and they decide that Americans are too lazy and too overpaid. Some comments are thoughtful but others are just plain ignorant and offensive and reflect the mindset that is killing the Jones Act with the death by a thousand cuts:
Imho i think Americans aren’t much for seafaring.… Many want a family and work 9-5 jobs. Not making a sweeping generalization there are the career military, as well as over-the-road truck drivers who aren’t always home, but otherwise i dont think the vast majority consider jobs at sea.
Countries like Italy have maritime life at sea in their blood….
Somebody needs to find this putz and make him eat those words along with a size 12 Redwing boot in his teeth!
This is the ignorance which pervades the thoughts of the majority people of this nation and working at sea. This is why we have a David Matsuda and the MarAd we do!
[QUOTE=c.captain;99407]here’s one reply from that thread
Somebody needs to find this putz and make him eat those words along with a size 12 Redwing boot in his teeth!
This is the ignorance which pervades the thoughts of the majority people of this nation and working at sea. This is why we have a David Matsuda and the MarAd we do![/QUOTE]
This is a person in MERCHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA saying that? An American? Really? And people wonder why Republicans think these damn hippies hate America. THEY SURE MAKE IT HARD NOT TO BELIEVE THAT. We should be deporting people like that right along side all those other illegal aliens, maybe some other country wants them, I sure don’t.
[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;99413]This is a person in MERCHANICSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA saying that? An American? Really? And people wonder why Republicans think these damn hippies hate America. THEY SURE MAKE IT HARD NOT TO BELIEVE THAT. We should be deporting people like that right along side all those other illegal aliens, maybe some other country wants them, I sure don’t.[/QUOTE]
You’d be surprised how many Americans spout this crap, and pig pile on hard working fellow Americans who want a living wage. They come from both sides of the aisle. I replied to them but I doubt anything I said will sink in. You can’t use the language they deserve there because the moderator will delete it. What a bunch of butthurt crybabies.
Wait… What!!! What did I miss? Who’s this idiot saying eyetalians is great seamans? This a cruise industry bashing forum this fella is ranting on? If so ain’t they some threads on dat forum about that eyetalian captain that what come up and fell in a lifeboat. How does this fella come to the conclusion most Americans don’t wanna go to sea and would rather work a 9 to 5er? Sounds like a preponderance of ignorance up in Pennsylvania.
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;99424]Wait… What!!! What did I miss? Who’s this idiot saying eyetalians is great seamans? This a cruise industry bashing forum this fella is ranting on? If so ain’t they some threads on dat forum about that eyetalian captain that what come up and fell in a lifeboat. How does this fella come to the conclusion most Americans don’t wanna go to sea and would rather work a 9 to 5er? Sounds like a preponderance of ignorance up in Pennsylvania.[/QUOTE]
Nononono, not a bashing forum, just a forum where they talk about everything regarding cruising. I was lurking there just to read but then I came across the aforementioned crap.
cathearder…ru us mariner there? If so, then good on you mate!
us mariner
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1
I have lurked here for some time and now feel compelled to post.
Some of the comments regarding American merchant mariners are extremely inaccurate and downright offensive.
We are still around, people, and we are not lazy nor are we overpaid. Your cruise ships are staffed with European officers and qualified non-licensed ratings, and Euro/Asian hotel staff because the ships are registered in foreign countries and the owners can therefore hire non-Americans.
For dirt cheap.
That does not make Americans overpaid. It means non-Americans are underpaid. Don’t try that old saw about how they make more than the average worker back where they come from. They get stiffed out of wages, tips, and overtime so frequently it would make your head spin. I know. I’ve talked to enough of them. US labor laws need not apply.
And that’s how you get to sail multiple times a year as some of you do, because cruising is no longer a pastime for the wealthy or upper middle class. You wanted cheap, you got cheap. Cheap clothes, cheap electronics, cheap cars, cheap houses, cheap vacations. Let an American worker ask for a raise and he’s automatically a “union thug.”
Eventually, though, everyone will be making third world wages and even cheap recreation will be a thing of the past.
Waaay too much time on the internet. But those idiots needed a word or three.[/QUOTE]
Please keep us informed of the response you get, if any. I would be very interested to hear what the laymen, who know nothing but think they know everything, have to say. I can’t wait!
Americans are arrogant? These people have obviously never worked with Italians, or Greeks for that matter. I have seen first hand how arrogant the Greeks are in the engine department. They think they are above the rest and refuse to get dirty.
These people claim that the cruise ship companies cant afford us, but they can and its all about profit margin. Some of the foreign crews work for less than minimum wage and they think we ask too much? None of those people complaining would work for those wages. If they did they could not afford those luxury cruises they are going on.
You know actually Royal Caribbean and their subsidiaries have several American Mariner Officers on their ships. They aren’t all European. I always found it very strange when you read their forums and they always say that the captain was Canadian instead of from the US. I always post and correct them. People are just screwed up self hating sheep. They believe anything that they are told.
[QUOTE=captaint76;99457]You know actually Royal Caribbean and their subsidiaries have several American Mariner Officers on their ships. They aren’t all European. I always found it very strange when you read their forums and they always say that the captain was Canadian instead of from the US. I always post and correct them. People are just screwed up self hating sheep. They believe anything that they are told.[/QUOTE]
RCCL’s director of marine operations, fleet captain, whatever you want to call him is an American too! Granted I think he might have grown up in Norway or something like that, but he sounds like an American so that’s a start. I’ll be honest though, as far as the rest of the fleet is concerned I would be surprised to hear that there were any more than a handful of other Americans floating around.
You are correct. Until recently Capt. Bill Wright was their operations guy. He just decided to return to sea as master on the Radiance of the Seas. An Argentinian by the name of Hernan Zini took over the office position. Capt. Wright grew up in south Florida. His mother is Norwegian and he has dual citizenship and has lived between the two countries. There is one by the name of James McDonald too and a couple more but their names escape me at the moment. Even a couple of their Norwegian officers are now US citizens and live in the states. One in Louisville, KY.
I was piloting the foreign flagged cruise ship Celebrity Century today. Celebrity is owned by RCCL I believe. The Chief Mate was from SUNY Maritime, the Environmental Officer and an Assistant Engineer were both from Mass Maritime. The Mate told me its a fun job, very demanding, 7.5 months a year at sea, he can have a social life dating the crew (show girls etc…) great training on a lot of high quality and high tech equipment, lots of management skill development… Works more hours than U.S. flag and makes about half the pay. Serves as an “at will” employee and can be fired at any moment without cause. Minimal benefits.
But he’s happy, looks like a million bucks… And did I mention the show girls?
[QUOTE=captaint76;99457]You know actually Royal Caribbean and their subsidiaries have several American Mariner Officers on their ships. They aren’t all European. I always found it very strange when you read their forums and they always say that the captain was Canadian instead of from the US. I always post and correct them. People are just screwed up self hating sheep. They believe anything that they are told.[/QUOTE]
I was on the Carnival sub-forum. I think Carnival attracts a certain passenger demographic, if you get my drift.
I think there are a few Yanks on Celebrity and NCL ships also, just not many of them, as I hinted in my thread title there.
[QUOTE=Starboard Ten;99489]I was piloting the foreign flagged cruise ship Celebrity Century today. Celebrity is owned by RCCL I believe. The Chief Mate was from SUNY Maritime, the Environmental Officer and an Assistant Engineer were both from Mass Maritime. The Mate told me its a fun job, very demanding, 7.5 months a year at sea, he can have a social life dating the crew (show girls etc…) great training on a lot of high quality and high tech equipment, lots of management skill development… Works more hours than U.S. flag and makes about half the pay. Serves as an “at will” employee and can be fired at any moment without cause. Minimal benefits.
But he’s happy, looks like a million bucks… And did I mention the show girls?[/QUOTE]
Hey, you gotta be happy in life. You only go around once. When they get older and settle down they may find job security and good pay more alluring than show girls
