What is life like onboard a ship? A question I have been asked many times by potential cadets at careers fairs. The topic is so broad so I shall start with the basics of what I was expected to do in a day on a cruise ship during my cadet ship.
0330 - Wake up
0350 - On bridge for handover
0400 - Start watch, supervised by the deck officer.
0400 - 0800: Bridge watch. On cruise ships, we would dock at around 0700, so I would be involved in mooring operations as well as navigation, bridge arrival checklists and supporting the second officer in all of his duties during these four hours.
0800 - 0830: Breakfast down in the mess. Although on some cruise ships, officers (and sometimes cadets) get perks and can eat in the passenger areas, like cafes or the lido deck.
0830 - 1030/1100: Start deck maintenance jobs. This includes doing the maintenance work of the ship expected by your supervising officer e.g. checking firefighting outfits, lifejackets, lifeboat checks, fire hose checks, lifebuoys, passage planning ect.
1000 - Drill; fire, abandon ship, lifeboat, damage, medical ect.
1100 - 1550: Free time. This is time you can use to explore the port your at, as most cruise ships dock every single day, or you can use the time to catch up on your sleep!
1550 - On the bridge for watch handover.
1600 - 2000: Four hour evening watch. May include bridge departure checklists, navigation, night watch hours, bridge checks and tests ect.
2000 - 21:30 (if you're lucky!): Socialising in the crew bar or socialising with passengers at an event. (depends on the cruise ship)
21:30 - 0330: SLEEP....
0330: Do it all again!
So this was a typical day on a small cruise ship with about 300-400 passengers onboard. The experience you have may be similar or completely different as it depends on your ship, the company and the attitude of officers towards cadets. On your first ships, you may just be on day work with the bosun to get your deck maintenance skills up! i.e. stencilling and painting.
Your day then could look like this.
0700 - 0800: Wake up and breakfast
0800 - 0830: Bridge meeting, to find out what jobs were to be done today.
0830 - 1030: Work on deck, painting, chipping, maintenance ect. supervised by an AB or the bosun.
1030 - 1100: SmoCo (fag and coffee break)
1100 - 1300: Work on deck.
1300 - 1400: Lunch
1400 - 1530: Work on deck
1530 - 1600: SmoCo
16:00 - 1700/1800: Work on deck or start the tidy up.
1800 - 2300: Dinner, socialising, free time in the crew mess and or bar.
2300 - 0700: SLEEP
0700: Do it all again!
This was the timetable I had on my first ship as a cadet, but as cadets are not permanent crew members they have to fit into the daily schedule of the ship and try to be useful or simply observe and try to learn, therefore schedules may vary day to day.
Cadets are also entitled to one day off a week in order to complete their written work required by their college and Training Record Book (more on this later). This is written into the TRB itself and should be enforced, however, crew members who are on ship for 6 or 9 month contracts do not always understand why cadets; who are temporary crew, get to have days off a week, and jealousy can become a problem. My advice would be to not take the day off for granted and be seen to be up and about at the same time as the rest of the crew.
On my rest days, I was always on the bridge at 0800 and helped the bridge officer with tasks until the daily drill at 1000. Also make sure the captain sees you on your day off too and ask him if there is anything interesting to get involved with today. Showing keenness and willingness to learn will always go down well.
If anyone who has been on ship as a cadet would like to share a similar break down of a normal day on one of their ships, please don't hesitate to comment below. My experience is limited to only general cargo and cruise ship life, so any other experiences would be fantastic!
Insight into engineering cadet life would be interesting too!
