[QUOTE=Saltine;142331]I’m not busting your balls or trying to be a smart ass but this goes back to a post I made months back. People these days don’t know what it’s like to “go to sea.” Being a mariner means going out to sea and losing touch with the shore based world for periods of time. Things have changed a lot in the last 10 plus years and I understand they will continue to change. If not being able to call home every day would be a “deal breaker” you probably need to consider another profession.[/QUOTE]
Well, you are kinda busting my balls there. I don’t believe I specified every day.
People these days also don’t know what it’s like to die from minor infections, because these days we have antibiotics.
When my grandfather sailed for Lykes, a postcard from a foreign port was quite the treat.
Expectations change apace with technological innovation, I’m guessing.
Most companies that I work for do not provide internet onboard. I want it So does everyone else. Most of us work about 60 days on. That’s along time to go without internet.
What does it actually cost the company to provide reasonable crew internet?
I was on a boat a few months ago with Direct TV and every sports and movie channel. It was a huge moral booster. What does that cost?
[QUOTE=acesouthcoast;142330]We have wifi aboard the vessel i work on and its a huge morale booster. Skyping the wife once a week and streaming music makes life a little more normal when youre far from friends amd loved ones for an extended period. And whats the deal with certain companies blocking porn? Thats cruel.[/QUOTE]
We aren’t allowed to stream anything. It pays to take a big music collection on a portable hard drive.
It is nice to be able to post here whilst off the coast of California, though (we’re somewhere between Eureka and Fort Bragg).
Not gonna comment on the last one except to say that portable hard drives hold all kinds of files there, friend. Invest in one.
I mean what the hell else do you do the day before you go back? Download a stash of fresh entertainment, unless you’re not into entertainment.
Basic email and web access is really a necessity especially if you’re coastwise and can get a cell signal for an air card. In my trade someone usually has an unlimited plan air card we pay into as a crew and run through a wifi router. Company provides one for company business but looks the other way if it only gets used for “PG” and low bandwidth use.
[QUOTE=Tugted;142500]I guess y’all can’t chip in on satellite radio??[/QUOTE]
I suppose others could do so if they want, but I really don’t need to stream anything.
I am well equipped with a laptop, 2TB external hard drive, iPhone, video iPod, some 10,000 songs, videos, a CD wallet with a few more movies, and a Kindle which I load up with magazines and new books before I leave.
One thing I do make sure of is that when we enter Canadian waters I put the phone in “airplane” mode because if my phone finds a Canadian network I’ll get a big roaming bill. It’s happened to me before.
[QUOTE=catherder;142512]I suppose others could do so if they want, but I really don’t need to stream anything.
I am well equipped with a laptop, 2TB external hard drive, iPhone, video iPod, some 10,000 songs, videos, a CD wallet with a few more movies, and a Kindle which I load up with magazines and new books before I leave.
One thing I do make sure of is that when we enter Canadian waters I put the phone in “airplane” mode because if my phone finds a Canadian network I’ll get a big roaming bill. It’s happened to me before.
:o[/QUOTE]
I buy Canada minutes as a cheap add on to my cell plan. I talk, email, and web surf as much as I want to in Canada (when i can get a signal).
Saltine- your statement leads me to believe you don’t actually work on a vessel that is out of cell/internet range for extended periods of time. Anyone that actually spends half there life or more at sea would never make an argument against keeping touch with family and friends ashore.
You’re not a sailor until you go out to sea for months and cant call your wife for months and then go home and find her in bed with another man. Duhhhhh. Don’t you know?
Hahaha! Then I guess i should apply for a job on the beach cuz that sounds awful! All kidding aside, I tip my hat to the guys who worked offshore before internet/cell phones and email. Must have been a huge challenge to family and loved ones. Having worked offshore for a little over ten years I never had to experience that kind of life and I consider myself lucky.
[QUOTE=txh2oman;142475]Expectations change apace with technological innovation, I’m guessing.[/QUOTE]
Not only that. Most of the romanticism associated with working on a ship has disappeared over the years. Today, it’s just a job among others, and you can’t just walk to the port and ask for a job on any ship when you wanted to “escape to the sea”.
[QUOTE=acesouthcoast;142529]Hahaha! Then I guess i should apply for a job on the beach cuz that sounds awful! All kidding aside, I tip my hat to the guys who worked offshore before internet/cell phones and email. Must have been a huge challenge to family and loved ones. Having worked offshore for a little over ten years I never had to experience that kind of life and I consider myself lucky.[/QUOTE]
I have worked with quite a few of those guys. Most are on 3rd or 4th marriages and are estranged from their now adult children.
I would think there also is a business case for hiring and retaining folks who are in stable family relationships and/or are able to take care of their business at home at least periodically. In the Army we had family support groups back home when we were deployed - not because the green machine particularly cared about our families, but because they wanted us focused on our mission.
The simple fact if the matter in my mind is companies want total communication at all times with the vessel, and gig upon gig of paperwork sent in on a regular basis.
If they can have that and on the other hand turn and say it’s to expensive for me to make a goodnight call to my fiancé for ten minutes, then I start to wonder if working there is worth it.
There is no going away to sea anymore, we are wired into the office 24/7, and push as much paper as the lady at the RMV.
“The cannons don’t thunder, and there’s nothing to plunder…so give me a fucking sat phone”
I miss the good old days when we called in morning reports on the SSB. Half of the time the office could not pick us up, and if they really wanted to know where we were they had to call Peggy (WBH29) at Kodiak and ask her where we were. There was no paperwork.
I don’t miss standing in line two hours for a pay phone to call home during port calls about once a month. I don’t care so much about phone calls, but I want my email and internet access at least once a week.
Like I said, set aside a couple hours the day before you go back and do some downloading, so much quality HD out there nowadays you can plunder for free. I don’t mind other stuff but I don’t want the IT monkeys at work snooping into what kind of entertainment I enjoy. At least at home you have some “expectation of privacy” no matter how minimal or beat up by the NSA it is.
These days it’s not an escape, it’s a prison both at sea and in port. With AIS trackers the old lady always knows when you pulled into port, how long you were there and when to call to make sure you’re not contributing her money to the local economy.
[QUOTE=acesouthcoast;142529]Hahaha! Then I guess i should apply for a job on the beach cuz that sounds awful! All kidding aside, I tip my hat to the guys who worked offshore before internet/cell phones and email. Must have been a huge challenge to family and loved ones. Having worked offshore for a little over ten years I never had to experience that kind of life and I consider myself lucky.[/QUOTE]
I remember the only entertainment offshore was to go listen to the VHF radio and all the poor guys trying to call their wives/girlfriends late on a weekend night and then get into a big fight because they were out partying and he’s stuck offshore. I think the internet and cell phones would have helped.
Oh man, how many marriages I’ve heard disintegrate by way of marine operator. All the FNG’s find out you can call home from the radio. Piss everyone off calling collect looking for their girlfriend. Chain smoking and pacing all around the boat for weeks without going to the dock. Meanwhile the rest of us have watched the same 10 VHS movies in the lounge for 28 days straight to drown out his bitching.