Cruise boat captain sacked after sleeping in front of passengers

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A cruise tour boat captain has failed to win back his job after being sacked for unsafe and “cavalier” behaviour including sleeping and snoring in front of guests and leaving unqualified staff to steer the boat.

The man, who worked for Queensland business SeaLink Whitsundays on their “Wildcat” vessels from June 2024 to June 2025, was employed as a casual master — responsible for the safe operation of the boat — and was found by the Fair Work Commission to have been validly dismissed.

The cruise captain was found to have dumped food into the water while guests were snorkelling nearby.

In June last year, one of SeaLink’s deckhands made a complaint about “very unsafe behaviour” from a “current skipper within the company”.

The allegations included the man sleeping on the vessel and snoring in front of guests to the point where they asked “what’s wrong with the skipper?” , constantly vaping on board, and making other crew members drive the boat despite their lack of qualification.

Several other staff deckhands also gave evidence against the man.

Fair Work Commission deputy president Nicholas Lake said that during the hearing, the man was “perhaps not being deliberately honest”, but often provided expansive answers and deflected and blamed others when asked about his own behaviour.

“He appeared to enjoy the theatrics of being on the witness stand,” Lake said, adding the man tried to dismiss the evidence of the young women involved in the investigation, calling them “a junior group of girls who have nothing better to do than gossip.”

The man also compared a girls-only group chat for women working on the boat to the movie Mean Girls.

Lake said the man’s suggestion that the witnesses were less reliable because they were allegedly gossipy young women was “condescending at best and sexist at worst” and noted he was the least credible witness of all the witnesses who gave evidence.

The man admitted to falling asleep on multiple occasions but said it was common practice in some instances such as when the boat was moored and guests were on the beach, and that in another instance, he had taken sleeping tablets before his shift and in retrospect should not have gone to work that day.

The man worked for Queensland business SeaLink Whitsundays on their “Wildcat” vessels from June 2024, was employed as a casual masterGetty Images/iStockphoto

The man also admitted he vaped on board occasionally, but said he did it to help him quit smoking after seeing a hypnotherapist.

One deckhand alleged the man said, “I just don’t give a f---, let them die,” in response to a conversation about snorkel control measures, but he denied this and the commission found there was inadequate evidence to prove this had occurred.

The commission also said the man asked his deckhands to take the helm without supervision despite them not having the appropriate qualifications to drive the vessel, although the man argued he hadn’t put them “in control” of the boat.

“They were following direct orders from me to drive in a straight line,” he said. “There were no manoeuvres, they were not asked to change direction, they were not asked to change engine speeds.”

The man admitted he had thrown a tray of rice salad overboard during one trip out of frustration with the crew and acknowledged this was an error in judgement as it breached marine pollution regulations. However, one witness alleged it was a more significant amount of food including bread rolls, meats and salads, thrown into the water while guests were snorkelling, and that the man had said he did not want to carry heavy bins of food at the end of the day.

The man argued that his conduct amounted to “a number of rather innocuous indiscretions”, but the commission ultimately found there was a pattern of inappropriate behaviour.

However, the commission noted there was some doubt about whether the man had a fair opportunity to respond to the company’s allegations before a conclusion had been reached on them and to have his say on whether the conduct warranted dismissal.

“I consider the rushed and appended disciplinary process in this matter was unreasonable and, as a result, caused some unfairness,” Lake said, ordering $5000 in compensation to be paid to the man.

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Millie Muroi is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra’s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X or email.