Would room stewards appreciate privacy cards?

I know some people who will let the steward/stewardess know on certain port days that the don't have to clean their room so they might have more time to get off the ship in port. Like most things that is a personal decision.

 

Keith

Of course a room steward would appreciate it. Less rooms to do = more time off. They definitely would not be assigned other tasks. If it is a port day it would afford more time outside (or more time to sleep) And yes, I do think about people with difficult jobs, whether on a ship or daily life. I guess I am just a sucker for common courtesy and compassion. Alas, I am a snowflake.

 

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Port days for crew are scheduled far in advance. You may recall a steward informing you that so-and-so will be covering for them on a certain port day. Not cleaning your room won't change whether they can get off the ship or not.

They're also not going to be able to just go outside or take a nap during their scheduled shift, ones on the ship will be covering for those who are off. They can't just go to their cabin and take a nap in the middle of their day.

I'd talk to the steward and let him know you don't want twice a day service. Often when we had our privacy card out and were late getting out of the room for dinner--we often eat quite late-- the steward would be kind of hovering or waiting to make up our room.

I had the feeling from talking to one that they were required to service rooms twice (I know some ships it is optional) unless told otherwise by the passenger and couldn't leave until all the rooms were done. So I think it would be courteous to let them know.

I'm sure it has happened, if rarely, that something was wrong in a room, such as illness, when the privacy card was out for long periods.

I was ill one day on a crise while in Europe . I s sent my DH with our friends for the excuurrsion we all had arranged. I wanted to stay in the cabin all day. Stewaard knocked and asked if I wanted the cabin c leaned and I asked he do thebathrroom, leave the bbed alone and maybe a qiick vacuming. He smiled, agrreed, did that, asked if I wanted anyhthing and left . My DH and v friends, returned, checked on me and I asked my DH to get me some cold jiuce and something else I wanted. I tgold him I'd like if the steward would change the bed. On the way out of the room when I made him go to dinner, he spoke with steward, told him I askec if he would please change my bed for me. I dozed off and woke to find three stewardsqietly in my room holding my big HAL robe. Softly as could be, my oh so sweetsteward told me to not br afraif, he and his friends would take care of my cab in. he wrapped me inmy big HAL terryrobe and a blanke.t. I wnent to the chair, they had the bed done in vblink off any eye, changed the towels again and then I saw one had a slver pitcher of juice and chilled glasses. When my DH had mentioned he was getgtinng me jiuiice, they insisted ed they tgake care of that and sent him to dinner. They took such good care of me that night and my insistence thaat I knew my DH would be back in minutes to check on me, they said, good,,they wouldd be able to tell him I was well taken care of. :) Wow, did I ever want tottake that cfew home with me at the end of the cruise. AND that is why my DH and i sailed HAL all those dozzens of cruises............... it is ALL about the people of HAL.

Next morning, my steward was all smiles when he saw DH and me up, dresssed and off to breakfast. I dold him he made me 'all better.' :)

t

They will and do work around ouur needs for our ab in. Of course this was some years ago when there was more ample stafffing.

Port days for crew are scheduled far in advance. You may recall a steward informing you that so-and-so will be covering for them on a certain port day. Not cleaning your room won't change whether they can get off the ship or not.

 

They're also not going to be able to just go outside or take a nap during their scheduled shift, ones on the ship will be covering for those who are off. They can't just go to their cabin and take a nap in the middle of their day.

Not sure how many cruises you've been on or how many cruise lines but that is simply innacurate.

Only the duty steward has to cover during off periods. If the steward finishes early, their time is their own unless on duty, in training or a rare late meeting. That means go outside if a port day or nap on port or sea day. We've discussed this with dozens of stewards over the years trying to maximize their time. And to a one, they were appreciative as they were when we told them to skip the towel animals. Yes, maybe only a few minutes each day but very appreciated when you are working 70+ hours a week.

Well, they're also appreciative of the trinkets they get and have stock answers to most questions... I'll take the published policies I've read over a crew-person being polite. I probably save them as much time by being neat instead of chitchating while they have work to do. But I'm sure they're quite happy with both of us as guests. A minute or two saved here and there does add up.

"Compassion?" Compassion and common courtesy aren't the same thing.

These types of threads are not about compassion. It seems as if it's more like feeling sorry for someone because you consider their employment a "demeaning job."

I don't think these jobs are demeaning at all. I used to work in service myself when I was young and at school and before I hurt my back, and my mother-in-law has been a housekeeper till she retired this year at 66. However, I do believe these jobs are hard and physically taxing, so I think people who have to clean, say, 30 rooms in day, would appreciate not having to clean one or two of them.

OP, we always put the do not disturb sign on. If we need something cleaned, emptied, replaced or made up, we take the sign out and let the steward know. We definitely don't need turn down service at night, so we always put the sign up in the afternoon. We also don't need our kid's bunk bed made up every day.

We also don't cancel autotips even if we don't need the room cleaned every day.

I know some people who will let the steward/stewardess know on certain port days that the don't have to clean their room so they might have more time to get off the ship in port. Like most things that is a personal decision.

 

Keith

I tried that on our Circumnavigation of Australia cruise, 34 days, day 18 was a big change over day about 800 departing and the same number joining. I tried to explain to our Steward that he need not do our cabin that day as I knew he would be busy, couldn't get him to understand he thought I was complaining about something, spoke to his supervisor and explained, my cabin still got done (that was Princess by the way but it was funny)

No, they don't. The longer they must go between tidying up and spot cleaning, the longer it takes to clean the cabin on turnaround day or other days.

 

Saving them 10 minutes on Monday and Tuesday just means they are working an extra hour on Wednesday to catch up.

 

oh, please. The cabin we stayed at on Caribbean princess this year was not deep or spot cleaned in forever. We brought Lysol wipes and wiped everything (and I mean - every surface!), and all the wipes were simply black with dirt. And we are not even clean freaks, far from it.

We had a discussion with our steward that gave expectations.... ours are minimal. We did not need or want our room cleaned when we were on the ship... trash picked up, replace towels if they were on the floor, bed made, one towel animal, ice was it. We gave him a choice of when to refresh the room.

 

If you communicate your needs, makes it easier for him. He does not want to miss a room. If you tell him in advance that you will be putting the privacy tag on the door and IF you want him to do something you will put the "make up" tag, he will be able to be more effective in getting his work done. Our last cruise he was waiting til (I forget the time) to insure that our neighbor did not take his "Privacy" tag off the door indicating wanting service, before he could leave for his few hours at the port.

Call me simplistic if you want, but on a cruise I just let the room attendant do what he is paid to do and on a schedule that works for him. I don't request special services, special times to clean, special days to do one thing or not do another. I figure he is handling many cabins and whatever I can do to not make the job more complicated, I am happy to do. If cabin A wants such-and-such at so-and-so time of the day, and cabin B wants something else at another time of the day, and then cabin C doesn't want this-or-that on odd days, while cabin D wants to be left alone every three days, except if its a full moon, the poor attendant's head is probably spinning at all the special needs at all the special times. ;p

oh, please. The cabin we stayed at on Caribbean princess this year was not deep or spot cleaned in forever. We brought Lysol wipes and wiped everything (and I mean - every surface!), and all the wipes were simply black with dirt. And we are not even clean freaks, far from it.

Well then you should have brought that up. As a former housekeeper, I HATED the layovers who didn't want servicing. It absolutely made for more work when I finally did get in the room, whether it was one day later or the end of the stay. Didn't matter if they trashed the room, or were relatively neat and clean.

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I think there are other ways to make their jobs easier. Picking up personal items and keeping them out of the way. Not missing the garbage can. Not leaving giant plugs of hair in the tub. Not leaving jobs of toothpaste in the sink. Not leaving wet towels on the bed. Etc. While it might not transpire into a "day off" it's certainly nicer than making their job harder. :)

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Less work now, means more work later. If you don't want daily cleaning...fine...live with it. It's not helping the staff, tho.

Cleaning my cabin twice a day is nice but absolutely not necessary for me. In fact I appreciate the slight feeling of "coming home" to a bed that looks exactly like how I left it in the morning. And I've seen the towel animals before.

 

So my last cruise, 14 days, I put out the privacy card and left it there except for 2 days to get new towels and fresh sheets.

 

Other guests hardly ever used the card, so I was wondering if the steward would appreciate not having to clean my room every day or if they'd think I was setting up a meth lab and needed to report this strange behaviour.

 

I was thinking that if you're in a large group, you could organize a "privacy day", where everyone says they don't need cleaning and the room stewards get a day off.

 

BTW, I did tip like I normally would.

I think it is a very thoughtful idea.

I wouldn't leave the privacy card up when you aren't in the cabin simply to deter the steward from cleaning. They will still feel obligated to clean the cabin and simply check by it more often. My bf keeps crazy hours so we often had the privacy card up but somehow the steward still manages to sneak in and clean whenever he does leave.

I would simply talk to the steward, tell them you only need the room cleaned once a day and you'll let them know if you need anything else. I don't think we made a 'mess' of our room. But the trash cans are small and need emptied; we often bring a plate of snacks back to the room and the steward takes the used plates out; we often need to switch out towels because they just don't seem to dry well inside the cabin. Things like that. I'm sure it's far more convenient for them to service your cabin while they are servicing others rather than hanging around all day waiting for you to leave so they can get in and clean.

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All this makes me think of one of the popular items on the what to pack list. A pad of sticky notes to leave messages for the steward. Sounds like a high maintenance type of person. Probably in all of my 49 cruises I've probably left a note once or twice. The were many cruises where I maybe met the steward once during the entire week.

Perhaps we have an uncomfortable feeling about the hard working cabin stewards in general as the majority of us do not have personal butlers or maids in our normal life?

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I can only speak from my personal experiences on the crew side of this question. And while I was not in the housekeeping side of the operation, I naturally spoke with both front line employees and their supervisors, and observed their interaction during my day of supervising the maintenance of the front of house. While not turning down a few cabins twice a day, or skipping towel animals may save the stewards a few minutes of labor each day, do not think that they are free to go to their cabins or other crew public areas with this free time. If they are not found "on station" at the required times, they can be disciplined by their supervisor, so they will just tend to hang out in the crew stairwells by the linen lockers and chat. Some cruise lines have gone to time clocks on the ships, and while there are many clocks around the ship, clocking in or out at a location removed from their duty station raises a red flag as to the validity of the clock entry.

So many replies.. Thanks everyone :)

I'll just reply to the one that leaves me puzzled most.

While not turning down a few cabins twice a day, or skipping towel animals may save the stewards a few minutes of labor each day, do not think that they are free to go to their cabins or other crew public areas with this free time. If they are not found "on station" at the required times, they can be disciplined by their supervisor, so they will just tend to hang out in the crew stairwells by the linen lockers and chat. Some cruise lines have gone to time clocks on the ships, and while there are many clocks around the ship, clocking in or out at a location removed from their duty station raises a red flag as to the validity of the clock entry.

Why would the ship want an employee at their station when the work is finished? They can't clock out before all cabins are done I guess? Which is probably checked by their superiors, comment cards, etc. I know nothing about the hospitality business, but how is the ship or the guest helped with cabin stewards chatting and looking at their watches instead of doing something or use their time to recharge for the next shift?

The only thing I can think of is that a guest suddenly removes a privacy card, but from what I saw nobody was using them. And even if so, a little light indicating you want or don't want your cabin served instead of a card, connected to a beeper would save a lot of time.

The crew are not truly paid by the hour, but are required to put in a set number of hours for their salary. Therefore, they don't want to set precedents of allowing crew to leave their work stations early. If the crew are "idle" at their stations, they are available for their supervisors to assign any additional chore that is required. Sometimes this involves additional cleaning of stations or stocking additional supplies based on either the supervisor's daily inspections or a USPH type inspection by the senior management.

The crew are not truly paid by the hour, but are required to put in a set number of hours for their salary. Therefore, they don't want to set precedents of allowing crew to leave their work stations early. If the crew are "idle" at their stations, they are available for their supervisors to assign any additional chore that is required. Sometimes this involves additional cleaning of stations or stocking additional supplies based on either the supervisor's daily inspections or a USPH type inspection by the senior management.

The way you put it sounds logical from a HR standpoint, but for a crew member it would be "You have cleaned all assigned cabins, today we checked two of those and again you got 100 points, yet you're still one hour short so just wait here doing nothing because we wouldn't want our crew to get used to relax after working faster than Excel thought you would. We also might suddenly think of a unplanned chore for which a 5 minute delay to get back here would put our operation in danger. Thank you so much and always remember there are 5000 applicants each week for your job."

Maybe that's just the only way the ships can operate, but I'm not sure I like it.

The way you put it sounds logical from a HR standpoint, but for a crew member it would be "You have cleaned all assigned cabins, today we checked two of those and again you got 100 points, yet you're still one hour short so just wait here doing nothing because we wouldn't want our crew to get used to relax after working faster than Excel thought you would. We also might suddenly think of a unplanned chore for which a 5 minute delay to get back here would put our operation in danger. Thank you so much and always remember there are 5000 applicants each week for your job."

 

Maybe that's just the only way the ships can operate, but I'm not sure I like it.

I had a office job (behind a desk, not cleaning). I was required to be there 8 hours a day. I also had specific tasks to be done during those 8 hours. If I finished up my tasks before my 8 hour mark, I was assigned other tasks, or I found my own other work to do.

Not just "the only way ships can operate". That's a job.

I had a office job (behind a desk, not cleaning). I was required to be there 8 hours a day. I also had specific tasks to be done during those 8 hours. If I finished up my tasks before my 8 hour mark, I was assigned other tasks, or I found my own other work to do.

 

Not just "the only way ships can operate". That's a job.

To quote the Chief:

"so they will just tend to hang out in the crew stairwells by the linen lockers and chat."

As a (small, about 20 people) employer myself, I think that's the fastest way to bring down morale.

Maybe that's just the only way the ships can operate, but I'm not sure I like it.

Just putting out a privacy card isn't going to free up much meaningful time for a steward. And as mentioned before, unless you had had a discussion with the steward and told him you didn't want service at all, he'd end up having to haunt your doorway to see whether that privacy sign was going to come down sometime that day. After all, he's not a mind reader.

Misplaced "compassion" is just as likely to screw up a well run routine - throwing a monkey wrench into the works.

And as mentioned before, unless you had had a discussion with the steward and told him you didn't want service at all, he'd end up having to haunt your doorway to see whether that privacy sign was going to come down sometime that day. After all, he's not a mind reader.

I told him, of course.

I did have a lot of different jobs including some with clocks (which are not that common in Holland btw). Having employees doing nothing, on purpose, just because they hadn't reached the hours yet, well yes that's new to me.

... While not turning down a few cabins twice a day, or skipping towel animals may save the stewards a few minutes of labor each day, do not think that they are free to go to their cabins or other crew public areas with this free time. If they are not found "on station" at the required times, they can be disciplined by their supervisor, so they will just tend to hang out in the crew stairwells by the linen lockers and chat. ...

Thanks for joining the thread. Maybe this will put to rest the silly notion that crew can just hop off the ship if they finish a few minutes early when it isn't their port day, or go take a nap in the middle of their shift.

I told him, of course.

 

I did have a lot of different jobs including some with clocks (which are not that common in Holland btw). Having employees doing nothing, on purpose, just because they hadn't reached the hours yet, well yes that's new to me.

Oh, that's the American way [emoji6]. Every job I've ever worked required me to be there certain hours, regardless of whether or not any work needed done. At my job we are considered hourly even though we are paid like we are salaried. My standard base pay is considered on a 40 hour work week. I have to be there a minimum of 40 hours. If I work more I get paid more on an hourly basis. But to work less I have to use vacation days. Every hour has to be accounted for. So yes, if I get to a point when there is no work left to be done and no reason to anticipate anything new popping up; I can sit around doing nothing until my shift ends or I have to use vacation time to leave early. Usually people just choose to sit around and do nothing and save their vacation time.

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