They seem to recognize that they are in a service industry! As explained below, I highly recommend MAMA even though I have not stepped foot on their facility.
I found myself needing to take two STCW crowd control courses within the next three weeks before going overseas. I called everywhere. But nobody was offering the course.
Then I heard about someone being in a similar situation who took their crowd control courses at Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy (MAMA). MAMA put together a private course for this other person and charged a very reasonable premium for the private class.
I called MAMA and explained my situation. They were extremely helpful and are willing to work with me to take care of my course needs - even if I am the only student.
I spoke with a woman named Robin who was very helpful. She even returned phone calls when she said she would!
p.s. I took most of my STCW courses at Maritime Professional Training in Fort Lauderdale. They did not return my phone call for four consecutive days.
They are a good place to take classes. I have received similar results from them during Chief Mate/Maser STCW courses and ARPA assessments fro M-5-1A, B and C.
I was searching for a place to take a LG tankerman course this past Sep/Oct, and MAMA was the only place that would offer it to me. After numerous conversations and e-mails making sure they would indeed offer the course even if I was the only person to take it, I signed up. I declined an offer from my company to take the course in Norway, and told them that I can take the course in the US during my vacation and have my LG endorsement in time so I can join the ship in time to relieve the 3/M. After a nice 8hr drive from NJ all the way down to lovely VB, I walk in and the lady directs me to the classroom. Hmm…this is DL tankerman. Again I tell her I am to take LG, not DL. She has no clue what I am talking about. After a while I find out the class hasn’t been held in years due to lack of interest (like I thought), and the lady at the front hadn’t told any administrative staff about someone trying to take the LG tankerman class, as she thought both tankerman classes were the same.
Actually, they owned up to making the mistake, and did whatever they could to rectify the situation. sh*t happens, I would still go there if I had the chance to take another course there.
From what I here, they are good, but I’ve also heard that they let students out extremely early from some courses because the material is covered. If they continue to do this, they will lose their CG approval when they get caught. You have to get the classroom hours in which the course was approved - material covered, or not.