According to Captain Jason Chambers, the Katina is the largest vessel that the Below Deck franchise has ever seen — so naturally, this provided some unique challenges and advantages for the Below Deck Down Under Season 3 crew.
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During a recent interview with The Daily Dish, Jason provided some insight into said challenges and advantages. Regarding the latter, he said that the Katina's size helped his team entertain the guests throughout the charter season. "The boat's huge, but it's a lot of interior," Jason noted. "It hasn't got much deck, you know, so it really helped us in a lot of [ways]."
It was particularly helpful when they experienced some inclement weather, causing the guests to have to spend their days indoors, rather than enjoying everything that the Seychelles had to offer. "Every season I've done, we've had some weather issues, and it's like, 'Oh, we can't give the guests what they need, it's the rain — like Season 2, the rain came down on Northern Sun so much and we just could not entertain them at the level we want. The best thing about Katina, it's got so much area internally that no matter what happened with the weather, when those issues came, we just put it on."
Needless to say, Jason and chief stew, Lara Rigby, had to "really entertain" their guests with so many theme nights and creative ideas out of "their tailbone."
"That's a big portion of our industry is actually pleasing guests," he explained. "The guests come on, we want to feed them well, we want them to have the best time as a group, and we want to give them the best service."
So, even when the weather was bad, they were still able to achieve their goals of providing amazing service. "When the weather plays up, if we can still provide those things, which we could do on Katina in a remote location, which is a big tick for me," he admitted. "I love to do anything remote. It's a lot of diving, a lot of underwater stuff in the Seychelles. And it really did tick a bucket list location for me. And the boat was perfect for it."
Captain Jason Chambers opens up about a Below Deck Down Under first
BDDU Season 3 was also unique for Jason, as it was his first working without former chief stew, Aesha Scott. Aesha had previously appeared on BDDU Seasons 1 and 2 before joining the crew of Below Deck Mediterranean Season 9.
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"Aesha moved to the mediterranean, which was sad," he admitted. "We worked so well together, but she had a story to tell. I can see why she did. And she gets on so well with [Captain] Sandy [Yawn] and they do well together as a team. So it gives an audience to see someone else bring something to the table. And Aesha's very well-rounded. She knows the logistics, she knows the environment, not just in yachting, but this show. So she understands what's ahead of her to see a chief stewardess come in with high expectations and high standards, which is fantastic. It's another thing understanding this high workload of an environment this franchise brings."
Learn more about why Below Deck Down Under Season 3 was "challenging" for Captain Jason here.
— Additional reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
