Port Operations & Itinerary Manager

Our client is an award-winning, family-owned luxury cruise line that has spent more than two decades redefining small-ship travel. Because the yachts carry roughly a hundred guests, they reach harbors the large ships cannot, and that is the whole point of the product.

This role is the person who finds those places and makes them possible: sitting across the table from port authorities, harbor masters and agents, walking the berths, and working out whether a beautiful stretch of coastline can actually become a call.

Ports and destinations

• Travel to prospective and existing ports to assess access, berth and anchorage options, tender operations and local conditions
• Build and hold the relationships that matter: port authorities, harbor masters, agents and destination partners
• Negotiate and secure the access and support every itinerary depends on
• Evaluate new destinations for guest appeal, feasibility and cost, and make the call on whether a port is worth pursuing
• Represent the company at industry conferences and destination events

Itinerary development

• Review the itinerary proposals generated by the company's internal planning system, then assess each one for port access, timing and operational feasibility and refine it into something that works
• Coordinate with port partners on options and constraints, and own the process itself rather than building every itinerary from a blank page

Commercial and cost

• Manage port budgets, review port fees, agency charges and disbursement accounts, and keep the port side of every itinerary aligned with the vessel and the shoreside team

What we are looking for

• Experience working with port authorities and agents internationally, from cruise, shipping, port agency, destination management or a port authority
• A track record of opening access somewhere new, and experience owning a cost budget and negotiating with vendors and agents
• Comfort with the practical side of vessel operations: berth and anchorage constraints, draft, tendering and pilotage. You do not need to have sailed, but you need to hold your own with people who have
• Working knowledge of clearance and immigration requirements, cruising permits and protected area access
• Genuine appetite for international travel around 70% of the time. A second language is a real advantage, particularly Spanish, French or Italian

Why this role is different

At a large line the port list is fixed and the work is negotiating berth slots at established terminals. Here, the ports you open become the itineraries the company sells.

Benefits:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Short- and long-term disability, life, and long-term care coverage
• Paid time off, including vacation, sick and personal days, company holidays, floating holidays, and bereavement leave
• 2 Weeks of yachting for you and a companion, per year
• Friends and family sailing rates after six months of employment