Standby Assignments
A standby assignment means you’re scheduled to be available as a backup skipper/host for a specific week and destination.
Standby exists to protect two things:
- Guest safety and the overall experience if a skipper/host can’t complete their week due to a serious issue (illness, injury, family emergency, major travel disruption).
- Crew sustainability across a full season — giving team members a planned reset week so they can perform well long-term.
The decision to activate a standby is made only by the Quarterdeck office team.
Standby is also your reset week
A full season is intense. The most common operational challenges aren’t technical — they’re human:
- social fatigue
- lack of sleep
- burnout after multiple consecutive weeks
We actively try to avoid giving team members more than 3–4 assignments in a row (sometimes 5, depending on staffing). A standby week is often the built-in break that makes the rest of the season feel doable — even if you don’t realise you need it when it arrives.
Most people, including the sceptics, end up appreciating that week once they’re in it.
Pay: standby vs activated days
Standby
A standby week is generally not paid, because you’re not working as the skipper/host on a guest yacht.
Activated
If you are activated, you’ll be paid for the active days at your normal rate (often calculated as weekly rate ÷ 7 per day, depending on destination).
Accommodation: what you can expect
Standby always includes a place to stay, but the setup varies by destination:
- Croatia: a standby apartment.
- Some other destinations: a “semi-off” week on the crew yacht.
If you accept a crew yacht standby, you’ll usually receive free accommodation and food, and you should expect to support the event team according to your ability (general operations help, logistics support, being a reliable extra pair of hands). You’ll still remain on standby to step into a skipper/host role if needed.
What “standby” looks like in practice
- You must be reachable throughout the week and able to step in on short notice.
- You may never be activated (that’s normal).
- If you are activated, you step into an assignment immediately and get paid for those days.
Destination guides
This page is the overview. The route-specific details (check-in/out, location, what’s included, duties, and pay rules) are in the destination guides:
- Croatia standby guide
- Greece standby guide
- Sicily standby guide