have when you really need it. Trust me I have made a few calls home on my phone. But short and too the point is teh name of the game. Turn it on make a call, and turn it off.

They shouldn't call it "Cellular at sea" they should call it, well you can make up your own name!!!!

Just a few weeks left

Well only a few weeks left in the Caribbean. On April 15th we will be heading off for Europe, We go straight to sea, and don't hit land till we get to Cork, Ireland.

If you want to follow along where I am you can alwaya look up the Jewel on www.cruisecal.com

We were in Cozumel again today. Seems like a trend to do posts on this day. I was glad to have a problem free tech run today of one of our production shows.

I recently upgraded the hog to the newest version of software, and the shows have been having lots of problems ever since. Now that I have most of these under control, now my hazers don't want to work. I had to pull one of the hazers out of the disco. Although it does a very nice job, it uses about 1000 times more fluid. With the MDG hazers I go through about a gallon every 3 months. I used about half a pint just tonight, with the Martin hazer.

With Europe coming, it means we will start doing 3 production shows. I guess I need to find some time to check all the cues for the Tango show. I want to be prepared.

Well that's about all for now. I did get some photo's of the Jeweel and Freedom together today, and will post them later.

Docking in Cozumel

Well work continues at a surprizingly fast past in cozumel. For the first time today two ships were able to be docked side by side at the international pier. Surpizingly we didn't look as small next to the Freedom of the Seas as we all thought. But man she is a big girl. You can defenitly tell that the locals don't want to have to rebuild the piers ever again.

Work continues as always. Replacing burn out, scrols are starting to ware out, so I have slowyly begun replacing them all. I hope my order arrives before we leave for Europe.

Speaking of Europe, we are all starting to get ancy to leave. April 15th can't come fast enough. Although that also means cast change time.

Welcome Home/Back

Well I arrived back on the Jewel today. It was nice to hear everyone say welcome home or welcome back to me. Makes you feel like your part of a big family when everyone remembers you after two months. Well I am in the middle of welcome aboard show, so I should make this breaf. More later.

Gearing to go back to sea

Well things are finally gearing up to go back to sea. I finally got my new flight details today. I will be flying back to the Jewel on Feb. 9th to Miami. Then joining the ship on the 10th in Ft. Lauderdale.

I am looking foward to spending sometime at my friend Brandon's for the Superbowl. Don't care too much about the game, but getting to see a good friend for a few days will be nice.

Then the last thing to do before leaving is the High End open house in San Fransisco. I am looking foward to seeing the DL2 for the first time.

I thing about sitting around doing nothing this vacation was finally discovering facebook and myspace. I have been able to reconnect with so many people. If you are on either of those web sites and I haven't found you yet. Just search for me or find me by looking in the cruise ship techs group.

New Year

Well the new year has come at last. I have been home for a number of weeks now. I had a great visit with my Dad, and a few days with my sister. It was so nice to have a white Christmas this year. I feel so bad for the people in Colorado, they are getting dumped on again, I don't think they want to see snow any time in the near future. No word from work on any training dates as of yet, but I still have a few weeks, and also no word yet on Liberty. I will be going back to work a week later then planed due to the Superbowl being in Miami. So I will be back to work on the 10th of February.

Home Stretch

Well tomorrow is my last day. I can't wait to be home. Although as soon as I get home, I turn around and get back on a plane to my fathers. My replacement is doing a great job. He will be a great asset to the Jewel. I am leaving things in good hands. It will be very interesting to see if the sound tech is still here when I get back. If he is still around it will be a miracle. I can't even begin to tell you how bad he can be at times. He has been running the shows for weeks now, and is still missing cues. It just sucks because at this time of the year it is dame near impossible to get someone out to replace him, and to boot the office is having a hard time finding techs.

Reminder to self, that I need to find a snow screen saver to send to the ship before Christmas!!!!!

Almost done

Well the first week of my handover is going great, it is almost to an end. Tonight's show is such a pain in the ass. The group is so unprepared. We thought we would be find, as we already had their show in the console, but when we came to rehearsal. We found out they were doing a completely different show. And to help make matters worse, they didn't even sing anything, it was only a sound check. I am so glad that my replacement knows what he is doing. Speaking of my replacement, is name is Andy, he is from Dublin, Ireland. Who knows we could be distant cousins.
We have had a great time, he is a hard worker, and we have gotten a lot of work done. We had one of the moving lights break just when he got here, It took us about 2 days to fix it. Not very much fun!

The End is in Site

Well tomorrow should be a very busy day. The day will start out with getting ready for Barbizon to visit the ship. That's a lighting vendor that we us the help us get things fixed. Then we have to sanitize the theatre, because too many people are getting sick. The big news is that my replacement gets on tomorrow. I hope he had a good time at martin training and learned a lot. I have heard that he had a lot of problems with hotels and the suck, so I am expecting him to be in a bad mood when he arrives, but at least he won't be jet lagged. He has been in the states for a week. I have two more weeks. I think most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have never done so much shopping. Some things should have already arrived at my fathers. I have nice big box of things to mail home from St. Thomas this coming week. Anything I can do to keep the luggage weight down. I found out that my friend Marie is working on the Freedom, so we are going to go to lunch my last Cozumel, should be nice to see her and ketch up on things.

Just another post

Ok boring title, so I couldn't come up with anything. Well Boston is in the past, we have finished repositioning to Florida, and Cast change is done. It was great seeing so many friends and family in Boston. I hope everyone enjoyed seeing the Jewel.

William has been transfered to the Freedom of the Seas, the world's Largest cruise ship. I have heard he is having fun, but it is a lot more work.

Christmas is coming fast, I am glad that I will be home. It will be a nice change to be home for the hollidays. Cigars anyone!!!

Still no word on Liberty takeout, hopefully I will hear something come December.

Halloween was a fun time onboard, although I dispise the holliday, we had fun. The haunted house was fun. I ejoyed putting up some nice patterns in the lounge that I purchased. I can't wait to bring my ipro back with me next contract. Now if I can only find a turkey screensaver for thanksgiving. If anyone has a good mac turkey screensaver send it my way.

Our Sound tech is now on vacation, so I am head sound and light tech. Our new sound tech is settling in. It is his first time on ships, I think he will be good, he just needs some time. This isn't rock and roll!

Well I guess the next time I post will be with news of Liberty or from Vacation.

One show down and almost gone

Well the new cast opened Tango last night. They have two other shows left to put in. Funny thing, by the time we get to Florida and the put in is over, so will Tango. All that work for just 3 nights of performances. Oh well. With all the techs, I think I can run the thing blindfolded and with no sound. Teching that show, without the singers on mic, and without the tango dancers and musicians it can get somewhat tricky to figure out where the cues go.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I haven't seen my best friend from High School in a number of years. I am taking a number of the techs from the ship with me to see the Boston University Theatre where he works. I think the guys will get a real kick out of seeing a real land theatre.

Small World

Who would ever have thought the two guys from the University of Idaho would unkowing meet and work on the same cruise ship in the same department. Dean you must be doing something right!!! I also hear that the Light Tech on the Mariner is also from UI. We must be taking over the world!

William Stafford (left-Stage Staff)
and
David Wetmore (right-light tech)
in Bar Harbor, Maine
with the Jewel of the Seas in the back.

Almost heading South

Well it has been a while since I last posted. Things have been busy with work lately, and being is so many US ports it had been great to get off the ship as much as possible. If you don't know I have been porting out of Boston for the past few weeks. It has been so nice to see so many people. My Father and Step mother were able to make a visit that was unexpected. My friends from Yale made the trip north, as did my Aunt and Uncle today. I have had so many visitors it has been great. So many people know what I do, but never get to see where I work. Others need to come sail with me for a while, you know who you are.

Things are getting cold in New England, although no where near as cold as my father and Sister said it was in the Inland Northwest today. Now that we are getting ready to head for warmer water, the leaves are finally starting to change. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to see them change before we left.

Some news that I might not have told people is that our new Stage Staff on the Jewel went to the University of Idaho. He has a degree in Mass Media, and Theatre. He started 2 years after I left and just graduated. He is great, we have so much in common, and its nice to talk about home with someone that is from the same part of the world. Although I really haven't lived much in the WA/ID area other than college, we still have a lot in common.

I might be coming home for the holidays, I have been told that I might be heading for vacation on Dec 16th, but I still haven't seen it on paper. I have a contract till the end of January, so we will see.

Our Rigger just got promoted to Production manager for a trial period, so he left today to join another one of our ships. Studio B will be interesting for him. He has never worked with ice before. I forgot to ask him if ever ice skated before he left, of well. We wished him all the best.

Well for those of you that actually read this blog, and have been bugging me to keep it updated, here you go.

The new cast just arrived today so many tech runs over the next few weeks to look foward too. I am exited that I have already worked with one of the Singer when I worked on the Oosterdam, small world.

Oh the joy of the North

Well I am not more than halfway to North America, Europe is behind us. I have crossed the Atlantic two times before, but this is the first North crossing. The weather has caused a few issues. We started off the cruise by having a guest singer get sick, and had to move our comedian up by a day. Then we had to cancel the second show of a guest singer, due to sea sickness. We luckily got a "spare" guest singer onboard, just in case the weather was too bad to not do our production show. So yesterday we rehearsed that show, just in case, then rehearsed our production show. The weather was on our side, so showtime went as planned. This has made today a pain in the butt. We start off with a matine of the "spare" singer. Then normal showtimes, then the showtime for the show we canceled the other day. So that means 4 showtimes today. yuck.

Canada tomorrow, sea day, Canada, sea day, BOSTON!!!!! I can't wait to be back in the States.

Last Europe Cruise

Well I am halfway through my last Baltic cruise before we head over to Boston for the fall foliage cruises. I can't wait. Yesterday we were in Copenhagen, Denmark. We had a visit from a few of the execs at Martin. I toured them around the ship, and they gave us a few goodies. The really liked what we do, and I enjoyed giving them some suggestions on how they could improve a few things, to make the tech's life a lot easier. We also had a Tech come over from England to fix our log fog system, interesting fella. He also looked at a few lights with me. I can't wait till I get my parts order so I can finally have my rig up to 100%.

Sitting here waiting for band setup, board as hell. I have been watching the new flyers, learn how to do their thing. I have a lot of floor lights to setup for tonight's show, and almost no time to program the changes that the Entertainer wants for tonight, plus the few special things I am adding, that he doesn't know about yet.

Settling in and looking forward

Well almost to the end of my second cruise, but I feel like I have been here for months. That tends to happen when you do long cruises. My first cruise was to the Norwegian fords, and the UK. I got to see a little bit, but being my first week. I had a lot of things to do other than getting off the ship.

Second cruise and the rest of my European Cruise will be to the Baltic. I have been able to get off in about half of the ports. I have been on duty or had to do maintenance , but I still have 2 more cruises before we head to America. Russia was very interesting. We do an overnight, so being able to get off the ship at night is great. The interesting part of Russia is that you have to go through immigration every time you get off the ship or come back the ship. It is kind of a pain, but as long as you have a bit of patience, it isn't that bad.

So after we finish Europe we will be heading to Boston. As most of you know that live in that part of the world, I have already contacted you about visiting. I am really looking forward to seeing you.

Although I just starting my current contract, it is never too soon to be thinking of what is next. I have come close to bringing out a new ship, when I worked on the Oosterdam I was the second tech ever. But installing things is something I have been looking forward to doing for years. I asked my office about doing the next newbuild for royal Caribbean. I got the first email yesterday that indicates that I will finally be going. I don't want to jinx anything, but things are looking very positive. I have been told by many supervisors and designer that they enjoy working with me and have told the powers that be. I think these comments have finally come full circle. I am looking forward to a lot of hard work.

More details to come.