S08.E01: The Italian Job

[jewel21]

Quote

Capt. Sandy embarks on a new charter season on the beautiful waters of the Italian Riviera; two of her stews have unprecedented issues getting to the yacht; the deck team faces unforeseen obstacles; Capt. Sandy has to make a difficult decision.

Airdate: 09/25/2023

[snarts]

Already not looking forward to this season and the now near constant 'understaffed to begin the season' drama is tired & repetitive. Yawn.

[Shrek]

Anyone know how long this is ? My dvr decided to set itself to record every BD ever shown for the next 2 weeks and they all say original airdate as today so I cancelled them all. 

[nokat]

20 minutes ago, Shrek said:

Anyone know how long this is ? My dvr decided to set itself to record every BD ever shown for the next 2 weeks and they all say original airdate as today so I cancelled them all. 

My guide shows it at one hour and 45 minutes, so that means that stupid Andy Cohen show is tacked on. I hate when they do that.

[Tanukisan]

Like a viewer beset by multiple accents, these comments are in the order of episode scenes broadcast.

Wait, I can understand why Tumi might have immigration issues, coming from Australia, but isn’t Vile Kyle a citizen of the EU?  Going to another destination in the EU?  So…. Why the problem?  Unless “asshole” is not a proper EU country?

Luka!  Recently seen from BD:DU.  Good luck, buddy -- you have potential!

Mustique (the boat) – “It’s solid, it’s steel, it’s heavy.”  So maybe no stabiliser problems this season?

Chef Jack may be unintelligible to some, but Liverpool is just over the border from Wales.  Su’Mae!

There’s a paperwork problem – and we’re just now hearing about it?  This sort of thing hadn’t been worked out before, and Queeg is exasperated about it?  Isn’t this the sort of thing that would have been worked out ahead of time?  At the least, isn’t it the Captain’s responsibility to get these docs together?

Toni and Nikola (engineers) – nice to meet you.  Will probably not see you again throughout the season.

The primary on the first charter has a personal connexion to Captain Queeg?  If I didn’t think the guests were made up before, I do now.  He’s a bit of a dick as well – thinking the yacht is a taxi and he should be able to go whenever he wants wherever he wants.

More paperwork drama – finger is pointed at Ruan and one of his documents – a pic of someone else on a document of his?  Someone’s got some ‘splainin’ to do! 

This tub is so big and heavy a local pilot needs to be on board to leave/enter port.  Even less of a reason to need you, eh Queeg?  Lessens the docking drama opportunities, though.

And speaking of Queeg, comparing the current chef to the chef from last season is pretty useless.  Then when he’s successful, butter wouldn’t melt (pardon the pun).

So, it looks like Ruan was a fraud all along!  Still can’t help thinking this wasn’t all planned, but still, at least the rest of the crew won’t suffer.

Jessika is going to be a problem – complaining right away when everyone is working short-handed.

What will happen next week?  Will the crew be frozen without a bosun?  Will we be blessed with the arrival of Tumi?  Will we be cursed with the arrival of Kyle?  Stay tuned, if your photocopied documents can be validated….

 

[Caseysgirl]

What kind of season will it be with a mostly female (and Kyle) crew. As I recall, when “Summerhouse” was primarily female, it was a boring season.

.

 

[nokat]

Too many people I don't like on this show. Vile Kyle and his buddy Natalia, bleh. I wonder how he'll fake hurt himself to get out of working this season. My only enjoyment was watching Sandy deal with so many problems at the start.

[lilmarysunshine]

35 minutes ago, Caseysgirl said:

What kind of season will it be with a mostly female (and Kyle) crew. As I recall, when “Summerhouse” was primarily female, it was a boring season.

.

 

I can imagine getting the slide out will be a challenge! 

[Bossa Nova]

Anybody else notice the filming technique was different ? And annoying ?

It's as if the camera was sped up for filming just a bit *or* slowed down *or* something.....I suspect to make the filming feel like a documentary. 

I welcome anybody else's take on this.

Something was very different. And off.

 

 

[snarts]

The whole "crew members caught up in customs" and bosun "forges his paperwork" screams of producer manipulation. They do something similar every season now.

There's no way work visas wouldn't be handled in advance by the production company. Same with vetting their maritime credentials. Heck, in earlier seasons we learned that the production pays to send them through the required courses. That's how Chef Adam & new deckhand Malia met before the season.

The fake drama is boring and predictable. Just like watching Sandy constantly lurking about for camera time.

[Baltimore Betty]

Sandy lets Norma know they need a bosun, cliffhanger ensues.

Seriously, wouldn't Norma & Co. have all the licensing squared away prior to assigning someone to a ship? Maybe in the real world?

I feel like we have not seen the last of Ruan.

Natalya/Natasha, I still cannot tell the difference between them and there is just the one of them!

Every season the crew arrives and every season I am amazed at the tattoos on their bodies, like they are getting bigger with every season, soon everyone will be full sleeves, full legs and every part in between!

First charter guests seem nice enough, Sandy knows the primary, Sandy gets to talk about herself, Sandy is happy.

Chef is a chatty one isn't he!

[sugarbaker design]

19 minutes ago, Baltimore Betty said:

I feel like we have not seen the last of Ruan.

I don't see how he can get past forging a document.

[Shrek]

12 hours ago, Tanukisan said:

Like a viewer beset by multiple accents, these comments are in the order of episode scenes broadcast.

Wait, I can understand why Tumi might have immigration issues, coming from Australia, but isn’t Vile Kyle a citizen of the EU?  Going to another destination in the EU?  So…. Why the problem?  Unless “asshole” is not a proper EU country?

Chef Jack may be unintelligible to some, but Liverpool is just over the border from Wales.  Su’Mae!

 

Tanukisan,  I absolutely love reading your posts the morning after a show has aired but I thought Vile Kyle was English but I may be wrong. If he is then that would mean he isn't a citizen of the EU anymore. Edited to say that Kyle is actually South African thanks to @meep.meep

And while Liverpool is just across the border from north Wales in terms of accents etc to most in Wales he may as well be from Mars. I'm Welsh but I've always had a hard time understanding anyone from Liverpool.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Shrek
Kyle's country of birth

[aqusdealer]

9 hours ago, Bossa Nova said:

Anybody else notice the filming technique was different ? And annoying ?

Yes, I noticed it at one point in particular and thought the same thing.  Maybe someone with expert videography skills will chime in. It seemed jittery. Just a guess, but could be a frame rate incompatibility when clips are married to the final edit in post production.

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Shrek said:

I thought Vile Kyle was English but I may be wrong. If he is then that would mean he isn't a citizen of the EU anymore

I was finishing an expedition cruise in Norway and they have the short "EU" line and the long "not EU" line. One of the guide leaders was from Scotland and I could see her sad face as she got into the very long line....

[65mickey]

How many stews are there going to be this season. Right now we have Natalia, and two others whose names I don't know. then they are bringing in Tumi and Kyle so that makes five. 

[TexasGal]

The super green stew is supposed to be a temp and has more deck experience.  CONVENIENTLY.  I bet she stays and works deck, and Luca becomes bosun.

[meep.meep]

12 hours ago, Tanukisan said:

 

Wait, I can understand why Tumi might have immigration issues, coming from Australia, but isn’t Vile Kyle a citizen of the EU?  Going to another destination in the EU?  So…. Why the problem?  Unless “asshole” is not a proper EU country?

........

There’s a paperwork problem – and we’re just now hearing about it?  This sort of thing hadn’t been worked out before, and Queeg is exasperated about it?  Isn’t this the sort of thing that would have been worked out ahead of time?  At the least, isn’t it the Captain’s responsibility to get these docs together?

Toni and Nikola (engineers) – nice to meet you.  Will probably not see you again throughout the season.

 

 

Tumi and Kyle are both from South Africa and are coming from there.  As were Storm and Mzi who had immigration problems last season.  

It's up to a crew member to have their own paperwork.  Because of the size of the vessel, this is the first time we've seen anyone checking.  I don't see how the production company would have hired someone with forged papers, unless (dun dun dun dah) it's all made up drama!

That's one big boat!  Twice as big as the one she had last season.

[iMonrey]

Something smells fishy here. These people have to be certified before they can even be on this show. Is Bravo really so lax in screening these people they simply overlooked the rather obviously forged copies of certificates Ruan provided? Or did they just not care? If it's the latter, it amuses me to think Bravo does this to purposely screw over Sandy. Maybe they hate her as much as we do. She's also the one they stuck with that fake chef from Russia who couldn't even make pancakes. Remember her?

I'm also confused about all the temps. They made it sound like Natalya wasn't even supposed to be there but was called in at the last minute. But if there are supposed to be four interior, and Brooke is a temp, then who was supposed to be the fourth after Tumi, Kyle and Jessika?

It's also very strange to have 2 female deckhands, possibly three if Brooke joins them. Are they hoping for girl-on-girl hookups this season?

55 minutes ago, aqusdealer said:

Anybody else notice the filming technique was different ? And annoying ?

I noticed on the last segment after the last commercial, it was like in stop-motion or something. 

2 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

First charter guests seem nice enough, Sandy knows the primary, Sandy gets to talk about herself, Sandy is happy.

Sandy sure likes to talk about her sobriety but last time I heard this story it was booze. Now it’s Quaaludes. Next time it will probably be black tar heroin and she was the inspiration for Train Spotting.

[rur]

13 hours ago, Tanukisan said:

 

Wait, I can understand why Tumi might have immigration issues, coming from Australia, but isn’t Vile Kyle a citizen of the EU?  Going to another destination in the EU?  So…. Why the problem?  Unless “asshole” is not a proper EU country?

Maybe his problems -- if there really were problems -- were related to him being a citizen of South Africa while coming to work from the U.S., where's he's been busy with his finance' and being an influencer and recruitment consultant, among other things. (Who in the world are the people who look to him for guidance?????)

I still think Bravo cut some deal with him guaranteeing future employment in exchange for his injuring himself last year and being unable to complete the charters of season 7, thus avoiding prolonged, messy, legal action  

I ran across an old article about Capt. Sandy with this headline: https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/below-deck-meds-sandy-questions-kyles-potential-kiss-with-a-guest/

So, if anyone needs any more proof that the captains have no actual control over what's occurring on their ships, this pretty much seals it. I can't imagine her voluntarily taking Kyle back after his antics last year. 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by rur

[aghst]

2 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

 

I feel like we have not seen the last of Ruan.

Natalya/Natasha, I still cannot tell the difference between them and there is just the one of them!

It does seem weird that they'd have him on the show at all if he's not coming back.  They could have edited him out but I guess they wanted to feature him crying over the death of his friend.

 

Natalya was on WWHL and she said she is not in contact with Natasha at all but she keeps in touch with Dave, the chef.  No Tasha and Dave didn't get back together or anything.

[aghst]

1 hour ago, aqusdealer said:

Yes, I noticed it at one point in particular and thought the same thing.  Maybe someone with expert videography skills will chime in. It seemed jittery. Just a guess, but could be a frame rate incompatibility when clips are married to the final edit in post production.

Maybe they hired a local production crew to shoot and edit and they do things differently, like maybe PAL footage with different refresh rate.

 

Also they emphasized that Genoa is a commercial port so they are sticklers about checking papers because the size of the boat makes it a commercial yacht, not just a private yacht for charters?

As it turns out I watched an episode of Our Man in Italy on Amazon Prime where he visits the Genoa port, which is one of the largest in Europe if not the largest.

They were in the control room and they had giant monitors showing all the ships in port and all the specific routes they were directing the ships to take, so that there wouldn't be traffic problems.

That is why the pilot was on board as they departed.

There are giant cargo ships the length of several football fields, in addition to these 50 meter yachts or however long these BD yachts are.

But Mustique is definitely larger than the one last season of BDM so looks like the interior will have 4 and the exterior maybe 5 crew.

But still one poor sod as chef making all the food.

We will see if the charter guest parties are larger.  But this group said they'd been dining on nothing but Michelin Star restaurant meals.

 

As for this episode, Jessika the second stew is going to bring drama.  She was complaining about training the temp stew.

One of the female deckies scoffed at interior crew work.  Guess wiping down the exterior of the boats is better than scrubbing toilets.

Not sure, it just seems like grunt work either way.

[rur]

13 hours ago, Tanukisan said:

 

Toni and Nikola (engineers) – nice to meet you.  Will probably not see you again throughout the season.

 

Who was the third person -- we saw half of him, but not his face -- who didn't even merit a mention? Maybe the actual captain of the boat? 😉

Edited September 26, 2023 by rur

[sugarbaker design]

32 minutes ago, rur said:

Who was the third person -- we saw half of him, but not his face -- who didn't even merit a mention? Maybe the actual captain of the boat? 😉

He was one of the two people we never see, the first officer and the engineer.

[Earl Is Dead]

My first thought when Ruan started reacting to and then revealed the sudden death of his friend was that he was making it up to use as an exit strategy having been caught for falsifying his documents.  I guess I'm overly cynical, but he sure made sure he was wailing and crying on camera, then after getting kicked off the boat... no mention of Dead Friend at all.  

And speaking of the boat - all these seasons they've taught me to appreciate the size of super yachts in terms of feet.  Now suddenly this one is described by its tonnage, which Captain Lee later explained on Couch Talk as referring to its displacement of water.  Um... okay.  How am I supposed to know if that's bigger or smaller than the other yachts we've seen?  

3 hours ago, Shrek said:

And while Liverpool is just across the border from north Wales in terms of accents etc to most in Wales he may as well be from Mars. I'm Welsh but I've always had a hard time understanding anyone from Liverpool.

It's a tough one for sure, but it makes me smile.  It reminds me of Wakko Warner, 😁  whose voice I think they patterned after the Beatles.  I'm glad Cheffy is getting subtitles. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Earl Is Dead

[OlderThanDirt]

Is it true that people from Liverpool are Liverpuddilians?

[Shrek]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I noticed on the last segment after the last commercial, it was like in stop-motion or something. 

 

Could be that the production company was using the UK format of PAL rather than the American format of NTSC for video purposes. Happens a lot when I watch UK shows on Britbox and can sometimes be easy to miss if you blink or look away from the screen for a second. 

Some UK shows will also have a grittier appearance whereas US shows can be more cinematic in appearance.  

Just now, OlderThanDirt said:

Is it true that people from Liverpool are Liverpuddilians?

Liverpudlians not liverpudilians. 

[dleighg]

2 hours ago, Earl Is Dead said:

My first thought when Ruan started reacting to and then revealed the sudden death of his friend was that he was making it up to use as an exit strategy having been caught for falsifying his documents.  I guess I'm overly cynical, but he sure made sure he was wailing and crying on camera, then after getting kicked off the boat... no mention of Dead Friend at all

He sure seemed to be making up stories on the fly, both the first time with "the originals are in a safe.... somewhere else ..... with a friend.... I haven't been back in years." And then again with his story about what sort of course he did to get the yacht certification.

[rur]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

He was one of the two people we never see, the first officer and the engineer.

We saw the chief officer and the chief engineer with their titles as they were introduced making their only appearance.  I was talking about the third person whose face we didn't see in the same shot -- we only saw his right side. 

Better camera work or editing would have taken him out of the shot, but since half of him was there . . . 

[iMonrey]

5 hours ago, rur said:

I ran across an old article about Capt. Sandy with this headline: https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/below-deck-meds-sandy-questions-kyles-potential-kiss-with-a-guest/

So, if anyone needs any more proof that the captains have no actual control over what's occurring on their ships, this pretty much seals it. I can't imagine her voluntarily taking Kyle back after his antics last year. 

That's largely a puff piece, and Sandy conceded that what a crew member and a guest do once the guest has left the charter is their own business. That said, no, she probably has very little say in who comes back, since she hated Hannah from the get go and Hannah kept coming back.

5 hours ago, aghst said:

But Mustique is definitely larger than the one last season of BDM so looks like the interior will have 4 and the exterior maybe 5 crew.

But still one poor sod as chef making all the food.

LOL. Yeah not even a sous chef. 

4 hours ago, Earl Is Dead said:

My first thought when Ruan started reacting to and then revealed the sudden death of his friend was that he was making it up to use as an exit strategy having been caught for falsifying his documents. 

Yeah that crossed my mind too. He said his certificates were in a friend's safe. Then all of a sudden his "best friend" dies and my immediate thought was "Wait, is that the same friend who has his certificates in his safe?" That's some mighty coincidence.

[MyMaui]

I'm not happy Kyle is back and he will just cause drama.  I dream is that Sandy will be telling him that.  I wonder how Toomi will be because I am excited for her.  I did like how Nat was as chief.  That's a shame she has to step down when Toomi comes in.  Seems like drama right away.

When I saw Ruan didn't know the distance and was way off something said ok thats a problem.  And by problem I mean there is a 'planned drama coming'. Shocking he has a fake cert now too.

And when you admit a pilot is needed, with the other stuff, Sandy is just an actor fill a role on this series for me now.  

I think it's about time to replace her with another female captain.  She was unprofessional on Below Deck with Frazier and on Below Deck Med too.  Hearing her in previews she hasn't change.  She is unprofessional.  A new female captain would be much needed now.

[howiveaddict]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

 

Sandy sure likes to talk about her sobriety but last time I heard this story it was booze. Now it’s Quaaludes. Next time it will probably be black tar heroin and she was the inspiration for Train Spotting.

Was that before or after she fought off the Somali pirates?    

I wonder if someone from Zim will show up to be bosun?

[SemiCharmedLife]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

 

I'm also confused about all the temps. They made it sound like Natalya wasn't even supposed to be there but was called in at the last minute. But if there are supposed to be four interior, and Brooke is a temp, then who was supposed to be the fourth after Tumi, Kyle and Jessika?

 

Natalia was supposed to be 2nd stew, I believe, but Sandy asked her to take on chief stew until Tumi arrives.  

My take on the Ruan drama is that he had some forged docs and got away with it before, but when the official (or producers) saw the copies instead of originals, it caused an investigation.  He obviously knows how to be a bosun, but probably learned on the job and didn't go to the training he cited.  It makes for good drama and one more thing for Sandy to deal with.  That makes this viewer happy!

[dleighg]

9 hours ago, MyMaui said:

And when you admit a pilot is needed, with the other stuff, Sandy is just an actor fill a role on this series for me now

I don't think that needing a pilot in a big port implies that she's not up to the job. I was just on a 100 guest cruise and every time we went into a "real" port in Norway we had a pilot come on board. It was the same procedure as what we saw here-- kind of fun to watch the pilot jump aboard with his little roll-aboard suitcase for his personal items. The pilot knows all the details of the harbor. 

[Baltimore Betty]

27 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I don't think that needing a pilot in a big port implies that she's not up to the job. I was just on a 100 guest cruise and every time we went into a "real" port in Norway we had a pilot come on board. It was the same procedure as what we saw here-- kind of fun to watch the pilot jump aboard with his little roll-aboard suitcase for his personal items. The pilot knows all the details of the harbor. 

My friends husband is a retired bay pilot, it can be a scary job, climbing up rope ladders on the side of a huge ship from a little boat in bad weather has caused deaths from falling between the boats, some commercial boats don't want anyone taking over the wheelhouse and the crew can be less than friendly, he carried a gun when working, lots of danger getting off the ship, sometimes it was a cruise ship he had to steer up the Chesapeake and sometimes it was a tanker ship that would take a day to get up the bay to port,  etc...there are videos on Youtube showing what it is like. He was well paid so I guess that is a trade off.

Sandy dealing with Ruan's fake paperwork made me think about her adhering to, you guessed it, MARITIME LAW!!!!

[Earl Is Dead]

Didn't Captain Sandy say (or maybe it was Captain Lee again on Couch Talk - sorry I watched them back to back and don't remember) that a pilot was required to enter or exit a commercial port?  So it had nothing to do with her capabilities or lack thereof.  He's like the air traffic controller -  but for boats.  

Edited September 27, 2023 by Earl Is Dead

[Arynm]

15 hours ago, MyMaui said:

And when you admit a pilot is needed, with the other stuff, Sandy is just an actor fill a role on this series for me now.  

I don't know, I was on a cruise in Greece and we had to have a pilot steer the ship out, after which he jumped to the little pilot boat once we were out. Apparently at that dock it was required for all boats.

[rur]

8 hours ago, Earl Is Dead said:

Didn't Captain Sandy say (or maybe it was Captain Lee again on Couch Talk - sorry I watched them back to back and don't remember) that a pilot was required to enter or exit a commercial port?  So it had nothing to do with her capabilities or lack thereof.  He's like the air traffic controller -  but for boats.  

A quick google search indicated that pilots are needed in commercial ports, busy ports, ports where a boat's draft exceeds a certain depth,  or when its tonnage surpasses a set point, or because local laws require it. They're there for safety reasons, not because of a captain's ineptitude. Based on the above, it looks like whatever the BDM crew is on this season may meet any number of the requirements. Didn't Sandy say they were docking in a busy commercial port? 

Edited September 27, 2023 by rur
egregious apostrophe error

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, rur said:

Didn't Sandy say they were docking in a busy commercial port? 

Yes and this has already caused a lot of new problems because we've never had any port authorities come aboard before to check crew credentials either. And whoever it was that said Ruan's photocopies weren't good enough acknowledged they probably might have been under lesser circumstances, which I guess is how he's gotten away with them up until now. And maybe that's why Bravo thought they were good enough too. Although I don't know how they missed that photo being someone else.

[dleighg]

38 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Although I don't know how they missed that photo being someone else.

probably just counting # of documents vs # of staff. Check!

[aqusdealer]

If remember reading correctly, the harbor pilots are one of the most dangerous jobs around and that the insurance companies won't even cover them. . The pilots don't actually touch the contols, they just advise speed and turning etc. Their knowledge of their particular ports is far greater than the captain. The end responsibility though is with the ship Master (captain) and the harbor pilot cannot exceed his/her rank.

[Lurk]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:59 PM, Bossa Nova said:

Anybody else notice the filming technique was different ? And annoying ?

It's as if the camera was sped up for filming just a bit *or* slowed down *or* something.....I suspect to make the filming feel like a documentary. 

I welcome anybody else's take on this.

Something was very different. And off.

 

 

I thought that effect was similar to what you see in some movies. Usually dramas or mystery type movies. 

 

On 9/26/2023 at 11:04 AM, rur said:

Who was the third person -- we saw half of him, but not his face -- who didn't even merit a mention? Maybe the actual captain of the boat? 😉

The one guy they showed with the blurred face was the ?MCA? inspector person from what I am guessing is Port Authority or their Coast Guard? I don't think he is staff on the boat, but he was the one checking the validity of everyone's paperwork to clear them to operate in that port. I can't remember the exact title or initials she mentioned about him.

 

edit for typo

Edited September 28, 2023 by Lurk

[iMonrey]

I got some clarification on a couple things after a rewatch.

According to what the show is telling us, Natalya wasn't supposed to be on this season at all. Sandy said she reached out to her after learning that Kyle and Tumi weren't going to be there on time, and "luckily she was available." Later, Natalya repeated the same story to Jessika. She said she was supposed to go somewhere else but there was a problem with her visa so she was able to fill in on this boat.

My question is, if they didn't plan on having Natalya, then who was going to be the fourth stew after Tumi, Kyle and Jessika, assuming Brooke is just a temp? I'm guessing there was another girl, and when they brought in Natalya they figured they couldn't just have her for a couple of charters so they dropped the other girl so Natalya could be fourth for the season. They're just screwed until Tumi and Kyle show up. (And probably afterwards too.)

RE: Photocopy-gate, the MCA (whatever that stands for) said the photocopies would probably be fine for a private boat but not a commercial boat. I'm not sure I understand the distinction though. Aren't all yachts by definition private? I understand maybe this boat was originally built as a commercial vessel but it's being rented out for private charters.

[Shrek]

14 hours ago, iMonrey said:

 

RE: Photocopy-gate, the MCA (whatever that stands for) said the photocopies would probably be fine for a private boat but not a commercial boat. I'm not sure I understand the distinction though. Aren't all yachts by definition private? I understand maybe this boat was originally built as a commercial vessel but it's being rented out for private charters.

I'm thinking the fact that the owners are charging people to be on it makes it a commercial yacht whereas a private yacht would not have people aboard that had paid money to be there but just the owners and/or invited guests. 

This is just my guess at what the difference is & not a statement of fact.

[rur]

 

Quote

I'm thinking the fact that the owners are charging people to be on it makes it a commercial yacht whereas a private yacht would not have people aboard that had paid money to be there but just the owners and/or invited guests. 

It looks like you thought right. 

 

From US Weekly: this should clear up any questions about the inspection and the paperwork -- https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/below-decks-captain-lee-addresses-sandys-forged-paperwork-drama/#:~:text=According to Lee%2C the issue,you are filming a show].

Edited October 6, 2023 by rur