perusings on a cruise ship

[Bandicoot]

Hi all

I recently applied to SSTG and have been offered a placement with TUI (thomson) shipping and i believe that i will accept their offer to become a deck officer.

I was wondering what I should expect from working on a deep-sea cruise ship? I'm only 17 bear in mind (I will be 18 when I join) and though I am excited at the prospect of travelling the world on a cruise liner as you can imagine i am also quite nervous

does anyone have any advice for me? what i should look out/prepare for?

cheers!

Alex

[stronglead]

Hey, I can't really offer advice on going away etc, as I am still to go myself (Can't wait) but if you haven't already have a look around the forum threads, as there's plenty of info and chat about going away that you may find interesting to read, I know I found it interesting.

[CharlieDelta]

Have a look at the Blogs section (linked from the home page), mine's a bit behind on updates but I've blogged about my first few months on cruise ships.

As long as you go in with an open mind and a willingness to learn, you'll enjoy it. It's not a holiday though; if you go expecting a holiday and get work you'll be disappointed.

You'll usually start out on daywork, working on deck, painting, varnishing, working with the deck crew on mooring decks etc... As time goes on you'll get a bit of watchkeeping time.

Congratulations on the offer and looking forward to hearing how things go for you!

[size4riggerboots]

It's difficult to put in in a nutshell, I spent 3 months of my first sea phase on the QM2 though and kept a blog about it, my entries from then are day to day stuff so it should give you an idea of the minutae. I also spent two more trips on cruise ships in my last sea phase but the most day to day detail is from the QM.

It starts here.. http://size4riggerboots.blogspot.com...ys-on-qm2.html

[alistairuk]

Hi,

The ships are in port pretty much every day - normally with only one sea day per 7 day cruise. Depending on which ship you're sent too (they all do it differently) but if you're sent to the one I work on;

On your first trip you will spend most of your time on deck with the bosun - this means quite a bit of washing, chipping and painting. You'll also do stations forward / aft with the chief officer / safety officer on arrivals and departures. If the ships tendering you'll be expected to help out with tying the tenders up alongside the ship.

After a couple of weeks, you'll spend time helping the safety ABs with their maintenance and get to do a week down in the engine room. You're also required to do bridge tours for the passengers - although this will depend on whether there are later phase cadets onboard at the same time as you.

After a few months you'll get to spend some time on the bridge (to be honest you're pretty much useless up there until your on your 2nd sea phase) - although you're always welcome to come up on your study day (normally on the sea day) / or in the evenings on your time off.

If you want any more detailed information feel free to PM me.