I'm Swedish, can I do my cadetship in the UK?

[bryan_s]

Heya ladies and gents! (a fond Hello to the individuals falling outside any of those two previously mentioned categories) I hope you are all doing great.

I am new around here, not sure for how long I shall be staying as that depends entirely on the guidance I get from you people.

Now to the matter..
My name is Bryan, I am an 18-year old student undergoing my last year of Upper Secondary School in Sweden. This is like year 12 of school after which one would normally go to uni here. It has been my dream and ambition for the last years to become a deck officer in the MN working for Carnival.

At this moment I can imagine you all thinking: so what?s the problem? do the training in Sweden and then apply for an opening with Carnival? Nothing to it? But it is not that easy, I want to do the training in the UK.
For many reasons: Britain being one of the worlds most well-known seafaring nations, being taught and trained by Carnival (assuming I am granted sponsorship) ought to improve my chances in future employment with them, and also the fact that (with a great risk of me sounding like a big wimp and lunatic) I have always felt a certain connection to Britain. Can?t be explained really. Daft I know? it?s just always been closest to my heart and felt like home.

So my issue is, having read the Carnival site I am aware that to be eligible for sponsorship as a non-UK but EU citizen one has to have been permanently resident in the UK for a year. This I have not so I wonder if you by any chance have any advice for me on how to do? I have tried to contact both Warsash and Carnival via mail, unsuccessfully. Are there any exceptions to this requirement?

I am thinking of going to the open day at Warsash in January hoping that someone from Carnival will be there to help me out. Honestly I am prepared to do about anything and moving to England and staying there for a year before I apply is not an exception. But as you surely understand I want to know all of my options first.

Right, this got pretty long? Sorry for that but I hope someone will be able to help me

Cheers!

/Bryan

[CharlieDelta]

Re: Need some help from experts

Unfortunately there's not really any way around the residence requirements for various reasons, mainly government funding. Also bear in mind that you would need a permanent UK address for the duration of your cadetship which can be difficult if you don't have family in the UK. So the only way, really, is to live here for a year.

What's MN training like in Sweden? Surely there's some similar arrangements? Royal Caribbean seem to recruit a lot of Scandinavian officers...

Best of luck and welcome to the site, hopefully you'll get some more advice from other members soon.

[Chiefy]

Re: Need some help from experts

Plan B could be do the cadetship / apprentiship in Sweden, then when qualified moved to UK, get your CeC and in furutre do UK CoC's

CeC is certificate of eqivalency ie a conversion from Swedish to UK ticket and work in tandem
the CoC is the actual UK issued cert for following UK training and exams

We know that sweden has lots of it's own seafarers so there must be training available.

I know it isnt perfect but might be a viable plan?

[GuinnessMan]

Re: Need some help from experts

Or you could do like one lad in our college. Study at a college in the UK at your own expense and arrange your own sea-time. I know companies like V.Ships will place you on board as a cadet once you've paid them a deposit.

[RNR]

Re: Need some help from experts

Also, not to put a downer on it, but Carnival are quite hard to get a cadetship with in my personal experience, I have good grades and experience of working in the shipping industry yet I failed to secure a place with them. It would be throughly depressing if you lived in the UK for a year to meet the residential requirements then applied to Carnival and got the rejection letter (also, take into account the jobs market over here is still quite dire so you may struggle to get a job to support yourself for that 1st year).

What may be best and easiest is if you do your cadetship in Sweden (either cruise or container ships as, if it is like the UK, you come out with the same qualification), then as a qualified deck officer search for 3rd Officer vacancies within Carnival.

[Just Ben]

Re: Need some help from experts

Not sure how old this video is but it seems more likely that you're better off staying in Sweden. You're probably more likely to get offered a job afterwards by the looks of this.

http://www.karmavision.tv/video/300/ste ... eamen.html

I know it's not Carnival but it may be a foot in the door.

Either that or move to England for a year, apply with Carnival and start training, but like RNR said they're pretty picky.

Hope this helps

Ben

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Need some help from experts

Bryan,
I'd suggest you'd be better off doing your training in Sweden and then sailing with a Swedish company.
The training experience will probably be better than under British flag and the package (money, leave ratio and facilities onboard) will most definitely be superior than just about anything on the UK side.

[bryan_s]

Re: Need some help from experts

Firstly thank you everyone for your quick answers!

I can absolutely see the reason for the residence requirement, makes perfect sense. As I said if there is no other alternative I will gladly move to the UK and live there for a year. Perhaps taking some shorter courses at uni for all I know.

MN training in Sweden looks basically like this:
There are two academies training seafarers (on a university level). One in Gothenburg and one in Kalmar. You apply directly to either or both of them.

The training takes approx. 4 years of which 12 months are spent at sea. Not as a cadet but as some kind of trainee-individual-thing. One has a navigational workbook with stuff one has to do onboard, just like you have.

Big downside is that you can end up on any kind of shipping line. As I said before you don?t apply for sponsorship from any shipping company, you apply directly to the school only for the education. This also means that you don?t get accommodation, food, and a cadet-salary etc.

What?s more Sweden doesn?t have a single cruising line so hoping to end up on a cruise ship would be unrealistic, the best one could get is a ferry I guess but that?s not likely either.

After those 4 years you get a Bachelor of Science in Nautical Science and you are eligible to apply for a ?Class 5 Ship?s Officer Certificate? (Watchkeeping officer)
Then all that matters is you sea-time. You need at least 12 months of sea-time as a ?Class 5? to be eligible to apply for a ?Class 2? which gives you the right to operate as a Chief Officer.

To be eligible to apply for Master Certificate you have to have served at sea for no less than 36 month AFTER having received you ?Class 5?. 12 of these 36 months must have been served as a C/O on a >3 000 vessel.

And that?s that, no Orals and no more studies after having left school once
/B

[GuinnessMan]

Re: Need some help from experts

There is more to going to sea than poncing around on a cruise ship. Besides, some us like it when our cargo doesnt talk to us....
Plus, salaries are better on tankers....

[bryan_s]

Re: Need some help from experts

That?s very true and I am sure the Cruise industry is not suitable for everyone. Personally, working on a ship with mute cargo I would miss the social bit tremendously. I want to work with people simply. Secondly going to sea because of the salary is, according to myself, going to sea for the wrong reason. (Not suggesting you did)

/B

[Just Ben]

Re: Need some help from experts

Looks like you better start packing your suitcase then =]

And come on over to sunny ol' Britain

[bryan_s]

Re: Need some help from experts

Ben! It's like -13 in the northern parts of Sweden atm so hell yeah It's sunny!
I live in the southern part and we're just above freezing
The amount of rain is about the same, honestly, at least on the west coast

/B

[Just Ben]

Re: Need some help from experts

OK, that is pretty cold.

So are you sure you want to go straight to cruise? even if it means moving to another country.

It seems kinda like you've already ruled out the option of staying in Sweden.

[bryan_s]

Re: Need some help from experts

Tell me about it...

Yeah I am quite sure, if nobody comes up with any REALLY good last-minute arguments for me to change my mind Cruises it is! Moving to another country is not an issue. England is pretty much my second home having spent quite some time there. I've been thinking of moving there permanantly anyway...

I would really like to go but I can't go so far as to rule out the option of staying in Sweden entirely.

/B

[Just Ben]

Re: Need some help from experts

I'm afraid i can't really help as i don't know much about (other than what you've told us) the Swedish MN

It looks like to get qualified it's gonna take 4 years either way, so it doesn't really matter where you do it, from what you've said Britain may be the best option.

Also what happens if you can't get a job on cruise, just keep waiting and re-applying?