Normally, for a dinner with that many courses, Coll\u00e9 would have been up at 5am to begin preparation. She was the only chef on board the boat.<\/p>\n
Instead, she frantically grabbed crew members to help and descended into a panic-laced frenzy of cooking for the next few hours. The seven courses somehow made it to the table, and the kina carbonara was such a success it\u2019s a dish she\u2019s continued making. <\/p>\n
Kiwi stewardesses Chelsea Twiss, Ellen Butler and Courtney Te Whiu loved working together inside the luxurious cabins.<\/p>\n
It was a typical moment of madness for crew on board a super yacht; saying \u2018no\u2019, even politely, isn\u2019t an option. <\/p>\n
Coromandel-raised former chief stewardess Ellen Butler remembers being sent ashore with a hat full of cash to try and secure a table at a fully booked restaurant for a billionaire owner. <\/p>\n
When Butler began working on super yachts as a 20-year-old stewardess, she found the owners \u201cterrifying\u201d. <\/p>\n
After seven years, she\u2019s worked for all sorts of billionaires from American NFL owners to Russian oligarchs, and brushed shoulders with countless celebrities whom she can\u2019t name due to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).<\/p>\n
Life below deck might look luxurious but on most super yachts, 80% of the space is taken up by the guests\u2019 quarters and crew live in just 20% of the whole boat.<\/p>\n
Amber Coll\u00e9 is an experienced chef on board superyachts and runs Anchor & Apron, a business that specialises in yacht chef training.<\/p>\n
Charter boats are known to experience more wild partying and unruly guests than privately-owned super yachts. The industry is full of stories of rooms left trashed and littered with condoms and drugs. <\/p>\n
But, Coll\u00e9 says, that can lead to larger tips for the crew. <\/p>\n
The seven-star service of super yachts involves tiny, finicky details that Butler says would seem insane to a normal housekeeper.<\/p>\n
The crew has to be aware of guests\u2019 every move on board. After a guest leaves a bathroom, a stewardess will hurry in to fold the end of the toilet paper roll into a neat diamond shape or fully dry the shower down after use.<\/p>\n
Butler says she could never understand that last task as the shower \u201cjust gets wet again in 10 minutes\u201d. <\/p>\n
A guest might request that their champagne be poured exactly 2cm from the top of the flute every time.<\/p>\n
She once worked on a super yacht where stewardesses were expected to maintain the illusion that they weren\u2019t working on board by carrying only one coffee at a time, and moving in a relaxed manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re like these little invisible fairies that keep everything ticking along,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
New Zealand Superyacht Academy founder Alice Baker at the Ponsonby Cruising Club in Westhaven, Auckland. Photo \/ Annaleise Shortland.<\/p>\n
High demand for Kiwi crew<\/p>\n
NZ Superyacht Academy founder Alice Baker says captains are \u201ccalling out for more Kiwi crew\u201d. This year, she\u2019s trained 70 people at the academy and all of them have successfully secured jobs on vessels.<\/p>\n
Honey Bryant, a 21-year-old Kiwi stewardess, recently returned to NZ from a four-month voyage on a super yacht sailing across the Caribbean Sea to holiday spots such as Florida and The Bahamas. <\/p>\n
Leaving her coffee shop job for the high seas, she says, has led to her being exposed to an eye-opening level of wealth. <\/p>\n
On one 60m yacht, the polished interiors of the guests\u2019 cabins were decorated with silk Herm\u00e8s pillowcases and Louis Vuitton blankets. Every room and surface appeared untouched. <\/p>\n
Baker has seen some ridiculous antics from wealthy guests in her time. <\/p>\n
She once witnessed a Russian billionaire on a super yacht in Greece shun the five-star chef on board, instead sending a helicopter to land to pick up a kebab for his dinner. <\/p>\n
Baker says Russian oligarchs who have grown up with staff their whole life often won\u2019t look at or speak to crew members which can be especially jarring for Kiwis who aren\u2019t used to such treatment.<\/p>\n
Lure of money and billionaire perks <\/p>\n
Kiwis are drawn to super yacht work because of the opportunity to earn good money, have long holidays and the lure of luxury travel.<\/p>\n
A starting stewardess\u2019 salary is about $5500 to $6000 per month and that\u2019s not including opportunities for generous tips.<\/p>\n
Bryant has heard of crew members each being tipped $35,000 for a three-week voyage on a charter yacht. <\/p>\n
Coll\u00e9 was taken for a trip in a private plane by a kind billionaire owner and another time got to bring her whole family on a yacht for a week. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s heard of similar perks happening to her friends in the industry, with one stewardess being taken out in a billionaire\u2019s submarine. <\/p>\n
A superyacht at anchor in Croatia. Photo \/123rf<\/p>\n
The super yachts stop at ports all over the world and there\u2019s the chance to see faraway destinations such as Alaska or the Maldives without having to pay for flights or accommodation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never with my own money have been able to go and see those places, let alone see them from a millionaire\u2019s point of view,\u201d Bryant says.<\/p>\n
Coll\u00e9 began in the industry as a stewardess after working on golf resorts in NZ. At 21, she fell in love with the lifestyle during a Mediterranean season, and soon realised her passion lay in dreaming up high-end meals in the kitchen. <\/p>\n
Chef work appealed to her because of the higher pay and long holidays in the off-season. This year, Coll\u00e9 will get to spend six months off with her family and friends in the NZ summer. <\/p>\n
During a stint working on Michael Hill\u2019s 40m yacht, The Beast, Coll\u00e9 caught fresh fish every day with an all-Kiwi crew and made ceviche with fresh snapper marinated in zesty lime juice.<\/p>\n
Butler says not all owners are intimidating and some end up being friends with the crew, making the whole boat a fun environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked for a really, really nice American owner and he treated us like family and wanted to spend time with the crew playing beer pong or SingStar,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
There are also the quiet moments on board a yacht late at night when only the crew are awake and get to experience the world away from land.<\/p>\n
Coll\u00e9 says life at sea offers plenty of beauty and peaceful moments. <\/p>\n
On clear nights, the stars hang low and bright above the deck, and there are streaks of light-blue bioluminescence rippling through the water around the hull as the boat surges forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pitch-black all around you but the stars light up the whole sky. You just feel really small, it\u2019s like being on the top of a big mountain,\u201d Coll\u00e9 says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the prettiest thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murder in murky international waters<\/p>\n
The largely unregulated super yacht industry operates in murky international waters and carries a level of risk.<\/p>\n
It can be hard to secure a first job on a super yacht without previous experience and prospective workers often go dock walking – asking captains on docked boats for a spot on board – in popular ports such as Antigua and Monaco.<\/p>\n
Superyachts in Port Hercules, Monaco, on the French Riviera. Photo \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
Bryant says young crewmates are at risk of being taken advantage of if they don\u2019t conduct thorough research into a vessel and its owner.<\/p>\n