<p>mythoughts, I wonder if you’d be willing to expand on how the program did (or didn’t) change after it became affiliated with U.Va. I think it would be useful to discuss, for example, whether the “booze cruise” and “floating mattress” elements are something that were more true in the past or not.</p>
<p>Obviously, some people will never prefer this kind of program to a single-country immersion program, but those other objections probably give pause to a lot of parents.</p>
<p>My son is on the current voyage and I had the same question and concern. The answer I got from SAS is that you can spend as much or as little as you want. Some spend thousands and some hundreds. </p>
<p>I have suggestion: if you go to the current voyage section of SAS website, and click on International Field Program and then click on stops you can see options and pricing that current voyage choose from: [Semester</a> at Sea - Spring 2011 International Field Program](<a href=“http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/international-field-program.php]Semester”>http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/international-field-program.php). For example, you click on Manaus, you see trips to Rio in the thousands or village stays in Amazon for less. </p>
<p>Our choice: My son spent $4000 for 17 presale side trips. He scheduled more at first of voyage and less at end thinking he would find travel friends later in the trip. Two big trips-- air travel and multiple nights (Great Wall of China and Taj Mahal). Service projects and homestays seemed to be something could not get with independent travel so favored those. Two events were canceled after launch–not enough students on one, vendor pulled out on second; he added one for a later stop. So there is flexibility even after they board with credits and charges made.</p>
<p>Reading the blogs of the SAS students and lifetime learners on the current voyage, seems like those that choose to go independent often elect to go to the same sites as pre-sale and have the same amount of fun and not as fun experiences. Some obviously have planned their independent travel before arrival-- reservations, etc. There is also information given at the briefing meeting held for each port and people on Ship with suggestions. After all port time is their weekends, they go to class virtually every day that on ship. </p>
<p>Money: the trip is all inclusive. My son has spent little addition to the amounts paid to SAS, but he is not a shopper like some of the students describe in blogs. He took about $100 USD cash in local currency for each stop so did not have to immediately hunt an ATM at every stop and could get a cab or meal right away. He has not gotten more money at any of the 3 stops and did not spend the entire $100. Ship serves meals while in port, so students don’t have to buy local every meal, although most are ready for a change from the ship meals. They pay via onboard accounts: $3.50 each for the 3 allowed wine or beers on pub night, snacks are extra, and there is a campus store onboard with tee shirts and few essentials. One student blogged about swiping his card a little too much for the snack time. </p>
<p>I hope this helps with the planning. We are still very pleased with the choice and believe “Mythoughs” did an excellent job of articulating the benefits of the “comparative” vs “immersion” choice that study abroad students have. I wish smooth sailing for your daughter.</p>
<p>PS Budget for vaccinations. Our health insurance did not pay as much as I would have liked. We spent $800 on vaccines. Not all required, but many recommended. For example, polio booster-- although (according to doctor) the boosters as child is sufficient in US, if going where there are outbreaks, good to have another booster. Japanese encephalitis, Yellow Fever etc. We also bought him a good water purifier-- in many third world countries even bottle water may just be a refilled bottle. My son has already learned that he took many things for granted.</p>
<p>To Hunt, I will let “Mythought” respond to your question about differences in sponsoring schools. As I said in my first post in this string, I do not think the booze cruise and floating mattress labels were ever an accurate representation of the program for all students. I will say, that currently there are strict rules and they are enforced. I have read in blogs that on the current voyage a student appeared drunk, they searched the student’s room and gave the student 24 hours dock time (confined to ship while in port) that kept the student from making a flight for independent study. The administration does not state rules and then ignore them. The students are searched when boarding and stewards access the rooms daily. One female student did not read the rules, they found her pepper spray (a prohibited item) and seized it. </p>
<p>I think the true question is more about particular students and not changes in administration. I have also read about students on the current voyage that are more interested in getting a hangover in each country than the cultural experience. I was horrified to read a blog from a girl that was proud she was so drunk that she had trouble navigating way back to ship in an unsafe area. (I hope my son is not the one that has to come to her rescue in some country. The blogger obviously has a different relationship with her parents than I have with my son.) The SAS administration cannot control the students in country anymore than any other campus can control students off campus. As already covered in this string, irresponsibility and alcohol are issues on all campuses, even floating ones. [Shooting</a> at Ohio frat house kills 1, hurts 11 - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-06-youngstown-state-shooting_N.htm]Shooting”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-06-youngstown-state-shooting_N.htm)</p>
<p>Because the program has rules that are enforced, the question comes down to do you think and trust your child to make good choices? In my opinion, and from those who I have talked to that have gone on SAS, there is a diverse population of over 600 students and 100 ifetime learners/faculty on board. A student can find other students interested in adventure, nature, religion, music, human rights, service, politics, sports; a student can also find other students interested in getting around the rules, partying, and living well on mom and dad’s tab. Old adage is true: as parents we give our children two things: roots and wings. I believed (and still do) that SAS is a safe environment for my son to use those wings global and trust the roots will anchor him even at sea. The SAS comparative program was/is a good fit for him.</p>
<p>as info, it appears that Bob Weigl works for SAS - at least he has created a ‘cultural self study’ for them [Forum</a> on Education Abroad](<a href=“http://www.forumea.org/workshops11.cfm]Forum”>http://www.forumea.org/workshops11.cfm)</p>
<p>His work on SAS’s benefits is featured on their web site. </p>
<p>he does seem to be a legitimate psychologist</p>
<p>[May’s</a> Corner - Cultural Self-Study: A Psychologist?s Path Toward Intercultural Competence](<a href=“http://www.apa.org/news/events/2010/may-corner.aspx]May’s”>http://www.apa.org/news/events/2010/may-corner.aspx)</p>
<p>though its not clear to me he has any expertise in evaluating the benefits of educational programs. He HAS taught at UVA, for what its worth.</p>
<p>You should hear the stories I have heard about kids who spent a year in Perugia.</p>
<p>Pumpkin5: The comments by Motherof1990boy about planned expenses are very accurate. I would suggest looking at the Field Program guide and doing a budget based on trips shown in the guide. The trips that require plane flights are usually the ones that add a lot of cost. To save money, stay local to the port (dont fly to other cities) and use bus or train travel where it is safe. Independent travel (with a group of 2-6 males -including males and females) is safe if students use common sense. Tell your daughter that traveling alone just does not make sense and a female in a large city, late at night is clearly not a smart decision. Pre-voyage vaccinations and malaria medications can be expensive. It depends on what shots are needed. </p>
<p>Hunt: My experience with SAS started in 2006 when UPitt was the academic sponsor. UVA became the academic partner in 2007 (I think.) When the program moved from U Pitt to UVA, the SAS offices moved from Pittsburg to Charlottesville (many old staff members did not want to make the move.) There was a large change in staff at that time and there has been a large increase in the number of staff since moving to Charlottesville. Since I dont have a lot of personal experience with the program pre-UVA, I cant answer, based on experience, about the booze cruise or floating mattress. I do know a number of alumni from the old days and that is certainly not my impression talking with them. My belief is that drinking and/or sex on the ship was never any different than activities on every college campus throughout the history of the SAS program. As has been pointed out by Motherof1990boy, excessive drinking is not tolerated and just as with any college campus, SAS does not hesitate to send students home that are problematic. I know the old CEO and I know the new CEO. They both have had and still have high expectations for behavior on the ship. Each of the CEOs is driven by a desire to better educate students about the greater world. If your son/daughter is not a problem drinker, SAS will not turn them into one. If your son or daughter is drinking heavily/often at their home campus, SAS is not going to cure that behavior. The vast majority of participants on SAS are serious students that want to take full advantage of what the program can offer. SAS will bend over backwards to help make that happen.</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad: Bob Weigl is not an employee of SAS. He did sail on 3 SAS voyages as a faculty/staff member. I will try and get some more information on his 2009 study.</p>
<p>I went on SAS and consider it, without a doubt, the highlight of my life (and I’ve had a great life!). I’ll never stop thanking my parents for giving me such an invaluable and life changing gift. It’s unbeatable in terms of the intensity – so many diverse cultures back to back.</p>
<p>LIKE ANYTHING, it’s what one makes of it. Sure, some students wasted the opportunity and didn’t explore/adventure/risk-take as much as they could have. Some brought too much spending $ and focused on shopping, and/or signed up for all of the packaged on-land tours, instead of (either solo or with new shipmate friends) having to navigate foreign cultures on their own. But, at least on my voyage, those students seemed like the minority. </p>
<p>Whoever is calling it the booze cruise is misinformed. Alcohol is restricted on the ship. Drugs are not allowed; two students who brought pot on my voyage were kicked off, and everyone thought they were idiots for wasting the opportunity. It definitely wasn’t a big drunk-fest, especially compared to my college dorm life, and I imagine times have only gotten tighter, policy wise. Much of the semester is spent in ports, anyways, not on the ship. Time on the ship was pretty busy with classes, port preparations, etc. </p>
<p>It was incredible and surely has impacted my whole life. If you have the opportunity — GO!!! and make the most of it.</p>
<p>Just one question.
How many parents really want to put a child on a shipload of American students off the coast of Libya this summer?</p>
<p>[Semester</a> at Sea - Summer 2011](<a href=“http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/upcoming-voyages/summer-2011.php]Semester”>http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/upcoming-voyages/summer-2011.php)</p>
<p>I’m not sure what I think of a program that is still marketing and selling tickets for such a trip.</p>
<p>UVa took over the program in 2006 and it has been revamped. UVa doesn’t loan out its name in the manner that seems to have been suggested earlier. </p>
<p>Last Fall’s itinerary changed to avoid waters where there was pirate activity off the eastern coast of Africa. I imagine that the situation in Libya is being monitored and could prompt similar changes. </p>
<p>Jingle’s post is worth quoting…</p>
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</p>
<p>I think that at this point, after all this excellent advise and provision of sites where to find the facts, you should let your child (sorry, young adult really) read this thread and then let her make a proposal for you where she backs up her wish, shows you the academic and cultural she will get out of it and provide you with where and how she will find as much money and grants as she can get. Then, together, you can make the decision if she can go or not. But she is the one who should give you a well researched plan that you can believe in.</p>
<p>To Mythoughts. It is about time someone who HAS experience, talk about it. While reading this Blog, I became indignant at the trash talk surrounding what I too would consider the most life-altering experience in my lifetime. You covered everything I would have talked about, minus my personal experiences, which (given most of the chatter in the Blog), I won’t share here. SAS was a benchmark in my life, as important as both the wedding to my husband of 25 years and the birth of my two sons (one of whom is currently piecing together financial aid and work proceeds to attend SAS). So if people here have no ‘direct’ clue of which they speak… too bad for them. Spring 1984</p>
<p>I am absolutely disgusted by some of the answers here from people who know NOTHING about Semester at Sea. I participated in the spring 2011 voyage - so I’ve been back in the states about a month and half, making me one of the most recent voyage participants - and it absolutely changed my life. Just yesterday my grandma said I went from “20 to 28”…I have grown up and matured in ways I didn’t think possible.</p>
<p>The fact is that kids who want to party will find a party wherever they want. That being said, UVA has revamped SAS to a the point where it is NOT a “Booze cruise” and you have to try pretty hard to make it one. On the ship they only serve beer and wine on certain nights, and there is a strict limit of up to three drinks per person which are expensive. In port, if you come back to the ship drunk you are breathalized and receive “dock time” where they hold you on the ship from 3 to 24 hours in the next port so you can’t get off when you arrive, and missing time in port is THE WORST. You can’t bring any alcohol onto the boat and getting caught with it where it isn’t supposed to be is a serious offense. I had quite a few friends who were kicked off for alcohol related offenses. The new SAS wants to be taken seriously and is doing everything in it’s power for that reason.</p>
<p>Additionally, there are going to be safety issues if you travel around the world - but SAS does everything in it’s power to protect students, be aware of the safety for the boat as a whole and to give students the information they need to be safe. I never had any issues, but then again I took the program seriously. I rarely drank, I was always very aware and informed about my surroundings, I went to all of the pre-ports and meetings and I researched places I would be going. If you take advantage of the resources SAS offers then you will have everything you need to succeed… I know people who just partied the entire time, but I know a lot more people that did intelligent intentional traveling and volunteering and grew up quite a bit in there time on SAS.</p>
<p>Semester at Sea was the BEST decision I have ever made and has changed me and the direction of my life so much. I would recommend it to anyone with an interested in travel, but you have to take it seriously. If you do, it will give you more than you could have ever imagined.</p>
<p>If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me.</p>
<p>Two people I know sent their daughters on the Jan 2011 program. I was appalled. The kids seemed to have a choice when in port as to school-directed activities or to create a ‘program’ on their own. One of the girls went off in Ghana to stay for a few days with a host family on a school-directed program. She was treated as slave labor by the woman of the house and was screamed at constantly. Rather than be abused for the four days, she left on her own and luckily got back to the boat safely. The other girl went with the aunt of a friend of a friend with some others 8 hours from the boat to a village she and the other kids knew nothing about. VERY dangerous in my opinion in a foreign country. She came back with food poisoning to the green ship, meaning she could not flush the toilet, brush her teeth, etc. all night long in the interest of the environment. Just the 25K experience you want your kid to have. </p>
<p>As for the booze cruise reputation, absolutely true. Lots of constant drinking, staying up all night, going into shark cages half-drunk after being up all night, etc. One kid drank himself nearly to death in Mauritius - he was in a coma for a few days and his heart had to be re-started around 8 times. Was he sent home? Nope. He re-joined the cruise in India due to his “stellar academic record”. ***? I do hope his parents presented him with a bill for the entire semester when he returned. Need I mention the SAS ship can only stop in Mauritius to re-fuel, i.e. the kids cannot leave ship due to this being the last straw? Yes, they’ve behaved obnoxiously on former cruises as well.</p>
<p>Another girl on this cruise who was much more sedate was asked by Singapore customs authorities if American teens act this badly in the states. She found it appalling!</p>
<p>Go onto the SAS website and read some of the blogs. A lot of the students talk freely of their drinking adventures. How stupid is that?</p>
<p>I agree about cruising around Libya. I have no idea why this is not considered. Turkey and Greece are not terribly stable either.</p>
<p>Turkey and Greece are perfectly stable, God. Yes, Greece is going through a national crisis, but it is also a member of the EU with a tourism-based economy. I mean, I was in Greece last week. Believe me, abducting American teenagers is the last thing on people’s minds right now. As for Turkey, I don’t even know what you’re implying. Sailing around Turkey, uncommonly dangerous? lol, I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Oh and this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>–is a hilariously suburban thing to say.</p>
<p>A former advisee of mine participated in Semester at Sea a couple of years ago. She was a top notch student, and had a terrific and enriching experience. Students who participate in the “booze cruise/ floating mattress” experiences are likely the same students who participate in these experiences on dry land. The way people do some things is they way they do most things. So, I would imagine that students do not behave much differently on the cruise than they do at their home campuses. UVA is certainly a top-notch academic institution.</p>
<p>With all due respect the only people I have heard that from are the people who have never been on a single voyage. Semester at Sea students are allowed THREE drinks maximum per night while at sea, of which most students don’t purchase because there are better things to spend money on while traveling the WORLD. When in port, it is up to the individual student to be responsible enough to not over indulge on alcohol or put themselves in other dangerous predicaments. If poor decisions are made by an individual or group of individuals, that is not a reflection of Semester at Sea as it is a small percent of the S@S community and not by any means encouraged by the program.</p>
<p>Don’t miss out on this opportunity because of RUMORS!</p>
<p>A former S@S student</p>
<p>^^^Weren’t you perry13 the last time you posted?</p>
<p>Kind of weird that a 1st time poster comes to this thread to post…went back and read Perry13 and I think you’re right…he too only posted once. Go figure. I only remember hearing about the Semester at Sea from an MTV show many years ago…showing my age.</p>