There is often no communication from those that you work for detailing what you are doing, why you are doing it, or how long it might take. You are discouraged from asking questions that might get those answers. The working atmosphere produces plenty of superficial safeguards against equal opportunity issues but as soon as you put these safeguards into effect it comes back to bite you by creating hostility from your superiors, whom you live with every 4th day in port, and all day everyday out to sea. Speaking of going out to sea, the operation tempo is going to be high, you will spend far more time at sea than at home. Essentially, if you have or planned on having a family, you will not get to see them all that much. Generally, you will be out for 2 weeks and then in for 2, then out 4 and in 3 then out 2 months then in for a few weeks, then you will be gone for around 6 months. After you get back from that you will get a few months before you start it over again. The in port working hours are officially 6a-3p where I worked, but we usually left at 6p in the evening with a great many days that we work until 8p, 10p, 11p, sometimes even midnight. Out to sea the hours change to 6a-7p 7 days a week with no change in pay. In truth, out to sea you are working until 10p or 11p at which time you can go to bed if you don't have watch that night.
The supposed medical benefits are another superficial, if not dangerous issue. Even if you have a sincere and significant medical issue, you have to jump through hoops to get seen. Where I was you had to go to medical at 6 in the morning and stand in line for near 45 minutes to make an appointment. Then you have to come back 15 minutes before your appointment to wait for another 45 minutes to be seen by someone who does not even have a medical degree (or any degree for that matter), just to be told that you have a cold. When you go back the next day they say that you are just trying to get out of work. The third day they start to threaten you with Non-judicial Punishment, where they can and will take away your money and force you to not leave the boat and have to work extra hours(which they can do), if you don't stop coming and faking it. Near the middle of your second week they will finally let you see the ACTUAL doctor who will tell you that you should have come sooner, you have Pneumonia, and to stop lying about having come down before.
Dental is the same way. The people in charge of your pay will randomly make you prove that you are supposed to be getting the money that they are paying you even though nothing has changed in you personal status and you make salary. Then they wont pay you what you are supposed to get, which ends up taking weeks to get back as a payment plan. If they overpay you they will take it out of your next check (no payment plan) even if you did not notice they did it.
