The “Must Know” Skills Guide To Help You Better Prepare For A New Yacht Stew Role At Sea

– How to build up your stewardess skills (all things you can practice at home)
– My favourite cocktail recipe which gets raving reviews from guests
– Housekeeping, laundry and service skills to help boost your confidence

Grab the free guide here

1. Learn the laundry wash symbols

These are the little symbols that are on the back of your clothing tags. In the freebie guide I’ve included a list of these laundry symbols. You’ll need to get to know these symbols as you will be doing the laundry shift at some point and washing guest clothing. So…. It’s really important we listen to what the clothing manufacturers tell us and wash the clothing in the correct setting to prevent any damages or shrinkage.  

2. Learn how to iron a collared dress shirt.

There are free resources out there, just jump onto youtube! And practise. You will be ironing a lot of collared dress shirts as a stew and they are one of the hardest to do if you’ve not ironed many in your life before. So grab your brothers, dads, boyfriend or fridns shirt and start practiisng they will love you for it. And just a note when you hang a dress shirt remember the shirt shoudl be buttoned on the top, third and fifth button. Don’t button all of the buttons once the shirt is ironed so thats the top, third and fifth button. 1,3,5. This may change due to owner or guest preference however it is pretty generally accepted as the go to onboard. The hanger should also be facing forward with the hook to the left side of the shirt .. so its an easy grab for right handed people

3. Learn where the Cutlery should be placed for a formal dining setting.  

So it’s much easier to explain on the freebie guide however I will try on the podcast to give you an overview… ok to the left we have the starter fork, then the main fork sitting next to it evenly spaced, on the right hand side we have the main knife closest to the charger plate, with the starter knife on the outer edge. And followed by the soup spoon on the right outside of the starter knife. Think of it how you would eat a coarse meal starter first then main next (The charger plate is a presentation plate used to sit under main plates and can be used to protect the surface of the table with hot dishes.

Then we have the dessert cutlery on top above this charger plate, with the spoon on top and the dessert fork underneath closest to the plate. The way I like to remember that the dessert spoon goes on top is “spoon to the moon” however there is also “always spoon before you fork. Whichever you can remember better – use that!

4. How to fold a pair of socks and underwear – check the guide for this demonstration 

5. How to open a corked bottle of wine and serve with your right hand (Video on the freebie guide)

Get your bottle opener and slice under the first lip of the label towards the top of the bottle, making a very neat line with the label and peel back the foil, line up the bottle opener with the center of the cork, twist the opener until about 1 curl remains, use the two leverages to pull the cork out slowly. To serve with your right hand you will always have the label facing towards the guest and a good grasp on the bottom of the bottle or if you feel confident inserting your thumb into the bottom dip under the base of the bottle and pouring from there. Always carry a service cloth in case you have any drips and do a twist at the end to prevent any drips from landing on the table. 

6. Learn 3 napkin folds and be able to do them quickly!  Check out the video on the freebie download for this one. I recommend learning the flower bread basket fold as you will use this one a lot under pastries and breads. 

No. 7 is to learn the basics of how to make a barista coffee. Youtube is so great for this one! There’s a lot of coffee gurus out there you can learn from them!  I wouldn’t’ recommend doing an online barista course as such. 

No. 8 is to perfect an espresso martini or another cocktail you can call your speciality.

If you want my go to espresso martini recipe I use 40ml grey goose or good quality vodka, 20ml Kahlua, 20ml Espresso coffee and 15ml baileys

This espresso martini has a creamy texture with the baileys added. TIP with espresso martinis try to cool the coffee so it doesn’t melt the ice in the shaker which dilutes the drink, and always use espresso coffee as it give the cocktail a nice crema on the top. 

9 Familiarise yourself with new world and old world wine labels.

“Old World” refers to the traditional wine growing regions of Europe, while “New World” refers to all other regions. The vast majority of Old World wines will typically only indicate regions and ageing classifications on the front label, but not grape varieties.

New world includes wines from the U.S., South America, Australia, New Zealand and most other non-European countries, the grape variety almost always appears on the label.

10. Practice cleaning your mirrors to superyacht standard.

You can use vinegar & water (100ml Vinegar to 450ml Water) or cleaning alcohol and water to clean the mirrors. Don’t use a microfibre as it leaves fibers on the surface best to use an old T-shirt as a rag.

TIP: Sit down and look at the mirror as if you were a guest in the bathroom. Moving positions from the toilet to the shower to the cupboards and then look at the mirror from all angles to see if there are any marks.