Pros
The following is my experience only, and only on one 1 ship so far. Pay- Pretty good but you do work for it. At sea you get overtime for the weekends and depending on ship and dept., you get some after the regular work day. And overtime seems to be double your hourly. Travel- As stated I am new but I have been to a couple ports in the mid east. Transfers- Only a 4 month minimum assignment. Sure sometimes it takes longer to get a relief but you are compensated for the delay. Crew Members- Some great folks from all walks of life. Most generally nice and helpful.
Cons
A far cry from the Navy where there was an emphasis on training/ learning. As a wiper on-board a month, it's been mostly sanitation and preservation. Despite 6 years as an engineer in the Navy and already having my QMED f/o/wt, and RFPEW I've yet to work on anything even remotely advanced. Yes I was hired as a wiper and those are the duties I was hired for so no problem there. Hopefully I will soon get the chance to show what I can do. The food. Is it really that hard to serve it hot? Even fast food joints can generally manage that. Again, I need to say that I am new and generally everything is as expected.