Apart from your monthly salary you may also receive tips. These can sometimes be very good indeed and a real bonus to your salary. A tip is usually around 10% to 15% of a charter fee. So if you are working on a large motor yacht that currently charters out for £200,000 ($380,000) a week and has 14 crew members you will each receive a tip of roughly £1,600 ($3,000). On smaller yachts, for example a sailing vessel of 30m chartered out for £19,000 ($36,000) a week with a crew of five you will receive roughly £550 ($1000) each.

For vessels that are kept for private use you can still expect tips from guests but these will usually be decidedly less. Possibly around £100/$200 to £200/$300 each. Some owners themselves will present you with a tip when they leave. The nice ones anyway!

Different yachts have different policies about tips when it comes to sharing them out. Some yachts will divide the tips 100% equally amongst everyone in the crew. Even if the guests give you an extra personal tip you are supposed to hand it in to be put into the communal tip account. This is by far the best approach. On a yacht during a charter everyone is working their butts off and some crew members are in a position where they interact more directly with the guests than others; it’s not fair that they should get more money just because they are more visible. Sharing tips equally promotes teamwork and goodwill.

There are some yachts that give a higher percentage of the tip to those in senior positions but there are many who disagree with this method, after all those in senior positions are earning more in terms of salary anyway.

Remember too that a tip is a tip and is received because the customer is satisfied with the quality of service that he or she has received. It is a good idea to clarify exactly what the yacht’s policy is, hopefully this will be when you sign your employment agreement and not after the charter guests leave. This policy should be in writing. Watch out for unscrupulous captains who keep more than their fair share.

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The 13th Cheque
As more and more yachts start to treat professional crew in a businesslike manner, you will find that on occasion, the professional crew, employed on a year round basis, are offered a 13th cheque as part of their contract.
Some seasonal staff are offered a bonus at the end of the season; tips/gratuities from guests and suppliers may be withheld and added to a package that is offered by the owner. This is done in order to encourage those crew taken on for the season to stay for the duration. On occasion allowances that have not been used up, like the crew meal budgets etc, are also added to this figure.

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Other Benefits
Aside from the more obvious financial benefits, like salaries, crew should receive the following standard benefits:

• Room and board
• Basic living essentials like toiletries, linen etc
• Crew Uniform
• Four to six weeks paid vacation each year (with paid repatriation where applicable)
• Health Insurance including dental work
• Access to e-mail
• Annual salary review
• Annual performance based bonus
• Bonuses (financial or time off) for long voyages/crossings
• Car for captain and crew to use on yacht business

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Additional benefits might be:

• Paying for further training in your chosen field
• Health insurance for family back home
• Life insurance
• Business class flights for senior crew on long haul flights