What is a cruise ship like in the middle of the night?

I don't believe he means 4 full years, it would have been his four summer cruises.

 

 

 

The Eagle is a magnificent ship, and a great classroom for teaching young middies the hard work and self-reliance needed for a career at sea. A salute to you Capt_BJ for working the Eagle.

 

Interesting facts about the Eagle, she started life as the German training ship "Horst Wessel" prior to WWII, and was won in a post war reparations lottery with the British and Russians. Two of her sisters are still sailing today, and one more is a museum ship undergoing restoration.

Thanks for clarifying, as I wasn't aware that the CG cadets only received seatime during the summer months.

In UK, our 4-year cadet program was rather different. As a cadet, I served on 6 ships (cargo & passenger), most postings were 4 months, but one was 9 months. For college, my accelerated program only required two college phases of 3 months each.

Definitely envious of Capt_BJ, not only have signed on as a cadet, but also to have commanded the Eagle.

Thanks for clarifying, as I wasn't aware that the CG cadets only received seatime during the summer months.

 

In UK, our 4-year cadet program was rather different. As a cadet, I served on 6 ships (cargo & passenger), most postings were 4 months, but one was 9 months. For college, my accelerated program only required two college phases of 3 months each.

 

Definitely envious of Capt_BJ, not only have signed on as a cadet, but also to have commanded the Eagle.

Not to step on Capt's toes, but being a branch of the armed services, USCG cadet training is different than maritime. They do 4 years of college, with summer cruises or summer postings to CG offices/bases for practical training, and they may have more "field" time than that. Hopefully he can jump in on that, its been forever since I spoke to a USCG cadet or a new officer, so details of their program have probably changed.

For US maritime officers, there are a couple of ways, the federal academy and the state academies. The federal academy does a full 4 year bachelor's program in 3 years, and one year is spent at sea on merchant ships, with a study project to complete in that time. The state academies use their training ships for summer cruises as practical training and sea time, and they are now going more towards requiring some "cadet shipping" on commercial ships like the federal academy does. They also grant a full 4 year bachelor's degree upon graduation. USCG regulations require 300 sea days for a license (if I remember right, its been a long time, and the rules have changed many times since I started).

I believe the seatime requirements have been reduced significantly everywhere. Our son received a Watchkeeping Certificate with only 12 months seatime, so within 2 yrs of starting he was sailing as 3rd Officer with Princess.

...The Eagle is a magnificent ship, and a great classroom for teaching young middies the hard work and self-reliance needed for a career at sea...

My uncle (no longer with us) was a USCG Commander who served during WWII and long afterward as Commander at many different bases.

The one thing he stressed about the Eagle training was how effective it was at developing leadership and teamwork skills for the cadets as well as the self-reliance skills. The training not only made for excellence in those skills for future officers it also developed executive skills for those who left the Coast Guard for civilian positions.

Back (way, way back) when I was a teenager he hosted my dad and me for a quick deck walk on the Eagle when she was in NY Harbor as part of a Tall Ship display.

I believe the seatime requirements have been reduced significantly everywhere. Our son received a Watchkeeping Certificate with only 12 months seatime, so within 2 yrs of starting he was sailing as 3rd Officer with Princess.

Current requirements:

Requirements For Master License

Master of Vessels on Not More Than 100 Gross Registered Tons

• 90 days service in the last 3 years on vessels of appropriate tonnage.
  
• Near Coastal: 720 days of service steam, motor, or auxiliary sail vessels on ocean or near coastal waters (360 days inland is acceptable)
  
• Great Lakes and Inland: 360 days service steam, motor, sail/aux. sail vessels including 90 days on Great Lakes waters
  
• Inland: 360 days service steam, motor, aux. sail vessels on any waters
  
• Rivers: 360 days service steam, motor, aux. sail vessels on any waters
  

Current requirements:

 

Requirements For Master License

Master of Vessels on Not More Than 100 Gross Registered Tons

 

• 90 days service in the last 3 years on vessels of appropriate tonnage.
  
• Near Coastal: 720 days of service steam, motor, or auxiliary sail vessels on ocean or near coastal waters (360 days inland is acceptable)
  
• Great Lakes and Inland: 360 days service steam, motor, sail/aux. sail vessels including 90 days on Great Lakes waters
  
• Inland: 360 days service steam, motor, aux. sail vessels on any waters
  
• Rivers: 360 days service steam, motor, aux. sail vessels on any waters
  

That's a 100 ton limited license, usually for tugs, harbor, and river boats. The requirements for an unlimited license (any tonnage, any oceans) is quite different.

Sea service is 360 days of service as Chief Mate on vessels over 100 tons (which requires 360 days service as Second Mate, which in turn requires 360 days service as Third Mate), of which 50% of each service period must be on vessels over 1600 tons.

Plus, there are STCW requirements for unlimited licenses, that do not apply to 100 ton licenses:

Additional and Optional Training Required

Table: USCG STCW Master 3000 GT or More Management Level Training Credits: USCG

Nearly all shipping companies require all of the optional training as well, since most of them are acquired as watch officers. All senior officers on passenger vessels are also required to have "Crowd and Crisis Management" training.

Don't believe the helipad is blacked out for stargazing. Typically, everything forward of the bridge is dark when at sea to prevent loss of night vision by the bridge team.

Anxious for that on my next RCI cruise! Too bad ships have so much exterior lighting. Has anyone tried using binoculars or telephoto camera lens to get a closer view of the night sky?

Anxious for that on my next RCI cruise! Too bad ships have so much exterior lighting. Has anyone tried using binoculars or telephoto camera lens to get a closer view of the night sky?

Again, the main problem is light pollution, so even under magnification, the light washes out the pinpoints of the stars right at your binoculars. If you want to see stars, there's nothing like a freighter or tanker in the middle of the ocean.

If you want to see stars, there's nothing like a freighter or tanker in the middle of the ocean.

I'm putting a freighter/tanker cruise on my bucket list!

I'm putting a freighter/tanker cruise on my bucket list!

Won't be a tanker, but read cruisin cockroach's and oak hill cruisers reviews of recent freighter cruises on the freighter forum to see if they are really what you want.

This could have been restricted to the one ship, but 2-3 AM, all pax and crew using Horizon Court.

One of our favorite venues on Princess ships is their International Cafe which is open 24/7 and has a rotating selection of food as well as their usual coffee/espresson/tea beverages. For those who are up very late or who wake up very early this is the place to go :).

Hank

I'm putting a freighter/tanker cruise on my bucket list!

The cargo ships - box boats or bulkers would be excellent choices for star gazing, but as Cheng mentioned, I would definitely do some research.

It's been 40 years since my last cargo ship and they have changed significantly, and not for the better. While the couple of cargo ships I sailed on had crew of about 2 dozen to over 70, these days they have crew as low as 9 and 11 or 12 is fairly common.

In-port time - my first ship we spent 2 months on the NZ Coast, these days a port call is frequently < 24 hrs and the ports can be many miles from anywhere.

Sea days - 30 day stretches at sea are not uncommon.

Ship access - passengers used to have free access throughout most of the accommodation when at sea, including sitting up on the Bridge. Not sure with the enhanced security, if this is still permitted.

Plus you'll be able to see all the other ships that are cruising with you. You'll be in a pack of about 3 or 4 and you'll see them in the same ports you'll be visiting.

One of my favorite parts of cruises is shipspotting. I like to walk around the port and see who's there ("Oooh, they have a poolside movie screen..."). At the dock, I like to watch the people on the other ship. I google the ships I don't know, too, like the first time I saw an AIDA ship ("Wow, did it come all this way?").

Then it's interesting seeing who's behind you or ahead as you travel. Like one gets in before you and then you see it pull out before you, and so on...and there's nothing so poignant as seeing another ship off in the distance at night, all lit up and silently passing in the night.

I might miss that on my next cruise, as I think we mostly won't have company. :-(

It's hard to see much night sky with the lights all over the ship. I tried to go to a stargazing once on the topmost deck, but it was canceled because of clouds. Even if it had happened, we'd have been dealing with unbearable winds up there. There's always someone up, though--crew and passengers. The casinos, nightclubs, and bars will have people, and the buffet will have people if it's open late. I've found people playing ping pong at midnight. All the deck chairs are put away, though, and the pools are closed, so a lot of parts of the ship aren't going to be comfortable to spend a lot of time in because there won't be nice seats or drinks or whatever.

I’m always fascinated by the other ships in port, especially from foreign cruise lines.

In April it was Mein Schiff.

Big beautiful ship. I couldn’t wait to get home and Google it without using internet minutes.

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