Concerns about current and future officer shortages have intensified interest in understanding maritime students’ career plans. While previous research has primarily examined motivations for entering maritime education and training (MET), comparative evidence on students’ seafaring intentions across national contexts remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining career plans and seafaring intentions among 1,548 maritime students enrolled in MET programmes in China, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and the United Kingdom. Using cross-national survey data, the study analyses differences in students’ intended career trajectories and explores whether demographic characteristics (gender, age, prior sea experience) and programme-related factors (programme type, level, duration, and exposure to shipboard training) are associated with intentions to pursue a seafaring career. The results reveal substantial cross-country variation in the proportion of students intending to work at sea, with higher levels observed in European countries compared to China. Logistic regression analyses further indicate that demographic and programme-related predictors are significant in the Chinese sample but not in the European sample, suggesting context-specific patterns. By providing the first comparative analysis of seafaring intentions across both European and Asian maritime education contexts, the study highlights the importance of national, educational, and demographic factors in shaping students’ seafaring intentions. The findings underline the need for context-sensitive recruitment and retention strategies to support the future supply of seafarer officers.