Meet Chiltern Maritime Deck Cadet Samantha Kaszuba, who is nearing the end of her sea time onboard MSC Virtuosa, sponsored by MSC Cruises.
“MSC Virtuosa’s Grand Voyage 2023 has been an incredible experience to be a part of. As a Cadet, the itinerary has been brilliant and being able to hand steer through the Suez Canal on our way to the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix weekend has been amazing.
We started the crossing in Southampton with a visit from our Training Officers, Gary Mills and Craig Coates, to send us off. We then had a couple of weeks of bad weather in our Northern Europe stops before we travelled further east and back to the heat.
During the passage we had the opportunity to take part in a fire fighting training day in Naples with the firemen. This was a chance for us to practice our firefighting skills as on a cruise ship we have dedicated firemen instead of the Deck Officers being the firemen.
After our last European port of Heraklion in Crete, we began our 7 days at sea crossing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The navigation on this voyage has furthered my knowledge of ship manoeuvrability and allowed me to finish my steering certificate.
Furthermore, it has been really insightful to see the security that vessels require when transiting through high risk areas and the part this plays on our ship operations and navigation.
We arrived in the Middle East and stopped in Oman and Sir Bani Yas Cruise Beach for a much needed rest day before the cruise ended in Dubai.
We are now in Abu Dhabi for the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend where a lot of amazing events are happening onboard that we get to be involved with.
Being able to take part in activities and events on this ship during my time onboard has been a privilege of the contract and our amazing ships’ command.
The ice-cream and hot chocolate treats have been extra perks that come with sailing a ship of this size. Now I’m nearing the end of this contract here in the UAE I’m excited to see what other opportunities this ship and country provide me.”
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