Turndown chocolates ...

This came up on a thread about Carnival cost-cuttiong on Cunard ships ...

On a QM2 WB crossing last 15 November traveling alone I had two chocolates nightly on the bed. On a QM2 WB crossing the following month, 15 December, I had only one! WTH? I asked the cabin steward. He said it was something "new" for a while. A test. If cabin occupancy was one, one chocolate. If two, two. He brought me two the rest of the crossing. Oops, embarrassingly, I forgot and left them in the desk drawer.




Does anyone know? Did this "take?" Current single travelers, did you get one or two chocolates nightly?

This came up on a thread about Carnival cost-cuttiong on Cunard ships ...

 

On a QM2 WB crossing last 15 November traveling alone I had two chocolates nightly on the bed. On a QM2 WB crossing the following month, 15 December, I had only one! WTH? I asked the cabin steward. He said it was something "new" for a while. A test. If cabin occupancy was one, one chocolate. If two, two. He brought me two the rest of the crossing. Oops, embarrassingly, I forgot and left them in the desk drawer.




 

Does anyone know? Did this "take?" Current single travelers, did you get one or two chocolates nightly?

I have just returned on the half world cruise from Sydney to Southampton on QE travelling solo, and two chocolates every night. I should think so to as we pay nearly double occupancy price😀

I've heard of "bean-counters," but "chocolate counters"? How shabby and pathetic.

I was on QV for her transatlantic (last leg of world voyage) and only had one chocolate each night. That was a change. I am used to two. However, it didn't bother me enough to ask for a second one. I'm not that keen on their chocolates that it was worth the query.

In a related vein on this thread, the chocolates are smaller.

We did TA's in 2012 and then again in 2014. The chocolates in 2012 were about 25% larger. Since we bring them home after the sailing (seems to make the sailing last longer), we still had one or two from 2012. They are definitely smaller now, than in 2012.

a penny is a penny, and considering the number of chocolates per night, probably accumulates quickly.

I have been solo on QE twice over the last year (total of 130 nights). I only had one chocolate each evening.

I totally agree, if you cruise solo and pay for two people you should get two chocolates!!

I just cruised Queen Victoria (Ft. Lauderdale - Southampton) and Queen Mary 2 (Southampton - New York) and received two chocolates each evening. I sailed solo in inside cabins.

Once the bean counters take over any industry, it is doomed. They reduced the number of department stores in the US to Macy's, They are working their way through many of the hotel brands and they have been at work on the cruise lines for several years but until recently seemed to avoid the upper mid- high end lines. The cheaper lines have been nickeled and dimed to death.

Several thousand penny chocolates a night is just the kind of delightful savings a bean counter loves. Unfortunately, to save this money one gets the perception of being cheap and we all know perception is stronger than fact many times.

When I sail as a single passenger...

Some evenings one choc, other nights two...

Some sailings a whole bottle of Pol Acker awaits me, other times a half-bottle...

I've long given up trying to see patterns in this :confused:

Like god, Cunard moves in a mysterious way, its wonders to perform :rolleyes: .

I sailed solo last week and received two chocs each evening.

The saga about turndown chocolates has been done to death on this forum and other forums. I don't think it has so much to do with cost cutting ,rather just common sense when it comes to waste or, a sort of trade off to improve another product, e.g. the new and upmarket 'Penhaligon's' toiletries .

Ask any stateroom steward/ss and they will tell you that the uptake on the chocs is quite low i.e. a large percentage of guests these days either refuse, or at the end of the voyage just leave them around the cabin ( then there are folk like me who take them home ;) )

The was even an uproar some time ago over the reduced size of the chocolate , 'Cost Cutting ! Cost Cutting ! was all we heard from some folk , when in fact it had nothing what so ever to do with cost, the fact was, the original (larger chocolate) came from a supplier somewhere in the USA (where everything has to be big ! ;) ) that supplier closed down and Carnival had to look to Europe. I understand it's Swiss Chocolate and that it is supposed to taste better :confused:

At the end of the day all we have to do is ask, like Oliver ask for more ! ...Last week guests received a 175 lapel pin on the turndown service, I hinted to the steward if it was possible for an extra one for a friend at home .....he returned promptly with four :D

I take mine home and keep them in a container in the refrigerator. I am still working on last year's haul. Sometimes the room steward will leave extra for my room-mate. I have him convinced that chocolate is bad for bears (see my Avatar) and he lets me add them to my stash.

Perhaps the answer is that the cabin steward is so rushed that he/she might not focus on the fact that the cabin is just carrying one passenger rather than the typical two, and accordingly leaves two chocolates.

This question is sufficiently grave to warrant exploring ALL possible explanations before putting it to rest.

Perhaps the answer is that the cabin steward is so rushed that he/she might not focus on the fact that the cabin is just carrying one passenger rather than the typical two, and accordingly leaves two chocolates.

 

This question is sufficiently grave to warrant exploring ALL possible explanations before putting it to rest.

Ha ! Ha ! navybankteacher ;) good point ....on the other hand, confusion who is in the cabin ? might be the answer to those who can't be bothered to interact with their Steward on a daily basis .... How often do we hear in Cruise Reviews "We didn't see our steward all trip ...he kept the cabin clean & tidy but that's about all " :D

If I aint made contact with my Steward/ss by 7.30pm on the first evening , I'm off to nip it in the bud ....Striking up a relationship with your Cabin Steward & Table waiter makes the trip get off to a very good start .:)

Ha ! Ha ! navybankteacher ;) good point ....on the other hand, confusion who is in the cabin ? might be the answer to those who can't be bothered to interact with their Steward on a daily basis .... How often do we hear in Cruise Reviews "We didn't see our steward all trip ...he kept the cabin clean & tidy but that's about all " :D

 

If I aint made contact with my Steward/ss by 7.30pm on the first evening , I'm off to nip it in the bud ....Striking up a relationship with your Cabin Steward & Table waiter makes the trip get off to a very good start .:)

Agreed, I think you need to have that connection with the steward so they know what you want and like and everyone then has a better cruise experience.:D

I was on QV for her transatlantic (last leg of world voyage) and only had one chocolate each night. That was a change. I am used to two. However, it didn't bother me enough to ask for a second one. I'm not that keen on their chocolates that it was worth the query.

Same crossing traveling solo: I got two. Strange.

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I travelled on QV in 2013 and only got 1 each night, but I took them home and wrapped them up for little Santa pressies for my family!!!