Ciara Duggan From ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Says She and First Mate Paget Berry Couldn’t Share a Cabin for 6 Months
After the Below Deck Mediterranean cabin reassignment debacle, Ciara Duggan from Below Deck Sailing Yacht shared her experience working in yachting with boyfriend, first mate Paget Berry.
Duggan and Berry, who are also a couple shared a cabin when they appeared on Below Deck Sailing Yacht. They began the show together and were on the boat before any other crew members arrived. However, Duggan says sharing a cabin with your boyfriend doesn’t always work out.
She recently tweeted, “Fun fact: Paget and I have just spent the last 6 months working on a yacht on which we couldn’t share a cabin.” Adding, “As First Mate and Chief Stew and we survived.”
Tensions mounted on Below Deck Med when bosun Malia White’s boyfriend became the new chef on the boat. White wanted to share a cabin with her boyfriend and urged the crew to make changes. White and chief stew Hannah Ferrier were bunking together and White insisted Ferrier share a cabin with Christine “Bugsy” Drake. Although Ferrier and Drake didn’t think bunking together would beneficial to their working relationship, the change was made because of the chef’s higher rank.
Ciara Duggan can’t imagine forcing cabin reassignments
Below Deck Sailing Yacht chief stew Jenna MacGillivray responded to Duggan’s tweet about room assignments. “In my 8 years of yachting, typically for cabin arrangements no one makes demands, you need to be easy going but also, couples don’t take priority if it means making others uncomfortable,” she wrote.
Duggan agreed. “Omg I couldn’t imagine making everyone move so that @BerryPaget and I can share a cabin just because we’re a couple,” she replied. “ESPECIALLY if we didn’t join the boat together! We’ve done plenty of stints not sharing a cabin even on Parsifal. It’s just not a big deal.”
MacGillivray also had a similar experience as Duggan when it came to working with a boyfriend on a yacht. “I had a boyfriend I worked on yachts with for 3 years and we also didn’t expect to share,” she added. “Everyone in the crew had to be ok with it for it to happen. That tiny cabin is your only space, and you should feel comfortable in that space and not obligated to change because of a couple.”
Rank plays a big role in yachting
Directly underneath the captain are high ranking positions that include the chef, but also chief stew, first mate and the chief engineer. Some organization charts show these high ranking positions as being equal, others may have the chef, first mate, and chief engineer positions elevated.
Duggan’s point was that even though she and Berry both had a high rank on the boat, they didn’t force the crew to make adjustments so they could share a cabin.
“Captain is the highest rank, and then there’s a first mate,” former chief stew Kate Chastain from Below Deck said on the Mouthing Off with Olivia Caridi podcast. “And we have those on the boat on the show, but they’re not on camera. Then chief stew is kind of up there. And the chef is actually pretty high up on the ranking but not really because they don’t have anybody below them. They’re in their own solar system.”
