​Have you cruised in the past?  In a recent post I mentioned a digital 3-D globe that maps all of your cruises!  I wanted to share more about it with you, because it’s absolutely FREE!  You also get a lot of interesting statistics, such as how many total nautical miles you’ve sailed, how many days you’ve cruised, how many cruises you’ve done and on how many ships.
 
If – when! – you start working on cruise ships, you can…

​Ahoy there!  Sorry, no blog post this week.  I’ve been in tech all week – say no more!
 
Designing lights for a local community theatre’s production of “Frozen Kids” – I know, that sounds really weird!
 
I’ll be back next week!

​​The first known use of the term "Slop Chest" was back around 1840.  A slop chest used to be an actual chest, from where naval officers could purchase clothes, personal items, and so on.  Nowadays it generically refers to a store of merchandise you can purchase on board ship.  Although, there do still exist specific slop chests for seafarers.  
 
Well this week’s blog post is simply…

My recent 4-day Discovery Cruise on the Carnival Firenze went from Long Beach to Catalina Island to Ensenada and back to Long Beach. 

Now, anyone who’s ever lived or visited Southern California knows that it takes about a 1 hour ferry ride to Catalina Island, and to drive from Long Beach to Ensenada takes about 3 ½ hours. 

So, what took us so long?!

​All work and no play makes Jackie a dull techie! 
 
As well as checking out all of the venues on a cruise ship and meeting with the theatre technicians to learn what they do, there’s plenty of other things to spend your cruise time on. 

​Each ship differs of course, but here’s what was on the Firenze…

​Being an Italian themed ship, the main theatre naturally had an Italian name; Teatro Rosso.  Upon further investigation, it would seem that the Rosso Theatre (Teatro Rosso) is named after the legendary Rosso Hotel in the center of Florence, Italy, which is known for its distinctive red and grey color scheme. 
 
But enough history of its name’s origin, today the Teatro Rosso is filled with state-of-the art theatre equipment, as are all major cruise ship theatres.  Again, the question I get asked the most

Every large cruise ship has a main theatre (stay tuned for the next post) and several smaller venues.  The Tuscan Lounge is such a venue.  Small venues like the Tuscan Lounge are primarily used for musical groups, comedy acts, smaller game shows, bingo, and so on.
 
Again, despite its small stage size and even though the events are simpler than a full stage show, and therefore easier to run, it also has state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment.  So as a technician, you must still know how to run the more sophisticated equipment. 

Next post:  Teatro Rosso
 
Please Like and Comment – I’d love to hear if you’ve had any experiences with theatres and venues on cruise ships (as a technician or audience member)!
 
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​One of the primary performance venues on any cruise ship – other than the main theatre – is the Lido Deck. 
 
In Italian, “lido” means “beach”.  Its roots are from the word “litus”, which means shore or seaside.  Later the word “lido” came to also mean outdoor pools.   So, the “Lido Deck” is the deck on a ship where the main pool is located. (Thus endeth your English lesson for the day.). And often times, there is also an outdoor stage and movie screen at one end of the pool. Consider it the amphitheater of the cruise ship.
 
The Firenze was no different.  This was the stage where a multitude of events took place, including ice carving, towel folding demonstrations, some game shows, the silent disco, movies, and so on.
 
All of which require sound, and lighting (mostly during the darker hours).  I never could find where the control boards were, but…

​Ahoy there!
 
I’ve just disembarked from a cruise on the Carnival Firenze.  I have lots to share in the upcoming posts, but I wasn’t able to chat with any of the technicians aboard as – disappointingly - Carnival doesn’t allow that.  (For that reason Carnival is not one of the cruise lines I recommend taking a Discovery Cruise on!). But, I can at least take you of a tour of some of the venues aboard the ship in the upcoming posts. 
 
Let’s start in the Limelight Lounge.  Above is a photo of a theatre tech I was able to chat with briefly. I’m afraid I didn’t get his name – and I would have loved to be able to chat with him more, but I caught him just before the show started - but he very kindly agreed to pose for this photo! 
 
The Limelight Lounge is primarily used for comedy shows and other smaller events.  Nonetheless, it does have a state-of-the art lighting and sound system.  I’m not sure what the sound board was, but being a lighting designer I had to check out the lightboard (of course!) which was a grandMA (didn’t catch which model).  Despite being a small venue the lighting instruments were all LEDs and several movers.
 
If you’re interested in working in a theatre on a cruise ship and are wondering what experience you need…