Welding on a cruise ship.

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I stumbled across this link here http://www.gowelding.org/7_Incredibl...n_Welding.htmlIn it one of the facts was that some welders work on cruise ships making repairs. This really caught my attention because it looks like a really interesting job. It seems like you would work on the ship, and also live on the ship for cheap or free, and have meals provided for cheap or free while traveling the world. Also I figure the ship would never really be in the dry dock because the ships need to travel year round, and repairs would need to be made constantly.So does anybody know anything about this or have experienced it.It looks like a really great job prospect, but it seems like the job would be hard to come by, and if I wanted to pursue it I would need to know how to do more than just weld.
Reply:I think you should actually go on a cruise and then talk to the crew informally.  Some are on board for as long as 18 months.  They sign a contract and short of death you are there for the contract.   I don't have to even see the sleeping arrangements but you do not have your own cabin my friend.  There is a reason that cruise ships are not registered in the U.S.A.  The Jones Act prevents foriegn crews form working a ship that goes between two American ports.  That is why cruise vessels transit from Seattle to Alaska via a stop in Canada.   Don't think you would only weld.  Likely you would be engine room crew and only be used to weld in an emergency.  Most welding is done while the vessel is in a port.  I worked with a guy who did moonlighting for an outfit that did repairs like this.  He often would be called in at odd hours to do a quick repair on a stainless counter of salad area.  He was paid cash for work and he told me his boss collected  his money in offshore accounts so there was no paper trail inside Canada.  This was about 30 years ago and old Corny I am sure is retired like me or dead from his chain smoking LOL.  Pretty hard for Revenue Canada to get money out of someone's cold dead hands.  The crews of offshore vessels do not have an easy ride.
Reply:Every job sux, even blojqbs.  Its more important in what you do in your time off.  Cruise ship sounds fun if your young and dumb and looking for chicks
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanI think you should actually go on a cruise and then talk to the crew informally.  Some are on board for as long as 18 months.  They sign a contract and short of death you are there for the contract.   I don't have to even see the sleeping arrangements but you do not have your own cabin my friend.  There is a reason that cruise ships are not registered in the U.S.A.  The Jones Act prevents foriegn crews form working a ship that goes between two American ports.  That is why cruise vessels transit from Seattle to Alaska via a stop in Canada.   Don't think you would only weld.  Likely you would be engine room crew and only be used to weld in an emergency.  Most welding is done while the vessel is in a port.  I worked with a guy who did moonlighting for an outfit that did repairs like this.  He often would be called in at odd hours to do a quick repair on a stainless counter of salad area.  He was paid cash for work and he told me his boss collected  his money in offshore accounts so there was no paper trail inside Canada.  This was about 30 years ago and old Corny I am sure is retired like me or dead from his chain smoking LOL.  Pretty hard for Revenue Canada to get money out of someone's cold dead hands.  The crews of offshore vessels do not have an easy ride.
Reply:Originally Posted by InsanerideEvery job sux, even blojqbs.  Its more important in what you do in your time off.  Cruise ship sounds fun if your young and dumb and looking for chicks
Reply:What are you gonna weld if the ship is already built?I have a theory; outside of Long Beach port near Los Angelas , CA:  oil tankers are gutted to make machine shops/sweat shops for HarberFrieght stuf. Mainly the band saws. They use their used oil to put in their band saws so they dont have to dump it in the ocean. They dont want green peace or California tree huggers on their chicolm aaaaassss
Reply:Originally Posted by IridebmxI dont think the staff is allowed to be seen with the guests or in their cabins. I think all the other staff is fair game though
Reply:Always remember to never forget:  Its more important what you do in your time off kid.  Liking what you do in the meen time is helpful thou
Reply:Originally Posted by InsanerideWhat are you gonna weld if the ship is already built?I have a theory; outside of Long Beach port near Los Angelas , CA:  oil tankers are gutted to make machine shops/sweat shops for HarberFrieght stuf. Mainly the band saws. They use their used oil to put in their band saws so they dont have to dump it in the ocean. They dont want green peace or California tree huggers on their chicolm aaaaassss
Reply:All those pics are in refit. There would be limited welding at sea for a cruise ship.  Anyways it hardly matters, most of the ship crew is foreign, even the engineers  on a Panama (or similar) registered ship. As an American, unless you're an entertainer or something you probably wouldnt have much chance.Like lotech says, you sign on for a long hitch in crappy living conditions relative to the paying guests. Even if you did get hired, its not like Carnaval etc are going to pay you to live the cruise tourist life. Its not like your going to be able to get off in the various ports and buy nic-nacks, that just doesnt happen. If ship repair is something you like, apply to your local shipyard.
Reply:Originally Posted by IridebmxIm not sure exactly what would need welding but pipe could corrode or need replacing. Railing could go bad. All the stainless steel in the kitchen. Im not sure what goes on in an engine room but some repairs might need to be made there.I dont know all the specifics but that website got my hopes up.
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanMost cruise ships are less than a week from a major port.  The exception is when they are transiting.  Maintenance is scheduled.  If anyone has worked in a refinery, power plant or pulp mill they understand it is all scheduled.  A piece of equipment worth millions of dollars and costing hundreds of thousands to operate per day does not do anything without a plan.  Having a skilled welder would not be a reasonable expense on the payroll.   Emergency repairs are just that and done quickly while in port.  Refits happen every so many years and the crew are sent home.  At that time everything is inspected and repaired with the expectation that it will not have to be looked at for another four or five years.   It is important to understand that the majority of the crew are from places like the Phillipines, India, or Indonesia.  The hours of work are not stipulated by Western concepts of hours of work and overtime.   Most of the passengers on cruises are much like what I experienced driving cab in my youth.  I often would see fares that were spending what little they had to have the thrill of verbally abusing the cab driver.  It was their one moment in their life when they could give an order to someone.  Most Cruise passengers are there to be pampered and they really don't look at the crew.  If they did they would notice that the same face often appears in two or three different places at two or three different times doing two or three different tasks.      A modern engine room rarely has more than two crew or in some cases one crewman in attendance.  The chief engineer can monitor the whole works from the bridge.  The engineering crew would be chasing things like air conditioning, water handling and sewage, elevators and equipment lifts etc etc.  A marine engineer wears many hats including welder, electrician, and machinist.   I actually worked with a guy who took his marine engineer training in Holland and was destined to long years at sea for his apprenticeship until he decided Canada was a better choice.   If anyone is thinking of getting a job on a cruise ship think it over carefully.
Reply:If you learned underwater welding, you could work on cruise ships like the Costa Concordia."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:Originally Posted by OldendumIf you learned underwater welding, you could work on cruise ships like the Costa Concordia.
Reply:I don't think anything is functional.
Reply:Originally Posted by InsanerideEvery job sux, even blojqbs.  Its more important in what you do in your time off.  Cruise ship sounds fun if your young and dumb and looking for chicks
Reply:Sounds like being a carny... an ocean carny.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:IridebmxCruise Ship  -  take all personal tools, including your own crapper.Opus
Reply:I think you'd get better benefits and work environment joining the Navy.
Reply:Nearly all cruise ships are registered under "flags of convenience"  (countries with non-existant or less stringent requirements for crew qualifications, licensing, and no work rules for the crews). US flagged vessels come under the Jones Act, and under the US Coast Guard Bureau of Marine Inspection as far as crew qualifications and licensing. The ships are built to American Bureau of Shipping standards. Foreign flagged stuff is an accident waiting to happen. Crews are scraped up from wherever they can find people who will work cheaply and put up with what we would consider s--t conditions. It is not uncommon to have a crew which can barely understand each other, let alone know basic things like how to launch lifeboats, firefighting, or food handler/kitchen hygiene. The crew who speaks English are the waitstaff and people who interact with the passengers. Engine department can be a mix of people from Asia, South Asia (Pakistan, India, Arabic nations)...  Engine rooms are fairly well automated, and with gas turbine or diesel propulsion, the need of having skilled engine room people like firemen, oilers, watertenders or machinists is nil. On some US flagged  vessels on the Great Lakes, ore carriers, welding equipment was carried on board. There were fairly strict rules as to what could be repaired or modified by welding. ASME Code piping and repairs to the ships boilers were generally considered off limits. Stuff like cargo handling gear, hatch covers, handrails that got damaged and non-critical piping was the kind of repairs that were welded by the crew.  In later years, some shipping lines took the welding equipment off the ships as the port engineers felt it was too tempting for the Engineers to start modifying and making repairs to stuff that might require documentation and non destructive testing. The older ore carriers on the Lakes used to have DCSMAW welding power supplies and oxyacetylene outfits, along with an engine lathe, pipe threading machine, heavy drill press, and various other tools such as chainfalls, porta powers, grinders, mag based drills, stuff you'd find in the maintenance department of a powerplant ashore.I've read some interviews with crew members on foreign flagged cruise ships. Even in the engine department, they are under conditions worse than what US flagged ships subjected crews to during the Great Depression (for those ships still sailing). Years ago, knowing what the requirements were for US flagged vessels, and what US merchant marine personnel were about, I refused to ever take a cruise on a foreign flagged vessel. I'd sooner ship on a US flagged tug in heavy seas than aboard some floating hotel manned by a crew scraped up from the odd corners of the globe, with a skipper who is more concerned with social appearances than seamanship.  The incidences of dishwater diarrhea from improper galley sanitation, problems with going dead in the water (despite multiple redundancies and diesel plants), and generally lax or non-existant standards for safety at sea aside from the fact the crews are treated like they were on slave galleons are all reasons enough.  If you think you will enjoy the lavish buffets the passengers feed on, or get to put the moves on likely female passengers, forget it. You will be one shade from being chained down belowdecks, living in cramped crews quarters, forbidden to be seen on deck with the passengers. You will eat in a crews mess, you will not get remotely what the passengers are fed, and you will be berthed with whomever is available to fill the other racks in your room. The lights will burn 24/7 in your room since the other men sharing your room will be coming on and off watch at different times than you. If you bitch about it, the officers may not speak English, no rules or laws exist on a foreign flagged vessel to protect you, and if you bitch loud enough, you will be put ashore at the next port to find your way home. You will not be paid overtime, and if you get fired, you will not be paid at all and are on your own to get back to the good old USA. In the old days, when US merchant mariners got stranded in a foreign port, they went to the US COnsulate. The US Consulate would arrange to put them aboard the next US flagged vessel heading to the USA. The stranded US Merchant Mariners sailed home as "work aways", working their passage as ordinary seamen, or as coal passers/wipers. This usually meant chipping paint, painting, or scraping and cleaning bilges or some equally pleasant work. But, rules existed, and work aways were fed and returned to the USA. Nowadays, if you get put ashore from a foreign flagged vessel, you had better be able to afford to pay your fare home via some other means. Cruise ships are a cross between slave galleons, floating flop houses, and rust buckets. As the man says, if you want good conditions, training, and an opportunity to weld at sea, join the US Navy. I would bet the farm that the conditions, and the rights you will have, are infinitely better in the US Navy than on some foreign flagged cruise ship. I've slept like a baby aboard US flagged tugs and ore carriers that were old when I was born. I'd sooner smell diesel fuel and eat a fried egg sandwich on a tug that rode like a cork in a washing machine than take a trip on a cruise ship. I've shipped on vessels that burned coal, and had nothing remotely new or automatic on them, and slept soundly and ate good and knew the vessel and crew were sound and solid.  My family has tried for 30 years to wear me down into going on cruises, and even offered to buy my wife and me tickets, and I steadfastly refuse. We used to have a couple of names for cruise ships, and one that sticks is a c--t barge. I see the new generation of cruise ships, and they are ugly, not even having the classic lines of a good ship. Look like the main idea is to slab a luxury hotel onto a hull  and send it out to sea. Doesn't even look like it would be a good "sea keeping" hull in heavy seas, probably ride like a flat bottom jon boat. Year ago, also, we had another nickname for the Italian merchant marine, after the Achille Lauro incident: "Chicken of the Sea". A skipper who would yield his ship to pirates (Palestinian terrorists boarded his ship), and openly state he was in sympathy with the hijakcers/pirates (who pushed an elderly, wheelchair bound passenger overboard) is a disgrace to the traditions of the merchant marine. Then, we get the grandstanding wannabe skipper of the Costa Concordia, who continues the tradition.Stay ashore and weld in good conditions, and give up any notion you have of a soft berth, good food, walks on the deck with female passengers, and seeing the world by working on a cruise ship. There's no place like the good old USA. Sign aboard a foreign flagged vessel, and you are no longer on US soil, and once at sea, you are really at the mercy of whatever the shipping line and its officers care to do. A skipper and steward can decide to feed a crew dogfood and work them endlessly, running with less than a full complement of crew and pocketing the savings. If you want to ship, US flagged vessels are few and far between, and mostly cargo vessels. I agree the US Navy is probably the best way to approach getting good training, then getting to ship out under good conditions.
Reply:The wife and myself love to cruise.    We have 7 cruises under our belts and plan to continue as long as we can.  We normally cruise Carnival and one year we took a Behind the Scenes tour. We have gone through 8-12 ft swells (tropical storm Paula) and seen the gulf calm as glass.  The boats do not rock to the point like shallow bottom boats...they are quite comfortable and roll gently.....(btw ....I own a 25' Grady white with twins in the rear.....I know rough choppy water....i've been an avid boater my whole life.....)Back to the behind the scenes tour......Its neat because they take you throughout the ship including the bridge and engine control room.  The kitchens are literally stainless from wall to wall.  The crews quarters are not terrible...but decent.  Almost like a lower class cabin (a1).  Married couples that work on the boat together have their own staterooms and are equivalent of the nicer rooms on board. (group 4a).  They actually have a canister of condoms for the crew!!!  They insist the practice safe whoopee onboard!  I kid you not!  I was shocked at how open that is!  Many amenities are provided for the staff...... OK including buffets, medical treatment, game halls, private pools, etc...but you can't mingle with passengers.,.Going through the ship tour i noticed a few minor things that had been repaired here and there.  Some of those welds were tig..and some stick.   I could feel it wasn't shop done...more like a field repair.  Google up the Carnival Magic in January 2013 when it bumped the pier in Cozumel and out a small hole in the boat about 15' above the water line.   These guys set up scaffolding and welded it right up. (That occurred the week after we got off from this last trip.)I don't think  it would be the best place to work as a welder.....but hey...if the options aren't bad try it.   I don't think OSHA rules apply....but some sort of maritime safety rules have to be abided by....I'd rather work in a fab shop or something rather...but someone's gonna fill out that job ap and have fun.....why not give it a shot.....worst case quit!  ;-) remember its a job..not a vacation... But first you may wanna take a cruise and see first hand!
Reply:I talked to a ship employee last year on our cruise. She described a pretty bad life. They all do multiple jobs, work 12 hr shifts and near minimum wage to us in the US. She share a single bed in a small cabin without a window with another person working the opposite shift. After 3 12s, she got 12hrs off. Have you ever taken a cruise?? I think thats why all the employees are foreign. The US Dept of Labor would shut them down for working people that way. RGRG_______________________Hobart 187Northern Tool Plasma 375Harris 85 O/A Rig (Ireland)
Reply:Get a job on a crab boat.......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:The joys of sea life, a bunk warmed by another man, that just ran his batch and didnt change the sheets, nite-nite.
Reply:The only way I'd get on a cruse ship is if some put a gun to my head - - - literally a gun to my head. And then I'd still be looking to change that plan.Hey~!! It's a hobby. It's not supposed to make sense~!!