Jordan is an Electro-Technical Officer Cadet, currently on board Queen Mary 2. Although the ship isn’t sailing because of operational pause, Jordan’s still busy learning and progressing in his career with Carnival UK. Below he shares what a day’s work is like for him:
“I joined Carnival UK at the start of 2019. After my induction in the beautiful Lake District I went to Glasgow College to study. From there I joined Arcadia in November 2019 to do a four month contract to learn the ropes. I was fortunate enough to be on board for the start of the World Cruise and saw some breathtaking places such as San Francisco and Sydney before we returned home because of Covid-19 to disembark Guests.
During the second college phase I spent most of my time at home studying, before joining Queen Mary 2 in November 2020. On board Queen Mary 2 I have spent a lot of time with the 3rd Electro-Technical Officer (ETO) learning about the role, as this is my last sea phase before I graduate. I will disembark Queen Mary 2 at the beginning of March for my final phase at College and studying for my oral exam.
I feel grateful that I have managed to continue my training despite the current situation. I have met some amazing people on Queen Mary 2 and I am glad to have sailed on her.
This is my day in the life of… an ETO Cadet:
7:00 Wake up, shower and get dressed for the day.
7:30-8:00 Morning brief with the team and Chief Electrician go over jobs planned for the day. Decide who to work with based on jobs that are going on and what I would like to gain experience on and what needs to get done in my training record book.
8:00-10:00 Breakfast: in the Kings Court
8:30-10:00 Start jobs: To begin with we had an issue with one of the ship’s whistles, so the 3rd ETO and I were tasked with diagnosing the problem. Fault finding is a big part of an ETO’s job and is an important skill that you are constantly building on. We use the systems’ drawings and test various points with the multi-meter to check the numerous components of the system to see if we can find the faulty component.
10:00-10:30 Coffee Break: go outside and get some fresh air and catch up with people.
10:30-12:00 Continuing jobs or starting a new one: What I do enjoy about my job is the fact it can take you anywhere on the ship. Next we were up on the Bridge to fix a complication with the window heaters; again it’s all about finding the location of the fault and figuring out how to fix it.
12:00-12:30 Lunch: catch up with friends from other departments.
12:30-14:00 Free time: this can be exercising, getting some fresh air, or most likely taking a mid day power nap ready for the afternoon.
14:00-16:00 Afternoon jobs: The next job took us on top of the Bridge to do some work on one of the radio antennas. Even though we were just fitting an extra bracket to the antenna, you have to keep yourself safe as its windy and slippery up there. So we wear harnesses which protect us from falling over the side.
16:00-16:30 Coffee break, sit outside and enjoy the weather if it’s good.
16:30-18:00 Final job for the day, this was a partial drill for heli-ops. The weekly drill was focusing on what would happen if a helicopter were to crash onto the deck of the ship. The answer being, you have a Foam Party (which I was part of) which extinguishes the fire(s) using a foam hose. After that, a Smash and Grab team go in to open up the wreckage and rescue the Pilots, Guests, and Air Crew if they can. Whilst it is extremely unlikely to happen, we have to be able to respond quickly to any crisis the ship can face.
18:00-18:30 Debrief with Senior Electro-Technical Officer, plan for tomorrows jobs, being organised and prepared is half the battle most of the time.
18:30-19:00 Socialise before dinner or gym workout, doing laps of the open decks is also nice if the weathers good.
19:00-19:30 Eat dinner catch up with people from other departments.
19:30-23:00 Have some soft drinks in the Carinthia lounge or have a quiet night in watching live UK TV or playing on my computer before bed.
Next week we will hear from the Laundry team on board Queen Elizabeth!
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