Stewardess on Russian superyacht shares 'weirdest' request - but gets £2,500 tip

Stewardess on Russian superyacht shares ‘weirdest’ request – but gets £2,500 tip

Posted by author April 14, 2024 Travel

A stewardess who works on a luxury yacht told Express.co.uk that her clients can sometimes be very “demanding” and have “crazy” requests.

The crew member, who wished to remain anonymous, used to work for Russian millionaires who she claimed “don’t have a good reputation in the yacht industry”.

This is because “they can be very unpredictable and ask for the weirdest stuff,” she said, and added: “The good thing is that if the crew knows they will have a Russian charter, we already know how to behave, what kind of service they will want, we know more or less how they are.”

She explained that the most common type of client in the yacht industry is the “nouveau riche”, or new money, who are “very demanding and not very polite”.

“If we know we are having a Russian or American client coming to spend a few days or weeks, we know they will want to throw themed parties, for sure. They will want to have fun and have an amazing time.”

The stewardess claimed: “With [some] Russians, we prepare in advance because they are hard work” and revealed some of the most bizarre requests.

“Once I got asked if I could make the dolphins jump during sunset. I said that I was sorry but they were already booked.

“They just ask for crazy stuff… One time they asked me if I could go to France to pick up a bottle of champagne they loved and we were in Italy!”

A yacht stewardess previously told the travel blog Workonayacht: “One hears tales all the time of special ingredients, foods, wines—you name it—being helicoptered in at a moment’s notice in the superyacht industry. In fact, I once had to have Special K cereal shipped overnight from Antibes, France to Crete. We had run out of the owner’s wife’s favourite breakfast food, and she would accept no substitutes.

“As a stew, you are expected to be prepared for anything at any time. Guests on yachts don’t care how you get something done, so long as you get it done.

“Furthermore, in order to meet a demanding or eccentric guest’s requests, you have to be willing to go that extra mile. It helps to have good persuasive speaking skills when it comes to obtaining things from the outside world.”

In terms of tips, the stewardess, who can earn “up to £24,000 per month,” revealed that “Americans give you lots of tips – minimum £2,500 a week”.