From left: Mikael, Anne, Marie and Eric Krafft.

To hear Star Clippers founder Mikael Krafft tell it, he never thought his entire family would work at the line, but that’s what has happened over the years. Krafft’s wife Ann looks after quality control and manages the hotel directors and shipboard entertainment, son Eric, 34, supervises finances and daughter Marie, 30, is a director of sales.

“It’s an extra benefit that I didn’t expect,” said Mikael Krafft. “It was not intentional, but has been a pleasant surprise that my family has been interested in working in the business.”

When he started the company 20 years ago, his children were young and the family lived in Brussels. When the kids completed their baccalaureate studies, they were packed off to Stockholm to attend college and get back in touch with their Swedish roots. With the children out of the house, Ann — who Mikael describes as “a very keen sailor” — could turn her attention to the cruise line.

She began by handling the bookings of several hundred Krafft family friends who sail every year with Star Clippers, then gradually got more involved in the hotel and food and beverage operations. Today, she oversees hotel management and entertainment, going on board the ships to check everything from uniforms to food and service.

An interest in rocket engines resulted in an engineering degree for Eric Krafft. Following business school in London, he worked as an investment banker in London and New York, before becoming the Managing Owner of a China-based dry bulk shipping business.

Since 2006, Eric, a vice president in the Monaco headquarters, splits his time between Star Clippers and a real estate business.

Marie Krafft came to the company by way of the ships. She started working on board in the sports department and as a dive instructor, then worked her way up to purser, on to cruise director and finally as hotel manager.

“Marie was always sailing with me,” said Mikael Krafft. “When she started working on board, I never presumed that she would end up working with me.

“When she was 15, Marie told me that I was old and senile,” he continued with a laugh. “When she was 19 she told me, ‘You are still a little bit senile, but you’re improving.’ ”

Marie got an economics degree in Stockholm and then went to work for hotel chains Accor and Rocco Forte in Germany, before asking to return to the ships as cruise director.

“Somehow I had always had in my mind that I wanted to be a cruise director,” said Marie. “I like languages and working with many people — it’s good for your personality to stand in front of 170 people and speak to them in three different languages.”

In June 2008, an internal restructuring of the line’s sales and marketing department created an opportunity for Marie to translate her work on board into a sales position at the line’s Monaco headquarters. Her ability to speak English, Swedish, French and German comes in handy, as she is in charge of sales in the Benelux region, France, Spain, Italy and Scandinavia.

The Krafft family not only works together, they live together, sort of. Star Clippers’ headquarters is in a remodeled old hotel. Mikael and Ann have a penthouse on the top floors, while Eric and Marie each have an apartment in the building.

Asked whether there are challenges to working and living so closely, Mikael Krafft waxes philosophically.

“When I started Star Clippers, it was not the only company I had,” he said. “But over the years, Star Clippers became not so much a company as a lifestyle for us. It’s not just a company, it’s something we like to do; we’re all interested in sailing and shipping.

“I really think about it more as a hobby than a business, which is why it’s hard to separate the business from the lifestyle,” said Mikael Krafft.

The rest of the family agrees.

“We enjoy the work and especially sharing our passion for sailing,” said Ann Krafft.

Marie echoes that sentiment: “It always comes back to the point where you love this product. I grew up sailing and even taught it in Sweden,” she said. “I have sailing in my blood, and I’m used to working together with my father on sailboats. It’s actually quite fun.”