Just a few questions

[fungimala]

hi guys, I received my contract today and was wanting to ask a few things,
1. It talks about drawing your allowance whilst on board, what type of things will be available/I be needing to buy?
2. Vaccinations - will my normal Doctor do all these and do I pay all these first?

thanks in advance

[Inland Pirate]

When I spoke to trinity about vaccines, I was told I could get them done down in warsash before we go to sea! Might be a bit better as you won't have to worry about them running out in the middle of phase 4 or whenever...

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[Clanky]

hi guys, I received my contract today and was wanting to ask a few things,
1. It talks about drawing your allowance whilst on board, what type of things will be available/I be needing to buy?
2. Vaccinations - will my normal Doctor do all these and do I pay all these first?

thanks in advance

1. Money for going ashore if you get the chance, phone cards for use onboard if you don't have free access to telephones, occasionally an onboard shop which stocks toiletries, chocolate and other goodies, this will usually be in either US dollars or local currency and converted to pounds at the companies (usually fair) exchange rate.

2. In the UK only certain medical practices stock vaccines, you can check with your local doctor, but you may have to go to a travel clinic.

[alistairuk]

To follow on from Clanky a lot of the GP surgeries refuse to do the vaccinations now - mine apparently due to large no of people who book random holidays last minute then expect to be able to get vaccinated there and then.

I found most of the places that do ENG1s will also do the vaccinations if you tell them what you need. Alternatively as Clanky says you might need to use travel clinic ones.

Keep the receipt your company will prob reimburse you, if your at warsash Lock Heath Medical Centre (the one the college use) will do your vaccinations, your company may arrange it with them through the college (mine did when I was a cadet many years ago).

[Galley Slave]

You can find a list of vaccination centres at www.nhs.uk

[ETwhat?]

It will depend on your company, personally if your not starting till September I wouldn't start paying for vaccines now, either the company will have a doctors that they use and settle the account directly so you just turn up or they will do it on expenses, in which case may as well wait till your in a position to get them paid back, what is worth doing is asking your local doctors for a list of vaccinations you currently have as that is useful so you can plan for things that may run out etc.

ive never had a problem getting them from the local GP but it does tend to be a bit of a wait and then its just the nurse (she said I had lovely veins ) if in doubt fire an email to whoever sent you the email and ask,

finally depending on companies some expect you to do everything on expenses and claim them back at the end of the month, easily done but its worth having a credit card to do it with that way your limited cadet income isn't being wasted on such trival things as vacines when there is beer to be bought, (ps use credit card for things you need, real money for beer, not the other way round)

[alistairuk]

It's also worth having a credit card for when you join ship for "emergencies" - especially if you're joining abroad - nothing like missing connecting flights or agents not turning up or the ship deciding to go elsewhere and having to shell out ?100+ for a night in a hotel - yes your company will pay you back but at least if it's on a credit card it's not your cash you've spent on it!

You also get better protection if someone nicks / clones your card - in that at least it's not coming straight out of your money!

(Visa is accepted pretty much everywhere, as is MasterCard to a slightly less extent - American Express is a bit less accepted worldwide - most big hotel chains will take it though).

If you're only recently 18 then usually your bank will happily provide you with one that has reasonable interest rates - although I recommend paying it off in full each month as that way you don't end up wasting money on interest! If you choose another provider, I would recommend one attached to an airline - I have MBNA's BMI Diamond Club AMEX/VISA Cards (No longer available to new applicants but British Airways have similar) where every ?1 I spend = 2 BA Miles - useful for amassing BA miles for free flights - but obviously not suitable for everyone.