The title is exciting. The salary is rewarding. The responsibility is the part that keeps you awake at three in the morning.
A couple of seasons in, sea legs strong, you know this is the life for you. You've done the back-to-back boss trips and charters, refined your skills, and you look back on your greenie days with a smile at how naïve you were. Maybe you've been planning this for a while. Or maybe it happened out of nowhere, a last-minute Chief Stew opportunity, and suddenly it's yours to take.
Either way, it's your time: Chief Stewardess.
There Isn't a Set Route
Some step up after a few seasons as Second Stewardess, gradually taking on more responsibility. Others get there sooner, sometimes because the Chief leaves mid-season and suddenly there's an opportunity to take over.
However it happens, the role brings a different set of challenges. You're no longer just getting the job done. You're leading people, managing an interior and making decisions under pressure, often with no time to think them through.
What the Title Actually Demands
By the time you're being considered for Chief Stewardess, you already know the job. You can fold napkins in your sleep, turn around a cabin in a heartbeat and pour a bottle of wine at exactly the right temperature for its vintage. What you haven't necessarily done yet is lead.
Leadership is about guiding your team. Management is the day-to-day running of the interior.
As Chief Stew, you do both, and together they ask a lot more of you than the skills you've spent seasons perfecting.
The Captain walks through the interior before guests arrive expecting to find nothing wrong, and that's on you. Your team is briefed, everything is checked and, if something does go wrong at the last minute, it gets dealt with quietly before anyone else even notices.
Your interior team might be two people or six. Whatever the size, they're watching how you handle the pressure, and that tells them a lot about how they should handle theirs.
When the Day Takes a Turn
There are incredible days as Chief Stew. Whales gliding past at sunrise. A guest who genuinely sees you. And there are days when everything goes wrong at once: ice cream trailed through the salon, Madam raising her voice at you for a mistake that wasn't yours, a problem in the galley you don't have the energy left for.
What gets you through those days, season after season, is working alongside your team rather than above them. As Chief Stew, despite the additional responsibilities, that means not excluding yourself from the cabins or laundry, and helping the wider crew on deck when needed. As one of my team once said during a particularly hectic day, “It’s great that you’re not a finger pointer!”
Those are the moments worth training for.
That probably sums up my approach better than anything else. Expecting a lot from your team is one thing, but don’t ask them to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.
Of course, being part of the team doesn’t mean being one of the gang. There’s a line between being approachable and being too familiar, and learning where that line sits is part of becoming a Chief Stew too. You still have to make decisions, have difficult conversations and hold people accountable when needed.
Lead the People, Not Just the Interior
For me, keeping a team motivated was about staying connected. It came down to how you worked together every day, noticing when someone was struggling, stepping in when things got busy, recognising a job well done and making sure people knew they were trusted. It’s the experience I bring into my coaching and training today.
Every crew is different, and what motivates one stewardess can completely miss the mark with another. Some thrive with independence, while others need more guidance before their confidence grows. Learning to tell the difference and adapting how you lead accordingly is one of the most valuable skills you'll build as Chief.
Reading people becomes just as important as reading a preference sheet.
Crews stay where they feel well led. When you lead with consistency and care, a positive crew culture follows, and so does a team that wants to stay year after year.
If you're here because you're thinking about stepping up, or you've already been asked to and aren't sure you're ready, you don't need to have it all figured out first. But you do need to be willing to learn the parts of the role that a stewardess course doesn't cover.
That's where The Art of Leading comes in.
