Yachting Life: An Insider’s Perspective

Yachting life can be both exciting and demanding for its crew. It offers unique experiences but also comes with its own challenges, which we will explore in this article.

Daily Routine

Work Schedule

The first challenge many face are the long, irregular hours, especially during charters. The days can start early and end late, often exceeding a typical 8-hour workday.

Suppose you’re considering joining the deck and engineering crew. In that case, be prepared to stand watch for specific hours to ensure the yacht’s safety and operation, mainly while underway. The interior crew can also be involved in Watch Duties while in port.

Duties and Responsibilities

Let’s take a closer look at the duties and responsibilities a yachting life can entail for each department on board:

• Deck Crew: Handles exterior maintenance, docking, tender operations, and water sports activities.
• Interior Crew: Manages housekeeping, laundry, meal service, and guest activities.
• Engineering Crew: Ensures all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems function correctly.
• Galley Crew: Prepares meals for guests and crew, catering to various dietary preferences and high culinary standards.

Living Conditions

Accommodation

Crew accommodation usually consists of bunk beds in a small room, which means you’re likely to share a cabin with one or more colleagues. Space is limited, so organisation and tidiness are crucial for your living arrangements. Remember, you’ll be eating, sleeping, and living in close quarters with your colleagues, so working in harmony is essential.

Luckily, every yacht has a crew mess where you can socialise and relax. This is a communal area on the yacht where you eat your meals together and enjoy basic amenities such as a TV, a seating area, and sometimes a small library or games.

Privacy

Due to the close quarters mentioned earlier, privacy is limited. Respecting others’ personal space and downtime/rest periods is necessary and will help you get through the longer charter months smoothly.

Social Life

Camaraderie

Strong bonds often form among crew members due to the close working and living conditions. Teamwork and mutual support are vital when surrounded by the same people 24 hours a day, for weeks on end.

Off-duty activities in your downtime might include exploring port cities, beach outings, and crew parties. Socialising helps maintain morale between crew and builds strong team relationships, making you a better team onboard.

Cultural Exchange

One of the best elements of yachting life is working with people from various nationalities and backgrounds. This experience offers a rich cultural exchange as you learn to embrace cultural differences between you and other crew members. Yachting life is full of lessons that mould you into a more tolerant, respectful, and well-rounded individual.

Challenges

Physical Demands

Yachting life isn’t quite how it’s made out to be on TV… The job can be physically demanding, involving lifting heavy equipment, cleaning, and standing for long periods. You may have to accommodate demanding guests or extravagant requests, but it’s all about how you respond and deal with them.

Of course, being at sea is one of the main physical demands of a yachting life. If you suffer from seasickness, perhaps a career at sea isn’t for you. However, even experienced crew can suffer from seasickness, especially in rough seas, so it’s essential to have remedies on hand.

Looking after your Emotional and Mental Health

Long hours, high standards, and demanding guests can contribute to stress and take a toll on your mental health. But there are a few sure ways to keep you from burning out and feeling like it’s all too much.

Staying in touch with family and friends through video calls and social media helps mitigate feelings of stress and isolation. It will also help remind you of the incredible experience you’re gaining.

There are also charities and helplines for seafarers at sea who are struggling with their mental health, who provide help. To find out more about support at sea, click here.  

Benefits

Travel

Yachting life isn’t all work and no play, however. The challenging tasks can be easily forgotten by remembering you’re travelling to some of the world’s most beautiful and exclusive destinations. Yacht crew often enjoy activities like diving, snorkelling, and exploring new cultures while docking in exotic cities and towns. You could be cruising the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, or even further afield.

Financial

An additional incentive of the job is that the yachting industry offers competitive salaries, especially for experienced crew. Senior ranks might have time for time rotational positions, meaning they receive more structured leave than junior ranks.

During charters, crew members sometimes receive very generous tips from guests. These tips are far from a £10 or £20 tip you might receive in hospitality ashore and will readily set you up for an impressive hoard of savings.

Food, accommodation, uniforms, and travel expenses are all covered by the yacht, allowing crew to save a significant portion of their earnings. This allows you to set up a sense of financial security for when you decide to move back ashore and would like to buy a house, car, or other necessities you wouldn’t need at sea.

Professional Growth

Working on a yacht develops a wide range of skills, from technical and navigational skills for deck and engineering crew to high-end service and hospitality skills for interior crew. But your skills won’t only develop in a professional sense. You might surprise yourself and decide to learn a local language to broaden your hospitality skills and allow you to communicate with guests.

As your skills develop and your sense of a career pathway becomes more defined, there are clear paths for career advancement within the industry. With opportunities to move up the ranks from junior positions to senior roles such as Chief Officer, Chief Stewardess, or Captain, each junior rank can progress into the most senior roles.

Improving Your Yachting skills

If you currently work in the interior department and want to improve your existing skills, discover the training courses Luxury Yacht Interior Training offers.

You will also need to complete STCW Training before embarking on a career at sea, which you can earn at the Maritime Skills Academy.

Life on a yacht is a unique blend of adventure, hard work, and personal growth. It offers the opportunity to travel to stunning locations, build strong professional skills, and earn a competitive salary. However, it also requires a high level of dedication, adaptability, and teamwork. Understanding the realities of yachting life helps prepare for a successful and rewarding career in the industry.

If you think you’d be suited to yachting life and would like to explore the current vacancies Viking Crew has to offer, you can view our full list of jobs here.

Or if this is your first introduction to the industry and you would like to find out more about making a start, we have all the information you’ll need to start on our Green Crew Pathway page, as well as some helpful information in our previous blogs which you can read here.