Snowy Owl, you off to P&O? Windstar? Been there, done that. A great experience and an ideal way to save money to fly. Come home on leave with the money and time to fly.
Merchant navy might not be for everyone but you start from scratch, get a qualification, and work experience, seeing the world, whilst sponsored on about £12k+ yr (might be more now), plus you get a degree/diploma etc and on completion of training (3yrs now?) you start on a tax free salary as 3rd officer/junior engineer of about £25k/yr. Don't know why more wannabes don't do it to be honest.
Good luck with the course and have fun.