Aerie Sea Eagle Gap Year Cruises, Australian Cruise Academy

---

Australian Cruise Academy is an advanced-level VET campus of Aerie College operating Sea Eagle Cruises on the foreign-registered, Luxury small Cruise ship "Berlin" under the Campus Name Australian Cruise Academy. 

Australian workplace and CRICOS education regulations do not apply. Australian and Foreign Students may apply for Sea Eagle VET programs as part of their GAP year for industry experience. A passport will be required for all students visiting Pacific Islands Nations.

Participants in the Sea Eagle Cruises program enter the cruise ship as volunteer supernumeraries. Students will be required to contribute donations to the Academy charity as a concession for their board and lodging, and volunteer their time to assist in the ship's work as a way of gaining experience. Students will maintain a GAP year Ships Log for all their time on the ship. The Academy Principal and the Captain will sign this log as authorized evidence of high-value together experience to complement their academic qualifications.

ACA Academy Sea Eagle Cruise Contracts are for a minimum of 10 weeks. This time can be extended by agreement with the Principal & Captain and continuing payment of the agreed donations.

All the ACA Academy Associate cruise ships are foreign vessels. Foreign cruise ships all operate under the International Labor Organisation for ship crew employment and work conditions. Volunteer supernumeraries are welcome on most foreign ships. It is a recognized way of gaining volunteer seatime experience. 

Supernumeraries on foreign vessels are neither passengers nor required crew members. They enter the ship and participate in the activities of the ship by agreement with the ship's owner who has contracted with the Academy for the provision of supervised volunteer experience for young people.

You will be under the supervision of an Australian Cruise Academy's approved ship's officer of Academy Master for the performance of the required training and logged industry experience as part of your GAP year. 

As part of your ACA Academy Sea Eagle Program, you will participate as a supernumerary volunteer in a typical ship's crew roster mentored by the ship's crew members in their regular tasks as part of the Gap Year Experience agreement. 

There is potential to gain extra VET units of competency. VET fees apply.

There is neither suggestion nor intent of offer of employment from either the Academy or the Cruise company in the enrolment agreement. However, this does not preclude the Academy or the Cruise Company from such an offer.

PRE-ENTRY REQUIREMENTS  - Student responsibility to provide documented evidence of:

1. COVID-19 vaccination 
2. Cruise Travel Insurance including assurance of safe travel home
3. Australian passport with Marine Crew Visa  -  (MCV) - a simple online application
4. Purchase of Academy GAP Year uniform clothing as directed for the internship period
5. Academy Ships are cash-free. Credit arrangements must be made for the ship's debit system for casual spending onboard. 

INDUCTION TRAINING ON FIRST ENTRY TO SHIP by your ACA Supervisor: 

1. Introduction to the ship's Captain, officers, and mentor crew.
2. Ships plan and walk the ship
3. Gap Year team expectations, cabin partners, and work team rosters
4. Allocation of berths,  stowing, and maintaining personal gear and space.
5. ACA deck duty rosters, keeping the common spaces clean and tidy. Infection requirements,
6. Maintaining your experience Log.
7. Basic shipboard safety, life jacket drill, Muster stations, Ship fire control systems,
8. Crowd management, Guiding (On ship and preparation for shore guiding)
9. Provide Advanced First Aid, (VET Qualification - physical injury and mental health)

Students will be allocated to work teams of 8 people. Each team will be supervised in the ship experience work by a mentor from the ship's crew, experienced in the specific work areas of the ship. Work teams will have a variety of experience tasks required of them during their SeaTime volunteer experience. Students do a normal crew work roster.

RANGE OF ROSTERED WORK EXPERIENCE TASKS FOR GAP YEAR TEAMS

• Maintenance of the tidying and sanitation of the common areas of the Academy deck.
• Maintenance of the tidying and sanitation of the public common areas of the ship including all lounges, dining, bars, passages, stairways and lifts, and deck areas.
• Passenger cabins daily service.
• Ship's Laundry work
• Disabled passenger assistance at all times when needed.
• Passenger guidance and assistance at all times when needed.
• Breakfast and other meals set up and dining hall maintenance, table clearing, cloth and cutlery replacement, etc.
• More experienced, table meal service
• Even more experienced Table hosting for meal times
• Bartending assistance & drinks delivery to tables
• Attending ships reception deck. 
• Hosting head of the gangway during excursions times
• Assisting excursion guiding including disabled passenger assistance
• All seatimers, as individuals, will have at least one rostered standard shift on the bridge and in the engine room shadowing the work of a ship's officer.

All Seatimers will maintain a daily, detailed personal, photo-illustrated electronic log and reflections, of their time onboard the ship. This will be signed by the Ship's Captain and Principal as documented evidence of work experience. A well-prepared and presented Log is probably the greatest value of the Seatime experience.

As negotiated on enrolment OR as an extension of time onboard, there will be an opportunity to gain extra VETcertificate level qualifications in maritime (EG Coxswain 1) to operate the smaller ship's boats for excursions, tours, and adventure activities guide. These units of competency managed by y ACA Supervisor will be from the Outdoor Recreation and Maritime Industry training package.

All students from Maritime training colleges (small boat Coxswain/Engine driver - - - > Advanced Diploma, Master Unlimited/Chief Engineer) are required to undertake quite extensive "Supervised Sea Time" to complete their qualifications. 

Most Maritime training Colleges provide the AMSA approved  "Task Book" to be completed during their sea time as required coursework. Using a Supervised Task Book reduces the required Sea Time by 50%. ACA Supervisor offers volunteer enrolled Internship Supervised Logbook Seatime scholarships for maritime students of other maritime colleges. 

ACA  Seatimer student accommodation conditions apply for Lower level qualifications, both deck, and Engineer 

• ACA secure student & Gap Year deck is supervised by ACA staff. Passengers and the ship's crew (except when on specific duty) are not permitted on this deck. Students and Gap Year Participants are not permitted to enter passenger cabins (except when on supervised rostered tasks)
• (Cert 2 Coxswain ->12m TO Cert.4 Master/Engineer ->40m).  
• Seatime industry experience at these levels requires a wide range of hospitality activities and other ship maintenance activities onboard the ship. 
• Certificate Level seatimers and Gap Year People share the ACA Student accommodation and associated arrangements.

The ship's Captain may invite senior-level seatimer students to share cabins in the officer's quarters.  

• Diploma = Various advanced Master/Mate roles, Engineer 3 /watchkeeper  OR   
• Advanced Diploma = Master Unrestricted, Engineer 1
• Degree or higher qualification in the Hospitality or maritime industry

The Captain will delegate members of the ship's crew to supervise their industry task book requirements. and sign the log books after satisfactory completion.

ACA Supervisor offers essential University entry English Language coaching. It is expected the student will gain a score of at least 6.5 on the IELTS test. The best way to learn English is to spend time with English-speaking people and to participate in English language reading and writing. A range of these opportunities will be available on the ships with language teachers and in communication with other students and the ship's passengers. ACA Academy expects all students to maintain a regular daily journal, in English, of relevant activities undertaken while onboard. This journal will be co-signed by the Principal and the Captain.

It is well recognized by the industry that documented evidence of real work experience beyond completion of certificates and diplomas is the real evidence of competency required by employers. 

Academy requires all supernumerary Sea Eagle students, GAP year of VET Supervised, to maintain a personal log of all relevant experiences during their time on the ship. This log is countersigned and attested to as true evidence of experience and forms part of the ACA Internship Parchment. 

For most students, this folder is of greater value than the qualifications parchment itself.

There is a range of Australian Cruise Academy Seatimer scholarships available. All are subject to an interview with the Principal. 

Use a job application style email request to the Principal for Sea Eagle enrolment, at principal@acacollege.org.au Include your strengths and reasons for requesting a Gap Year Scholarship place on the Australian Cruise Academy ships.  

The brief dot point email format is appropriate. 

Make it brief and to the point. Put your best bid forward in your email application.