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| Below Deck’s Moe Vilomar Leaves Yachting Behind for a New Culinary Adventure. |
Moe Vilomar has taken his culinary career beyond Below Deck Season 13, building a working life around luxury yacht cooking, international travel and time with his family. After years spent managing busy kitchens and preparing meals for demanding clients, the experienced chef has explored different opportunities in the hospitality industry, including a move towards freelance travel cooking. His career has hardly followed a straight line, but then again, cooking for hundreds of people on land and feeding guests aboard a yacht are two very different challenges. One involves a busy kitchen; the other adds the sea, limited space and guests who may have very specific ideas about what belongs on their dinner plate.
Vilomar joined the Bravo reality series with four years of experience in the yachting industry, bringing a professional background that stretched well beyond private boats. Below Deck Season 13 gave viewers a closer look at the pressures facing the chef, whose responsibilities included delivering high-quality meals while working alongside a crew living in close quarters.
He had the experience to handle demanding situations, although he also admitted that he was getting “too old for this”. It was a relatable sentiment in a workplace where even a supposedly relaxing charter can turn into a test of patience, stamina and kitchen management. Still, Vilomar stuck with the job and became a valuable member of the team.
His experience in the culinary world began long before reality television came calling. Based in Jersey City, New Jersey, Vilomar studied Restaurant, Culinary and Catering Management at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute between 2004 and 2006, earning an associate degree. He also attended Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute, where he obtained an associate degree in Culinary Arts. These qualifications helped establish the foundations for a career that would eventually take him from prestigious restaurants to large catering operations and luxury vessels. Television might have introduced him to a wider audience, but the hard work behind his professional reputation had been building for years.
In 2006, Vilomar began working as a line cook at Le Cirque in New York, where he worked at the fish station. The role required precision, consistency and attention to food preparation, portion control, presentation and hygiene. It was the sort of environment where small mistakes could quickly become expensive lessons. He later served in the US Army as a cook at Fort Campbell between 2008 and 2010, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for more than 500 soldiers each day. That experience offered a very different kind of pressure from fine dining, with large volumes of food and strict routines demanding organisation. If anything, feeding hundreds of people daily was useful preparation for a career in hospitality, where the word 'busy' can sometimes feel like an understatement.
Vilomar subsequently moved into more senior kitchen positions, developing the management skills that would become central to his career. From 2016 to 2019, he worked as an executive chef at World Yacht, overseeing four vessels and a commissary while managing a workforce of more than 70 employees. The operation served upwards of 500 à la carte meals each night, leaving him responsible for menu development, ordering and staff scheduling. Keeping that many moving parts under control requires more than knowing how to cook a decent meal. It also takes careful planning, clear communication and the ability to remain composed when several things inevitably go wrong at once.
His next major role came at LAVO Restaurant, where he worked as an executive sous chef and kitchen manager. His responsibilities included developing menus for fine-dining and casual-dining spaces, as well as overseeing banquets for up to 600 guests during his first year. He later held senior culinary positions with Unidine and Morrison Healthcare between 2019 and 2023, managing kitchen teams, training employees and overseeing ingredients and supplies. These roles added further depth to his experience, demonstrating that his professional background was not limited to preparing meals for wealthy travellers. He had also spent years managing teams and operations in demanding commercial kitchens.
Yachting eventually became another important part of Vilomar's career. In 2023, he worked as a solo chef aboard M/Y Ramble On, preparing meals for 11 crew members and more than 10 guests. His responsibilities included accommodating dietary requirements such as vegan and gluten-free meals. Cooking in a yacht galley can be particularly challenging because space and supplies are limited compared with a conventional restaurant kitchen. There is also little room to escape when the working environment becomes stressful. When the kitchen is effectively your office, workplace and daily battleground, keeping a cool head is more than a useful skill.
In July 2025, Vilomar announced that he was leaving the yachting world behind and joining Celebrity Cruises as an executive chef, describing the move as the beginning of another adventure. The announcement marked a change in direction after years of working aboard private yachts. However, his professional journey has also included freelance travel-chef work, allowing him to take on opportunities that suit his interests and lifestyle. Rather than being tied to one working arrangement, he has been able to explore different culinary assignments and continue travelling aboard luxury yachts. His career illustrates how experienced chefs can move between private yachting, cruise operations and freelance hospitality rather than remaining in a single role indefinitely.
For Vilomar, that flexibility appears particularly valuable. His extensive background means he can bring experience from fine dining, catering, healthcare kitchens and yacht service to different clients and assignments. Freelance work also offers a degree of choice over the projects he accepts, although it comes with its own practical challenges, including finding suitable contracts and adapting to different working environments. It is not necessarily an easier route than a permanent position, but it can offer a different balance between professional ambition and personal priorities. After years of working in kitchens where the demands rarely stop, having more control over the next assignment may be an attractive prospect.
Away from the kitchen, travel remains a major part of Vilomar's life, and it is an interest he shares with his wife, Yanira Vilomar, and their daughter. He has visited 42 countries, exploring different cultures, traditions and cuisines along the way. For a chef, travelling can provide inspiration beyond the usual recipe books, offering opportunities to experience local ingredients, regional cooking techniques and food traditions first-hand. Those experiences can influence the meals he prepares for clients, even if the occasional memorable dish comes from a small restaurant rather than a luxury yacht.
His family has also been part of those adventures. During the summer of 2026, Vilomar took his daughter to France, expressing gratitude for being able to give her opportunities to explore the world and create lasting memories. The trip reflected a personal side of his travel-focused lifestyle, with experiences and family time taking priority alongside his professional commitments. Taking children abroad can be an education in itself, offering a chance to discover different places and ways of life beyond the classroom. It also creates the sort of memories that last considerably longer than most holiday souvenirs.
Japan was another destination on their itinerary in 2026. Vilomar took his daughter to a car meet in Tokyo, showing that their travels are not restricted to traditional sightseeing or the usual tourist attractions. In 2025, he also explored Norway, Germany and other parts of Central Europe. His journeys have exposed him to different cultures and cuisines, giving him more opportunities to discover what makes each destination distinctive. Whether he is exploring a new city or working aboard a yacht, travel remains closely connected to both his personal interests and his culinary career.
There is something appealing about Vilomar's approach to life after Below Deck. Reality television often focuses on tense working relationships, demanding guests and the occasional kitchen crisis, but his wider career shows a more practical story about professional development.
He has worked across several areas of hospitality, taken on leadership responsibilities and continued to seek opportunities that suit his experience. The television series offered viewers a glimpse of one part of his life, but it was never the whole picture. His career extends well beyond the drama of a charter season, and his continued interest in travel suggests he has found ways to combine work with the experiences he values outside the kitchen.
In my opinion, Vilomar's story is more interesting than a simple update about where a reality television chef ended up. His career shows that experience can open doors even when the original plan changes. Moving between restaurants, large-scale catering, private yachts and cruise operations is no small achievement, especially in an industry where long hours and demanding clients come with the territory.
His freelance work also raises an appealing question about what success looks like: is it reaching the top of a kitchen hierarchy, or having enough control to choose the work that suits you? There is no single answer, but the chance to build a career around both professional skills and personal interests seems worthwhile. Of course, travelling the world while cooking for a living still sounds exhausting when the galley gets busy. At least the scenery can change.
For now, Moe Vilomar's life after Below Deck centres on his culinary work, travel and family experiences, rather than simply his appearance on Bravo. His professional background gives him several options in the hospitality industry, while his international adventures continue to shape his life beyond the kitchen.
Whether he remains focused on freelance yacht assignments or pursues further opportunities in cruise dining, his experience gives him plenty of room to explore. What do you think of his decision to embrace a more flexible career after years in demanding kitchens? Would you choose the freedom to travel and work on different projects, or prefer the stability of a permanent executive-chef position? Share your thoughts on Vilomar's post-Below Deck journey.