Steward / Spa Therapist

The job has two halves. When guests want treatments, you are the therapist. You set up the treatment room or a cabin, warm the oils, give a 60 or 90 minute massage, facial, manicure or pedicure, and keep consultation records. The rest of the time you are a stewardess doing cabins, laundry, table service and afternoon tea. Most chief stews rota you so that treatment slots replace housekeeping hours, but on a busy charter you will do both. You also manage spa stock, linen and product orders yourself.

On a 40m to 55m yacht you may work on deck or in a guest cabin with a portable couch, and the interior side takes up most of your day. From around 60m there is usually a small spa room, sometimes with a sauna or hammam, and treatments become a bigger share of the work. Above 80m most yachts hire dedicated spa therapists and a spa manager, so dual roles are rarer. A private owner might book two treatments a week. A charter group can book eight a day.

Captains and chief stews hire people who are fully qualified first. A Level 3 diploma from CIBTAC, CIDESCO, ITEC or VTCT, backed by hotel or day spa experience, counts for more than yacht time. Stewarding experience helps, but plenty get their first role straight from a resort spa with STCW and ENG1 in hand. Interviews often include a trial treatment on the chief stew. What gets you the job is clean technique, a calm manner and being willing to fold laundry at midnight after four massages.

From here people go one of two ways. Some stay on the therapy track. They move to a dedicated spa therapist post on an 80m+ yacht and later become spa manager, running a team, a treatment menu and a budget. Others move further into interior work, taking second stew roles and working towards chief stew, with therapy as a skill that keeps them employable. Either way, brand training such as ESPA or Natura Bissé and extra qualifications like reflexology or lymphatic drainage give you more options.