To quote the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been." Okay, different kind of trip.... I'm going to split this among several posts so it's easier to read.
So our son’s ship is due in California sometime in the next few days, after which he will return to KP (I’m hoping against hope that he might make it home for a few days) for the remainder of his studies. He’s literally sailed around the world, and we are the proud owners of things like a silk wall hanging from Japan, a wooden mask from Honduras, two prayer rugs from Saudi Arabia, and a full Bedouin headdress. (Looking forward to what comes home from India and Korea.) For the benefit of parents here who are going to be sending their DS or DD off on their sea year, I thought I’d post a “review” of sea year from a parent’s perspective. Similar to the warnings I give in other reviews (I post reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor), just know that “your mileage may vary.” No two sea years are alike.
DS is a 2013 B-splitter. His first sea term was July-October 2010, second was March-October 2011. For his first sea term, he sailed late due to summer school (thanks to Calc 2). His ship was a MSC oiler sailing out of Guam; the ship couldn’t take a deckie on first sea term, so son and his sea partner had to split up, with sea partner assigned to a MSC ship in the Middle East instead. New sea partner (another engine cadet) was great. Son and sea partner first flew from NYC to Norfolk to do MSC processing, then Norfolk to Guam via Tokyo. (Word of caution here: be careful when packing bags. Son’s bag was overweight, and despite his having orders from KP, Delta would not take the overweight bag. Son had to buy another bag in Norfolk and transfer items to that second bag to meet the weight requirements.)
So our son’s ship is due in California sometime in the next few days, after which he will return to KP (I’m hoping against hope that he might make it home for a few days) for the remainder of his studies. He’s literally sailed around the world, and we are the proud owners of things like a silk wall hanging from Japan, a wooden mask from Honduras, two prayer rugs from Saudi Arabia, and a full Bedouin headdress. (Looking forward to what comes home from India and Korea.) For the benefit of parents here who are going to be sending their DS or DD off on their sea year, I thought I’d post a “review” of sea year from a parent’s perspective. Similar to the warnings I give in other reviews (I post reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor), just know that “your mileage may vary.” No two sea years are alike.
DS is a 2013 B-splitter. His first sea term was July-October 2010, second was March-October 2011. For his first sea term, he sailed late due to summer school (thanks to Calc 2). His ship was a MSC oiler sailing out of Guam; the ship couldn’t take a deckie on first sea term, so son and his sea partner had to split up, with sea partner assigned to a MSC ship in the Middle East instead. New sea partner (another engine cadet) was great. Son and sea partner first flew from NYC to Norfolk to do MSC processing, then Norfolk to Guam via Tokyo. (Word of caution here: be careful when packing bags. Son’s bag was overweight, and despite his having orders from KP, Delta would not take the overweight bag. Son had to buy another bag in Norfolk and transfer items to that second bag to meet the weight requirements.)