We have trouble getting on the same wavelength as our room stewards

[warmwinds]

This past cruise we had some trouble communicating with our room steward (and not a language issue, he spoke English just fine), and we were wondering what we could do to improve the exchanges so that we can get what we want, and not get what we don't want. These will sound like small things when taken individually, but it got to the point where we started to call him "Mr. Opposite" amongst ourselves.

 

He comes to introduce himself, and we only had 2 large towels and one robe, so we mentioned that we'd like one more towel and one more robe. He brings 3 more large towels, two of which we never touched for the entire cruise.

 

 

Each day we'd either bring a cup of coffee back from the breakfast buffet and/or have coffee in the afternoons. We'd leave the dirty cups on the coffee table. They would be there when we got back later. After a day or so we finally had to put them outside the door to give him the hint, which he finally did. What should we have done to indicate we'd like dirty dishes removed from the room? We felt telling him "please take away the dirty dishes" might be insulting since it's so obvious (to us).

 

We had one bottle of water that we wanted to refill and take with us on shore excursions. The first time we rinsed it out, we put it upside down in one of the glasses on the desk to drain. Not in the trash. Not with the dirty cups. He threw it away.

 

We were in concierge class, so have a plate of fruit in the room. We can never eat all that fruit, considering all the food there is to eat on board, and the same fruit is up on the buffet. So we just ignored it. And he would keep adding to the plate, so then there was even MORE food to spoil. We thought about simply giving it to him and telling him we didn't want it, but then my husband said, "well what IF I want a few grapes?"...and one day we DID eat the banana, but the rest just got more and more spoiled. I really think this is one CC perk they should discontinue...you have all the fruit in the world you can take back to your cabin as needed. How do you let him know that eating half a dozen grapes does not mean you need a whole new additional bunch on top of the old one?

 

Towards the end of the cruise I was in a hurry to get out to a shore excursion and forgot to hang up my robe, but rather left it on the bed. Not on the bathroom floor. He took it away and never replaced it. I didn't say anything since there were just a couple of days left and my husband let me use his, and I do agree this was maybe my fault, but what is the protocol for a robe left on the bed?

 

These are just a few things, there were others that I can't recall right now...and no, we really never mentioned any of them to our steward because we sort of felt maybe they were our fault and maybe we did things differently from other guests...and that's the reason for this post. I won't be offended, so can you tell me how what to do or not do to achieve the results we want? Are some of the things we think are obvious (taking away dirty dishes, not throwing away an empty bottle that is not in the trash, replacing a robe) really not obvious at all?

 

And yes, we not only did the auto tips but left he and his assistant a little extra...they really didn't know we had these "issues" and I'm sure they thought they were doing everything right...and I'm sure it's "us" with the problems, and they were both very nice.

[SusieV]

What I like to do instead of asking, if I think there is a minor issue, is to leave a note. That eliminates the awkwardness and makes your intentions clear. I would have just written "thanks for the towels, please bring us an extra robe" for example.

 

I usually hang my robe on the pegs on the bathroom door when I am not wearing it but it sounds odd to me too that it was taken. I would have just asked for a new one.

 

I can see the bottle issue being a mixup so I would have put it in the closet or something or left a little note saying please don't take it (or better, bring a refillable one next time). The coffee cups has me perplexed as well. Perhaps he recently had occupants who wanted to reuse the cups and were annoyed when he took them? We eat and drink in our cabin frequently and the steward always tells us just to leave the dishes and he'll take care of it. We've never had a problem like that.

[Girllovescruising]

I agree with the note idea - makes it quite clear.

 

Regarding the bottle - maybe I am being too cynical but removing it makes you buy another bottle of water?

 

On the other hand I always find it strange that glasses half full of water left on the bedside tables are always still there the next evening. It would be revolting. We always now empty the glasses and leave them on the coffee table.

 

Agree re the fruit - such a waste - it never does look very clean or appetising, even at the start of the cruise!

 

One thing that annoyed us last cruise was that after showering we would hang the towels on the rails or the hooks behing the doors to dry, unless we wanted them changed when we would leave them on the floor. The steward kept folding up the wet towels and putting them back on the rack - they never dried and we didn't know whose was whose :confused: A note asking him to leave the towels where they were unless on the floor sorted that.

 

We had to ask repeatedly for things to be done on the Solstice - for example the soot being washed off the balcony - they did either side of ours and left ours dirty :mad:

[FrankinPA]

DW and I like the fruit. Please don't take it away.

 

I must be too jaded with my traveling and staying in hotels 100+ nights a year. None of these issues that you folks find concerning even make my top 50 list. You should be a road warrior for a few months and see what the real world of traveling is about. How about blood on the side of a commode when you check in????

[Compass Rose Monica]

I've had empty wine glasses left, which was annoying, since counter top space is limited. I would leave a note asking the attendant to replace with clean glasses. Notes seem to be the best way to communicate without embarrasing one another or having an akward discussion.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I do think it is strange that your dirty dishes were not removed and your robe was taken. It should remain in the cabin for your use throughout the cruise regardless of where you put it.

 

Here's what I'd do instead of being bothered by that kind of service.

 

I'd have a conversation with the steward, or if I couldn't find him/her, I'd leave a note. If things were not handled to my satisfaction, I'd contact the head of housekeeping. I think it's much better to sort things out as they happen rather than to stew about them and let them impact your cruise.

 

Don't think anything you did was unusual, think the behavior of your steward was rather unusual.

 

Maybe I've been extremely fortunate, but I've always had good cabin stewards and generally haven't had to ask for much. If I do leave a note asking for something, it is always provided.

[Minoushka]

Perhaps communiucation was the problem TELL these people what you want They are not mind readers

[chasinraynbowz]

Speak UP!

 

If he forgot the robe, remind him. He probably had lots of requests that day.

 

If you wanted the coffee cups removed, tell him. It may be the people in the cabin next to you wanted to keep their coffee cups. Who knows.

 

Like mmemichele said, they are not mind readers.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

The usual rule, both in hotels and on ships, is a towel hung up is still in use, and a towel on the floor needs to be replaced.

 

OP's experiences would have had me a bit frustrated. It's clear this was not a "cruise-wrecking" experience for them, but you gotta wonder sometimes. I like the note idea-- the steward isn't always around to tell him, "Please leave the water bottle, we'll be reusing it," and it would make his job easier if he doesn't have to remember all the little details. Maybe the cabin next door gave explicit instructions to leave the fruit plate, for example, and the steward got it confused. Not sure how a request for one additional towel and one additional robe translates out to three extra towels, but easily fixed with a note-- "We still need one additional robe, please."

 

Hopefully, it was mentioned on the comment card that the service from the steward left a little to be desired-- not a scathing dress-down, but areas that may need improvement.

[warmwinds]

I didn't ask to have the robe replaced because there were only 2 days left in the cruise. I would have said something had it been the first day.

 

I have a real problem with leaving a note to not throw away the water bottle. Should I have left a note "please don't throw away our cell phone, my hair rollers, the Dailies, our paper and pens"...etc., EVERYTHING that was on the desk? Why would I have ever thought they would throw that away? See, many of these things were one-offs...the bottle was gone, what was I going to do about it? Tell him, make him feel bad, make him get me another bottle of water out of his own pocket?

 

I think next cruise we will just hand back the fruit day one. That one always has me guilty about wasting food. Oh, another funny thing about the fruit bowl. We use our coffee table for lots of things, and like it kept clean. So EVERY day we would take the fruit bowl and move it to the desk. And EVERY day he would move it back to the coffee table. I mean EVERY time.

 

And no, it was certainly not anything that diminished our cruise. I'm asking here to see how different people handle things. Notes seem the way to go.

[teajak]

We totally agree about the fruit,takes up space,spoils easily and is readily available many places on the ship. We tried just asking for grapes only but wound up with too many grapes so we just tell them to take the fruit bowl away on the first day.At least now they give you a choice on the canapes.

[Chicago Boy]

This past cruise we had some trouble communicating with our room steward (and not a language issue, he spoke English just fine), and we were wondering what we could do to improve the exchanges so that we can get what we want, and not get what we don't want. These will sound like small things when taken individually, but it got to the point where we started to call him "Mr. Opposite" amongst ourselves.

 

He comes to introduce himself, and we only had 2 large towels and one robe, so we mentioned that we'd like one more towel and one more robe. He brings 3 more large towels, two of which we never touched for the entire cruise.

 

 

Each day we'd either bring a cup of coffee back from the breakfast buffet and/or have coffee in the afternoons. We'd leave the dirty cups on the coffee table. They would be there when we got back later. After a day or so we finally had to put them outside the door to give him the hint, which he finally did. What should we have done to indicate we'd like dirty dishes removed from the room? We felt telling him "please take away the dirty dishes" might be insulting since it's so obvious (to us).

 

We had one bottle of water that we wanted to refill and take with us on shore excursions. The first time we rinsed it out, we put it upside down in one of the glasses on the desk to drain. Not in the trash. Not with the dirty cups. He threw it away.

 

We were in concierge class, so have a plate of fruit in the room. We can never eat all that fruit, considering all the food there is to eat on board, and the same fruit is up on the buffet. So we just ignored it. And he would keep adding to the plate, so then there was even MORE food to spoil. We thought about simply giving it to him and telling him we didn't want it, but then my husband said, "well what IF I want a few grapes?"...and one day we DID eat the banana, but the rest just got more and more spoiled. I really think this is one CC perk they should discontinue...you have all the fruit in the world you can take back to your cabin as needed. How do you let him know that eating half a dozen grapes does not mean you need a whole new additional bunch on top of the old one?

 

Towards the end of the cruise I was in a hurry to get out to a shore excursion and forgot to hang up my robe, but rather left it on the bed. Not on the bathroom floor. He took it away and never replaced it. I didn't say anything since there were just a couple of days left and my husband let me use his, and I do agree this was maybe my fault, but what is the protocol for a robe left on the bed?

 

These are just a few things, there were others that I can't recall right now...and no, we really never mentioned any of them to our steward because we sort of felt maybe they were our fault and maybe we did things differently from other guests...and that's the reason for this post. I won't be offended, so can you tell me how what to do or not do to achieve the results we want? Are some of the things we think are obvious (taking away dirty dishes, not throwing away an empty bottle that is not in the trash, replacing a robe) really not obvious at all?

 

And yes, we not only did the auto tips but left he and his assistant a little extra...they really didn't know we had these "issues" and I'm sure they thought they were doing everything right...and I'm sure it's "us" with the problems, and they were both very nice.

 

 

We have cruised several times (cruising again soon) and have never had any of your issues. Here is what we do. When we have used our towels we leave them on the floor in the shower. They have always been removed and fresh one hung in their place. We have never had dirty cups or glasses left in our stateroom. They have always been promptly removed. If something is not to our liking we speak to the room steward directly and nicely and sort it out with him. If that did not work then I would ask to speak to the head house keeper. The other thing is when ever our steward performs an extra service we thank and tip him and we always smile and are pleasant.

[boogs]

I have a real problem with leaving a note to not throw away the water bottle. Should I have left a note "please don't throw away our cell phone, my hair rollers, the Dailies, our paper and pens"...etc., EVERYTHING that was on the desk? Why would I have ever thought they would throw that away? See, many of these things were one-offs...the bottle was gone, what was I going to do about it? Tell him, make him feel bad, make him get me another bottle of water out of his own pocket?

 

The plastic water bottle is typically a disposable item and is usually considered waste after is it used. I can understand that it would be removed, especially if it was left upside down in a glass, much like one might leave a straw, a stirrer, or even a paper napkin. The other items on your desk are not considered disposable items, so it is a reasonable expectation that those would be left alone.

 

I would have asked for a replacement bottle, and added that I would like to keep it for refilling.

[cruisinp]

We have not had the exact issues that you have experienced but we have had our share. The suggestion about leaving a note is one we use all of the time. The stewards have even told us that they prefer a note. If we want something, like the water bottle, not taken we put it in the closet. Same thing with a wine glass or a plastic glass that we have. I believe they are instructed to remove those kinds of things. Which brings me to the next point, I have no idea why they would not remove dirty cups unless, as another poster mentioned, perhaps the cabin next to you wants the cups left and the cabin steward was confused. And as far as the towels, I can't imagine him folding a damp towel. Sounds like your cabin steward might have been a little lacking in training.

[bling19572010]

What I like to do instead of asking, if I think there is a minor issue, is to leave a note. That eliminates the awkwardness and makes your intentions clear. I would have just written "thanks for the towels, please bring us an extra robe" for example.

 

I usually hang my robe on the pegs on the bathroom door when I am not wearing it but it sounds odd to me too that it was taken. I would have just asked for a new one.

 

I can see the bottle issue being a mixup so I would have put it in the closet or something or left a little note saying please don't take it (or better, bring a refillable one next time). The coffee cups has me perplexed as well. Perhaps he recently had occupants who wanted to reuse the cups and were annoyed when he took them? We eat and drink in our cabin frequently and the steward always tells us just to leave the dishes and he'll take care of it. We've never had a problem like that.

 

Love your blog....congratulations on your hard weight loss!

[u2cruiser]

I can sympathise with warmwinds as this kind of thing always happens to us too, wherever we go with things done topsy turvy. We usually just leave them to get on with it and look after things ourselves.

 

I did find that having 2 room stewards was a cause for some confusion as one seemed to see to the bathrooms and the other the bedroom. I also think they go on autopilot sometimes with all those cabins to see to.

 

Bathrobes could be the responsibility of the bathroom attendent and if the bedroom steward scooped it up and took it, the bathroom attendent may not have noticed? Maybe they both thought moving cups was the other's job if they were a new team?

[jcrandle]

The stewards also have a telephone number with voicemail, though a note might be a better reminder of your request.

[fleckle]

We prefer the way they handle the fruit in the cabin on Holland America. You get an empty fruit basket in your cabin with a little form that you fill out each day to let them know what fruit you want that day. That prevents the waste. I wish Celebrity would also do it that way.

 

On Celebrity cruises, we now inform our stateroom attendant on the first day that we do not want the daily fruit or canapes. Instead we just order fruit plates, cheese plates, or whatever else we want from room service whenever we want them or else we pick out what we want up at the buffet area and bring it back ourselves.

 

I like being able to look over all the selections that are available that day before deciding which I want.

 

Any time we left dirty dishes behind, they were gone by the next time we returned to the cabin. Partially filled glasses were always replaced with clean ones.

 

Maybe we have been lucky to get excellent stateroom attendants on Celebrity, but we have never had a problem getting additional towels or other items either, regardless of whether we requested them in person or by leaving a note. Even when we would meet our stateroom attendant or assistant just walking down the hallway, they would ask if everything was okay and if there was anything else we needed.

 

It appears to me that the OP just had bad luck on that particular cruise.

[Dunmore2]

One morning, near the end of the cruise, I dipped the sleeve of my robe in my hollandaise sauce while eating breakfast in our room. After showering, I put the robe on the floor with the used towels. The next morning when I grabbed my robe, I discovered that it was the same dirty one. So I wore my husband's robe and put the dirty one on the floor. Perhaps I should have put a note on it, because it was hung up AGAIN. The following day we were departing, so I didn't worry about it. Afterall, my husband didn't need his. Just though that it was a little sloppy.

On the other hand, we were always being tempted with food, fruit plates, shrimp platters, cheese and crackers,etc, from the butler. It was nice, but not necessary. Finally we just asked for a small snack at 4 pm, we had the early dinner seating.

[thmpsn]

Something I always take with me is a pad of sticky notes. No matter what the issue, I always leave a sticky note on the desk mirror with my request or concern. It does avoid any embarrassment and usually gets the issue taken care of. There are times when you may want something or want something done in the room and cannot find your room steward, leaving a sticky note on the mirror has always work so well for us.

Karon

[retiredtogolf]

Notes are probably the best way to communicate since it is written, but have found that stewards are usually friendly on Celebrity and will work with you quite well. A note to "warmwinds", the moving fruit basket may have been because the coffee table is its offical home per Celebrity. I have been told by a steward that they are checked periodically by the head steward and certain items are expected to be in certain places per Celebrity policy after they have worked a cabin.