Yacht Guest Cabin Checklist: Prepare, Service and Stow

In brief

• A yacht guest cabin checklist runs in four stages: before boarding, on arrival, daily and before the yacht moves.
• Yachting Pages' cabin inspection checklist covers taps, shower, toilet, vents and latches.
• Plan welcome touches from the preference sheet (Burgess; Boat International).
• SOLAS cabin-notice rules are written for passenger ships on international voyages, which the IMO usually defines as ships carrying more than 12 passengers.
• Start with a Compact Woven Leather Valet Tray, 15 cm, from $130, in each guest cabin.

An hour before guests board, a guest cabin can look finished at anchor: the bed made, flowers placed, the head spotless. The test comes later. Once the yacht is under way, a phone left on the dresser starts to slide.

A yacht guest cabin checklist is a staged list of checks for preparing, servicing and securing a guest cabin and its head, the yacht's bathroom. It sets out how to prepare a guest cabin on a yacht, in four stages. This one is written for chief stews, stews and owners hosting friends and family.

The room-by-room guide to luxury yacht accessories covers the salon, galley, bar and deck as well as cabins and heads.

Before guests board: the cabin walk-through

Before guests board, the guest cabin walk-through tests everything a guest will see or touch, from the air vents to the locker latches. Yachting Pages' superyacht cabin inspection checklist sets the aim, with guests aboard or not: a cabin that is "safe, spotless, and fully operational".

Start with the air: Yachting Pages warns that "dusty aircon vents or exhaust grills can lead to odours, allergens, and inefficiency". In the head, it says to "turn on taps, showers, and flush the toilet to ensure everything works as expected".

For anything loose, Yachting Pages says to "open and close all lockers, drawers, and wardrobes to ensure they latch properly". Its list also includes a "visible and legible" Muster List and safety plan, and a "charged, working flashlight" in its charger. The checklist does not say whether these are guest or crew cabin items.

Wipe any leather pieces with a soft cloth during the walk-through; the care and maintenance page has the full routine.

Bedside and dresser: a place for small things

In a guest cabin, a watch, rings, a phone and keys need a fixed place before the yacht moves. Yachting Monthly advises sailors to "allocate a specific stowage for everything". On the bedside, that place is a valet tray; on the dresser, a lidded box.

The Compact Woven Leather Valet Tray, 15 cm is 15 x 15 x 6 cm, from $130, in eight colourways. Sized as one per guest cabin, it takes a watch, rings or cufflinks; the 6 cm sides keep them below the rim.

For a cabin console, the Woven Leather Valet Tray, 20 cm is 20 x 20 x 6.5 cm, from $170, in seven colourways (no Brown). The 6.5 cm depth contains a wallet, a phone and keys without them sliding out on a surface that moves.

On the dresser, the Walnut-Framed Leather Storage Box, Medium keeps jewellery, watches and cufflinks under a lid. It is 27 x 19 x 7 cm, from $290, in eight colourways, and fits where the large box would dominate.

See the valet trays and leather boxes, or compare sizes in the leather tray buying guide.

The heads: amenities that stay grouped under way

A guest cabin's head, the yacht's bathroom, needs amenities that stay grouped when the yacht moves, a tissue cover that sits flat and a bin within reach. Boat International notes that "lavatories can be sensitive to what's flushed down them", so the bin earns its place.

For why the bathroom on board is called the head, see the rooms on a yacht explained.

The Four-Piece Bathroom Set with Woven Leather Tray is from $490, in seven colourways (no Brown). Its 30 x 15 x 3.5 cm tray gathers a soap dispenser, a brush holder and a lidded cotton holder. The three stainless steel pieces move as a group rather than sliding across a basin surround under way.

For tissues, the Slim Rectangular Leather Tissue Box Cover, 24 cm stands 6 cm high on a 24 x 13 cm footprint, from $170, in eight colourways. It takes slim-profile flat tissue boxes, not standard-depth cartons, and sits flat on a low console, under a shelf or on a basin surround.

The Leather-Covered Stainless Steel Waste Bin, 3 Litre is sized for a guest head where the bin is emptied often. It is 20 x 20 x 24 cm, from $220, in eight colourways. A leather outer covering wraps its 316 stainless steel inner body.

Towels can wait in a hand-woven leather towel basket. For quantities in every head, from the day head to the master bathroom, see the yacht bathroom accessories checklist. See the bath collection.

Welcome amenities and the preference sheet

Welcome amenities on a yacht can be planned from the preference sheet, which guests complete before a charter. The broker Burgess sends its questionnaire a few weeks ahead, covering dietary and medical requirements, allergies, special requests and birthdays. Its answers can shape what waits in each guest cabin.

Boat International adds newspapers and flowers. For the cabin itself, a 2009 model sheet from Dockwalk asks about detergent allergies. It also asks whether cabins should be "tended to throughout the day or just for morning and turndown service".

Read the crewed yacht charter etiquette guide for the guest's side of the sheet, and crew rest.

Turndown and the daily reset

Turndown service on a yacht readies each guest cabin for the night. The Cambridge Dictionary describes turndown as a hotel service that makes a room ready for sleep, "for example by turning back the top covers on the bed". For the daily reset, Dockwalk lists making the beds and dusting all the flat surfaces.

In 2016, SuperyachtNews pictured turndown touches such as a courtesy card with a personalised chocolate, a poem on personalised paper and personalised ribbons.

See the valet trays for the bedside.

Stowing a cabin for sea

Stowing a guest cabin for sea means putting away or containing everything that can move before the yacht leaves the anchorage. Yachting Monthly, writing for sailing yachts, is blunt: "Anything on the table will almost certainly jump off at some time, so needs putting away."

Dockwalk's crossing guide for chief stews goes further. Pillows and duvets go into the wardrobes, and carpet runners and furniture protectors go down. Glassware, ornaments and artwork are secured "with plenty of padding and strong but gentle strapping".

That is crossing guidance. When yachts cross is set out in the superyacht season calendar. For a routine move, this guide applies the same logic at cabin scale: every loose item goes into a locker, a tray or a lidded box. See the storage collection for boxes and baskets. The guide to leather storage boxes for yachts compares them by space.

The table below maps guest cabin accessories by zone.

The yacht guest cabin checklist

This yacht guest cabin checklist groups 16 checks into four stages: before boarding, on arrival, daily and before moving. Each check follows a published source or the job a piece does aboard. A chief stew can print one for each cabin.

Before boarding

1. Clean the aircon vents and exhaust grills (Yachting Pages).
2. Run the taps and shower and flush the toilet.
3. Check that every locker, drawer and wardrobe latches.
4. Make the bed; check the preference sheet for detergent allergies.
5. Check that towels and amenities are presented correctly (Yachting Pages).
6. Set out any flowers or newspapers requested on the preference sheet (Boat International).
7. Set out a valet tray by each bed.

On arrival

8. Show guests the air conditioning and audio-visual controls (Dockwalk).
9. Mention the toilet and what not to put down it.
10. Point guests to the captain's safety briefing (MYBA).

Daily

11. Make the beds and dust all flat surfaces (Dockwalk).
12. Change towels to each guest's preference (Burgess).
13. At turndown, turn back the top covers (Cambridge Dictionary).

Before moving

14. Put loose items into a locker, a tray or a lidded box.
15. Seat the bathroom set on its tray; stand the bin on the floor.
16. Close and latch every drawer, locker and wardrobe.

Common questions

The five questions below cover the practical points of preparing a guest cabin: stewardess checklists, safety notices, valet tray sizes, matching colours and leather care. Each answer stands on its own and links to the source or product page behind it.

Is there a standard yacht stewardess checklist?

Several published cabin checklists exist. Yachting Pages' superyacht cabin inspection checklist covers bathrooms, beds, vents, latches and safety items, and Dockwalk names the daily cabin jobs. For formal training, the GUEST programme, sponsored by the PYA until 2019, is now governed by IAMI, the International Association of Maritime Institutions.

Does SOLAS require safety notices in a yacht's guest cabins?

SOLAS regulation III/8.4 is written for passenger ships on international voyages. It requires illustrations and instructions "posted in passenger cabins" showing the muster station, emergency actions and how to don a lifejacket; UK regulation 5(8)(c) mirrors it. The IMO usually defines a passenger ship as one carrying more than 12 passengers, so a yacht carrying 12 or fewer guests is not one. Ask the captain what applies aboard.

Which valet tray size suits a guest cabin?

The Compact Woven Leather Valet Tray, 15 cm is sized as one per guest cabin. At 15 x 15 x 6 cm, from $130, it takes a watch, rings or cufflinks. A wallet, a phone and keys need the deeper 20 cm tray, from $170.

Can the cabin and head pieces match in one colour?

Yes, in Khaki, Black, Navy Blue, Grey, Mink, Beige or Tan. Those seven Veyra Deck leather tones are offered on all six cabin and head pieces in this guide. That covers both valet trays, the medium walnut-framed box, the slim tissue cover, the bathroom set and the 3 litre waste bin. Only the 20 cm tray and the bathroom set are not offered in Brown.

How do you look after leather pieces in a guest head?

In a guest head, keep care simple: a soft dry cloth, no standing water on the leather, no long spells of direct sun. The care and maintenance page sets out the routine, and leather care on a yacht covers salt air, sun and humidity.

Where to start

Start each guest cabin with three Veyra Deck pieces: a Compact Woven Leather Valet Tray, 15 cm, from $130, for the bedside. Add the Four-Piece Bathroom Set with Woven Leather Tray, from $490, and the Leather-Covered Stainless Steel Waste Bin, 3 Litre, from $220, for the head. Then see the bath collection.

Pieces are finished and packed by hand, then dispatched from Türkiye within 3-7 business days. Delivery typically takes 6-10 business days after dispatch, about 2-4 weeks in all, depending on the destination. Shipping is free worldwide. Orders ship Delivered Duty Paid (DDP): we pay customs duties and import taxes, so the checkout price is the total. Nothing is charged on delivery.

Bespoke sizes and finishes are available for yacht and contract projects: info@veyradeck.com. For trade orders, see wholesale.

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Sources

• Yachting Pages, The superyacht cabin inspection checklist, 2025
• Dockwalk: cleaning schedules, 2023; guest arrival, 2022; crossings, 2022; preference sheets, 2009
• Burgess: charter FAQs; interior accessories, 2023
• Boat International: first-timer's guide, 2021; guest etiquette, 2025
• MYBA, Guidelines for Charter Yacht Captains and Crew, 2026
• SuperyachtNews, 2016; Cambridge Dictionary; Yachting Monthly, 2021
• SOLAS Chapter III; IMO, passenger ships; UK Merchant Shipping (Musters, Training and Decision Support Systems) Regulations 1999, reg 5; PYA: Interior Training Standards for crew, 2019; GUEST programme

Sources checked 28 September 2026. Updated 18 October 2026: the waste bin's steel grade was corrected from 304 to 316. Sourcing follows our editorial standards.