Woodey explains that she’s not there to teach deck skills. “They don’t teach [the deck team] what I call the fluffy stuff, which is the guest-facing part, and that’s really important,” she said. “I want to give them a different perspective that will change how guests experience what they do.” 

Woodey created her course from scratch. “I took everything that I wished my deckhands on board had known about guest interaction, helping the interior, exterior set-up, attention to detail, shoreside activities, etc., and put it into one module,” Woodey said.  

These refinements support service. Woodey has the deck team focus on aspects sometimes overlooked on deck, such as properly assisting guests from the tender, crew appearance, guest conversation and forms of address, handling guest criticism or harassment, accompanying guests while shopping, or even serving drinks. 

She also reaches out to the team in advance for particular issues they want to address. Key is also educating the deck crew how to best help the interior crew, whether during an event or with something as simple as handling guest luggage. 

“We need consistency,” Woodey said. “We don’t want the guests to experience something different depending on who’s given them that service. You can still have character and personality, but you have these extra skills for dealing with your guests. The guest experience is better — it’s win-win.”