For Your Information:

After graduating from a university, the first job that I would love to have is working on a cruise ship. Why? It’s hard to explain clearly. I tell some people it is because I spend six months saving money. I am earning money from work and they also pay housing and food expenses. When I finish one cruise job, I have built a great savings to assist with my next plans. Also, when talking with colleagues about jobs I should consider working, each one has mentioned cruise work. It is an experience every technician should try at least once. I want a variety in my life. I want to freelance for a while. I honestly have a mental list I keep adding to and checking off. I want to be versatile in my resume (and my life).

My Technician’s To Do List

Touring team
Cirque du Soleil
Las Vegas show
Rock Concert
Corporate
Cruise Line
Roadie
Opera
Broadway Musical
Church Pageant
Follow Spot for a major awards ceremony
Truss Spot
Feature film
Grip/Electric for a major motion picture
TV/Broadcast studio
CDL license
Attend training for lighting equipment

My fear about finding a post-graduation job is being trapped in a production that only does one show. I am use to switching from show to show, venue to venue. I never get tired of the show, I experience a wide variety of design, and I keep learning. Although a cruise ship is one big venue and presents the same shows, there are several different stages and it cycles through shows. I will be able to get really familiar with a show, but also get breaks from it, or opportunities to work more than one show.

Some may assume that I’d want to work on a cruise because of luxury. There is the travels from location to location, the food, the entertainment … however, I will be working 70 hours a week. I won’t have time to relax. That is the hardest part of working with a cruise line. There is no time to relax and no vacations. It is constant work. And that is another reason why I want to. Theatre is my life and passion. To always have something to do each day … would be amazing!! Of course I’d get tired and exhausted, but I’d wake up the next morning excited to continue on because it is my dream, my life, my passion, my choice.

Also, my living situation is in a small cabin, on a bunk bed, with a roommate who could be from anywhere. I’ll have to learn to adapt to any personality and situation, but that’s what college has helped teach: how to survive with roommates. I look forward to meeting new people, making new friends, and learning to grow from the situations that will be thrown my way. It won’t be easy, but that is why we are here in life: to learn and to grow.

It will be difficult to be gone for six months this year. There is a lot that I will miss. I don’t know if my family has realized this, but six months means I will miss Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas, I could miss my sister leaving for a mission, and other family events. The only contact I will have with home is through US mail that will be picked up at port. I won’t see a familiar face from home for those six months. It will bring challenges, but each of us have those times of going out into the world and feeling the separation from home. My industry seems to bring it on more for it is a traveling, changing variety of productions. It won’t be forever, just six months.

I do hope to get this job. Who knows what is planned for me after graduation. Anything could happen, but I would love to start with a cruise line.