A smiling stewardess in a crisp white shirt and navy skort standing on the dock beside a yacht's passerelle, holding a black folder marked CV
Notes from Amy

From Green to Hired

How to Get Your First Yacht Stewardess Job
By Amy Moorcroft

So the jump has been made, swapping land-based life for life at sea!

The essential courses are done, and perhaps a useful extra or two:

  • STCW Basic Safety Training: basically “How Not to Sink 101.” A few days of hands-on training where you’ll learn how to get into a liferaft, put out fires and give basic first aid. Almost everyone working onboard needs this.
  • ENG1 Medical (or an accepted equivalent): an approved doctor assesses whether you’re medically fit for life and work at sea, from your eyesight and hearing to your general health. Whether you’ll feel seasick on day one is another matter!
  • Food Hygiene Level 2: a handy extra rather than a universal requirement, though many yachts and roles ask for it, since interior crew handle food and drink every day. It shows you can serve safely, without giving a guest a story to tell.

For everything you need, see Before You Book a Yacht Stewardess Course. And if you’re still at the very beginning, my guide on how to become a yacht stewardess covers the first steps.

Getting Ready to Apply

You’ve completed your yacht interior course of choice, and here you are fine-tuning your CV, registering with the agencies, scouting through yacht crew websites and collecting subscriptions.

Before You Hit Send
Your CV Quick Check
  • A photo that looks like you on a good working day: smiling, natural make-up, neat hair, a plain white or navy collar, taken in daylight against a simple background.
  • Contact details at the top, including where you are right now, so a Chief Stew knows you could start tomorrow.
  • Your WhatsApp number with the country code. Many Chief Stews message rather than call.
  • Nationality, passport and any visas, so it’s clear where you’re able to work.
  • Your certificates listed clearly: STCW, ENG1, Food Hygiene Level 2 and PDSD if you have it.
  • A short, warm profile of two or three lines, written as if you’re introducing yourself at the bottom of the passerelle.
  • Hospitality experience in yachting terms: “waitress” becomes fine dining service, wine knowledge and guest relations, and hotel housekeeping becomes attention to detail, fabric care and room presentation.
  • Hobbies with a purpose. Flower arranging, cocktails, languages or yoga are great conversation starters, and one of them might be exactly what a yacht is looking for.
  • One page, saved as a PDF and named with your name and role, such as Sophie_Smith_Stewardess_CV.pdf, so it’s easy to find in an inbox of fifty others.
  • Two or three references with phone numbers and emails, and a quick message to give them a heads-up a call may be coming.

Getting Seen

Your CV can travel the world by email, and agency registrations and online applications land plenty of first jobs. It also helps to be where the boats are, just before the season kicks off:

  • The Med (spring and summer): head to Antibes in France or Palma in Spain, around April.
  • The Caribbean and US (autumn and winter): head to Fort Lauderdale, around October.

Before you book that flight, check your right to work, because it depends on your passport. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can look for work and do daywork across Europe. Most other nationalities, including UK citizens, need a job offer or contract in place before they arrive. In the US, a B1/B2 visa covers working onboard a foreign-flagged yacht, rather than travelling there to look for work. Rules change, so check with your agency or the relevant embassy before you fly.

“
Paperwork first, polishing second!
A stewardess crouching beside a high-gloss sideboard with a microfibre cloth, checking the surface against the light as her smiling reflection looks back

If you have the right to work where you are, dockwalking is another route in, and it puts a face to your name. Dress in a neat polo and shorts, walk down to the marinas and hand your CV to the crew onboard. You’re hoping to land daywork: temporary work, paid by the day, usually cleaning or prepping. Daywork is still work, so have your passport and certificates ready to show. Done properly, it’s a brilliant way to get your foot in the door and build a network.

A Moment I Remember

After three days at sea, we arrived in Antibes at 4pm with a lot of prep ahead. Before the stern lines were even tied off, I saw a smiling girl striding down the dock, papers in hand. She waited confidently while the crew finished berthing, then asked if we were looking for dayworkers. We were, and I was so taken with her attitude that I said, “Yes, of course, start tomorrow at 8am.”

She’d been sitting with fellow dockwalkers, who laughed and told her there was no way, not at that time of day. We kept her for the season.

Daywork Tips

Treat every day of daywork as a friendly audition:

  • Arrive 15 minutes early. On a yacht, on time is already a little late.
  • Pack a small daywork bag: a spare T-shirt, a fresh pair of white socks (some yachts are socks-only inside, others barefoot), water, a snack and a small notebook.
  • Use that notebook for names as well as tasks. Greeting the crew by name the next morning is a thoughtful touch, and it gets noticed.
  • Phone away, all day, and no photos onboard. Privacy is everything in yachting.
  • Ask before using any product on a new surface. “Is this one safe here?” shows care, not inexperience.
  • Try the angle check. After wiping a mirror or glossy surface, crouch down and look at it against the light. Any streak you catch, the crew won’t have to.
  • Finished a task? Ask, “What can I help with next?” If everyone’s busy, find a cloth and give the stainless steel a polish.
  • At crew lunch, listen more than you talk, and be the first up to clear the plates.
  • At the end of the day, thank whoever hired you and mention you’re free again. A short WhatsApp thank-you that evening means your number is saved for next time.

What a Chief Stew Notices First

These are just the basic foundations for knocking on yacht doors. There are other things that matter too, for your first yacht job and every interview you ever have.

Be sure you’ve properly understood the role you’re applying for. Keep a simple list in your phone notes of each yacht’s name, size, contact, position and pay, so you have the right details at the time of interview.

Apply for the jobs you’re genuinely interested in, rather than every one you see. Be mindful of people’s time, and if your plans change, let them know, because crew agents remember someone who didn’t show up! When you’re offered an interview, be available and keep your phone on.

“
You only get one chance to make a first impression.

Presentation matters from top to bottom: hair, make-up (minimal), nails (natural), an immaculate shirt and skort or shorts. Add a big, warm smile, and there you go.

Through a Chief Stew’s Eyes

As a hiring Chief Stew, I’d notice how someone looked first. Then I listened: to how the stewardess communicated, their sincerity and attitude, how easily they smiled and how comfortable they were in their own skin. Every Chief Stew has their pet peeves, and mine was timekeeping, because when one person runs late, the whole crew feels it.

I’ve hired stews with genuine, positive attitudes and no previous yacht experience. I trained, coached and encouraged them, and some went on to become Chief Stews a few seasons later! When a stewardess comes along with an eager attitude and a willingness to learn and commit, it shines through: in what they say, how they respond and, always, in the questions they ask.

“
All your questions should show willingness and enthusiasm for the job.

Interview questions are important, and an experienced Chief Stew or Captain will notice when they’re all about the perks rather than the role. Showing interest in the vessel, the itinerary, crew dynamics and the expectations onboard will give you insightful answers and make you memorable.

Salary, leave, working hours and your contract are all fair questions too. Ask them alongside your questions about the yacht and the team, and you’ll come across as both keen and sensible. Questions that are always appreciated:

  • What can you tell me about the crew dynamics onboard, during guest trips and when there are no guests?
  • Are there preferred service standards onboard for the guests?
  • What size team will I be working in?
Hands holding a phone showing a message from a Chief Stew offering Sophie a Junior Stew position for the season, with her happy reply, and a half-packed suitcase on the bed behind

Your First Yes

And then it happens: the phone rings or a message pops up, and you’ve got your first yes! It’s an amazing cycle that whirls around, from your first course to your first job onboard.

Before you accept, make sure everything you discussed is in your contract, along with your joining date. If the offer comes through an agency, they’ll usually help with the details.

Going into that job with open eyes will make a difference to how you settle into your new role. There’s the glamorous sell you see on social media, gleaming white yachts and laughing stewardesses under blue skies, and there’s the reality: exceptionally long days, constant laundry and a lack of privacy are just a few of the things that take a little adjusting to. You’re there to clean and serve, and even when you’re anchored beside a beautiful tropical island, you might only see it through a porthole!

Every crew has its own mix of personalities, and good leadership makes all the difference to how long a day feels. Your feet will take time to get used to the new workload too, especially on yachts where you’re barefoot all day. So mentally prepare yourself for the adjustments, and make the first week count:

  • Learn everyone’s name early, along with the yacht’s way of doing things.
  • Ask if there’s a stew book or guide to the yacht’s standards, and read it on your first quiet evening.
  • Keep your notebook handy, because every yacht has its own little preferences.
  • Look after your feet: good insoles for shoe days, and a foot rub at night when you’re barefoot.
  • Rest whenever you can. The long days feel shorter when you’re not running on empty.

Those first weeks are a big adjustment, and they pass quicker than you’d think. Before long, the yacht’s rhythm becomes yours, and your first yes becomes your first season.

And if you’d like to feel ready before that first week onboard, First Step to First Season is designed for exactly that moment.

Explore First Step to First Season Get in Touch
⇧