It is your best friend's wedding in August. You are in Porto Cervo with guests onboard and no chance of leave. You have missed two birthdays, a funeral and your sister's first baby. This is the part of the job that no recruitment page mentions, and it is the part that decides whether you last.
The Season
Yachting runs on seasons, and most yachts follow the sun.
| Season | Roughly | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Mediterranean summer | May to September | France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Turkey |
| Caribbean winter | November to April | St Maarten, Antigua, BVI, St Barths, Bahamas |
| Yard period / shoulder | Oct-Nov, Apr-May | Refit, deep clean, provisioning, no guests |
| Crossing | Spring and autumn | Atlantic passages between the two |
Some yachts are dual-season (Med then Caribbean), some do one season and sit, some do exotic itineraries. A yard period is not a holiday: it is dust, contractors, deep cleaning and inventory.
The Hours
- Guests onboard: 14-17 hour days, no days off, on call at night.
- No guests: 8-10 hour days, sometimes a day off a week, still a working boat.
- Leave is set by the contract: some yachts give a fixed number of days per year, some run rotation (for example a period on, a period off). Rotation is more common on larger yachts and is worth asking about.
What It Costs You Personally
- No privacy. A shared cabin, a bunk, one drawer. Your colleagues are also your flatmates and often your only social life.
- No home base. Your address becomes a crew agency and a storage unit. Renewing a phone contract or a bank account gets complicated.
- Relationships. Long-distance is hard on a schedule you cannot control. Many crew relationships form onboard, and that has its own risks.
- Money in, money out. Your food and accommodation are covered, so you can save aggressively. Plenty of crew do not: the season ends and the money is gone.
Who Thrives, Who Goes Home
Thrives: people who are physically robust, unflappable, tidy by instinct, quick to take correction, and comfortable being invisible. People who can be told to redo something at 23:00 without sulking.
Goes home: people who need recognition, who argue with feedback, who cannot live without their own space, who came for the parties, or who cannot separate a bad day from a bad life.
Onboard Notes
- Decide before you spend money on certificates whether you can genuinely miss the weddings.
- Ask in every interview: how many days of leave, and is there rotation? Vague answers usually mean the answer is "not many".
- Set up a savings transfer on payday in your first month, before lifestyle creep arrives.