After her “low maintenance” getting ready routine, Daisy said she drinks a coffee (“black with a little bit of milk”) and will try to get some sunlight on deck or go see the captain.
From there, it’s time to start setting up breakfast for the guests, which is served between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Daisy’s busy midday routine, which revolves around guest meals
“Once breakfast is done, we clear away breakfast, and we pretty much start thinking about lunch straight away,” Daisy explained, noting that lunch planning involves “communicating with the chef” and the galley team. “By the time we finish breakfast, it could be between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Lunch is usually going to be about 2:00 p.m., so even though that’s two hours, in between guest requests, doing drinks, maybe going to the beach, it could take two hours to set up lunch.”
Plus, all the miscellaneous tasks are happening simultaneously. “In between all of this time, we’re doing laundry,” she adds, as well as “anything that needs to be done, [like] cleaning the galley, communicating with guests, communicating with the galley.”
5 p.m. to 11 p.m. – Daisy’s dinner preparation process
After the guests have finished their lunch, preparations begin for the next meal. “We clear lunch between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.,” she said. “As soon as you’ve cleared lunch, we’re starting to think about dinner, [which] will usually be between 8:00 and 9:00 P.M.”
In the midst of the dinner preparations for the guests, the crew dinner takes place. “Every boat is different, but a lot of boats will put out the food at like 6:00 p.m. or maybe 5:00 p.m.,” Daisy explained. “The girls usually like to eat earlier, so we’d be in the crew [mess] at like 5:00 p.m., eating at like 6:00 p.m. Sometimes the guys would eat at 8:00 p.m, sometimes we’d eat together. Sometimes you’d be hungry, so you’d eat by yourself; it totally depends.”
Around the same time, Daisy likes to sneak in a little moment for herself. “I’ll usually have a shower just before dinner service, so I’ll get a second shower in at around 6:00 p.m. when I dress into my blacks,” she revealed. “I usually really enjoy that, because you are just filthy, you are sweaty, you’re dirty, you’re everything — like something split on you during the day. I relish that shower. I really, really enjoy it, so that’s a nice part of the day.”
From there, Daisy’s focus is on dinner service — but that’s not all. At the same time, “We’re also doing cabins for turn down,” she noted.
11 p.m. to 12 a.m. … or 4 a.m. – Daisy’s late-night duties
“Once dinner is done, at around 11:00 p.m., we clear that,” Daisy explained. “And then we just look after the guests until they go to bed, which we hope is around midnight, but sometimes can be until 4:00 in the morning.”
When she’s finally able to retreat to her cabin, Daisy says, “I get my six hours of sleep and back off and do it all over again.”
