Was it always like that, ore did things go from good to bad when money become a issue?
During my time with Premier the main problem was the 'infighting' between Deck and Hotel Departments. Shore side wanted The Hotel Manager to have the final say on all things that happened onboard. Whereas the Law says that it's the Captain as it is he, and not the Hotel Manager, who is 'in charge' according to Maritime Law.
An example was i was called into the Hotel Manager's - a Brit aged 33 - office/cabin one day where he said; "If you see anything going on around the ship that is not 'legal' then come and tell me. We'll then decide if we need to go and tell the Captain."
A couple of days later i was called to see the Captain - a 45 year Greek who had been at sea all his life - to be 'told' the same thing, only the other way around! "If you see anythnig gonig wrong or illegal around the ship you come and tell me and we'll decide if we need to tell Mr Steven." Steven Judge was the Hotel Manager.
In the end i had the 'last laugh' when i resigned. My wife and 3 children were gonig to join me on 2 cruises, a 4 and a 3 day trips down to Nasseau from Port Canaveral. When we had flown out from UK i had to buy a return ticket so that we could all travel on the same aircraft, as such when i arrived in USA US Immigration weren't interested in my C1D vise only my return to UK ticket and stamped my passport with a 90 day tourist visa. Hence when i decided to resign, a very long and complicated story, i did not require any escort to the airport, much to Premier's annoyance and 'vanished' into Orlando. The company had booked us into a hotel on our arrival in USA and we still had the booknig reference, so when we left the ship we just re-booked ourselves into the same hotel and charged it to Premier! This was on the Friday, the Monday was a National Holiday and we checked out on the Tuesday. By the time Premier got the bill i was back in UK and no longer working for them! When my agency phoned me a couple of weeks later, trying to get me to pay the hotel bill, i just said, 'basically, NO!' Several letters later they eventually gave up and obviously wrote it off. I found out some time later that Premier had charged my Agency for the hotel, another bit of 'justice' as far as i was concerned.
By this time i had been interviewed and accepted by Cunard.
What do i think about my time with Premier? It was good experience and i'm glad i did it but, it certainly taught me what was wrong about some Cruise Companies, which stood me in good stead in later years.