Life Aboard: International Theater Jargon

Here on the Golden Princess, we’re in the middle of a show install for a new production show. Head office sent out a lighting tech a month in advance, to get the plot rehung and get all the additions and changes squared away. A couple weeks ago another lighting tech got on, to do some reprogramming and some video set-up. That makes three lighting techs on board, and we’re from three different nationalities. We’re Canadian, English and American. And we speak three different languages.

We’re all experienced lighting technicians, but every day we work together, we find some differences in how we do things. Things are done differently in different theaters on the same block, so it’s no surprise that things are done different across international borders. The biggest difference is language.

There are the inevitable pronunciation differences from the three countries, which we all acknowledge, and constantly make fun of each other for. Then there are the turns of phrase and the idioms unique to each country. These are fun to adopt. Then there are the completely indecipherable differences. They make work difficult.

A good example is when the British lighting tech found out (as if it were a big secret) that the correct way to say the word mauve is with the same vowel sound as in caught. He pronounces it mOv, like stove. Wrong.

That was a high point of contention, until we got to soldering. Then he had bigger battles to fight.

It’s been a cross-cultural learning experience. And not just in the theater.

Life Aboard: The Food

The food here is not as spectacular as one might imagine. Yeah, everyone goes on a cruise ship to eat. But you don’t work on a cruise ship to eat.

There is always a variety of food available (24 hours a day). There are the unhealthy options of cheeseburgers and fries, pizza and dessert, but there are always healthy options too. Your diet depends on what you choose.

The average passenger will gain 1-2 pounds per day of the cruise.

The thing to avoid with the food is excess. The plates they make available are twice as big as normal plates. The buffet line stretches on and on. The dessert server encourages you to take another piece of pie. The mess has entrees and buffets available.

But once you step back and realize that the food’s not going away, and you’ll see the same menu or layout in two weeks time, it’s easy to eat manageable portions.

There are a variety of dining options for the crew on board. The complicated part is remembering when you’re allowed to go to which. The crew mess is always open, the staff mess is sometimes open, the officer’s mess is occasionally open, with service at certain times. The passenger buffet is open all the time, but it’s only available at certain specific hours during sea days, and different specific hours during port days. Or not at all when it’s busy. The pizza place is usually open, except on certain port or sea days. Same with the hamburger grill. The panini shop is always not available, except to contractors on the crew, who have passenger privileges. The steakhouse and trattoria are available through reservation. And I still haven’t learned when the sushi bar is open or available.

Life Aboard: Plowing through Time Zones

Our home port is Los Angeles, then we head to the Hawaiian islands for four days. The Hawaiian islands are 3 hours different from LA, at this time of year, since they don’t change their clocks for daylight savings time. There’s a one-hour difference off the coast of California, as we enter Alaska Daylight Time. There are no time zones between Alaska Daylight and Hawaiian Standard. So we make them up.

In the four-day voyage between California and Hawaii, we change the clocks one hour every other day. Going to Hawaii, we get one more hour of sleep every other day.

Coming back, we lose one.

It’s a gauntlet of long days whose nights actually do get shorter. It’s not just our imagination.

Life Aboard: Work

Who knew working on cruise ships is super busy? Well, if I had stopped to think about it, they have to get the most out of their crew, since they don't want people just taking up space. The vessel is foreign-flagged, so American Unions have nothing to do with the ship. There are no strict rules about who can do which tasks. Everyone lends a hand and does whatever needs doing.

I pulled a 12 hour day today, and a 15 hour day yesterday. Tomorrow I get to sleep in until 9am, and we're not going through a time zone so we don't lose an hour. That's almost too easy.

I had an 8-hour work day a few days in a row, when I was able to get off and see a bit of Hawaii. That felt like a day off. Until I counted my hours and realized I worked a full day.

We count our hours here to make sure no one is overworked (minimum 10 hours of rest in any 24 hour period, minimum of a 6-hour continuous break every 24 hours). If not for that, I think the days would run by in a blurry haze. Now I can keep track of the hours ticking by.

I enjoy being busy, but I especially enjoy working on a project. Luckily, I've found myself in the middle of an install, which is a huge overarching project for the next couple of months. That gives shipboard projects a nice context, as I do maintenance, program smaller shows and remount a show from last season.

Work work work.

Live Aboard: A Day at Sea

Days of the week don’t matter on board a cruise ship. There are only work days. We work 7 days a week. The distinguishing factor between days is whether it’s a port day or a sea day. On port days, the destination goes a long way toward entertaining passengers. On sea days, it’s all on us.

My usual day starts with a lecture around 9 in the morning. There are enrichment lectures about many topics relating to our destinations (i.e. piracy) and port talks, going over the highlights of each destination. There’s also a naturalist onboard, from the park service.

After that, there’s always maintenance to do, but we’re concentrating on remounting a show that’s been in storage for 6 months, then we’ll load in another new show. In the middle of those long-term processes we have guest entertainers who come on and need their shows programmed. Lately, we’ve been having rehearsals onstage from 11am to 3pm.

Then it’s a movie, which a member of the crew takes care of, which means I can’t do maintenance work and don’t have to be in the theater. That’s a nice forced break.

After that, it’s time to set up for the evening’s entertainment, with last minute changes or fixes. I set up any additional lights onstage and check the rig. Then it’s preshow and house open, and off to dinner or change, or both, depending on how much time is left before show call.

There are usually two shows at night, with about an hour break between them. That’s the alternative dinner break, since nothing can be done, either onstage or programming notes, since the house remains open.

After the show, we strike the setup. Then it’s either programming for the next day’s acts, or bed time. My day usually ends around 11:30pm if there’s no late night programming to be done. If there is, a night can end anywhere from midnight to 4am.

Life Aboard: Getting on the Internet

The internet here onboard is via satellite communications. This is slow, unreliable and expensive. It’s odd going back to a culture not linked in to the internet. Remember the 1990s? No one carries cell phones, we all have pagers (and use them!), Wikipedia is not at hand to answer questions, and email is checked about as often as postal mail is on land.

Life Aboard: Uniforms

We are required to wear our uniform every day, as you would expect of a ship’s crew. However, for the production department, our uniform only applies to daytime duties. We are not allowed to wear our uniform at night, which is when we happen to be working the most (since our shows are at night). Instead of our uniform (company-issued black polos and khaki pants), we’re required to wear our own clothes, according to the dress code of the day. That means either smart casual or formal.

Never did I imagine it, but I have become quite good at setting up and striking lights for production shows in heels and a dress.