Second Phase - at sea.

[kirsty1994]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has been with P&O. I was wondering what the second phase is like (how long you are at sea etc.).

[ETwhat?]

friends have been they enjoyed it. for most companies you do what ever the standard contract is for the ship so four months is comon. phase two isapril to august inclusive so you should get a month off aswell. exact dates etc will change

[Mark_S]

I'm with P&O as a deckie but there's a few engine cadets on here as well at the minute. On Dover- Calais the crew works week on week off but the cadets on here including myself do 2 weeks on one week off. I've been told it's different in the North Sea with up to a month on board with either a week or 2 weeks off in between. You should find out shortly after the college phase ends what route/ship you'll be on, they can't tell you too far in advance because of spaces on board changing all the time etc. Dover to Calais is a bit hectic with 5 turnarounds in a 12 hour shift, which you'll generally be working along with the rest of the crew. You should be busy most of the time at the very least and getting phone signal a few times a day is a definite bonus! Any other questions let me know.

[ETwhat?]

sorry wrote mine thinking of p&o cruises

[agibbs98]

I'm with P&O North Ireland/Western sector (North Sea and Irish Sea) through Clyde Marine. I believe it's extremely unlikely you'll be on any of the North Sea/Irish sea routes but here's my experience.

The ships the cadets can go on here are: Pride of Hull, European Endeavour, European Causeway and European Highlander.

My ship is 2 weeks on 2 weeks off for cadets but all the other ships are 3 weeks on 1 week off. The ships facilities are good and the food is good, it's also a really good learning environment with decent officers (unlike some horror story ships I've heard from friends).

P&O Short Sea might be different, who knows? :P

[ETwhat?]

I'm with P&O North Ireland/Western sector (North Sea and Irish Sea) through Clyde Marine. I believe it's extremely unlikely you'll be on any of the North Sea/Irish sea routes but here's my experience.

The ships the cadets can go on here are: Pride of Hull, European Endeavour, European Causeway and European Highlander.

My ship is 2 weeks on 2 weeks off for cadets but all the other ships are 3 weeks on 1 week off. The ships facilities are good and the food is good, it's also a really good learning environment with decent officers (unlike some horror story ships I've heard from friends).

P&O Short Sea might be different, who knows? :P

do the Causeway and highlander still suffer random blackouts, was always fun to watch those from the house

[Mark_S]

I was told before joining my ship that they're trying to send cadets on the Short Sea for one phase and the North Sea for the other. I can see why, it's useful to get an idea of the different routes you can work on and after all the short sea, Irish sea and North sea are all the same company now. Might be different for the engine dwellers, I know there are far more of you than deck cadets in the system for P&O anyway. It's all been a good experience on the short sea so far though!

[agibbs98]

No idea about the Causeway or Highlander and their slight electrical problems, not on them haha.

And the only cadets (Deck/Engine) on the North Sea are through clyde marine looking at the rosters for their ships, maybe you guys can get on the Pride of York/the other one on that route but they don't seem to take cadets at all. But somehow I can't see Clyde Marine/SSTG "sharing" ships (already too many cadets on the N/I sea), so I can imagine it would stay the same for cadets, Clyde on North/Irish sea and SSTG on Short Sea.