\u201cYou clean the showers, then you polish them, then you go into every single little nook and cranny \u2026 it\u2019s super detailed cleaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before heading offshore to chase an overseas dream, O\u2019Halloran worked at Rosewood Cape Kidnappers as a food and beverage attendant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned so much about the standards and working in luxury hospitality, making the guest experience as best as it can be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After two years there, and finishing her tourism studies, O\u2019Halloran felt ready for a new challenge. <\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew I wanted to work abroad,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI could\u2019ve gone to Australia because I\u2019ve got family there, but I wanted to do something a bit crazy while I\u2019m young … travel more, learn more, go somewhere very different from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
She \u201cbit the bullet\u201d, booked a one-way flight to France in April this year and spent six weeks looking for a job before landing her first role. <\/p>\n
A boat where O\u2019Halloran previously worked on in Ibiza.<\/p>\n
Her current boat, now based in Dubai with trips planned to the Maldives, carries up to 12 guests and 19 crew.<\/p>\n
When the owners are off, she says days are spent maintaining the crew areas, running laundry for 19 people, restocking, managing weekly provisions and keeping everything in order.<\/p>\n
When the owners step aboard, the pace changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of everything else, you\u2019re housekeeping the rooms, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, cocktail hours, setting things up for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey jump off the boat, and we clean it again, and they might go for a tour, and you set things up for them and you\u2019re just always there if they need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours depend on the season and whether the owners are on. <\/p>\n
At the moment, with the yacht in Dubai without guests, her roster is roughly 8am to 5pm with occasional watch duties. During busy guest periods, shifts can stretch, she says.<\/p>\n
With a nine-hour time difference between the Emirates and New Zealand, staying in touch with home can be tricky.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super annoying because when I finish work at 5pm, it\u2019s 2am in New Zealand,\u201d O\u2019Halloran says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have to wait until late at night to be able to call friends and family, unless I wake up extra early, which isn\u2019t my favourite thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Life on board is intensely social.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have that much time to yourself,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you live with your workmates, there\u2019s always lots going on. Boat romances and drama, and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financially, she says the job has been a game-changer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pay is kind of on par with other luxury hospitality jobs in New Zealand, maybe a bit more, but the main thing is everything\u2019s provided,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t pay rent, food, petrol, internet … you don\u2019t really have bills. What you earn is yours to spend or save.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran says Dubai is a place \u201cahead of time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a city like this before. There\u2019s an aquarium in the middle of the shopping mall, and there\u2019s ice skating rinks as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the service industry is next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Halloran plans to visit her family in Dunedin and friends in Hawke\u2019s Bay at some point in the future, but for now she aims to move up from junior stewardess and chase seasons in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to join a boat that has a different itinerary and go to places that I want to travel, like France, Italy, and Spain,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see myself doing this for a few more years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou clean the showers, then you polish them, then you go into every single little nook and cranny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1561,4225,71,17625,1976,2944,424,206,111,139,69,1118,90,6115,213,44184,223,61,10097,19135],"class_list":["post-215250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bay","tag-dubai","tag-from","tag-graduate","tag-hawkes","tag-inside","tag-life","tag-luxury","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-real","tag-sports","tag-superyachts","tag-the","tag-to","tag-tourism","tag-working"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}