Working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad: what is it, why would you do it, and where is the best place to go?

What is working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad like?

• Working on a cruise ship or sailing yacht means being part of a team that ensures guests can travel safely, comfortably, and with pleasure. The work can vary from hospitality and entertainment to technical roles or navigation.
• Personnel on a cruise ship or large sailing yacht can be broadly divided into three categories:
  • Officers: these are the highest positions on board. Examples include the captain, bridge officers, the ship's doctor, and ship management.
  • Staff: these are employees who often have direct contact with guests. Examples include retail staff, casino staff, entertainers, receptionists, spa staff, and restaurant staff.
  • Crew: these are roles that take place more in the background. Examples include cleaning staff, kitchen staff without guest contact, technical staff, and stewards.
• Depending on the ship and the organization, you can combine different roles.
• Working on a ship often means long working days, but also a unique opportunity to see the world while you work.

Responsibilities

• Serving guests in restaurants or bars. Cleaning cabins and common areas.
• Organizing entertainment or activities.
• Working in shops, spas, or casinos on board.
• Assisting with excursions or activities ashore.
• Technical work and maintenance of the ship.
• Assisting with safety and emergency procedures.

Working conditions

• Contracts ranging from a few months to a year.
• Board and room on board the ship.
• A salary dependent on position and experience, sometimes with extra income through tips.
• Long working days and few days off during contract periods.
• International work environment with colleagues from many different countries.

What are the reasons for working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad?

• To gain experience: by working abroad, your work experience increases within your own field, but generally also beyond it. You experience much more during your stay abroad if you work than if you were to travel around.
• To strengthen your empathy: by working in a different culture, you often strengthen your own ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Differences in culture, working methods, and communication styles ensure that you accept other aspects more quickly or take them as they are. Your own perspective quickly becomes broader, broader, and, in particular, more flexible.
• To increase your stress resilience: you regularly work under reasonable or significant pressure; working in a different culture can take a toll on your stress resilience. This is especially due to pressure that may arise because you have to communicate in a different language, perform new tasks, or receive limited coaching. Nevertheless, for almost everyone, these experiences contribute to a significant increase in stress resilience precisely because of this.
• To discover and accept your own qualities: when you are further away from your familiar environment, you discover more quickly what you are actually capable of and what you actually want. By going to work, you confront yourself more often, get to know yourself better, and accept who you are and how you want to be more quickly.

What skills and motivations do you need to work on a cruise ship or yacht abroad?

• Professionalism: You often have to work hard and long hours. Furthermore, a positive attitude and being easy to get along with are important qualities. You are a quick learner and enjoy working in a multicultural environment.
• Service orientation: Especially when you have a lot of contact with guests, their wishes always come first.
• Flexibility: Do you not need to know exactly what your day will look like weeks in advance, but is it enough to discover it at the moment? Then you have the right attitude for working on a ship.
• Communication skills: On a ship, you get different guests every trip, and it is important that you get to know them as quickly as possible to tailor everything to their wishes.
• Collaboration skills: Abroad, too, it is important that you learn, or are able, to collaborate when working with others.

What are the best countries and locations to work on a cruise ship or yacht abroad?

The beautiful and famous sailing trips

• Along the Ionian Islands in Greece.
• Along the Turkish coast.
• Across the Andaman Sea.
• From Bali to Sulawesi.
• From Grenada and the Grenadines to the rest of the Caribbean.
• Along the coast of Norway.
• From Colombia via the San Blas Islands to Panama (or vice versa).
• Sailing through the Grand Canyon.

The beautiful and famous cruises

• Greek islands (Rhodes, Santorini).
• Caribbean Islands (St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Curaçao).
• Chile: Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales.
• The Nile Cruise (all of Egypt by boat).
• South Pacific (including Papeete, Bora Bora).
• Fjords Cruise (towards North Cape).
• Antarctica (fascinating).
• Panama Canal.
• World cruise (98 days from Rotterdam).
• Southeast Asia.

What are the risks of working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad, and are you insured against those risks? 

What are the risks of working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad, and what happens with some regularity:

• that there is an unsafe working environment: infrastructure, health risks, political instability, conduct, weather conditions
• that your resistance is low: long days, heat or cold, and time pressure can lead to burnout-like symptoms
• that there is a lot of stress: due to responsibility, cultural and linguistic problems, busy seasons, working in small spaces with the same people close together
• that the physical strain is high: due to a lot of standing and walking.
• that accidents happen: burns, cuts, back problems, joint problems, falls. that someone contracts a contagious or local infection due to food hygiene in tropical conditions, rendering you unable to work for a period of time, or even requiring you to be flown back home.
• that someone causes harm to guests: think of spilled grease stains on clothing, or physical damage.
• When you work in the boating sector, you may be exposed to greater financial or legal risks as soon as you start performing your work under your own responsibility. It is advisable, as far as possible, to also inquire to what extent your local employer is adequately insured for accidents, technical errors, or misjudgments. Of course, this is not always the case, nor can it be always ascertained in advance. Take this into account as much as possible when deciding whether to perform certain risky tasks.

Are you insured while working on a cruise ship or yacht abroad?

• There may be several reasons why you need separate insurance when working abroad.
• Local employers generally offer limited or no supplementary insurance.
• During work, internships, or volunteering abroad where you receive compensation or a salary, your own health insurance coverage in your home country may lapse. See the pages on: insuring paid work, internships, or volunteering abroad.
• See also: insurance for working on a cruise ship or yacht for paid work, for internships and for volunteer work abroad.