- Crew members working on the Ohana make about $1,400 per Monat and receive large tips.
- Insider learned that it’s important to get along well with your coworkers.
- Superyacht work can be stressful, so it is important that the captain understands the needs of his crew.
It is an amazing experience to be able to sail on a superyacht with other guests. Luxurious experience.
However, for the crew it is a very different story. They must work long hours before they can go to sleep in the tiny cabins onboard the vessel.
Tea Kundić and Valentina Rijeka were two of the crew who worked this summer on the Ohana, a 160-foot superyacht based in Split, Croatia.
They spent six months catering to up to 30 people, making sure everyone was happy from the moment they arrived until the time they went to bed.
The crew cabins are located at the rear end of the main deck. Kundić and Rijeka each have their own en-suite cabins where they go when their working days are finally done.
Goolets
Sam Tabahriti/Insider
Rijeka, 30, is the most recent recruit to Ohana’s crew, led by captain and owner, Josip Šerka.
The base salary is 10,000 Kunas, or about $1,400. However, guests are known to tip generously at the end.
Rijeka stated that sometimes you can get as much as $1,000 extra after a seven day charter.
Rijeka said to Insider that she is trying to save as much money as possible in order to fulfill her dream of opening a Hawaiian bar.
Šerka splits tips equally between the crew and does not take a cut himself, according to the crew members.
Kundić, 24, described the captain as a “calm soul,” adding: “He just makes some jokes and makes everyone happy.”
Goolets
The captain’s right-hand man Zoran Vidović, 39, told Insider that working on a superyacht can be very enjoyable but is often quite demanding. He says this is particularly true for younger people chartering yachts because they “just want to party.”
He recalls an incident where the crew were preparing to raise the anchor when some guests jumped into the water near the propellers: “You’ve got to be on it – you must think about safety at all times.”
Rijeka also recommends being able and willing to get along with other crew members. “Because you won’t be able to work with the same people for many months.” It’s important to “respect each other’s boundaries” and give people space when they need it, Kundić adds.
It is crucial to make sure everyone feels supported, she said.
Šerka knows just how his crew feel, because he was in their shoes before becoming captain.
“I was working as a sailor, a waiter in the kitchen – I tried everything, so I know how hard it is,” he says. “I would like to be the boss that I had when I did these jobs.”
