Working on Yachts in Antibes: A Crew Guide

Stand on the Quai des Milliardaires in Port Vauban on any October morning and you'll see them: crew in white polos rolling wheelie bags off 60-metre motor yachts, pinning CVs to notice boards, sitting in clusters outside La Gaffe nursing flat whites. Around 30,000 people a year make this same pilgrimage from Australia, South Africa, the UK, the United States. They come because this is where the work is.

Not Palma. Not Fort Lauderdale. Not Monaco. Antibes. This town of 75,000 permanent residents has been the fulcrum of the global superyacht crew market since the mid-1990s. Here is how it actually works: the money, the grind, and the trade-offs nobody photographs for Instagram.

Why Antibes

Start with geography. Antibes sits between Nice (12 km east) and Cannes (11 km west), with Port Vauban offering 1,642 berths, the largest marina in Europe for vessels over 24 metres. In winter, when yachts aren't chartering, they come here for refit. The Quai des Milliardaires alone hosts yachts valued at over €100 million each. Where the boats are, the work is.

The infrastructure compounds the advantage. Within a 15-minute walk from Port Vauban you'll find at least six crew agencies, three STCW training schools, two maritime medical clinics, a dozen chandleries, and a Carrefour City. As our guide to Antibes as the superyacht capital explains, the entire town is built around this industry. The Capitainerie, the crew bars, the provisioning companies. The ecosystem feeds itself.

Cost matters too, especially when you're burning savings. A shared room in Antibes runs €500–700 a month. Monaco doesn't offer shared rooms. Nice charges €600–900. A coffee at Café Clemenceau on Place Nationale is €2.50, and lunch at Le Brulot on Rue Frédéric Isnard , the steakhouse every crew member knows , costs €15–18 for a plat du jour. You can survive here on €1,200 a month while you look for a position. That number matters.

The Jobs: What's Available and What They Pay

Superyacht crew positions follow a clear hierarchy, and pay scales reflect it. All figures below are base monthly salary. On top of that, crew receive food and accommodation on board, plus tips, which on a busy charter season can add 10–20% to annual income.

Position	Monthly Salary (EUR)	Entry Requirements
Deckhand	2,500–3,500	STCW, ENG 1, Powerboat Level 2
Stewardess (Junior)	3,000–4,000	STCW, ENG 1, Food Hygiene Level 2
Bosun	3,500–5,000	Experience + STCW, Powerboat Level 2
Chief Stewardess	4,500–6,500	3+ years interior experience
Chef	4,000–8,000	Professional culinary qualification, STCW
Engineer (3,000 GT)	5,000–10,000	Y4/AEC or CoC, STCW
First Officer	5,500–8,000	OOW 3,000 GT or Yachtmaster Offshore
Captain	8,000–15,000	Master 3,000 GT or Yachtmaster Ocean

Entry level means deckhand or junior stewardess. These are the positions green crew fill, and they're the hardest to land because everyone starts there. Progression is real, though. A deckhand who stays three years, earns a Yachtmaster Offshore, and doesn't burn bridges can become a first officer. A junior stew who moves to chief stew in four seasons can earn €6,000 a month with every meal and every night's sleep paid for. The savings rate is extraordinary: crew routinely bank €30,000–50,000 a year because there is almost nothing to spend money on while working.

For context on the broader industry and what these vessels cost to build, our piece on why France builds more boats than anywhere else is worth reading.

Certifications You Need

You cannot legally work on a commercial yacht without certifications. The non-negotiable baseline is STCW and an ENG 1 medical. Everything else improves your CV.

STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping)

A five-day course covering personal survival techniques, fire prevention, elementary first aid, and personal safety. Cost in Antibes: approximately €1,200 at providers like Maritime Professional Training (MPT), Bluewater, or the Professional Yachting Association (PYA). Valid for five years. Without this, no agency will register you and no captain will hire you. Full stop.

ENG 1 Medical Certificate

The maritime equivalent of a fitness-to-work medical, issued by an MCA-approved doctor. In Antibes, Dr. Roy at the Centre Médical on Boulevard du Président Wilson does them for around €100. Valid for two years, one year if you're over 50. Takes about 30 minutes: hearing, vision, blood pressure, urine test.

Food Hygiene Level 2

Required for interior crew. A one-day course, around €100, covering safe food handling, allergen awareness, and HACCP principles. If you're applying as a stewardess, have this before you arrive.

Powerboat Level 2

For deck crew who'll be driving tenders. A two-day course, approximately €300, covering close-quarters handling, coming alongside, and man overboard recovery. Get it done early. Our man overboard guide covers what that drill actually involves in practice.

Finding Work

There are four channels. Most crew who land their first position use a combination of all four.

The Dock Walk

Exactly what it sounds like. You dress in clean, professional clothing , dark shorts or trousers, white polo, boat shoes, no sandals, no logos , print 20 copies of your CV with a colour photo, and walk the docks of Port Vauban between 07:00 and 09:00. You approach crew on deck, ask politely if they need anyone, and leave your CV. Cold-calling in boat shoes. Most people hate it. It works. Captains and chief stews respect the hustle, and a significant number of entry-level positions are filled this way.

Port Canto in Cannes is worth the 20-minute bus ride for a second dock walk. Fewer crew try it, so your CV gets more attention. Our harbour guide has a full breakdown of Port Vauban's layout if you want to know which quays to prioritise.

Crew Agencies

Agencies like Bluewater (Boulevard d'Aguillon), Crew4Yachts, YachtCrewLink, and Luxury Crew place crew in positions. They typically charge the yacht, not you, one month's salary as a placement fee. Register in person, bring your certificates, dress well, be polite to the receptionist. These agencies handle hundreds of walk-ins weekly. The ones who get callbacks are prepared, qualified, and persistent. Not just enthusiastic.

Day Work

Before you land a full-time position, day work keeps you fed and visible. The rate in Antibes is €100–150 a day, paid cash. Work includes washing, sanding, polishing, painting, and loading stores. Show up at Quai Henri Rambaud by 07:30 with gloves and a willingness to scrub. It's physical and unglamorous. It's also how you get your face known to crew who might recommend you when a position opens.

Online Platforms

Dockwalk.com, CrewFO, and YachtCrewLink all run online job boards. CrewFO charges approximately €10 a month for premium listings. Facebook groups , "Yacht Crew Jobs" and "Superyacht Crew Network" , post dozens of positions daily. But online-only job seekers are at a disadvantage. Captains prefer someone they've met, or someone recommended by crew they trust. Online is a supplement, not a strategy.

Networking

La Gaffe on Boulevard d'Aguillon has been the crew bar since the early 2000s. The Hop Store on Rue Aubernon is the other regular haunt. These are not party venues. They're informal hiring halls. Every chief stew who needs a last-minute replacement for a Med charter starts by asking around. Being known, being reliable, being sober when it matters: this is how second and third positions come. Relationships built over a €6 pint have launched more careers than any agency database.

The Lifestyle: Honest

The Instagram version shows crew in bikinis anchored off Capri. The reality is polishing stainless at 06:30 in Genoa drizzle. Charter season , roughly May to September in the Med , means 14 to 16-hour days, seven days a week, for weeks running. You serve, clean, maintain, and smile. Guests pay €150,000 a week for a charter and expect perfection. You deliver it, or you're replaced.

Privacy barely exists. Your cabin is smaller than a prison cell in most countries, shared with another crew member. The captain's mood sets the tone for the entire vessel. A good captain makes the job extraordinary. A bad one makes it unbearable, and you won't know which you've got until you've already committed.

That said, if you survive your first season , roughly 40% of green crew don't come back for a second , you're in. The network opens, the pay rises, the positions improve. A third-season crew member with good references picks their boats. By year five, a chief stew or bosun is earning €5,000–6,000 a month with zero living expenses. That equation doesn't exist in many industries.

It's also worth understanding the French maritime regulations that govern these vessels, particularly crew contracts, working-hour rules, and the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, which sets minimum standards for rest periods and on-board conditions.

Where to Live in Antibes

You won't live on board until you have a position. Until then, you need somewhere ashore.

Crew Houses

Shared houses rented specifically to transient crew, typically €400–600 a month for a bed in a shared room. They're social, well-located (usually within walking distance of Port Vauban), and turnover is high: someone leaves for a boat, a bed opens. Facebook groups "Antibes Crew House" and "Riviera Crew Accommodation" list new availability daily. Quality varies wildly. Visit before you pay.

Shared Apartments

A room in a shared flat costs €500–800 a month. Vieil Antibes is the most walkable option , five minutes to Port Vauban, five minutes to the agencies , but also the priciest. Juan-les-Pins is 10 minutes by bus (Line 200, €1.50) and typically €100–150 cheaper per month. Sophia Antipolis has the lowest rents but requires a car or a 30-minute bus, making it impractical unless you've already secured a position and simply need cheap sleep.

Practical Notes

Landlords want a guarantee: a French guarantor or three months' rent upfront. For short-term crew housing, cash arrangements are common but offer no legal protection under French tenancy law. Keep receipts. As our piece on the reality of Riviera costs covers, budget €600 a month minimum for anything within a reasonable commute of the port.

The Timeline: What a First Year Looks Like

Most first-timers arrive between October and January. This is smart. Yachts are in refit, captains are building crews for the upcoming season, and training schools run back-to-back courses. Arriving in June with no certifications and no contacts is how people burn through €5,000 in two months and fly home.

• Months 1–2 (Oct–Nov): Complete STCW, ENG 1, and any additional certs. Register with three or four agencies. Start day work. Build your network.
• Months 3–4 (Dec–Jan): Dock walk daily. Day work three or four days a week. Attend crew events. Apply online.
• Months 5–6 (Feb–Mar): Boats are crewing up for Med season. This is peak hiring. If your CV is in circulation and your face is known, the phone rings.
• Months 7–12 (Apr–Sep): On board, working. Charter season. Save everything you can.

Once you're on a boat, our French Riviera sailing guide covers the main charter grounds , the route from Antibes to the Îles de Lérins to Saint-Tropez that you'll run repeatedly through a Med summer.

A Final Word

Working on yachts is not a holiday with a salary. It is shift work in a confined space, with high standards, long hours, and the constant possibility that a guest's whim rewrites your week. The compensation is real: financial freedom, global travel, and a community that spans every port from Monaco to the Caribbean. But it's earned. Come October, the dock at Port Vauban fills again with new faces clutching laminated CVs in the morning chill, and the boats choose the ones who showed up first.