Luxury yacht secrets: Stewardess on Russian oligarch yacht shares ‘craziest’ clients | Travel News | Travel
The stewardess explained most of her luxury yacht clients used to be Russian millionaires who rented the boats to enjoy their glamorous summer holidays. But what are yacht guests like?
The stewardess, who earns a basic salary “between £2,500 to £24,000 per month” and “huge tips” – “minimum £2,500 just on tips a week” – shared what guests are usually like.
She claimed “the Russian clients don’t have a good reputation in the yacht industry”.
“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.”
Speaking of guests she has worked with, the crew member said “they can be very unpredictable and ask for the weirdest stuff”.
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She suggested: “They are ‘noveux riche’ so they are very demanding and not very polite.
“When we get told Russians are coming on board, [some crew] don’t get as excited as when we have Americans, for example. Russians are very special.
“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.
“With [some] Russians, we prepare in advance because they are hard work,” she claimed.
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However, she said in terms of behaviours, it can depend “a lot on their nationality”.
The crew member explained: “I had clients from Copenhagen who were lovely. You can also tell the difference as opposed to those who have ‘new money’. They are much more humble.”
Speaking of different nationalities, she added: “When [guests] are Americans, it is crazier but fun.
“Scandinavians are just lovely. Americans give you lots of tips.”
The luxury stewardess admitted the Ukrainian conflict is affecting her job as most of her clients are Russians.
She explained: “The big yachts, the private ones, the majority are from Russian oligarchs.”
The crew member claimed that due to the current situation, the owners are firing the crew without notice and “not handling the situation properly”.
“Of course, the lack of Russian clients for luxury yacht charters is going to affect the industry because most of our clients are Russians – Russian oligarchs, very rich Russian people that rent the yacht for a few days – so as long as things don’t improve, the demand on charters will go down.”
