Crew section

The importance of crew for overall yacht charter experience is crucial. We have seen so many average yachts with great and trained crew who had very high level of customers’ satisfaction and returning clients. On the other hand, we know of some opposite cases. The success of yacht crew is determined not only from the service they provide on board, but also from their social skills and being able to recognize what would make clients on board most satisfied.

 

Captain

We usually use term captain if we are talking about several crew member yacht. Captain is a person who oversees yacht and passengers’ safety. Thus, he has the upper hand in any kind of situations that bring safety issues under question (such as rough weather).

Being in charge of other crew members, captain is the one whose goal is to maintain that yacht operations and services for clients run as they should. Captain’s main task is to navigate the ship and tailor the route together with the client (if client has private yacht rental).

Skipper

Unlike captain who has crew to organize all of work on yacht, skipper is usually related to a person who operates a smaller vessel, either alone or accompanied by the hostess. Obviously, skipper’s main responsibility is to operate a yacht and take care of both yacht and passengers’ safety.

Other skipper responsibilities include smaller repairs, making reservation in ports or marinas, keeping track of weather forecast and any other task relevant for keeping the yacht charter going smooth. Very often, skipper is a person who can contribute with knowledge about local experiences, restaurant recommendations and things to do in general. Overall, skipper is rarely just a skipper, but also a valuable local guide.

Hostess

There are more advantages in having hostess on board. As a valuable crew member, hostess has more responsibilities including taking care of provisioning and groceries on board (including daily shopping), preparing meals (hostess can prepare simple dishes, don’t expect haute cuisine) and keeping the boat clean.

Apart from these main responsibilities, hostess also keeps track of yacht inventory and groceries to make sure everything is available. Hostess can also be valuable in terms of local knowledge and recommendation for things to do.

Chef

One of the key crew members to receive good feedback from the client. Chefs are normally present on yachts that have at least 3 crew members. For these yachts, we normally send preference list to the clients so chef can know in advance what kind of food guests want to have on board. This way, food menu on board is tailored for each group of clients arriving.

This also means higher probability of guests being satisfied. Importance of yacht chef is crucial – if guests remain hungry, yacht charter experience can’t be good. Therefore, chef needs to understand clients’ preferences and make sure food is being prepared accordingly.

Focus on local and authentic ingredients might be a plus for many guests, but not for those who seek international dishes. Apart from preparing delicious food, chef should also take care of food presentation and keeping all spaces where food is prepared superbly clean.