<p>Son going to LA, we live in Midwest, how does the transportation work? Makes no sense to go back to Kings Point. Who pays for airfare to LA? How much time should they be there before reporting to ship? Is there any certain time they must report to ship?</p>
<p>The school will pay for transportation from KP to LA.
If your son goes home, you/he must pay for all of the travel.</p>
<p>I would suggest getting into LA the day before so you can figure out where everything is.</p>
<p>If he is getting on in Long Beach, make sure to get a hotel in Long Beach, not LA… big difference with traffic… I owe a cab driver a big favor for telling me that before driving me to LA</p>
<p>All of this is covered in sea year lecture</p>
<p>Generally, travel to and from the various ports for sea year is coordinated and payed for by the Academy through the Academy Training Representatives (ATRs). As was mentioned earlier, any side trips will be your responsibility. You are about to enter the wondrous world of government travel and if you have never experienced it before you are about to be amazed and confused. Much of this is covered by contractual agreement between the government and the airlines so, just because something makes sense that does not mean it’s going to happen. Also, the fact that something makes no sense at all is no assurance that it won’t happen. For example, there are two airlines with non stop flights from Atlanta to Tokyo, so, do they send the DS on one of them to catch his ship in Sasebo? No, they use option 3… two stops and an “illegal” 30 minute connection time at O’Hare. There is really nothing you can do about it, so, just grin and bear it. Practice shaking your head in disbelief</p>
<p>Yep, and most important, do not, I repeat do not get involved. Let your son handle this on his own. He’s a big boy, and is getting ready to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. He will be fine.</p>
<p>Do you know what ship he is going on?</p>
<p>My son will be connecting with the Maersk Georgia on east coast.</p>
<p>To Charleston, Egypt, Dubai and then to India.</p>
<p>I would assume that this is a sister ship to the Maersk Alabama.</p>
<p>Has anyone sailed on Maersk Georgia? Any insights?</p>
<p>Thanks and safe travel to all.</p>
<p>CPA Steve,
My son will be on that ship starting in July and leaving from Port Newark, It is not a sister ship to the Maersck Alabama. I sent you a private message as well.</p>
<p>My s (deckie) did the end of his second sea year on the Georgia and thought it was one of the better ships he was on. Most of the officers at that time were KP grads. He sailed that exact same route–this was in late summer/fall of 2004 (I think, I’m trying to back-calculate the date). Luckily we live only 90 min from Newark so when he got off, we went to pick him up and got a tour of the ship, which was really interesting. Safe travel to everyone!</p>
<p>Lots of the US Flagged Maersk Ships are named after states (Maersk Montana, Iowa, Ohio, ect ect). The Georgia is a lot larger than the Alabama. I was on the Montana which is on the same route as the Georgia. Any questions about the run then feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Maersk Sealand Lighting, his ship is 292m long (958 ft, 319 yards, 3 football fields long) and 32m wide (105 ft, 35 yards). Built in 1997, Dead weight at 59840 tons, speed max 20 knots average 13.2 knots which is about 15 mph. He goes from Los Angeles to Oakland to Alaska to Korea and to Japan. Several ports in each country. Leaves mid July,</p>
<p>So no matter were you live, you still have to go back to KP to fly to your ship?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. My son was home on spring break and he still hadn’t been assigned a ship. So, he waited at home until they found him one and then they flew him straight to Japan.
On the positive side he got an extended break. The downside is he hasn’t been home since.
It’s been over a year now.</p>
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<p>The key is to make sure the Academy is doing the travel arrangements. Don’t make any travel arrangements on your own and keep them apprised of any changes in the schedule (due to the ship). As long as the Academy makes the arrangements you’ll be fine whether that means flying from home to KP to the ship or just from home to the ship. </p>
<p>As an example, I was changing ships during 2nd class year. I flew from Hawaii to meet my ship in Houston. Unfortunately a tug boat sank in the Houston ship channel the day my ship was to come in and I was stuck in Houston with no ship for two days. I called the Academy and at first they wanted me to fly back to KP for two days and then fly back to Houston. Luckily they decided to just let me stay in Houston; however, if I had not called the Academy to tell them the ship was delayed and decided to stay in Houston on my own I would have been on the hook for those hotel bills.</p>
<p>Your midshipman should understand all of this as they have had multiple travel talks, but it can be confusing at times.</p>