Author Archives: slarthurs143

Even though I feel like the laundry and trash queen, and have miserable working conditions, my time here does help my goal. For every day I work onboard I get a day and a half of sea time to keep my hours current for my future license.

The job advertisement for this boat should have read janitor and laundry personnel, who can aid in docking boat occasionally. Because we run crew 24/7 sometimes I’m on duty when we dock and undock and sometimes I’m sleeping. So in the 11 days I’ve been onboard, I’ve handled lines twice. Some of the servers andContinue reading “This is the LEAST Deckhand Job I’ve ever had”

There were 5 of us that came from my class. 3 deckhands and 2 servers. I am the only surviving deckhand. One walked off the second day and this one left this morning.

Today, part of my job was being at the bridge helping navigate. They like a second set of eyes on the river and equipment while captain is navigating. He’s a very nice man. He like the rest of the crew isn’t all that keen on how ACL runs things. We had a wonderful 2 hourContinue reading

Yesterday I was headed to have more morning coffee on the top deck like I did the day before. I passed my boss in the hallway. He said where are you headed? I said to get a morning coffee. He said you cannot be above deck one in your off duty clothes. That means IContinue reading “This is not for me”

The travel was hell as expected. I can’t sleep on trains, planes and automobiles so by the time we reached the bus stop in Poe-dunk Paducah KY, I was done. At this point I’d been up almost 24 hours no sleep. It’s 3am, the bus driver drops us off in the normal sketchy part ofContinue reading “First Day was Torture”

Class was supposed to go through Thursday, but 3 of us deckhands and 2 servers got called to a boat ASAP. So we left class at 11am today. Took a shuttle to Salt Lake City Airport, 2 1/2 hour flight to Houston, 3 hour layover, 2 hour flight to Nashville, 30 minute Uber ride toContinue reading “Deck crew Class American Cruiseline Sept 2023”

So the facility they train us at is pretty darn cool. They’ve made the inside look like the inside of one of their ships. Replica’s of staterooms, galley, dining, etc. My class mates are all totally cool. Just like the last time I trained, I made such good friends at school, then we all goContinue reading “Training Day”

I’m at the Port of Miami, getting my security clearance for the river boat job. It is super weird, being at this port, and not getting on THAT boat! I can’t afford to store my Jeep in Miami. (When I stored blue Jeeper it was $350 a month). So I’m driving my current Jeep BeastieContinue reading “Packing For Next Adventure”

Although I have the river boat job lined up, I’ve still been looking for private, yacht jobs. Working for corporate at the end, in California, left me saying, I would never work corporate again. But we do what we have to. The river boat job is doing what I have to. Sad to see soContinue reading “Know your worth”