What Yacht Crew Actually Do: A Parent's Complete Guide to the Job

Most parents hear "my child wants to work on a superyacht" and picture a holiday. It is not a holiday. It is hospitality, engineering and seamanship performed to five-star standards, in a confined workplace, often far from home. This guide explains what the job actually involves so you can ask useful questions rather than worried ones.

The vessel and the industry

A "superyacht" is generally a privately owned vessel over 24 metres. Vessels between roughly 24m and 50m carry crews of 3–10; 50–80m yachts carry 10–25; the largest vessels carry 40–70. Yachts are either private (used only by the owner and guests) or charter (rented commercially, typically through a broker, for a weekly fee). Charter yachts are busier, more demanding and pay tips; private yachts are usually calmer with fewer guest weeks.

Commercially registered yachts are regulated. The relevant frameworks are the IMO's STCW Convention for crew training and certification (imo.org) and the ILO's Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) for working and living conditions (ilo.org). The MLC sets minimum standards for employment agreements, rest hours, repatriation, medical care and accommodation. It is the single most useful thing for a parent to know exists.

The four departments

Deck. Entry role is deckhand. Work includes washdowns, varnishing and paint care, tender and jet-ski driving, watchkeeping, line handling, guest water sports and exterior maintenance. Progression runs deckhand → lead deckhand → bosun → officer of the watch → chief officer → captain, gated by sea time and Certificates of Competency.

Interior. Entry role is junior stewardess or steward. Work includes housekeeping to hotel standard, silver service, laundry, floristry, bar and wine service, guest liaison and detailed inventory. Progression runs junior → second → chief stewardess, then purser on larger vessels.

Galley. Chefs and cooks. A crew cook on a smaller yacht cooks for 6–10 people daily; a head chef on a charter yacht produces restaurant-level menus for demanding guests with allergies, preferences and no supply chain beyond what the yacht can source.

Engineering. Y-ratings and marine engineers maintain generators, HVAC, watermakers, sewage treatment, hydraulics and propulsion. It is the most technically credentialed department and the most consistently in demand.

The daily reality

During a guest trip, days routinely run 14–17 hours, split across early service, day operations, evening service and turndown. Between trips ("yard periods" or "off-charter"), days settle to 8–10 hours of maintenance. Season pattern for the Mediterranean is roughly May–September; the Caribbean season runs December–April. Crew either follow the yacht between them or take a winter break.

Rest hours are legally regulated: MLC minimums are 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any seven-day period, with rest dividable into no more than two periods, one of at least six hours. If a yacht routinely breaches this, that is a red flag, not an initiation ritual.

Hierarchy and living conditions

Crew live aboard in shared cabins, usually two to a cabin with a bunk arrangement, sometimes with a shared "heads" (bathroom). Food, accommodation, uniform and usually flights are provided. There is a formal chain of command: the captain has legal authority over the vessel and everyone on it. This matters for parents because it means your child answers to a professional structure, but also that the quality of their experience depends heavily on the individual captain and heads of department.

What the job is not

It is not travel. Crew see marinas, shipyards and the crew mess far more often than they see cities. It is not permanent. Most contracts are seasonal or rotational, and even permanent roles turn over quickly. It is not unstructured. Every competent yacht runs on schedules, checklists and safety drills.

Sensible questions to ask your child

• Which department, and why that one?
• Is the yacht private or charter, and what flag is it registered under?
• Is there a written Seafarer Employment Agreement (required under MLC)?
• Who is paying for flights, and what happens if the job ends early?
• What is the repatriation clause?

A candidate who can answer these has done their homework. A candidate who cannot is the reason this guide exists.