We associate superyachts with the elite, wealth and prestige. Just ask the chaps from Lonely Island – you know you’ve made it when you’re on a boat.

Superyachts are enjoyed by celebrities, royalty and titans of industry, which means that they need diligent and professional staff to maintain the kinds of lifestyles that these people are used to.

The hours are long, but the pay can be good. A stewardess can earn between $2 700 and $9 000 per month, depending on experience and yacht size, which is more than R127 000 a month.

More, in fact, if you consider that it’s customary to tip 10% of the yacht fee, which on a vessel costing from $300 000 to over $1 million a week, adds up to a decent amount.

So you think you have what it takes to work on a superyacht? CNN spoke with a number of experienced stewardesses, who dished the dirt:

Chief Stewardess, Gemma Hulbert, has been working as a “stew” for almost seven years.

“We’re caretakers for the guests — anything and everything they need is done before they need it,” the 25-year-old explains, adding that guest requests at times can be quite unusual.

Once, she says, a guest only wanted to bathe in half a tub of hot water that was then topped off with half a bottle of none-other than Fiji water and half a cup of baby oil.

“That was so much fun to clean from the marble after,” Hulbert quips.

“I’ve also had a charter guest in the past who purchased a vintage Hermes bag in the States so our purser (the officer on board who keeps the accounts) had to organize a private jet to go to the States from Monaco to pick up the bag and bring it back so she could take it to a gala the next day,” she adds.

Okay, these people sound like admin. Even more so if they’re from “new money”:

Chelsea Nielsen also works as a superyacht stewardess and on-board yoga teacher – something she calls both exhausting and rewarding.

“They (guests) are used to luxuries – they’re desensitized to having help 24/7 and having people take care of them 24/7,” the 33-year-old tells CNN from Monaco during one of her rare days off.

“Of course, they have expectations as I do if I go to a restaurant, but as far as people being the clients I have worked with or worked for have truly only been grateful and gracious.

“You can always tell who has come down from generations of wealth – they just carry themselves with a bit of grace and class versus maybe someone who has just come into money for the first time and they have a little bit of their nose in the air, little bit of an attitude about them.

“No judgment of course! It’s just interesting.”

Nielson, who has worked on both private and chartered yachts, has had the opportunity to meet a few celebrities, although she says that this isn’t the norm.

Of course, there are celebrities who own yachts but it’s not as prevalent as really wealthy entrepreneurs who have been smart with their investments and can afford to throw money into a big hull in the water,” Nielsen says.

“It may be someone who has a specific brand or product that has exploded or someone who makes a specialized product for cars. One of my previous bosses brought the concept of loyalty rewards to his country so all the grocery stores in his country now have loyal reward programs.”

It’s common practice for stewardess’ to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect guest identities. Something Nielsen says is out of privacy and respect.

That said, she has worked on the award-winning 312-foot motor yacht, Kismet, owned by billionaire Shahid Khan, which recently chartered Beyonce and Jay-Z.

It isn’t all meeting celebrities and making cash, though. The hours are long and the work is hard.

Nielsen (below) compares her hours to that of doctors.

“Basically we’re on call 24/7,” Nielsen explains. Generally, she works a 13 hour day — with a two-hour break during the day, and a nine-hour break overnight. She does everything from maintaining the boat, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and entertaining guests by offering them yoga classes.

Nielsen and Hulbert, like many others, document their stewardess lives on Instagram. And while it may look glamorous as they spend the year chasing the sun from Mexico to the Caribbean and Europe, they sometimes only catch a glimpse of their surroundings through the yacht portholes as they clean guest suites with toothbrushes, toothpicks and cotton buds.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Hulbert says. “When we go into every guest cabin on a daily basis we open every product, every piece of makeup, every item of face-wash and we check the cap. You clean it so it looks like it’s just come directly from the shop. If it’s foundation you wipe everything perfectly clean.”

You’ve got to become a perfectionist and constantly spot the imperfections, she says.

“When we wipe glass or mirrors we turn off all the lights and use the flashlight on our phone and then check for any smears or watermarks that we may have missed — that’s the closest possible way to making it as perfect as possible.

“We’ve always got rags in our pocket wiping every fingerprint. If a guest touches a light on you go and wipe that light switch, if they go into their cabin and sit on their bed you make that bed so it looks like it’s never been touched and the second they use a bathroom you’re straight in there and giving it a clean.”

There are also strict rules about outward appearances, such as no tattoos, and you have to keep your weight down. Nielson also describes one client who insisted that all his staff dye their hair blond, and paid to have this maintained every month.

Sounds like a hectic lifestyle – but then again, there’s a lot I could do with a cool R127 000 a month.

If you’re keen for more stewardess stories, you’ll find plenty on this blog.

[source:cnn]