Crew Portal — Your Guide

Everything a crew member needs to know about using Quarterdeck on their phone.

This guide is for you, the crew member. It covers signing in, installing the portal as an app on your phone, and using the daily features — rest hours, sign in/out, car bookings, your safety card. Nothing technical, no admin jargon. If you have a phone and an account, you're ready.

1 Signing In

Open your phone's browser and go to your vessel's Quarterdeck address (your master or chief will give this to you — for example, quarterdeck.boats).

Your login details

Depending on how your admin has set things up, you'll either receive your login from them or you'll create your own account on the first visit (see If you're new aboard below).

  • Username — letters only. No dots, spaces, @ symbols, or other characters. For example, jamesharrington or jharrington.
  • Password — your private password. On first login you can change it to something only you know.
  • Keep me signed in — tick this on your personal phone so you don't need to enter your password every time.

If you're new aboard

If self-registration is enabled on your vessel, tap Create an account below the Sign In button. If it's disabled, your admin will create the account for you and give you the login details — check with them first.

One more step — account activation: after your account is created (whether by you or your admin), your admin must activate it before you can sign in. If you try to log in and nothing happens, your account is probably waiting for activation — let your admin know and they'll enable it from their side.
Forgot your password? Ask your admin to reset it. They can do this from their side without needing your old one.

2 Install Quarterdeck on Your Phone

Before going further, install the Crew Portal as an app on your home screen. This makes it open like a real app — no browser bars, faster to launch, works offline, and feels like a proper app instead of a website.

This is a one-time setup. Five minutes now saves you opening Safari and typing the address every single time. Highly worth doing.

Why install as an app?

  • One tap to open — Quarterdeck lives on your home screen, just like Instagram or WhatsApp
  • No browser bars — uses the full screen, looks and feels native
  • Reliable on the vessel's own network — if your vessel installs Quarterdeck onboard, the portal works on the local network without an internet connection.
  • Faster to launch — no waiting for the browser to start up

iPhone / iPad — four taps

On an iPhone or iPad, open Quarterdeck in Safari (it must be Safari — Chrome won't work on iOS for this).

1

Tap the Share button

Quarterdeck sign-in screen with the Safari Share button circled at the bottom

At the bottom of the Safari screen, tap the Share icon (the square with an arrow pointing up).

2

Tap View More

iOS share sheet with the View More (chevron) button circled in the bottom right

The share sheet opens. Tap View More (the small ∨ chevron in the bottom right) to expand the full menu.

3

Tap Add to Home Screen

Expanded share sheet with Add to Home Screen circled

Scroll until you see Add to Home Screen. Tap it.

4

Confirm and Add

Add to Home Screen confirmation with the Add button circled in the top right

Check that Open as Web App is on, then tap Add in the top right. Done.

Make sure "Open as Web App" is on. This is what makes Quarterdeck open like a real app rather than a Safari bookmark. If you leave it off, tapping the icon will open Safari with the URL bar visible.

Android — Chrome

The Android process is simpler:

  1. Open Quarterdeck in Chrome.
  2. Tap the three dots ⋮ in the top right corner.
  3. Tap Install app (or Add to Home screen, depending on your Android version).
  4. Confirm. Quarterdeck appears on your home screen.

On most Androids, Chrome will also offer this automatically with a popup the first time you visit — "Install Quarterdeck?" Just tap Install.

3 Your Home Screen

Once you're signed in, you land on the Quarterdeck home screen. Everything you need is here.

Crew Portal home screen with greeting, status banner, and tile grid
Your portal home — your name, your status, and quick access tiles.

The header

  • Your initials and name — confirms you're signed in as the right person
  • Your rank and department — e.g. "Captain · Deck"
  • Status banner — green "Onboard — tap to update" when you're aboard, changes colour when you're ashore

The tiles

Each tile is a section of the portal. Which tiles you see depends on your role — a deckhand will see fewer tiles than the chief officer. The common ones:

🕐 Hours of Rest Log your daily rest hours. Required by MLC/STCW.
✓ In / Out Sign yourself in (aboard) or out (ashore).
🚗 Car Booking Reserve a vessel vehicle for a trip ashore.
🪪 Crew ID View your digital crew ID card.
⛑ Safety Card Your muster station and emergency duties.
📋 Review HOR For department heads — review crew rest sheets.
👥 Crew Status See who's currently aboard and who's ashore.
🛠 Management For admins only — opens the admin panel (desktop only).

The bottom bar

  • Home — return to this screen from anywhere
  • Account — change your password, update your details, sign out

4 Logging Your Hours of Rest

This is the daily task. Maritime regulations (MLC 2006 and STCW) require every seafarer to log their rest hours every day. Quarterdeck makes this quick.

Hours of Rest calendar view with colour-coded days and quick action buttons
The Hours of Rest calendar — each day colour-coded for compliance status.

Reading the calendar

The calendar shows you a month at a time. Each day is colour-coded:

  • Green — compliant rest hours logged
  • Blue — declared rest day
  • Red — non-compliant (your rest didn't meet the rules)
  • Black — leave day
  • Grey — not yet logged

At the bottom of the calendar, summary counts show the month: how many days compliant, rest, non-compliant, and leave.

The four quick-action buttons

Below the calendar:

  • Enter Hours — open the detailed grid to log your hours for a specific day
  • Work Profile — for crew with predictable schedules, set a recurring work pattern
  • Rest — quick-mark a day as a rest day
  • Leave — quick-mark a day as leave
  • Reset — clear a day if you made a mistake

Entering rest hours for a day

  1. Tap the day on the calendar (or use the Enter Hours button).
  2. The half-hour grid opens — 48 cells covering the 24 hours.
  3. Tap-and-drag across cells to mark them as Work (filled) or leave blank for Rest.
  4. Tap Save.

The system automatically checks compliance against your flag state's rules and shows you the result.

Three tabs at the top

  • Calendar — the monthly view shown above
  • Timesheet — the printable monthly grid view
  • PDFs — your signed-off PDFs from previous months (downloadable)
Tip: log your hours daily, not weekly. A week of missing entries is much harder to reconstruct accurately than five minutes at the end of each watch.

5 Signing In and Out

The In / Out tile is how you tell the system whether you're physically aboard or ashore. This is the same data that drives the Crew Board KPIs — it's how your master knows who's around.

From the Home banner

The fastest way: tap the green "Onboard — tap to update" banner at the top of the home screen. This opens a quick toggle to switch between Onboard and Ashore states.

From the In / Out tile

The full screen lets you:

  • Confirm your current status
  • Sign out with a destination (Ashore, Airport, Going on Leave, or custom destinations your vessel uses)
  • Add a note (e.g. "Back for dinner")
  • Set an expected return time
Be honest, even when it's inconvenient. The Crew Board feeds the muster system. If you mark yourself onboard when you're actually ashore, the muster will be wrong — and in a real emergency, that's the kind of thing that costs lives.

6 Booking a Car

The vessel's vehicles can be booked through the Crew Portal — for personal trips, runs ashore, or ship's business.

Car Booking screen showing available vehicles with Book This Vehicle buttons
Car Booking — browse available vehicles and book the one that suits.

Browsing vehicles

The Available tab shows every vehicle, with a photo, name, registration, and seat count. Tap any vehicle's Book This Vehicle button to start a booking.

Making a booking

  1. Choose the date.
  2. Pick a start and end time. The system shows you what's already booked on that day.
  3. Enter the number of passengers (must be ≤ the vehicle's seat count).
  4. Optionally add purpose ("Airport run") and destination ("Marina Mall").
  5. Tap Confirm Booking.

My Bookings

The My Bookings tab shows your upcoming and past bookings. From here you can:

  • Check Out — when you collect the keys and physically take the vehicle
  • Check In — when you return the vehicle to the pool
  • Cancel — drop a booking you no longer need
Photos at check-in: some vessels require you to take 5 photos of the vehicle when you check it back in (typically front, back, two sides, dashboard). This protects you — if damage shows up later, the photos prove what state you returned it in.

Cancellation etiquette

If you've booked but no longer need the vehicle, cancel as soon as you know — not at the last minute. Other crew may be waiting for the same car.

7 Your Safety Card

The Safety Card tile shows your personal emergency duties — what you do when the alarm sounds. Every crew member has one, generated from the vessel's muster bill.

Safety Card showing Fire Alarm, General Emergency Alarm, and MOB duties
Your Safety Card — your muster number, station, and duties for each alarm type.

What's on your Safety Card

Your muster number (e.g. D1) is shown prominently in red, top right of each section. Below it, broken down by alarm type:

  • Fire Alarm — continuous ringing of the ship's alarm
    • Emergency Station — where you go
    • Duty — what you do
  • General Emergency Alarm (GEA) — 7 short blasts followed by 1 long blast
    • Muster Station — where you assemble
    • Duty — what you do
  • Man Overboard (MOB) — 3 long blasts
    • MOB Muster Station
    • MOB Duty
Read your Safety Card on day one. Then read it again the next week. Know your muster number, your station, and your duties by heart. In a real emergency, you won't have time to look it up.

If your card changes

If you're reassigned (e.g. promoted, or move to a different team), your Safety Card updates automatically — the Quarterdeck system reflects whatever your admin sets. Always check your card after a crew change or rotation.

8 Account Settings

Tap the Account icon at the bottom of any screen to manage your account.

What you can do here

  • Change password — do this if you suspect anyone else knows yours
  • Update your details — phone number, emergency contacts, dietary requirements (depending on what your vessel collects)
  • Sign out — useful if you're on someone else's device

If you forget your password

Ask your master, chief officer, or admin. They can reset it from their side without needing your old password.

9 Tips for Daily Use

Patterns that experienced Quarterdeck crew adopt:

  • Log your rest hours at the end of each watch — five minutes daily, not an hour at the end of the month.
  • Update your sign in/out status whenever you leave or return — even for a quick run to the chandlery. Muster accuracy depends on it.
  • Cancel car bookings as soon as your plans change — others may be waiting.
  • Re-read your Safety Card after every drill — drills are practice; knowing the card means you don't need to think during the real thing.
  • If the portal feels slow, ask your admin if you have an onboard install — onboard installs are faster than internet-hosted ones, and the difference is noticeable at sea.

10 Troubleshooting

I can't sign in

Check that you're using the correct username and that Caps Lock is off. If your password isn't working, ask your admin to reset it.

The portal won't open on my phone

Try the URL in a normal browser tab first. If that works but the installed PWA doesn't, delete the icon from your home screen and reinstall (Step 2).

My Safety Card is wrong

Tell your master or chief officer — only an admin can update your muster position assignment. The card itself is generated from the assignment, so the fix happens on the admin side.

I'm seeing a tile I shouldn't (or missing one I should)

Tiles are controlled by your role. If you've recently been promoted or your role changed, the portal may need a refresh — try signing out and back in. If that doesn't fix it, ask your admin to check your role assignment.

The portal is slow or behaving oddly

Most issues resolve with: (a) refreshing the page, (b) checking your internet connection, (c) signing out and back in. If something stays broken, let your admin know — they can email Quarterdeck support.

Need help? Talk to your master or chief officer first — they know your vessel's setup. If they can't help, they can email crew@quarterdeck.boats on your behalf.