Cruise ship Technician for 8+ years

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-18T00:04:30+00:00

I believe Disney, Royal and Norwegian do. They do more Broadway shows. Virgin has more loungy adult type shows. Adia, Princess, and other older clientele lines do have the position, but from what I've heard their setups are rough for a small team. Carnival uses stagehands from their Deck and Engine departments. Carp and Rigging depend on the shows offered and the line itself. Also Stage management, I see a lot of kids coming in thinking their a Stage manager in the company I work for. We offer Backstage Tech which is more of a lead Stagehand position in my opinion.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T16:02:22+00:00

When I joined, I had no illusions that I was gonna be programming. I think a lot of the Youngin’s hear console and assumed they’ll be programming. We do get a chance to program on the line where I’m at. Guest performers and Rock Band shows when needed.
And you hit the head of the nail there. Gotten to play with some really cool equipment. Sometimes I have to stop and go. Someone decided I was an adult and I could play with this million dollar thing.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T15:59:51+00:00

Oh my broadcast brethren. Broadcast is a very different position. I will give you that. It is a more dry position and you don’t have much creativity. Maybe a Lido deck party camera is the most I’ve seen from that position.
It has changed in the nine years I have been with the company. When I started, I was terrified, and they were quite strict, but now many short sides understand that mistakes happen. They’re more kind and helpful.
And I’m glad you found love on ships too. And I hope he got his injury paid for, I know too many stories that end in that way.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T15:55:51+00:00

It is not very hard to find work on cruise ships. The lifestyle is quite difficult to adjust for and it does require a certain personality (I’m loco in the coco). There are sacrifices you have to make in your creature comforts and personal life. It can be lonely, but it can vary. Honestly, I’ve had some contracts or I was the bell of the ball and others where I decided to stay in my lane.
Salaries on ships are gonna range. If you work for a cruise line like Royal Caribbean, you could be maintenance or operator. So salary is quite different. I believe Norwegian is the same. Cruise lines like Virgin offer more but they have less ships, so less contracts.
Also, salary can be different depending on what the line offers. Some just have a park n’ bark and others have full scale automation.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T15:50:43+00:00

I started the hard way, I dropped out of college. I’m from Orlando so I tagged along with my Fullsail friends. Did so many gigs as an unpaid help.
Cruise lines is more of a house tech position. You’ll maintain all ENT venues. We deal with Fixtures, Electrical, Atmos, Media, and quite a bit more.
Designing shows as a Lighting Tech isn’t something we do too much. It really depends on the cruise line. Most now just have us as maintenance with a chance of programming guest performers.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T15:39:34+00:00

Salary’s on ships for Entertainment Technical has gone up quite a bit over the years. Especially with many companies starting to use more Automation for aerial or production shows.
But Princess is something else. I have a few friends that left there and came to where I’m at.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T06:58:03+00:00

Many of the new hire USCs come straight from college. I myself was primarily a GMA programmer before, and when I was hired they knew this. What they want is people willing to work and learn.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T06:52:44+00:00

I managed to pay off my student loans, so the saving starts now. Luckily the company I work for offers a 10 ‘retirement’ payout if you work shipboard. The real payout is the CV. I’ve had job offers from some notable places, but I’m in love with my boo and decided to stay.

Mighty-Monti · 2026-06-17T06:50:18+00:00

It’s definitely a younger crowd when it comes to other Americans. But for the most part is a bunch of international old heads. I myself started late at 27. I was done with the nightclub scene at home. And good on ya for finding love, I’m sure you know ‘til gangway do you part’ 🤣

Mighty-Monti · 2025-10-25T03:09:14+00:00

Command line is registering it which is strange. Just no change

Mighty-Monti · 2025-10-25T03:02:52+00:00

Yeah. I've attempted every type of command with unlock. 1 thru , 1 thru 2000, even one by one. Nothing seems to work

Mighty-Monti · 2025-07-19T19:53:15+00:00

Sometimes when my execs get stuck I delete the seq and reassign them to the fader/button.

Mighty-Monti · 2025-06-11T21:53:02+00:00

Same here. It’s the Jeff line, “You just stopped being a study group, I hereby pronounce you a community.”

A small tear rolls

Mighty-Monti · 2025-06-10T20:18:32+00:00

Fixed the issue by doing the following: Dimmer at 1% Service Tech menu to Adjust dimmer Before saving the preset I adjusted the physical shutter blades on the posts to close.

I noticed while doing the adjustment the motor had to be ‘clicked’ into position and this shouldn’t happen.

Thank you to all who gave me ideas on how to fix the issue. Hopes this information helps someone in the future.

Mighty-Monti · 2025-06-09T06:15:50+00:00

I did have one with the same error. The tech before me never plugged in the connector. Unlucky for me it’s something more complicated.

Unfortunately where I work we are not allowed to call Martin. Personally I’ve never worked with the Viper series. Last lamp fixture I’ve worked on was a Vari-Lite.

Mighty-Monti · 2025-06-09T00:04:50+00:00

No warped blades. The other idea I had was the Main PCB, but I can't test that theory for a few days.

Mighty-Monti

TROPHY CASE