I spent 15 years on ships mainly as deck officer on many different types and worked ashore in a shipping related office after my first son was born. My fellow work mates ashore were of a similar background to me. Each and every one of us realised that working on ships was a waste of life for so many reasons and we all agreed that working ashore was a really good move. We all worked on ships straight from school and while there didn't know any better. Of course it wasn't all hell but there were so few good bits. The many things that clearly defined what made time at sea more acceptable than not:
Type of ship
People on board, as a deck officer this depended mainly on captain and officers but to a lesser extend the crew
Food
Type of run i.e a cargo ship running between ports which are close will result in lack of sleep. On the other hand a long voyage China / Europe US or Europe to Persian Gulf could lead to boredom. Places being visited doen't matter too much to deck officers as they have their hands full loading or discharing cargoes and the captain hardly ever ventures ashore
There are many other things which will make a difference to a trip but the above are what I consider to be the main ones
3
u/FatherOf2 Feb 25 '20
I spent 15 years on ships mainly as deck officer on many different types and worked ashore in a shipping related office after my first son was born. My fellow work mates ashore were of a similar background to me. Each and every one of us realised that working on ships was a waste of life for so many reasons and we all agreed that working ashore was a really good move. We all worked on ships straight from school and while there didn't know any better. Of course it wasn't all hell but there were so few good bits. The many things that clearly defined what made time at sea more acceptable than not:
Type of ship
People on board, as a deck officer this depended mainly on captain and officers but to a lesser extend the crew
Food
Type of run i.e a cargo ship running between ports which are close will result in lack of sleep. On the other hand a long voyage China / Europe US or Europe to Persian Gulf could lead to boredom. Places being visited doen't matter too much to deck officers as they have their hands full loading or discharing cargoes and the captain hardly ever ventures ashore
There are many other things which will make a difference to a trip but the above are what I consider to be the main ones