What company to choose?

[oliviaaaa]

Hey! I'm in my last year at school and have applied to about 10 companies for a Sep 2011 Cadetship.

I had an interview with Clyde Marine this Monday and seemed to go well! Anyone know anything good/bad about clyde (money isn't really an issue)?

Also Maesrk just phoned me asking me to come to an interview on 25th Jan - anyone know anything good/bad about them? I'm not sure what to do, leaning towards Clyde atm only because I want to work on a cruise ship badly! Not sure if container ships are the way foward for me haha.

Any other useful advice etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

O x

[The H]

Re: What company to choose?

If you pop Clyde or Maersk into the search here there should be some results. I'm sure some knowledgeable people will be along soon also.

[Lewis]

Re: What company to choose?

Might want to try SSTG. Although don't know if they do cruise ships.

[Brimbo]

Re: What company to choose?

If your applying to be a engineer with a cruise company best get as many out as possible, there quite hard to come across i've heard! in my opinion send out as many applications to the companys that you are interested in, keep your options wide open !

[oliviaaaa]

Re: What company to choose?

I'm applying for deck yeah i've sent out to quite a few - carnival said no, and im not sure whats going on with princess they keep sending me the odd e-mail but nothing to do with interviews :S what companys are you guys with?

[Brimbo]

Re: What company to choose?

im with SSTG, i think they have 1 or 2 cruise line companies, but if you dont get with carnival or princess, try trinity house, i think they have 1 cruise vessel.

[RNR]

Re: What company to choose?

Hi, I cannot help you with Maersk but I'm with Clyde and I'm due to start next month on the deck HND (Jan' intake for deck is running later this year for some reason). All I can say about Clyde is so far I have found them to be a good company and any querys I've had have been answered without any issues. I also applied for a cruise company through Clyde but according to other members on here it is unlikely, as the cruisers don't seem to recruit as many people (Clyde don't tell you who is your sponser until you start college).

Saying that, and I think a lot of people here will agree with me, don't get too focused on cruise liners at this stage. There are a wide variety of companies that Clyde recruit for and even if you are sponsered with a cargo company, in 3 years after you have qualified you can apply directly for deck officer vacancies with cruise companies. That is roughly what I am planning to do. I'd say if you get no other offers with cruise lines directly do not pass up the chance to train on other types of vessels with companies such as Clyde.

[oliviaaaa]

Re: What company to choose?

Oh right, I just got a letter from Clyde offering me a place in Sep 2011! I think I will go with them as they seem quite good.

Thanks for the useful info - do you know which of the sponsering companies have a good/bad rep at all? I think I'm gonna put the Disney Cruise one down as my number one? And maybe Chevron?

[RNR]

Re: What company to choose?

All the information they have sent to me regarding the course, cadetship and college after I accepted their offer has been in-depth, which is always a good thing when taking on something so new! So if you feel its the right company for you I say go for it! That's a decision your going to have to make for yourself though.

Regarding the companies, you may hear bad and good things about most of them (dependant on personal experience). However, how I decided was to read each companies information Clyde sent me and picked the 3 that appealed to my interests (so I picked 3 deep sea companies that travel worldwide as oppose to UK ferry/North sea/Offshore companies).

All I'd say from reading a lot of stuff on this forum is Royal Caribbean do not seen to take a lot of cadets on so you are probably best choosing Disney first. Also, take a look at Supplystill Ltd as they run Regent cruises (that was one of my choices). Clyde only let you select one cruise company though. In addition, Zodiac seem to have a bit of a bad rep on here but saying that I have also read some good things about Zodiac. I assume there is a gulf in opinion as Zodiac is quite a large shipping company, thus more ships and cadets = more potential for differing opinions.

I would be happy to give you more information about the actual course and my dealings with Clyde from a college viewpoint when I start next month, if this would be useful to you

[oliviaaaa]

Re: What company to choose?

So you've had a pretty good experience with CMT so far? Yeah I think I'm going to put Disney as my number 1 - Yes would love it if you could give me some info! What college are you going to?

[Just Ben]

Re: What company to choose?

Hi oliviaaaa

I'm guessing from the above that you want to work on a cruise ship? If this is true you may want to apply to cruise companies themselves. I am with clyde [Due to start the HND Deck course at Fleetwood on the 6th Feb] and so far they have been very good, however their downsides are:
1) The pay is one of the least [you said you're not worried but hey if you can get more money doing the same thing elsewhere...]
2) The company you're sponsored by is hit and miss, you can put down preffered companies but the fact of the matter is you may not get the one you want, you don't find out who you've got until the day you start and then you're stuck with them. Also like RNR says you're only allowed to put down 1 cruise comapny.

Obviously don't turn your nose up at anyone but shop around, especially if you want cruise or a particular sponsor.

Hope this helps

[alistairuk]

Re: What company to choose?

Olivia, since you live in Southampton I would suggest you go along to the Warsash open day on Friday 21st of January as you will be able to meet and speak to all the companies that recruit cadets there. You will also get to see around the college, play on the simulators and chat with some of the existing cadets from the various companies.

http://www.warsashacademy.co.uk/about/opendays.aspx

If you are 100% interested in cruise ships speak to P&O/Princess at the open day and also Viking Recruitment (they do Holland America Line / WindStar etc.) - although they do require a-levels as they only put cadets on the foundation degree course.

With Clyde you will not be guaranteed a cruise line, or even passenger ship - so would working on a cargo ship be a problem for you? Especially since you could end up in the North Sea with one of the standby ship companies.

There is nothing to stop you doing your cadetship with Maersk / SSTG / Trinity House / Shell / BP / Clyde Marine / etc. and then applying to a cruise line as a 3rd / 4th officer once you are qualified if it's something you still want to do.

Also companies such as SSTG / Trinity House and a few others often send their cadets to cruise ships for one or two of their trips as they don't have ships of their own.

[Brimbo]

Re: What company to choose?

Like Ben said it's hit and miss with CMT if you choose them! though if you stick in all your applications, (royal Caribbean, Disney etc) then you might gain a placement but have to wait for next years intake !

[OceanPico]

Re: What company to choose?

For cruise companies it will be: Carnival UK ( P&O Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Austrailia) , Princess Cruises , Viking (Though they only allow FD route cadets which means going to college then applying), and then there's SSTG and also Clyde which have cruise companies within their portfolios.
Hope this helps

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[kayak]

Re: What company to choose?

If possible I'd generally stay away from the training group companies, particularly clyde, as the companies that recruit through them are generally (there may be exceptions) those that are only interested in training you for the tax incentive and therefore wont put as much effort into helping you get the best out of your training. The companies that have a history of offering a job at the end of your cadetship are more likely to take an active interest in your training and help you along the way as they want you to be a good officer for them at the end of the day.