Getting a job on a luxury yacht or a river cruise has a number of advantages.
Crewing is the term used to describe working on a boat, yacht, or cruise ship.
For young people who wish to see something of the world cheaply, crewing is a good means to an end.
There are two basic types of crewing jobs – crewing on a yacht and crewing on a river cruise.
This post will take a brief look at both types of job.
Getting a job on a luxury yacht or a river cruise has a number of advantages. One of the main ones is that it is usually a ‘legal’ job.
You will be provided with the correct visas and paper work in order to travel to different countries.
So many other jobs such as bar tending, fruit picking and teaching English often are done on a cash in hand basis with tourist visas. Authorities in many countries are beginning to clamp down on this as they are missing out on tax revenue.
When getting a job on a yacht it is important to check your contract carefully. Some unscrupulous captains try to take advantage of greenhorns and insist on a daily contribution to a ‘food kitty’. At most this should be $15 a day. Anymore and you are effectively a working passenger.
For those with no experience sailing there are two jobs available – deckhand and steward / stewardess. A deckhand is expected to clean and maintain the boat and a steward takes care of the needs of passengers. If you have some culinary experience it might be possible to get a chef job; although cooking on board is very different to cooking on land.
River cruises are normally on big boats that go up and down famous rivers such as the Rhine or the Danube.
The advantage of river cruises is that you see more of a country and you make land every day. Also seasickness is less of a problem.
There are cleaning jobs on river cruises. If you can play an instrument there might be work as part of the on-board entertainment. There are also jobs for bar tenders.
Neither crewing on a yacht nor working on a river cruise boat will make you rich but it is a great way to travel around the world. There are a number of websites where jobs on boats are advertised. Good luck and happy sailing!
