thanks never been there in 60 yrs
[B]PMI (Seattle) is offering a 4 day course in Las Vegas for $1,334[/B]
THIS COURSE IS OFFERED IN LAS VEGAS. DETAILS BELOW.
The four (4) day thirty-five (35) hour course (MITPMI-751) will cover all pertinent areas of senior leadership concepts, techniques and skills as currently reflected in academic writings and as collected from “real life” experiences of individuals who have been in positions of leadership. Additionally, the course provides communication, interpersonal conduct, and meeting/group interaction techniques and skills that assist and augment the attendee’s efforts to be a successful, safe, and effective leader.
This course will be presented at the Embassy Suites only 2 Miles form the Las Vegas Airport. The Hotel is offering a block of rooms from October 2nd-6th at a discounted rate of $93 USD per night. You can visit the customized web site to book the room by following this link: Embassy Suites Hotel - Las Vegas
In order to optimize travel schedules, this course will run 10 hour days for four days. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided at no additional charge.
To register for this course, please either call our Registrar, Mary McGhee at +1 206 441-2880 or click on the course date below and login to Register on-line.
Please note: This course is offered in Las Vegas and not Seattle (per below). We are currently working on fixing this website issue.
Delgado is a taxpayer supported community college. They are trying to make money on their courses, but they are not trying to rip anyone off. They exist to provide a service to the public. Delgado’s courses are among the most reasonably priced in the US, and they offer most courses frequently enough.
Fletcher and Young Memorial are the other community colleges with maritime courses in Louisiana. Their courses are also fairly priced. Unfortunately, New Orleans is a relatively expensive place to fly into, and hotels and car rentals will probably be more expensive than Fort Lauderdale or Vegas.
Clapstop Community College in Astoria, Oregon also offers among the most reasonably priced courses in the US, but the courses are not scheduled frequently enough. Astoria is a nice town.
One of the best and cheapest places to take Basic and Advanced Fire was the US MARAD Great Lakes Fire School in Toledo for only $150, but the anti-mariner Obama administration just closed it down in June. I also recall the Obama admin closing GMATS at KP about five years ago.
The maritime academies are among the most expensive course providers (even though we taxpayers support them) with very limited schedules, and frequent last minute cancellations.
AVTEC in Seward, Alaska is a good taxpayer supported school with a fairly decent schedule, but many of its courses are among the most expensive. You will be better off spending a few dollars more to stay in a hotel instead of the school dorms. Holiday Inn Express is my favorite. Flights to Anchorage are often a lot more reasonable than you might think. A course at AVTEC might be a good way to write off a most of vacation in Alaska.
International Crew Training in Fort Lauderdale is a good school and they will sometimes offer discounts or match lower prices from other schools. Some courses are not scheduled often enough.
MPT in Fort Lauderdale is a good mid-priced school and by far offers courses the most often. They have some very good hotel deals, Something Suites ???, but do NOT stay at Comfort Inn. They also have some cheap rooms in “crew houses.” Fort Lauderdale is one of the cheapest places to fly in to. You won’t need a car, but car rentals are also cheap. Meals are cheap too, and Fort Lauderdale is a fun place to visit, especially in the winter. MPT is a good choice for a lot of reasons, especially the course schedule.
Mid-Atlantic Maritime in Norfolk is a good school with a good schedule. They have some night courses that they run primarily for guys in the Navy. Sometimes it’s possible to take two courses in the same week, one during the day and the other at night. That can be a big time and money saver. Mid-Atlantic is one of the more expensive schools. They offer hotel deals, but don’t pick the cheapest hotel. Pick the hotel closest to the school. The hotel free shuttles will take you to school in the morning, but it is easy to get stuck in traffic for over an hour. In the afternoon you may wait 90 minutes to be picked up and then get stuck in traffic for an hour. Pick the hotel one mile from the school for a few extra bucks’ it’s worth it.
The Maritime Simulation Institute (USMRC.org) in Newport, RI is one of the oldest and very best schools. They also run the simulators at the Naval War College. The costs are a little above average, but it’s worth it. Newport is a very nice place. Seamen’s Church operates a cheap hostel for Mariner’s. There are lots of BnBs and hotels. Do Not stay in the cheapest motel near the school. The classes tend to be small, they never cancel, and you often get use of a full mission bridge simulator.
I like Seattle a lot and have spent a lot of time there, but it’s become a very expensive place to stay. The only reasonably priced hotel deals are out near the airport. That means a relatively expensive car rental and a lot of time stuck in city traffic. The desirable locations near the several schools are expensive. PMI (the MMP school) offers a lot of good courses, but they are expensive. If you are going to Crawford (the oldest and one of the best schools in the US) in the Wallingford neighborhood on Lake Union, Air BnB is probably your best bet for a place to stay close to the school.
I have found that some of the smaller schools are too likely to cancel courses, be unreliable, have poor facilities, and are generally half-ass. They do not save you any money, unless you live nearby.
Good summary of school options, tugsailor. As far as keeping the cost down while staying in NO, it is always cheaper to rent a car away from the airport. There is a city bus that runs downtown for about $2, and it goes right by an Enterprise car rental office on Airline Drive. No “Facility Charges” etc., there. Also, for a room it is worthwhile searching Priceline.com, hotels.com, etc for the best deals. Sometimes you can book directly with a hotel by quoting the online price and they will match it.
[QUOTE=water;188190]Good summary of school options, tugsailor. As far as keeping the cost down while staying in NO, it is always cheaper to rent a car away from the airport. There is a city bus that runs downtown for about $2, and it goes right by an Enterprise car rental office on Airline Drive. No “Facility Charges” etc., there. Also, for a room it is worthwhile searching Priceline.com, hotels.com, etc for the best deals. Sometimes you can book directly with a hotel by quoting the online price and they will match it.[/QUOTE]
I second that.
There is a modest quality hotel that you can walk to (if you don’t have too many bags and it’s not raining) right across the street from the New Orleans airport. Don’t take a taxi, there is a big rip off minimum charge. I have booked on Priceline right in that hotel lobby (Waffle House attached, can’t remember the hotel name) for substantial discounts. I always use Enterprise Rental Car. Delgado is in industrial East New Orleans far from the airport, however, Delgado runs some of its Leadership and Management courses in hotel conference rooms, mostly north of the Lake in Covington.
Tugsailor, great post. This is the kind of post/information that should be available for all newbies and anyone looking to upgrade or become compliant. Fortunately, I’ve been to MSI, MAMA and MPT. Your summary of the schools was great.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;188191]I second that.
There is a modest quality hotel that you can walk to (if you don’t have too many bags and it’s not raining) right across the street from the New Orleans airport. Don’t take a taxi, there is a big rip off minimum charge. I have booked on Priceline right in that hotel lobby [/QUOTE]
Days Inn, and they do have an Airport shuttle as an option.
If you book a room through Houston/Falck, they arrange a room for $75 a night, a block away from the school, and are right by the airport, so you don’t have to rent a car. Their is a shuttle to the hotel from the airport. The class is four days now also.
I’ll be attending Delgado in September. Note that I don’t live 15 minutes from MITAGS it’s not worth the extra course cost to go there. Anyone have class reviews for Delgado?
If Houston Marine in Kenner dropped it to 600$ AND 4 days there is no reason to go to Delgado. Never have to drive a car once. Free ride from the Airport to the La Quinta hotel. “discount rate” through the school, walk 500’ to class each day if you want and everything is there, entertainment, restaurants, grocery stores, bars, barber shops, casino etc. Safe place to be. Great time in New Orleans and you never have to step foot on Bourbon Street. However, if you’re a heavy hitter, then getting to Bourbon is easy too.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;188432]I’ll be attending Delgado in September. Note that I don’t live 15 minutes from MITAGS it’s not worth the extra course cost to go there. Anyone have class reviews for Delgado?[/QUOTE]
Had a full class there last fall, and all in attendance gave it good reviews. The instructor was ex-USCG, but not sure if the same instructor is there.
The biggest waste of time and money I have ever experienced. I took the class at NE Maritime which is a great place with a great staff but the curriculum was such a joke. I felt bad for the instructor that had to “teach” us about leadership and management. It was nauseating.
On top of that the “role playing” in the simulator was beyond pathetic. Trying to get professionals to act “unprofessional” in a professional environment was such a stretch and somewhat insulting. I’ts not the schools fault or the instructors fault it’s just the cards they were dealt I guess.
[QUOTE=DBMVI;188476]The biggest waste of time and money I have ever experienced. I took the class at NE Maritime which is a great place with a great staff but the curriculum was such a joke. I felt bad for the instructor that had to “teach” us about leadership and management. It was nauseating.
On top of that the “role playing” in the simulator was beyond pathetic. Trying to get professionals to act “unprofessional” in a professional environment was such a stretch and somewhat insulting. I’ts not the schools fault or the instructors fault it’s just the cards they were dealt I guess.[/QUOTE]
What you described is not the minimum Coast Guard required curriculum, especially the simulator bit. (Even if the school says otherwise). The school designed the curriculum, so it is not “the cards they were dealt.”
[QUOTE=DBMVI;188476]The biggest waste of time and money I have ever experienced. I took the class at NE Maritime which is a great place with a great staff but the curriculum was such a joke. I felt bad for the instructor that had to “teach” us about leadership and management. It was nauseating.
On top of that the “role playing” in the simulator was beyond pathetic. Trying to get professionals to act “unprofessional” in a professional environment was such a stretch and somewhat insulting. I’ts not the schools fault or the instructors fault it’s just the cards they were dealt I guess.[/QUOTE]
One of the elements of leadership is to take responsibility and not blame others, If they blame the CG for a poor curriculum NE Martime fails in that regard. Another is to be able to motivate, if they couldn’t get anyone to particapte in the role-playing seems that wasn’t happening. Communication is an important element, seems they were not able to communicate the basics of leadership to the students.
Maybe your instructor had poor leadership skills.
[QUOTE=jdcavo;188520]What you described is not the minimum Coast Guard required curriculum, especially the simulator bit. (Even if the school says otherwise). The school designed the curriculum, so it is not “the cards they were dealt.”[/QUOTE]
Yes I suppose that’s correct but It seemed a bit funny to me that one of the topics that came up very frequently in the class was “time management”. Every sailor in the class grumbled about this topic and how this class was a complete waste of “time” and how it made “time management” even that much more difficult. We work many months of the year at sea and when we finally have some home/family time (plus all of the other stuff we have to take care of while we are ashore) we have to attend a silly class such as this…I hear these complaints from many different people on this subject no matter what school they attended to take such a course…It just seems that our “time” and money could be used in a much better fashion.
The L&M course I took at PMI in Seattle was by far the best soft skills course I have ever taken. I went hoping it would not be a complete waste of 5 days off and was pleased that it wasn’t. They had a good curriculum but most importantly, the instructor did a fantastic job of leading the class through the course. I think it was also helpful that the students were from all walks of the industry-shoreside, tugs, dredges, ferries, cruise ships, research ships, drillships, OSVs.
Well that’s reassuring! Thanks for the info.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;188432]I’ll be attending Delgado in September. Note that I don’t live 15 minutes from MITAGS it’s not worth the extra course cost to go there. Anyone have class reviews for Delgado?[/QUOTE]
I just took the class at Delgado 3 weeks ago. Ex Gulfmark Capt teaching the class. Alot of class participation. Really cant say I got anything out of the class that comes to mind. The reason I chose there was because it was 4 days, compared to other places being 5 days. Really nice facility (new).
Not the greatest hotels close by.
There was about 25 people in class. Wide diversity in class.
I thought I remembered someone mentioning there was a reasonably priced (~$60) hotel near Delgado’s fire school. Does anyone have any more info on this?
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;187928]I’m glad my last expired paper license is hanging on my office wall and won’t ever hang on a bulkhead again. I forgot where the little red book ended up. The message I get from all this endless BS is that hawsepipers will soon become a dying breed.[/QUOTE]
Looks like I was one of the last hawsepipers to get in. And find an employer who pays for updates. Can you imagine trying to start now, from scratch? You’d need a bank loan. A big one. I’m talking at least 10k just to become employable. It’s a big barrier to entry.