All Aboard the Love Boat

Office romances are often seen to be a bad idea. The fear is that if the relationship dissolves, it will disrupt the work environment. Living and working on a yacht magnifies the possibility of this consequence because co-workers are in each others space 24/7.

So is it a good idea to begin a romance on board or should you wait until the season is over. Similarly, if you are a Captain or senior, should you support crew coupling up or maintain a no-fraternizing policy?

We’ve all heard the saying, “The heart wants what it wants.” If you’re spending six months around the same people,every day, you’ll eventually get to know one other quite well. Some more intimately than others. If you factor in the long hours, the labour intensive days and the occasional home-sickness; crew members are going to go to one another for comfort and companionship. But does your responsibility to your feelings and attractions come before your responsibility to your yacht crew and passengers?

Onboard romances have become an industry norm. More and more crew are looking for yacht work that is couple friendly. Lovers don’t want to spend months out at sea without their partners. Singletons, too, are favouring vessels that have a relaxed attitude towards onboard romances.

Tread with extreme caution.

Situations such as these have the tendency to shift the professional dynamic. If one partner is in a position of power they might begin to prioritise their partner over the rest of the crew. Now this may be okay if the Chef is serving up a little extra pudding for their sweetie pie, but if a Chief Stewardess or First Mate is making scheduling rearrangements to squeeze in quality time with their S.O it may inconvenience other crew members and cause a serious rift in the team.  

Relationships that start on board burn bright, hot and fast. They very rarely make it past the end of a season or the termination of a contract. Which is why if you enter into one, or are a supervisor that permits them on board; you must be sure that hearts aren’t given away too quickly. The nature of most of these intimacies is convenience. Don’t be surprised to learn, that when you dock at the end of service, your partner has a spouse and family that they chose not to mention. This has been known to happen and it leaves the betrayed party in a depressed heap.

Before you conclude that this article works to discourage coupling up with your fellow crew members; we only urge you to exercise caution. Fraternising with passengers however, should not, never, not ever, happen. They’ll have you walking the plank immediately. It’s extremely unprofessional and a complete industry no-no.

Parting advice; don’t err… dip your pen in the company ink. It has the potential to blow up in your face. If you find you can’t resist lead with your head and let your heart follow. After all you’re on the yacht working, not looking for love.