The owner's assistant calls: the owner would like to host a dinner for forty during the boat show, on board, on the Thursday. She has no further details and will not be available again this week. You now have eleven days, a vague sentence, and a reputation to protect. Everything depends on the brief you extract now.
The Client Conversation
Never leave the first conversation with anything less than the answers to these questions:
- Purpose — celebration, business, hospitality, charity, a reveal? Purpose drives every other decision.
- Guest of honour and who must be impressed.
- Numbers — expected, maximum, plus-ones, children, staff and security.
- Date, time, duration and the hard end.
- Format — seated dinner, canapes and drinks, buffet, mixed.
- Tone — black tie, barefoot, corporate, family.
- Budget — a real number, and who authorises spend.
- Non-negotiables — dietary, cultural, allergy, press, photography, confidentiality.
- Decision-maker — who signs off, and who may not change the plan.
Write it up as a one-page event brief and send it back for confirmation. The brief is your contract; scope creep is managed against it.
Costing
| Cost line | Notes |
|---|---|
| Food and beverage | Per head, plus 10-15 percent over-catering |
| Hired staff | Agency stews, bar staff, chefs; day rate plus travel |
| Equipment hire | Furniture, glassware, linen, marquee, heaters |
| Flowers and styling | Often the biggest surprise line |
| Entertainment and AV | Performer fee, tech, rider, power |
| Transport | Tenders, cars, shore-side handling |
| Contingency | 10 percent minimum |
Quote high and deliver under. Confirm in writing who is paying — the owner, the charter APA, or a corporate client — and get authorisation from the captain or purser before you commit a supplier.
The Run Sheet
The run sheet is the single timeline every department works from. It is not a list of your good intentions; it is minute-by-minute, with named owners.
| Time | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Furniture and hire delivery, security screening at passerelle | Bosun / ISPS officer |
| 12:00 | Florist aboard, escorted | 2nd stew |
| 15:00 | Table set, dressed, photographed against the plan | Chief stew |
| 17:30 | Crew brief, all departments | Chief stew / captain |
| 18:45 | Bar live, canapes staged | Service stew |
| 19:00 | Guests aboard, greeting line, drinks | Chief stew |
| 20:30 | Call to table, seated dinner | Chief stew |
| 23:30 | Last drinks; tenders staged | Deck |
| 00:00 | Hard stop, guests ashore | Captain |
Distribute the run sheet to the captain, galley, deck and engineering. Build backwards from the guests-aboard time, and mark critical path items — the things that, if late, move everything.
Onboard Notes
- The number will grow. It always grows. Cost and plan for the maximum the vessel and its certificate can lawfully carry, and confirm that limit with the captain first.
- Get the brief signed off. Verbal changes at 17:00 on the day are how events fail.
- Nothing is confirmed until it is in writing with a price and a cancellation term.