Working on a cruise ship or sailing boat abroad: what is it, where is the best place to go and are you insured?

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

• Working on a cruise ship or sailing yacht can consist of one or more roles that can or must be fulfilled. Staff on a cruise ship or large sailing yacht can be roughly divided into three types.
• The highest in rank are the officers, which includes the captain, but also the doctor and the management staff.
• Then comes the staff, which includes shop staff, casino staff, serving staff with customer contact, beauticians and independent shop owners.
• The lowest in rank is the crew, which includes the stewards and catering staff without customer contact, but also the cleaners and the lowest technical staff.

Why would you work on a boat or cruise ship abroad?

• To gain experience: by working abroad, your work experience increases within your own field of expertise, but also outside of it in general. You experience much more during your stay abroad when you go to work than when you would already be travelling
• To strengthen your empathy: by going to work in a different culture you often strengthen your own ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. The differences in culture, working methods and communication methods ensure that you accept other things more quickly or take them as they are. Your own perspective quickly becomes broader, wider and especially more flexible
• To increase your stress resistance: you regularly work under reasonable or great pressure; working in a different culture can be an attack on your stress resistance. Especially due to pressure that can arise because you have to communicate in a different language, have to perform new tasks or receive limited coaching. Yet it is true for almost everyone that these experiences contribute to the fact that your stress resistance increases significantly
• To discover and accept your own qualities: further away from your familiar environment you discover more quickly what you can actually do and what you actually want. By going to work you encounter yourself more often, you get to know yourself better and accept who you are and want to be.

What do you need if you want to work on a ship?

• Professionalism: you often have to work hard and a lot. Furthermore, a positive appearance and being easy to get along with are important qualities. You are a fast learner and enjoy working in a multicultural environment.
• Service orientation: especially if you have a lot of contact with the guests, their wishes always come first.
• Being flexible: Do you not need to know weeks in advance exactly what your day will look like, but is it enough to find out at the moment? Then you have a good attitude
• 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 in order to tailor everything to their wishes.
• Collaboration skills: even abroad it is important that you learn, or can, collaborate when you are working with others

To what extent are you insured for the risks?

• There may be several reasons why you need separate insurance for paid work abroad.
• During work, internship or volunteer work abroad, the coverage of your Dutch local insurance normally expires. You then need special insurance to remain insured against illness and accidents.
• Local employers usually do not offer any, or limited, additional insurance. When working on ships, you may already be insured by your employer during your work. This varies per ship and employer
• There is a chance of accidents because, for example, you are doing work with which you have little experience.
• A number of specialized insurances offer options for (temporary) paid work abroad. See the pages about insuring paid work abroad and the pages about your health care costs abroad.
• Read more: Travel insurances and insurances for long term abroad - Theme

What are the most beautiful routes in the world by boat, ship or cruise?

What is the best place to go: the beautiful and famous (top 10) 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

What is the best place to go: the beautiful and famous (top 10) cruises

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