To celebrate 3 years of working together, I was invited on board the Lagoon 620 Crocodile Daddy by its owners for a weeklong pocket superyacht charter between St Maarten and Anguilla. I’m not going to lie, this was a serious treat and one that doesn’t come along every week, or every year for that matter. But it was also an extremely useful experience. So many hospitality business owners don’t take the time to sample and experience their customer experience, which is a shame because it is a very interesting exercise.

The crew on Crocodile Daddy are amazing. They are young and energetic and posses the three elements that make a professional: enthusiasm, passion and pride. I believe that all other requirements follow automatically but without these three elements you can never deliver a sterling job.

I arrived in the middle of the night after a long journey which was complicated by US immigration, but that is a completely different story. Captain Kew and Deckhand Damien had been waiting patiently for me to arrive around midnight. That was probably the start of me, unintentionally, being my own worst nightmare charter guest.

Despite a long journey and a light jet lag I made it to the breakfast table, just in time. What a strange feeling it was to be on the receiving end and being served while sat at a beautifully set table with a view over the bay of Anse Marcel. My mind was still with the crew and how they were now running around doing beds and heads while regularly checking in on us, making sure we had everything we needed.

Crocodile Daddy has a platform on the stern that lifts the tender out of the water. In preparation for our first sail the captain and deckhand were manoeuvring  the tender in it’s place. I naturally felt they could use a hand. But when the deckhand threw the stern line I grabbed next to it… Typical charter guest… Helping is not always helping…

Stew cook Noëmie came up on the fly bridge and told me she had a great idea for a smoothie which sounded really good to me. It looked as if I did her a favour by being all up for trying it. It is great to be looked after by people who are truly passionate about, well… looking after people. Later on though, she asked if I wanted a Ceasar or Nicoise salad for lunch I caught myself saying: “Whichever, I’m easy.” Then asking myself if I just did that!? Leaving the crew to guess what your preference is is about the most annoying thing you can do as a guest!

Then there was a spontaneous request (from the owner) to drop us off at the Cap Jaluca resort for a sundowner. It wasn’t until the next day that I realised this had  taken a chunk out of the crew’s time to anchor before sunset and prepare for dinner. I found that interesting because guests aren’t supposed to think about such things. Even if it would have been an issue (which it wasn’t for this super crew), it would have to be clearly but diplomatically communicated.

As penance for my sins I eventually joined the crew in a few hours of polishing later in the week. It also helped to ease me back into reality…