Where crew actually sleep between boats: crew houses, not vacation rentals. Shared and private rooms, by the night, week or month, near the yards and the agencies. Book direct with the house; I get nothing from any of them.
Fort Lauderdale
The deepest crew housing market in the US, clustered around Lauderdale Marine Center, SE 17th Street, and the training schools. New to the industry and stacking STCW or day-work, this is where the beds are.
Houses worth knowing: Fort Lauderdale Crew House (Peter Pan house, shared main house plus private guest house, daily/weekly/monthly, flat rate with no hidden laundry, cleaning, or parking charges). The Crew Home (5 bed 4 bath, gym, walking distance to LMC and SE 17th, weekly and monthly, utilities in). Smart Move Crew (studios up to four-bedroom houses near LMC and the schools, weekly and monthly, no lease). Lauderdale Crew House (Croissant Park, five-minute walk to LMC, two locations). Laudy Accommodation (run by Maria, near the marine schools). Crew Haven (multiple houses across the city, shared and private, books availability 7 to 10 days out). Crew Quarters (budget shared house for crew between contracts).
Book early for season and for STCW course weeks. The good rooms move fast.
West Palm Beach
Smaller market, anchored around Rybovich. Quieter than Lauderdale but real crew housing exists.
Houses worth knowing: Artisan Crew Houses (run by Jonathan, near Rybovich, yacht crew only, two-to-a-room max, bikes available, short and long term). Palm House / Crew Haven (crew accommodation in West Palm, shared and private).
Newport, Rhode Island
Summer hub, liveliest June through October, quiets down by November. Far less commercialized than Lauderdale, so dedicated crew housing is scarce. Plan ahead.
Worth knowing: Newport Shipyard crew housing (two furnished three-bedroom houses and five furnished apartments across from the yard, crew and marine job seekers only, one-month minimum, contact the yard directly). Seamen's Church Institute, the Crow's Nest (seafarer mission accommodation on the waterfront, not a yacht crew house in the strict sense but a known landing spot).
One-month minimums at the shipyard make Newport better suited to crew settling in for training or a day-work stretch than to a fast turnaround.
Antibes
The heart of the Mediterranean crew scene, first-tier hiring port, everything clustered around Port Vauban. Deep market but high demand, so book ahead. French season starts early April, arrive before the boats sail.
Houses worth knowing: The Crew Grapevine (three houses in the Old Town near Port Vauban, Portside / Seaside / Oasis, upmarket hostel model, whole-house rental November to March for refit crews). Crew Lighthouse (29 Avenue Pasteur, near the station and Port Vauban, five rooms, social atmosphere, recommended by the local agencies and schools). The Crew House (large central house sleeping up to 30, laundry and kitchen, refundable deposit). Amma's Crew House (en-suite rooms, budget end). Bel Air Crew House (10 Avenue Bel-Air, small and friendly, quick access to Port Vauban). If Antibes is full, Juan Les Pins or Biot are a short train or bike away.
Palma de Mallorca
Major Med hub, anchored around STP shipyard and the Paseo Marítimo. Fewer true dedicated crew houses than Antibes, more crew tend to share flats, but real houses exist. Season runs March to June and late September to October. Most crew houses want a Seaman's Book, yachting CV, or STCW cert to check in.
Houses worth knowing: Crew Guest House Palma (above Santa Catalina, 15-minute walk to the marina and STP, single and double rooms, pool and garden, applications through their Facebook group). The Boat House Palma (Plaza San Antonio, Old Town). Little Bridge House (Cala Mayor). Local hub: the Palma Yacht Crew Facebook group is where rooms and shares get posted in real time.
St. Maarten
Caribbean winter hub, with the superyacht marinas on Simpson Bay lagoon and Cole Bay on the Dutch side and Marigot on the French side. There is no dedicated crew house scene here the way there is in Lauderdale or Antibes. Crew mostly rent rooms and shares posted in the St Maarten Yacht Crew Facebook group, where a shared room runs about USD 400 to 700 a month.
Worth knowing: Carl's Unique Inn (18 Orange Grove Road, Cole Bay, 15 rooms with kitchenettes and breakfast included, pitches long-term rates to crew day-working or between boats with the best pricing at a month or more, about USD 105 a night on the booking sites, book at carlsinn.com or +1 721 544 2812). Shrimpy's Waterfront Hostel and Crew Quarters (46 Rue du Morne Ronde, Sandy Ground, Marigot, five small private cabins on the water with a shared bathroom, fans not AC, about USD 54 a night, book on Airbnb or Booking.com, same operator as Shrimpy's Laundry and Yacht Support).
Book ahead of Heineken Regatta week in early March, when the island fills.
More ports coming
Other hubs go live as houses are confirmed crew-only with current contacts. If you run a crew house in a working port, or you've stayed somewhere worth naming, send it in. This page is only as good as the houses behind it, and the best names come from crew who've already slept there.