I presently work at sea, having been in various sectors. My take home is 6000 eur per month + bonus. However I work ridiculous watches, suffer heavy fatigue, am away from home for upto 8 months a year, have no control over my schedule or time at home, am treated like a second class citizen in all of the places I go, particularly the USA, am often a burden to the employer, and have very limited employment rights as most ships are foreign flagged. Work on a contract basis, which is all employer biased. Like 'Ditched', i'm very keen to put all that behind to work in aviation, but am saving a little more cash before I a take the final step of the CPL/IR/MCC and see where everything lies.
When spending 2 weeks crossing the atlantic in rough seas doing 12 hours of watches a day sat in the dark with a companion who doesn't speak English, there is a lot of envy for those who pass overhead at 500 knots.