What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Spain (typical routes): Higher Technician in Early Childhood Education (RD 1394/2007), HT in Sociocultural and Tourist Animation (RD 1684/2011), the professional certificate in Leisure-Time Education Activities for Children and Youth (SSCB0209) or a Leisure-Time Monitor diploma from a regionally recognised school (as a guide; lines accept equivalents from other countries).
- Mandatory background screening before embarkation; for Spanish workers with minors, a negative certificate from the Central Registry of Sexual Offenders required by Act 26/2015 (lines add their own international background check).
- Valid seafarer medical certificate per flag.
Basic STCW
- STCW Basic Safety Training (A-VI/1) to sign on.
- Passenger ship emergency familiarization and Crowd Management (A-V/2) — personnel designated to assist passengers, with a specific duty over minors (Regulation V/2).
- Security awareness training (A-VI/6-1).
Specific courses
- Paediatric first aid with child CPR and AED (EPALS/PALS-type schemes or company equivalent — as a guide).
- Safeguarding: abuse prevention, the never-alone-with-a-minor rule, and the company reporting channels.
- Lost-child protocol and family reunification in an emergency (drilled in muster-list exercises).
- Behaviour management and special needs: inclusion of children with disabilities or neurodivergence per the line’s programme.
Indicative experience
As a guide: 1-2 seasons in camps, schools or children’s leisure centres (on the order of 200+ documented hours with minors) before the first contract. On board, work follows company age-based supervision ratios (as a guide: stricter for younger bands) and groups that exceed a hundred children per club on sea days.
Observations
Typical route: Youth Counselor → senior counselor / age-band coordinator → Youth Program Manager (see profile) → entertainment management or shoreside training. The job demands absolute safeguarding hygiene: doors with visibility, documentary logging of every drop-off and pick-up, and company zero tolerance of any safeguarding incident. In an emergency they do not evacuate with the crew: they stay with the minors in their care until reunification is complete — one of the few hotel positions with direct custody of lives on the muster list.
What this role does
This is not mere entertainment: while parents are at the theatre or on an excursion, this position holds effective custody of dozens of minors. That is why the entry filter is tougher than the artistic one — background checks, child-protection training and supervision ratios — and why its emergency role is among the most delicate on the muster list: gathering children separated from their families, keeping custody and escorting them to the muster station following the company reunification protocol.
Typical watches
- Shifts by age group per daily programme, including theme nights and late-night care; reinforced on sea days
Key responsibilities
- Design and run daily activities by age band (games, crafts, sports, STEM workshops) within the company programme.
- Operate the child check-in/check-out register with authorised-adult verification and age-based supervision ratios.
- Apply child-protection protocols: abuse prevention, behaviour management, declared allergies/medication and lost-child procedure (immediate alert to security).
- In an emergency, follow the reunification protocol: taking custody of the club’s minors and escorting them to their muster station until handover to their families.
- Record incidents (accidents, behaviour, safeguarding) and report them to the manager using the company form.
Operational scope
- Kids clubs and teen zones by age band
- Play areas, children’s pools and sports decks during activities
- Muster stations assigned to minors in an emergency
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.