You see them on screen holding a radio, maybe looking slightly frantic while a guest demands an espresso martini at 2:00 AM. Being a chief stew below deck isn't just about pouring champagne or making sure the toilet paper has a perfect little fold at the end. It is high-stakes middle management in a floating pressure cooker. Most people think it’s a vacation with a side of service. They’re wrong.
Basically, the chief stewardess—or steward—is the CEO of the interior department. They manage the laundry, the housekeeping, the service, the guest experience, and the emotional stability of their junior stews. All while living in a room the size of a walk-in closet with a stranger. It’s a lot.
The job is relentless.
What the Chief Stew Below Deck Really Does Every Day
The job description is massive. It starts before the guests even step onto the passerelle. You’ve got the preference sheets, which are basically the "bible" for the charter. If a guest says they hate cilantro and the chef puts cilantro in the salsa, that’s on the chief stew. They’re the last line of defense. They have to coordinate with the chef, the captain, and the deck crew to make sure everything is seamless. Honestly, it’s a logistics nightmare disguised as a luxury holiday.
Kate Chastain, perhaps the most famous face of the franchise, often spoke about the "mental load" of the role. You aren't just thinking about what is happening now; you’re thinking about the beach picnic in four hours and whether the ice will melt before the tender gets there. You’re checking if the primary guest’s favorite vintage of Rose is chilled. You're making sure the third stew hasn't spent three hours in the laundry room crying over a fitted sheet.
Service is the visible part. The invisible part is the "stew-muck." That’s the cleaning, the scrubbing, the organizing of the "pantry"—which is basically a tiny kitchen that always seems to be in a state of chaos. A chief stew has to be a master of detail. If there is a fingerprint on a chrome faucet, a high-end guest will see it. And they will complain.
The Management Nightmare
Managing people is hard enough in an office. Try doing it when you haven't slept more than five hours a night for six weeks. A chief stew below deck has to manage different personalities, often with varying levels of experience.
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Take Hannah Ferrier’s tenure. She often had to deal with green stews who didn't know the difference between a salad fork and a dessert fork. You have to train them on the fly while a billionaire is waiting for their lunch. It’s not just teaching; it’s damage control. You’re basically a babysitter who also has to be a world-class mixologist.
- Inventory Control: You have to order every single bottle of gin, every lemon, and every specific brand of Belgian chocolate before the boat leaves the dock. If you run out in the middle of the ocean? Good luck.
- The "Vibe" Manager: If the guests are bored, the chief stew has to invent a theme party. Enter the "Toga Party" or the "Casino Night" or the "Great Gatsby" dinner. You have to find costumes, decorate the saloon, and make sure the crew doesn't look like they hate their lives while wearing a polyester wig.
- The Bridge Liaison: You have to keep the Captain happy. Captain Lee or Captain Sandy don't want to hear about drama; they want to hear that the guests are happy and the boat is safe.
Why the Pay is High (But Maybe Not High Enough)
The money is good. Kinda. A chief stew on a 150-foot yacht can make anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 a month in base salary. But the tips? That’s where the real money is. On a good charter, a crew member can walk away with $2,000 to $5,000 in cash for just a few days of work.
But you pay for it with your soul.
You are "on" 24/7. There is no "going home" at the end of the shift. You are sleeping inches away from your coworkers. The burnout rate for a chief stew below deck is incredibly high. Most people only last a few seasons before they realize that seeing the world through a porthole while cleaning up someone else’s mess isn't the dream they thought it was.
The Evolution of the Role in the Public Eye
When Below Deck first aired in 2013, people didn't really understand what a stewardess did. They thought it was "waitress on a boat." Adrienne Gang, the first chief stew we ever saw, showed the gritty reality of trying to maintain professional standards while the cameras were rolling and the crew was partying. It set the stage for everything that followed.
Then came the "Goddess of Yachting," Kate Chastain. She brought a level of wit and "resting bitch face" that became iconic. She showed that to be a successful chief stew below deck, you need a thick skin and a sharper tongue. You have to be able to shut down an unruly guest and a lazy deckhand in the same breath.
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Dealing with the "Green" Crew
In recent seasons, we’ve seen stews like Daisy Kelliher and Aesha Scott. They represent a more modern, slightly more empathetic style of leadership, but the core challenges remain. The "green" stew—someone with zero experience—is a recurring trope because it creates drama, but in the real world of yachting, it’s a chief stew’s worst nightmare.
If a stew doesn't know how to do laundry properly, they can ruin a $500 silk shirt. If they don't know how to set a table, the chief stew has to do it themselves. This leads to the "if you want it done right, do it yourself" mentality, which is a fast track to a total meltdown. We've seen it happen on screen dozens of times. The "interior vs. exterior" feud is also a staple. The deck crew thinks the stews have it easy because they’re in the AC. The stews think the deck crew just sits around on the "toys" all day. It’s a tale as old as time.
The Logistics Most People Forget
Think about the trash. Where does it go? On a yacht, you can't just put it on the curb. You have to store it, often in a "trash room" or a freezer (yes, really, to stop the smell), until you hit a port that can take it. The chief stew below deck is often the one overseeing the "hidden" logistics of waste, recycling, and supply replenishment.
Then there’s the medical aspect. Most chief stews are trained in basic first aid and sometimes more advanced medical procedures. If a guest gets a jellyfish sting or trips on the stairs, the chief stew is usually the first responder. You’re a nurse, a therapist, a maid, and a bartender all at once.
Real World vs. Reality TV
Is it actually like the show? Sorta. The drama is definitely ramped up for the cameras, and the "nights out" are a bit more forced than they would be on a private yacht. On a real private yacht, the crew usually just wants to sleep. But the workload? That’s 100% real. The exhaustion you see on Fraser Olender’s face is not acting.
In the real industry, a chief stew below deck has to be even more discreet. On the show, they can talk smack in the "confessionals." In real life, if you talk about a guest like that, you are fired immediately. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are the standard. The "real" chief stews of the world are the ones you never hear about because they are so good at their jobs that they remain invisible.
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How to Get Into the Industry
If you’re looking at these people and thinking, "I could do that," here is the reality check. You need your STCW (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers). It’s a week-long course that teaches you how to not die at sea—firefighting, sea survival, that kind of thing. You also need an ENG1 medical certificate.
Once you have those, you "dockwalk." You literally walk up and down the docks in places like Antibes or Fort Lauderdale, handing out CVs and hoping someone needs a junior stew. You start at the bottom. You spend a year doing nothing but laundry and cleaning toilets. If you’re lucky, and if you have the stamina of an ultramarathoner, you might eventually become a chief stew below deck.
What to Focus On if You Want the Job:
- Detail Orientation: If you don't notice a hair in a sink from ten feet away, this isn't for you.
- Mixology and Wine Knowledge: You need to know the difference between a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Franc, and you better know how to make a perfect Spicy Margarita.
- Conflict Resolution: You will be yelled at. By guests, by captains, and by your own team. You have to take it, smile, and ask if they’d like a snack.
- Physical Fitness: You are on your feet for 16 hours a day. It is physically grueling work.
The role of a chief stew below deck is one of the most misunderstood jobs in the world of luxury. It’s a career of contradictions: you live in luxury but own nothing; you serve the richest people on earth but have no time to spend your own money; you travel the world but rarely see anything but the galley and the laundry room.
It takes a specific kind of person to thrive in that environment. Someone who loves order, someone who can handle chaos, and someone who doesn't mind a little bit of salt—both from the ocean and from the guests.
Your Path Forward in Yachting
If you're serious about pursuing this or just want to understand the mechanics better, your next steps shouldn't be watching more reality TV. Instead, look into the actual maritime requirements.
- Research the STCW 95/2010 course. This is non-negotiable for anyone working on a boat over 24 meters.
- Look into the GUEST program. This stands for Great Luxury Yacht Service Excellence Training. It’s the industry standard for interior crews and covers everything from table service to flower arranging.
- Update your CV to highlight "hospitality under pressure." If you've worked in high-end restaurants or busy hotels, that is your golden ticket.
- Understand the seasons. The Mediterranean season runs from May to September, while the Caribbean/Bahamas season runs from November to April. Timing your job hunt is everything.
The world of the chief stew below deck is far more complex than a 42-minute episode can ever show, but for those who can handle the heat, the rewards—and the stories—are like nothing else on earth.