Whether you’re resuming your role on board after a “pandemic pause,” climbing the career ladder, or getting your feet wet for the first time, Dockwalk’s Salary Guide provides the full picture when it comes to crew compensation.
Salary is generally one of the top motivators for those looking for jobs in yachting, but it remains a closely guarded secret. Each year, the Dockwalk Salary Survey goes out to thousands of crewmembers and crew agencies across the world, gathering real-time salary feedback with the aim of creating greater transparency and understanding across the industry.
The 2023 Salary Survey is now closed.
The Results of the 2022 Salary Survey
Our annual salary survey provided some unprecedented insights to what captains and crew earned in 2022.
As restrictions eased and the world opened up more, owners and guests have wanted to spend more time on board, and boats are, once again, willing to fly crew in. With some crew swallowing the anchor and lack of new crew joining the industry due to the pandemic, it has paved the way for a "crew market." However, the competiton can still be intense for HODs and captains. Another pandemic-related change is that most yachts are only hiring crew who have been vaccinated for COVID-19.
The compensation range crew can expect to receive is a mixed bag as some crew agents are seeing stagnation or even a decline in salaries compared to last year, whereas others are reporting the opposite. Because of the shortage for experienced crew, yachts are recognizing the need to increase salaries to attract and retain the best crew.
Post-pandemic, time off seems to be an even more highly sought after benefit along with rotation. Typically, rotation is reserved for engineers and senior crew, agents have reported it being offered to junior crew as well.
The tables below show the “agency range,” which gives the average lows and highs of all ranges provided by the agencies, the “poll range,” where results from individual working captains and crew are tallied to show the shows the lowest and highest of all the responses, and the “poll average” calculated from all the responses. Note that our figures do not account for longevity and experience, crew benefit packages, tips, or similar extra remuneration.
To view the full table:
Dockwalk Salary Survey 2022 in USD and Euros