![]() It will indeed be interesting to see what happens over the next five to ten years to the US Flag Fleet, many of them are at end of life but as long as the Jones Act is in place, then replacement tonnage is probably likely. He was featured on a discovery channel special on them building cruise liners as he frequently gets involved with their new builds now. He and several of my classmates got into the Cruise Industry when there were three US Flag Cruise Ships that served the Hawaiian trade. Evans Hoyt who does indeed sail as a Master for RCCL. I'm pretty sure Sprog is actually referring to a classmate of mine - Capt. Many shy away from those jobs because they can make more elsewhere, even in this down economy. As to your original question I do know that Celebrity Cruise Lines has actually recruited at USMMA the past couple of years. as cmakin notes the US Flag Fleet has been declining for years but overall it is just a cyclic industry - as the world economy recovers more opportunities will surface. ![]() That said from the sound of it you have a lot going for you and should look at all of them if you are interested in a Maritime Career. My understanding is some of the State Maritime Academies, specifically SUNY-Maritime College, California Maritime and Massachussets Maritime Academy are at least slightly more difficult to get into then they were say 10 years ago. USMMA is in my opinion about the same as it always was to get into. The academies have adjusted their class size in a reponse to demand. That isn't to say, however that one cannot achieve their goal of a Captain's or Chief Engineer's berth on a US flag cargo/tank vessel. That "Holy Grail" postion of a cruise/passenger ship captain just may not be a practial possibility. This is not to say that a motivated youth cannot succeed, but it IS to say that there are not the opportunities to go to sea that there once were. Much of the US flag fleet is still around because of the Jones Act. ![]() Even a major US company, American President Lines was purchased by a Singapore based company (although they do maintain a US flag fleet). US owners and ship operators have been flagging out vessels for some time. The US maritime industry has been dealing with "outsourcing" of jobs long before the rest of the country's industries. When the operating subsidies were dropped in the early 80s, many companies folded. US flag shipping has been in decline for decades. It is less a factor of our current economy and more a factor of the larger world economy. This was AFTER his initial five years serving the US maritime industry. If you search the forums, you'll see that a USMMA grad sailed for Cunard a few years ago. I also don't think you'll make as much $$$ as if you sailed on an American ship, but you may not care. If you still want to work on a cruise ship, luck as well as your qualifications may play into it. So it is possible.Īfter your service obligation is up, you can do whatever you want. Depending on the line, the officers are usually Dutch, Greek, Italian, or Norwegian with a few other nationalities here and there. One ship did have a Canadian master, for whatever that's worth. For my own recreation, I have sailed on a few cruise ships recently and there were no Americans in the deck or engine departments (I will usually ask a senior officer onboard about it). There are a few here and there, but very few. This doesn't mean that there are no American officers. A bit of a search on Google reveals that it is much the same today. From my understanding (I looked into this when I was in high school years ago), companies like RCCL or HAL or whatever have recruiting programs in place in a few European countries, and they take deck/engine cadets from there. There are very few American officers on foreign-flagged cruise ships.
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