A lot of the guys on forum on here are looking for ways to work and make some good money and then travel with an extended lot of time. After my few years in Las Vegas, I decided to make some drastic changes to my lifestyle and financial future. I was looking for a way to make some good money and travel as well.
I know most people were thinking of just the two weeks they get when taking typical 9-5 job but I wanted to travel for a few months at time while making good money. The forums on here have had some interesting ways to make money mostly internet, and oil related jobs. For me the internet route was something you would have to learn on your own and would take time without any guidance and without any serious savings or income it would be even harder. The oil industry sounded good but the places it would take you did not seem appealing.
One job that I remembered talking to someone about was the possibility of was becoming a merchant mariner. Merchant Mariners work on large ships such as container ships, oil tankers, and cruise ships throughout the world. They basically work on contracts for certain periods of time and make certain amount of money for that time. They also get to travel to places that have large ports such as Australia, Europe, all over pretty much.
Now let’s get down to the details of working on these contracts. There are many types of contracts that you can work for. The ships have to either hire foreign crew members or US crew members depending on where the ship is flagged or based out of. If the ship is based out of the US they have to hire only US crew and if not they can hire any foreign crew. The ships that hire only foreign crew members don’t pay crap unless you’re the captain or officers.
The US based ships hire for themselves or through unions that have been around forever in the US.
What do you need:
MMC (Merchant Mariner Credential) This is basically a passport for US citizens that are working on large US only ships. You apply through the US Coast Guard and they do a basic background check and give your credential. The cost of this about $140.
TWIC Card: Transportation Workers ID Card, this card is authorized for working ports and is issued from the TSA. Basic Background Check and costs about $130.00 bucks.
If you have any serious felonies or drug charges you’re pretty much not getting one of these but pretty simple otherwise. You apply and get background check and the documents come in the mail in a few weeks sometimes these can take a few months.
What Next: The next step is you have get some training such basic firefighting and water survival classes. You can take these classes through a third party provider by just looking up STCW certifications.
So at this point you’re consider merchant mariner and you can basically work on ship that will hire you. The other two options at this point is join a union or go look for work on your own. The main merchant mariner union is called the SIU union or Seafarers International Union. There are some others but for the sake of this post I will save you the time.
If you decide to join the SIU union they have an apprentice training program you can go through they will guide you through the process of getting proper documentations and training. The only downside to the program is that you will not get paid very much. The program takes 9 months and you get paid pretty much nothing, probably less than 5 bucks and hour. You will also have to pay for you own documents and physical which has upfront cost of about $1000 plus the uniforms so total about $1400 to start.
The benefit of course you get process finished and you get to start working on the ships right away. You also get to higher seniority in the union giving you jobs over lesser ranked union members.
You can still join the union without having to go through the program but you start out much lower on the ranked member and the jobs pretty much suck at this level but you do get paid more on this level but just jobs are harder to come by. If you decide to go through this route you’re consider a ‘C’ book or level union member. The next level up so to speak is the ‘B’ level where you get more advanced training and get better paid on the ship contracts because of this.
How much do you get paid???
This is the question I guess everyone is asking or thinking. The contracts are paid differently depending on your level of certification and seniority just like any other job. If do not go through the program and just entry level work you’re making anywhere from $2000-$4000 a month depending on contract and what they are doing. If you get up a ‘B’ level status in the union the contracts are paid up $7000 to $10,000 a month, so pretty substantial amount of money if you are working three month contracts. The best part of the contracts is that you work when you want and you need money just working a few months on a contract take your money travel without thousands in your pocket.
The one other option also is working on cruise ships. Unfortunately, they do not pay this well. The pay is dependent on the position and you pretty much working for minimum wage if you’re working for a cruise line. I highly recommend that you join a union and go through the ranks from there.
There a lot of details I left out for time reasons but I will try and answer everyone’s questions from this post. Unfortunately, my internet connection is limited but I will try and answer every question.
I know most people were thinking of just the two weeks they get when taking typical 9-5 job but I wanted to travel for a few months at time while making good money. The forums on here have had some interesting ways to make money mostly internet, and oil related jobs. For me the internet route was something you would have to learn on your own and would take time without any guidance and without any serious savings or income it would be even harder. The oil industry sounded good but the places it would take you did not seem appealing.
One job that I remembered talking to someone about was the possibility of was becoming a merchant mariner. Merchant Mariners work on large ships such as container ships, oil tankers, and cruise ships throughout the world. They basically work on contracts for certain periods of time and make certain amount of money for that time. They also get to travel to places that have large ports such as Australia, Europe, all over pretty much.
Now let’s get down to the details of working on these contracts. There are many types of contracts that you can work for. The ships have to either hire foreign crew members or US crew members depending on where the ship is flagged or based out of. If the ship is based out of the US they have to hire only US crew and if not they can hire any foreign crew. The ships that hire only foreign crew members don’t pay crap unless you’re the captain or officers.
The US based ships hire for themselves or through unions that have been around forever in the US.
What do you need:
MMC (Merchant Mariner Credential) This is basically a passport for US citizens that are working on large US only ships. You apply through the US Coast Guard and they do a basic background check and give your credential. The cost of this about $140.
TWIC Card: Transportation Workers ID Card, this card is authorized for working ports and is issued from the TSA. Basic Background Check and costs about $130.00 bucks.
If you have any serious felonies or drug charges you’re pretty much not getting one of these but pretty simple otherwise. You apply and get background check and the documents come in the mail in a few weeks sometimes these can take a few months.
What Next: The next step is you have get some training such basic firefighting and water survival classes. You can take these classes through a third party provider by just looking up STCW certifications.
So at this point you’re consider merchant mariner and you can basically work on ship that will hire you. The other two options at this point is join a union or go look for work on your own. The main merchant mariner union is called the SIU union or Seafarers International Union. There are some others but for the sake of this post I will save you the time.
If you decide to join the SIU union they have an apprentice training program you can go through they will guide you through the process of getting proper documentations and training. The only downside to the program is that you will not get paid very much. The program takes 9 months and you get paid pretty much nothing, probably less than 5 bucks and hour. You will also have to pay for you own documents and physical which has upfront cost of about $1000 plus the uniforms so total about $1400 to start.
The benefit of course you get process finished and you get to start working on the ships right away. You also get to higher seniority in the union giving you jobs over lesser ranked union members.
You can still join the union without having to go through the program but you start out much lower on the ranked member and the jobs pretty much suck at this level but you do get paid more on this level but just jobs are harder to come by. If you decide to go through this route you’re consider a ‘C’ book or level union member. The next level up so to speak is the ‘B’ level where you get more advanced training and get better paid on the ship contracts because of this.
How much do you get paid???
This is the question I guess everyone is asking or thinking. The contracts are paid differently depending on your level of certification and seniority just like any other job. If do not go through the program and just entry level work you’re making anywhere from $2000-$4000 a month depending on contract and what they are doing. If you get up a ‘B’ level status in the union the contracts are paid up $7000 to $10,000 a month, so pretty substantial amount of money if you are working three month contracts. The best part of the contracts is that you work when you want and you need money just working a few months on a contract take your money travel without thousands in your pocket.
The one other option also is working on cruise ships. Unfortunately, they do not pay this well. The pay is dependent on the position and you pretty much working for minimum wage if you’re working for a cruise line. I highly recommend that you join a union and go through the ranks from there.
There a lot of details I left out for time reasons but I will try and answer everyone’s questions from this post. Unfortunately, my internet connection is limited but I will try and answer every question.