You are giving a pedicure in a guest cabin. The guest, alone with you, makes a remark about your body and puts a hand on your knee. The door is closed. He is the charter principal. Everything in this lesson exists so that you already know what to do in the two seconds after that happens — and so that you know, without any doubt, that none of it is your fault.
Professional Boundaries
Beauty work is intimate: you are close, you are touching, the space is private, and guests relax. Almost always that is fine. Occasionally it is not.
If a guest crosses the line — a comment, a touch, an invitation, anything that makes you uncomfortable:
- End the treatment. You do not have to finish it, apologise for it, or be polite about it. "I am going to stop there." Then leave.
- Go to the chief stew immediately. If the chief stew is the problem, or does not act, go to the captain.
- Write it down — what was said or done, when, where, who else was nearby.
- You are never at fault. Not for the treatment you were giving, not for being alone in a cabin, not for having been friendly, not for what you were wearing. Harassment is the harasser's doing, and reporting it is the correct professional response, not a complaint or a scene.
Yachts operate under safety management and employment obligations, and every crew member is entitled to a workplace free of harassment. A captain who does not act on this is failing in a duty, not doing you a favour by ignoring it. Speak to a trusted senior, a union or crew welfare body (ITF, ISWAN) if you get nowhere.
Protect yourself sensibly: leave the cabin door open or ajar where you can, let the chief stew know where you are and how long you will be, and treat in a shared or semi-public space when the option exists.
Confidentiality
You will learn things — health conditions, medication, cosmetic procedures, conversations, who is on board with whom. All of it is confidential. Do not discuss guests in the crew mess, do not post about them, do not confirm to anyone ashore who is aboard. Most crew contracts include an NDA, and breaching it ends careers. Record cards are confidential documents: store them securely.
Treating in a Seaway
If the vessel is moving enough that you cannot hold a file or a hot wax pot steady, the treatment stops. Reschedule. No guest is worth a burn or a cut.
Waste and MARPOL
Beauty waste is not general rubbish.
- Nothing goes over the side. MARPOL Annex V prohibits discharge of plastics and most garbage at sea.
- Acetone, solvent, monomer, tint and their containers are chemical waste — sealed, labelled, retained onboard and landed ashore to a licensed reception facility.
- Contaminated items (anything with blood) go in a sealed clinical waste bag; sharps in a sharps container.
- Log what you land ashore in line with the vessel's garbage management plan.
Finally
This course is preparatory study only. It does not qualify you to treat anyone. Get the accredited qualification, the assessed practical hours and the insurance — then do this properly.
Onboard Notes
- A guest crosses the line: stop, leave, report to the chief stew or captain. You are never at fault.
- Everything you hear in a treatment stays there.
- Rough sea: no sharp implements, no hot wax. Rebook.
- Chemicals and clinical waste are landed ashore, never over the side.