They tell you you can work a certain schedule, but it never works out that way. It takes forever to get a raise; when you do get one, they try to find a way to demote (or fire) you; and it will take months to show up on a paycheck. Everyone will promise you the world, but nothing ever gets done. The boats are in terrible condition and have been for years, but you'll get blamed for it even if you've only been there for an hour. Crew managers set up everything last minute, so nothing is ever well-planned. They don't want anyone on the boat calling the office except the captain even if it's a personal issue; for example, payroll issues are quite common, but they want you to talk to the captain about it, who will call the port captain, who will call the crew manager, who will not do anything. At any other company, you can just call the payroll department, and get it settled quickly. If you aren't from Texas or Louisiana, they will call you a worthless city boy or yankee and make you do all the work without anyone else having to do anything.