The other side of the coin

[Unregistered]

I just wanted to give an alternate view and a more honest evaluation of the merchant navy for people considering it. while it can be a good career and money earner take the promotion material with a pinch of salt, do not go with a sponser company for money look at the ships they operate ad whether it suits what you're after. Do not fall into the trap of companies telling you "its all the same really" or you get good travel oppertunities wherever this simply isnt true some ships your lucky to get 5 hours in port so if travel is your bag get a company with ships that spend good time in port and do your research. I'd recomend avoding people like MEF and conway who dont define the sort of shiping you will get for definite it becomes pot luck what type of ship you get which can work great but in most cases seems to be horrificly terrible.

Just some advice that will probably be slated as an attack on the MN, i made the mistakes of the better money and companies not specifing ships and it's been the worst years of my life, Money isn't everything, although most merchant shipping companies strongly believe it is.. There is a good reason there is such a high drop out rate despite people are capible of passing the exams.

[ETwhat?]

I don't really see it as an attack on the MN, its an attack on cadetships or the companies that manage them.

But your right money isn't everything and people need to look at what companies will provide them with the best possible training and ship types that they actually want to work for. similarly I think its devious of a company to be talking about 'nice ports and time ashore' as a cadet they really shouldn't be worried about that if travel is your bag the modern MN isn't the place to be working.

but ultimately the cadetship isn't the MN its the way to get the qualification and the sea time isn't that hard to bite your way through, then you can be free to look for wherever you want to work

[Clanky]

Absolutely spot on, there is no point being paid 28,000 / year to do a job that you hate when you can get paid 24,000 / year for a job that you love, remember that you will be spending 6-8 months of the year working, that is a long time to be miserable.

[YoungMariner]

Many people simply hate the job, it isn't for everyone and I can completely understand the negatives outweighing the positives for some, particularly when you have a run of bad ships.

We all have bad days at sea, or even a bad trip, but for some the entire job is unbearable. However, this shouldn't reflect negatively on that individual.