Working on-board a superyacht and travelling the world in style sounds like a dream job.
Crew members can even get paid a tidy £2500 (AUD $4390) a month for their work.
But some former crew have revealed the brutal side of spending a four-month season working for the mega rich, while being stuck in the middle of the ocean, miles from home.
Crew have revealed three reasons why this ‘dream job’ is actually the worst job ever.
1. Demanding guests
Some superyachts can cost as much as $2 million a week to rent out, so it’s no surprise that the people hiring it are filthy rich.
Because guests pay so much for the boat, they expect an extremely high level of service, and it’s the job of the crew to grant their every wish, no matter how outrageous it is.
A former crew member revealed a guest once asked them for a rare alpaca steak, served on a diamond-encrusted plate at 3.25am, while the boat was 300 miles from shore, according to the Daily Mail.
Sarah, who has worked on yachts for more than 10 years, said it could be tough having to serve someone you didn’t like or respect.
She told the news outlet: “If you are a student of politics, it can be difficult to wait on someone you find morally abhorrent”.
She added it was common for guests to charter a boat and have their wife on-board one night, and their mistress the next – and crew just had to be polite, discreet and cater for their every need.
2. Brutal hours
Sadly for crew, demanding guests don’t become less demanding at night, so they’re pretty much always on the clock.
If a guest wants something at 3am, a willing member of staff has to fetch it for them, even if they were tucked up in bed.
Sarah Begbie worked on a multimillion-dollar yacht when she was 23, and she said the workload was “intense”.
She told Sun Online Travel: “My daily tasks included but were not limited to, all food and beverages services, all housekeeping including making up the guest rooms, guest and crew laundry, linen and turn down service, accounts, stock control and provisioning.
“Basically imagine a 164-foot yacht, which contains six crew bedrooms, crew mess, galley, seven guest bedrooms, eight guest bathrooms, main saloon, dining room, front lounge and bridge.
“All of which myself and two stewardesses are responsible for keeping clean 24/7 while doing all of the food and beverage service and at times containing as much as 11 crew and 16 guests. It was intense.”
Crew do get paid for their heavy workload, with some earning up to £4450 (AUD $7815) a month.
Sarah added: “I earned probably just over £2500 (AUD $4390) per month. This was tax-free money and I, of course, had no living expenses.
“Other boats, however, offer chief stewardesses anywhere between £3000 (AUD $5268) and £4450 (AUD $7815) per month.”
3. Crewmate tension
Everyone has an annoying colleague, but imagine you’re with them not just from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Friday, but 24/7 for four months.
Add into the mix that you’re all exhausted which is making you even more crabby, and you’ve definitely got crewmate tension on your hands.
Even worse, crew generally have to sleep in bunks, so you can’t even get away from them at night.
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Tension with your crewmates is an inevitable part of working onboard a boat, and you all have to suck it up and get on with the job.
Former crew member Melissa McMahon told Power & Motoryacht: “There can be tension and fighting. When you spend your time around the clock eating, working, and sleeping on the same deck in closet-sized rooms, it’s bound to happen.”
This article first appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission.
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