TV show- "Below Deck"

Yes, I have seen several charter yachts operate this way. Problem is, it's hard to keep crew or get experienced crew when you do charters. Most experienced crew, start as inexperienced crew do the charter thing for a few years, then bank money, then move over to owner yachts. I believe it's just human nature for a bunch of young, horny people, to eventually hook up when there are no other options.

I have always liked below deck. I see it as humorous.

Thanks for the clarification. Thought for a moment you were (and was praying you weren't) referring to Capt. Christopher Pike from Star Trek (the only reference a Google search came up with). Following your link I was able to find a P&MY reference to a particular boat's "saloon" but couldn't find Pike's reference. In the absence of that I'm more inclined to go by Webster's definition, i.e. it's a salon where people gather not a saloon where they sell alcoholic drinks. Reminds me of cruising up to Providence with an owner who was always befuddled by my terminology but anxious to learn. At one point I said something like 'check out the Russian sub'. He spent several minutes in thought and finally said "I give up. What's a Russian sub" to which I replied that submarine over there with the red star on its tower.

Very. I'm amazed to see senior crew putting blame on amateurs (that they should have a hand in hiring) for not knowing what to do. In an episode from a couple of seasons back they hired a princess from L.I. who out and out lied on her CV, and when they realized it they kept her on. This is what people pay tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for??? These people come on board with thousands of dollars in cash and expensive jewelry. I'd think charter yachts would be the ones hiring the experienced crew and the private yachts being where the newbies went. On a private yacht I'd want the deck crew and stews trained how I like. So pliable young crew would be ideal. But for paying guests I'd want pros. Seems it's like hiring someone who worked a month at McD's as a waiter in a 5 star restaurant.

"chiefly British". Guess I missed Capt. Gary's accent. Maybe if they served "chips " and "bangers" it would made sense. Instead ….

The British call the salon the saloon......British English......so anyone under the MCA side of things calls it a saloon.

LOL, it's fish and chips or bangers and mash...….never chips and bangers...… Do you fancy any spotted dick????

Well after 64 years on the water I'm still learning. That's what I always loved most about boating, but being a NY'er I'll stick with salon (it'll keep me from getting beat up by my friends). And yep it sure does, and watching it would definitely not leave me inclined to ever charter.
Come on spring when I'll hopefully be too busy for TV.

Yes Ralph there's a few I haven't cut up for bait yet.

It's like most television shows and other reality shows, it has it's staged or set up problems but it also compresses all the problems you'd see on many charters over a season or two into one hour. The things you saw on Cheers or Friends weren't normal for one day of people, but they were all things that could sometime happen.

Now, our chief stew for years was on large yachts, for her last few years all 200' and above. Her comments about it are that she's seen or known of something similar to everything on the show, just spread over her 30+ years of being a stew with 25+ years as a chief stew. She's seen bad actors like the crew members but they didn't last long, typically gone on the spot in boats where she had control. On the other hand she's been in long ago and known others in situations where captains just wouldn't let you terminate crew. In those cases, she wouldn't work again for the captain as those captains feared being short handed but she preferred that to having trouble aboard.

As to the guests, she's seen everything the guests on Below Deck do, but again spread over many charters, not in the course of one charter. Then there are the things she's seen that Below Deck isn't going to show and that's guests bringing drugs aboard and turning the boat around and heading to shore after notifying authorities. The other thing encountered on many yachts is captains with drinking problems, not just crew as on the show.

She says she's seen every temperamental chef imaginable and many who thought they ran the ship. She's seen all male deck crew that was ugly and unaccepting toward female deck crew and she's seen female stews who were the same toward male stews. She says it was easy after the had experience as she had choice of boats and crew, but her early years, in the late 80's some boats were like the wild west.

As to Captain going crazy spending all their time on the bridge, she's seen that but she's also been with captains who spent less than 10% of their time on the bridge and most of their time with guest relations and making sure everything was running smooth. One thing you see on the show is a lot going on that the captain "isn't aware of" and she says the better captains are aware of everything because they're all around the boat. The two or three people you never see on Below Deck are the First Officer and the Engineer/(s), but they're on the boat.

It's television and they hire crew they know may be problematic. If all the stews and deck hands were trained and professional, there would be no show. On the other hand I've observed the hiring practices of many captains and owners and understand why they have problems. I'll say too that if you want the best you have to pay best and provide best benefits. In the business world, we talk about hiring the top 10% and know then our pay must be in the top 10%. No different on yacht crews. Doesn't guaranteed good crews, but underpaying guarantees you won't have good crews.

Today Deadliest Catch was running all day; I guess in preparation for the start of the new season. So I've been binge watching. I DK if the captain's personalities played into the choice of which boats to film on, but the filming certainly had nothing to do with the choice of crew as it probably does on Below Deck. I'm pretty sure if I'd seen that show when I was starting out I'd have been there, but I didn't even know that life existed. DK if I'd have been tuff enough to hack it but I sure would have tried. At one point one of the caps made the statement that the sea's job is to kill us, and that's been my experience with the side of the business a lot of my work was in between transports, cleaning up oil spills and body parts and running crew boats. But I walked in both sides of the business and I can't say I didn't enjoy the parties, luxuries and bikinis. I will say though that my tolerance for dealing with immature crew is more in line with the crab boat captains than the below deck captains. One thing I found interesting to hear was when Capt. Keith described being pinned on the dock. "Maybe there's some sort of current that runs along the dock" he said. In my business my specialty was putting boats into very tight spaces and teaching others to do it. Most small boat captains understand that you'll often find an eddy along docks and piers that'll suck your boat in or push it out, but Capt. Keith's career has been spent battling big seas. He didn't make money on the dock. That's one of the beauties of the boat and yacht businesses. There's all sorts of sides to it. If you find the right spot for your personality it can be very rewarding, and it's even possible to cruise in multiple areas of it. That keeps people like me from getting bored.

To answer the OP the crew is cast to be imbeciles. They are not the real crew. Not sure of the most recent shows, but for several seasons the producers changed the name of the boat for filming so as to not effect its charter reputation. And the guests are not real either. They may not be straight up actors, but it’s pretty close.

Uh, so the reality TV show is not real?
Glad to hear: The show seemed dysfunctional from day one and if I was Captain or crew on that tub, I be gone...

Merriam and Webster had one too many in the saloon.

Thanks for keeping YF watertight, Leeky.

That makes a lot of sense. Foolishly I thought it had some basis in reality, but zero reality explains it all. Only thing is that I know one of the characters are real. He worked on the Fire Island ferry over here. Anyway I'm glad the new TV season is starting and there'll be something else to watch and that spring is starting and I'll have less time to watch. Don't think I could stand even another night of it. Between that and the endless Covid 19 news reports and being stuck in the house with nothing to do but watch I'm about ready to go mad.

This isn't the case. They are actually paying charter guests, although the rates are discounted. You may notice that many of them are self-promoting their businesses on the show as well.