FAQ & transparency
Frequently asked questions
How Sailor's Reality works, how your anonymity is protected, and what our safeguards can and can't do.
12 questions shown
Answers
What is Sailor's Reality?
Sailor's Reality is a community-driven platform built to help seafarers make more informed decisions before joining a shipping company.
Sailors share their experiences, and we bring those reports together on individual company pages so you can explore what others have experienced before signing a contract.
Our aim is to make information about shipping companies more accessible and transparent. However, every report represents an individual's experience and is not independently verified by Sailor's Reality. We encourage you to consider multiple reports, the amount of available data, and your own circumstances before making a decision.
If I have to sign in, how is my review anonymous?
Fair question. We ask you to sign in, but that doesn't mean your identity appears alongside your review.
When you share your experience on Sailor's Reality, other visitors see what you've written, not your name, email address or account details.
We introduced accounts for a reason. Without them, it would be much easier for someone to repeatedly submit reports about the same company or misuse the platform. Having an account also allows you to manage and edit your contributions.
Your contribution is privately linked to your account so these features and safeguards can work. That information isn't displayed publicly or shared with shipping companies through your report.
One thing we'd encourage you to be mindful of is what you include in your comments. Details about a particular vessel, incident or situation might make your experience recognizable to someone who was there, even without your name attached.
Can my company figure out that I wrote a review?
We understand why you might be concerned about this, especially if you're still working for the company you're reviewing.
Your name, email address and account details aren't displayed alongside your review, and shipping companies aren't given access to your private account information through Sailor's Reality.
However, it's worth being mindful of the details you choose to share. For example, mentioning a particular vessel, an exact date or an incident involving only a handful of people could make your experience recognizable to someone familiar with the situation.
You don't need to leave out the important details that make your review useful. Just consider whether any of those details could identify you personally.
Our aim is to give you a space to share your experiences openly while helping you make informed decisions about your own privacy.
How do we know people aren't posting fake reviews?
It's a fair concern. After all, anyone reading a review should be able to question how reliable it is.
We have several safeguards in place to discourage fake reviews and prevent people from manipulating the platform.
Contributors must sign in with a confirmed email address, and they can generally submit only one review per company every six months. We also screen submissions for suspicious activity and review those that need a closer look before allowing them to appear publicly.
But we want to be clear about something: these measures help us reduce misuse; they don't guarantee that every review is genuine. We don't independently verify each contributor's employment history or every experience they describe.
That's why we encourage you to look at multiple reviews rather than relying on just one. The more genuine experiences our community shares, the more useful the overall picture becomes.
Can a shipping company request the removal of a review?
A review won't be removed simply because it contains negative feedback or because someone disagrees with the experience shared.
Sailor's Reality aims to provide a fair and reliable platform where seafarers can share their experiences and help others make informed career decisions. We encourage contributors to be honest, constructive and respectful, whether their experience was positive or negative.
If concerns are raised about a review, we'll assess them against our platform rules and take appropriate action where necessary. Reviews containing abusive language, personal attacks, identifiable private information or deliberately misleading content have no place on our platform.
What happens after I submit my review?
Once you submit your review, it goes through our screening process. If no further review is needed, your responses are included in the company's published results. Otherwise, your contribution will show as "Awaiting review" until we've had a chance to look at it.
You can check its status and manage your contribution under My Contributions.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Every genuine contribution helps other seafarers make more informed decisions.
Why can I only review a company once every six months?
We limit contributions to one per company every six months to prevent repeated submissions from unfairly influencing a company's results.
If you've already submitted a review and want to correct or update something, you can do so through My Contributions. Some changes may need to be reviewed before they appear publicly.
After six months, you're welcome to share another experience, particularly if things have changed since your previous contribution.
Please note that deleting a review or having one rejected doesn't automatically reset the six-month waiting period.
Can I edit or delete my review after submitting it?
Of course! You can manage your reviews anytime by signing in and visiting My Contributions.
If you've made a mistake or your experience has changed, you can edit your existing review. Some edits may require manual review before they're published. In that case, your previously approved review remains visible until the changes are approved.
You can also delete your review if you no longer wish to share it. This removes it from the company's public results, but it doesn't reset your six-month waiting period.
If you simply want to correct something, we'd recommend editing rather than deleting and starting over.
Why are there barely any reviews for some companies?
Sailor's Reality depends on experiences shared by seafarers. Some companies have received several contributions, while others are still waiting for their first.
We believe it's important to show you how much information is available rather than give you a misleading impression. That's why our company pages include data-maturity labels based on the number of contributions received.
A company with fewer reviews isn't necessarily a better or worse place to work. It simply means we don't have enough information to give you a broader picture yet.
If you've sailed with a company that has limited information, consider sharing your experience. Your contribution could help another sailor who's researching that company before joining.
What if I can't find my company on Sailor's Reality?
We're still growing, and there are plenty of shipping companies we haven't added to our directory yet.
If you've sailed with a company that isn't listed, you can add its name while sharing your experience. Some new company names may require review before they appear on the website.
Why not be the first to contribute? Your experience could be the starting point for other seafarers researching that company, and every new contribution helps us build a more useful resource for the maritime community.
Why can't I read individual reviews?
Unlike traditional review websites, Sailor's Reality focuses on bringing together experiences shared by multiple seafarers rather than displaying every individual submission.
This is an intentional decision, partly to protect our contributors' privacy. Presenting information collectively helps reduce the risk of someone's identity being revealed through the details of a particular review.
Instead, our company pages bring together the information we've received so you can explore common experiences and identify patterns.
Of course, experiences can vary significantly, even within the same company. That's why we encourage you to consider how many contributions are available before drawing conclusions.
The more sailors contribute, the clearer the overall picture becomes.
Are the companies at the top of your list the best ones?
Not necessarily! By default, our homepage shows the most reported companies, meaning those that have received the highest number of published contributions from seafarers.
A company appearing at the top doesn't mean we're recommending it or suggesting it's better than others. It simply means we have more experiences to share about that company.
You can also sort the directory by recently updated companies or browse them alphabetically.
We encourage you to explore each company's available information and make your own assessment based on what matters most to you.