Thank you for your detailed comment here Francis! Glad to reflect with a fellow past seaman:). To answer your questions:

Yes, there were certainly numerous relationships on board including my own. In later years, at reunions, our doc told us that he handed out a ton of birth control! He said that the minute he spotted a romance he would pull the student aside and make sure they were on the pill. His worst nightmare was that somebody would get pregnant while on board.

The cabins were male and female, and we got punished if one was in the others cabin, but of course it still happened. Usually we just got galley duty or had to do extra rust busting or something like that. Most of the professional crew was under 40 so it was a really youthful vibe and they weren’t too hard on us.

Nobody had any serious injuries, thankfully. Of course, many had seasickness, some lasting for the first two months. I am glad to say that I didn’t get sea sick. I felt bad for those that did though.

There was one time in Capetown, South Africa where two guys got picked up by the police for supposedly buying marijuana. They were driven back to the ship and our director had to do some har bargaining with them to let them go without jail time. Of course, their story was that they were set up and that they were actually innocent.

A letter was sent out to all parents to let them know what had happened. They asked for a consensus on whether they should be sent home, or if it was enough to ground them to the ship for the next 60 days. The later happened and they missed Namibia, St. Helena, and most of South America before they could get off again. I think they learned their lesson after we would all go to shore to enjoy ourselves and they stayed on the boat working.

Other than that, it was smooth sailing.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Cheers,

Jill