Chauvet COLORado Gives Princess Cruises a Rugged Makeover

Custom road cases filled with 196 Chauvet COLORado 1-Tri IP wash lights are being shipped to vacation destinations throughout the world. These fixtures were selected to travel aboard the third largest cruise line in the world: Princess Cruises.

Michael Stone, lighting designer and vice president of U.S. operations at HMS, Inc., specified the use of COLORado 1-Tri IP wash lights aboard the Princess Cruises' 17-ship fleet. The fixtures will be used to illuminate enormous spandex shapes at the Island Night parties during one night of each voyage. The outdoor party previously relied on traditional PAR cans and gels, but an outdoor lighting solution, one able to withstand the harsh marine environment, quickly became a necessity.

"I've used a lot of different lights and have never really been able to find a good outdoor lighting solution for these cruise ships," Stone said. "If you ever want to test the durability of a product designed for outdoor use, put it on the pool deck of a cruise ship for one month. We did some testing and discovered these COLORado washes were ideal for this installation because they are portable, waterproof, and durable fixtures that include tri-color LEDs and create an outstanding wash."

With each of the ships using the same lighting setup, the design of this temporary installation project needed to encompass flexibility and simplicity in regards to the lighting system and its setup. The project is unique for Stone and HMS, Inc., because all 196 fixtures were affixed to floor stands in order to perform the job they were intended for. They chose aluminum floor stands and replaced each mounting bolt, washer, and lock washer with stainless steel to prevent rusting. It took six men three days to pre-program, wire, mount, and test all of the fixtures before they were shipped to their final destinations.

Designing a project for Princess Cruises is not an unfamiliar task for Stone. In the 1980s, he worked on Island Princess, the same ship that starred in the original ABC television series The Love Boat. Stone gained 25 years of experience in the lighting field by working for bands, cruise lines and themed entertainment projects with big-name companies including Universal Studios and LEGOLAND. His career path has brought him back to the cruise industry where he enjoys fresh and exciting projects that let him engineer, specify, and create designs using the latest technology.