Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Room Steward Horror Stories

cardqb

By cardqb,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

craftykitty

craftykitty

Posted
Posted
No, I completely disagree with you. The people who sign these contracts to work as room stewards are excited at the idea of making $1500 - $2200 a month, not $50.

 

Making that kind of money ($1500 +) is difficult in most third world countries, but what your talking about is street beggar money...:rolleyes:

 

Disagree all you like.... the $50 is speculation in any case. But they can not sign a contract based on anything but the base salary, it is not legal otherwise.

 

Careful with your eye, really do not want you to hurt them :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

Posted
Posted
Disagree all you like.... the $50 is speculation in any case. But they can not sign a contract based on anything but the base salary, it is not legal otherwise.

 

From what I've read/heard $50 - $70 is right around the right number.

 

Legal or not, the point I'm trying to make is this: The person who signs his or her name on the dotted line when accepting a contract to work as a room steward, is doing so with an almost iron clad guarantee that they will be making much more than $50 a month...I don't understand why you're arguing my simple point...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nitro2448

nitro2448

Posted
Posted
From what I've read/heard $50 - $70 is right around the right number.

 

Legal or not, the point I'm trying to make is this: The person who signs his or her name on the dotted line when accepting a contract to work as a room steward, is doing so with an almost iron clad guarantee that they will be making much more than $50 a month...I don't understand why you're arguing my simple point...

 

I disagree, for some people, it is hard to understand. Even with a minimal salary, they sign on expecting to make the majority of their wages in tips. No different than a waitress, or someone who takes a job where they get paid a commission. Lol I typed that before you modified.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Charlie44

Charlie44

Posted
Posted

So sorry to hear that your cabin steward was not - shall we say? - up to par.

 

Yes, the bad stewards are out there...lurking. You will encounter a few of them; mostly when you cruise these will be few and far between. We have had OK room stewards, great room stewards, and amazing, over-the-top, cried when we left stewards. Yes, I have had tips completely removed for poor/not good service, but that only happened once, on Holland America. We have also had OK service in that we left the regular tip on, but didn't tip any extra. We also have left the regular tip on, plus dropped another 100-200 bucks because the service so exceeded our expectations. You will run the gambit over the course of time. We have had bad room stewards more often in hotel chains, probably because you never see them, and they can change every night. At least on board a ship, you are assigned a crew member, so I think that helps keep the quality up.

 

You gotta do what you gotta do. Some passengers are easy going and don't expect much; others feel they work hard all year and have paid for the luxury of having great service, and that is what they expect. When you are not respected as a guest it does irk, irritate, hurt and frustrate. The best thing you can do is deal with it early (and hope to nip it in the bud); otherwise, you're stuck.

 

Good luck getting a better cabin steward next time! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JUGGER

JUGGER

Posted
Posted
okay, we just returned from our trip on the splendor. We had a great time as a whole and refused to let our room steward ruin our time... But he was horrible. Anyone else had a horrible room steward? Please share your stories.

 

Here's ours...

 

When we met our room steward, an hour or two after getting to our room, he came in quickly with his ice bucket, mumbled his name and tried to scurry out of the cabin. And so it begins..

 

We stopped him to ask that he please empty the mini bar fridge, so we could place some of our items in there. He told us to remove the items ourselves and place them in the cabinets.

 

I then told him we had a collapsible cooler that we would like to have filled with ice and that i was going to have it in the shower. He asked me if i was sure it wouldn't leak, so i told him it was new and i had never tried it. He proceeded to educate me that a new one doesn't mean it won't leak. So i again told him it was in the shower just for that reason.

 

The first night we couldn't find the "snoozin/cruisin" sign or the morning room service hanger, so we left him a note asking for the sign and some room service hangers and also a door stop (to use for the balcony door, but didn't tell him why). We returned to the room a couple hours later and as soon as we got into the room we heard a knock. We answered to find our room steward who started the conversation, "i got your little love note..." and then pointed to the area in the corner of the wall behind the door where they were hanging and rudely said, "they're right here" and then he said it was against the rules for us to have a door stop.

 

Ok, that wasn't so bad i guess. But it just continues...

 

On one evening we wanted to grab some room service food and couldn't find the room service menu anywhere in our cabin. So i picked up the phone and dialed "housekeeping".. Thinking it would go to guest services or a central location. Our room steward answered the phone (guess it goes to them?) and i asked where the menu was located. In a very condescending tone he said, "it was with the papers you received the first day that you probably threw away!" that wasn't helpful at all.

 

So we remember at least a blt, caesar salad and hot chocolate, so ordered those from memory. The next day we found the room service menu on the television.. Couldn't he have just directed me there without the rudeness?

 

On top of all this, our collapsible cooler barely received any ice and it often melted within an hour or two and never even covered our couple cans of soda or bottle of water.. This was a small size cooler, maybe 12x9 at most!! It got to the point i used a plastic bag i brought with me from the pre cruise hotel ice bucket and filled it with ice at the lido to fill my own cooler.

 

On the last sea day the wife decided to sleep in until about 1 p.m... So we kept the "snoozin" sign on the door until she got up and left, turning the sign to "cruizin" to get the room serviced. When we returned a couple times later in the afternoon, nothing had been done. When we returned to get ready for dinner around 7 p.m. Our room steward saw us and said he was just getting ready to do our room for the night.. We entered to find it still had not been serviced all day.

 

After dinner we found our sheets turned back and cooler without any ice at all. It was the night we had to have our bags packed and realized he never put out the luggage mat on the bed for us to use.

 

Lastly, since this is so long, the wife had rubbed off some makeup on the bed sheets earlier in the week and noticed the last night that the makeup marks were still on the sheets... They had never been changed. But we did find clean sheets crammed into the nightstands.

 

What a nightmare of a room steward!!! Every time we saw him we were waiting to get scolded for something.

 

We ended up going to the guest services desk the last night and removed the room steward's auto gratuity. Since we found out he had a morning and evening assistant, we put cash in envelopes addressed specifically for them and left them with the guest services person. We didn't want them losing out because of the head steward's work ethic and attitude.

well--after reading your long winded story--all i can say is--i dont believe it at all--we have sailed on 53 cruises on carnival--with 3 more in the wings and have never-never-encounted a steward as you decribe. And taking his gratuity away is preety sad----they dont make much anyway--and you really are hurting him and his family--shame on you---maybe it was you---maybe you began your relationship with him by being arrogant----so first clean up your act-----irene and john

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cardqb

cardqb

Posted
  • Author
Posted

LOL. Thanks, will work on cleaning up our act and be treated rudely by service staff during a cruise we spent good money on. We were always very nice to him, never returned the attitude he gave us. Just smiled and took it. It's not what we paid for.

 

A gratuity is for his services, on top of our cruise fare. By leaving his gratuity it would have done nothing but rewarded his behavior towards us. By removing the tips, hopefully he thought a bit more about performing better. Did we tell him what he did wrong? Heck no, didn't want to deal with his attitude any more than we already did. He wasn't the type to have listened anyway, he overtalked us with the basic requests the first day and days following anyway.

 

It wasn't much to ask for him to empty the mini bar.. I sure don't want to get charged for anything in there. And as for ice, we did see the ice machine in the pantry area near the room. But the door was locked when I tried to use it. It's not intended for guests to access. So I couldn't get my own ice for the small cooler.. and having just a handful or two of ice once a day, it would melt away and not be cold most days.

 

Never did I expect a personal butler, but I do expect the basic requests to be fulfulled that I could not do myself. I don't expect attitude. We're always nice and polite, were with our room steward, but it wasn't returned.

 

That was the reason for the post and removal of tips.

 

Yes, long winded.. but it's a message board. Hopefully you're here to read, if it's too long ... move on.

 

One last question for some out there. It wasn't any part of the reason we removed tips to him only.. our TP in the restroom.. the roll had about a half inch remaining on it.. the steward put a new roll in the holder, then placed the old small roll on top. I have never done this at home, never seen it anywhere else.. We're supposed to hold the old roll in our hand and unwrap it to use it? Don't think so. Made it feel like an out house. And yes, being American I want certain luxuries.. like a roll of toilet paper being on the holder, not in my hand. Just one of many items I left off the long winded original post.

 

well--after reading your long winded story--all i can say is--i dont believe it at all--we have sailed on 53 cruises on carnival--with 3 more in the wings and have never-never-encounted a steward as you decribe. And taking his gratuity away is preety sad----they dont make much anyway--and you really are hurting him and his family--shame on you---maybe it was you---maybe you began your relationship with him by being arrogant----so first clean up your act-----irene and john
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdvmd

jdvmd

Posted
Posted
LOL. Thanks, will work on cleaning up our act and be treated rudely by service staff during a cruise we spent good money on. We were always very nice to him, never returned the attitude he gave us. Just smiled and took it. It's not what we paid for.

 

A gratuity is for his services, on top of our cruise fare. By leaving his gratuity it would have done nothing but rewarded his behavior towards us. By removing the tips, hopefully he thought a bit more about performing better. Did we tell him what he did wrong? Heck no, didn't want to deal with his attitude any more than we already did. He wasn't the type to have listened anyway, he overtalked us with the basic requests the first day and days following anyway.

 

It wasn't much to ask for him to empty the mini bar.. I sure don't want to get charged for anything in there. And as for ice, we did see the ice machine in the pantry area near the room. But the door was locked when I tried to use it. It's not intended for guests to access. So I couldn't get my own ice for the small cooler.. and having just a handful or two of ice once a day, it would melt away and not be cold most days.

 

Never did I expect a personal butler, but I do expect the basic requests to be fulfulled that I could not do myself. I don't expect attitude. We're always nice and polite, were with our room steward, but it wasn't returned.

 

That was the reason for the post and removal of tips.

 

Yes, long winded.. but it's a message board. Hopefully you're here to read, if it's too long ... move on.

 

One last question for some out there. It wasn't any part of the reason we removed tips to him only.. our TP in the restroom.. the roll had about a half inch remaining on it.. the steward put a new roll in the holder, then placed the old small roll on top. I have never done this at home, never seen it anywhere else.. We're supposed to hold the old roll in our hand and unwrap it to use it? Don't think so. Made it feel like an out house. And yes, being American I want certain luxuries.. like a roll of toilet paper being on the holder, not in my hand. Just one of many items I left off the long winded original post.

 

Sorry but how do you think the toliet paper gets used? Got to use your hands to grab it. It is not some magic TP that wipes by itself. And I am choosing my words cautiously here because I don't want to get a warning from CC.

The steward was trying to be NOT BE wasteful.

Outhouse? Hardly. Have you ever been in an outhouse? TP would be a luxury.

I would have given you the benefit of the doubt until you came back to add more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bazzaw

bazzaw

Posted
Posted
We were always very nice to him

 

It is obvious that this is what you believe - fair enough. I am not doubting that you think that you were always very nice to your steward. Perhaps he was indeed one of this unfortunate people doing a job that he didn't really want to do - how many of those do we come across in shops on the High Street?? :D

 

What I about to say applies to ALL of us - including me:D -- We cannot see ourselves. We cannot see what our own face looks like when we talk to others. We cannot feel how our emotions affect others. We cannot really discern how others perceive us.

 

I have known MANY people who, I am sure had high regard of themselves - I am certain that they thought they were indeed "good fellows" -- but in MY eyes, they were A***holes :rolleyes:

 

Something I believe we all should think about - especially when we are dealing with others less fortunate than us.

 

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bazzaw

bazzaw

Posted
Posted
Well I for one want a FULL roll of TP. I paid for it in my cruise fare!!;)

 

I ALWAYS get a full roll of toilet paper -- after I have finished the previous one. I can't imagine getting a non-full, previously used one --can't see how such a thing could happen on a cruiseship (think it through as to why I might believe that) -- but who knows?? Stranger things have happened. I don't see anything strange about a cabin steward leaving an almost finished old roll - I would actually thank him for his good work, if he had not left a new one after seeing that the old one was almost used, it may have been embarrassing for me ?? :)

 

But if it did happen to me, it wouldn't fuss me at all - my father didn't have any toilet rolls when he was in Borneo during WW2.

 

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gfy012

gfy012

Posted
Posted
Well I for one want a FULL roll of TP. I paid for it in my cruise fare!!;)

 

He got a full roll PLUS the rest of his last roll. And they always leave an extra roll under the sink. But why would anyone even mention this and why in the world would it bother anyone? It speaks volumes to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdvmd

jdvmd

Posted
Posted
He got a full roll PLUS the rest of his last roll. And they always leave an extra roll under the sink. But why would anyone even mention this and why in the world would it bother anyone? It speaks volumes to me.

 

Exactly!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NEWORLEANSCRUISER1

NEWORLEANSCRUISER1

Posted
Posted
He got a full roll PLUS the rest of his last roll. And they always leave an extra roll under the sink. But why would anyone even mention this and why in the world would it bother anyone? It speaks volumes to me.

 

It was a JOKE (did you see the face next to my post) - I was in the military for ten years. I was happy with ONE SHEET of TP. Take a deep breath and RELAX!! Then pass the ONE SHEET of TP (Again another JOKE)!!:D Why would this bother you?? It speaks volumes to me also!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cardqb

cardqb

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yes, we pay thousands of dollars for a cruise and we don't expect it to be like we're staying in a two star hotel. It does bother us. No, I don't want a leftover roll of toilet paper left on top of a new one. Sorry, I do have expectations for accomodations and service I pay for. Apparently many don't. Our room was always left spotless for him, all we needed was the bed made, towels/linens changed as necessary and ice.

 

And we find it sad that so many people on here feel they should pity their room stewards, as though they are lower class people and we should feel ashamed of the standard of living we have. Danging tip money in front of them up front for better service is downright rude and degrading.

 

They are people just like us, just performing their job they agreed to do. We treat them the same way we want to be treated. It's funny that just because we got a rude steward so many think it was our attitude towards him and not his fault. Our previous cruise the year before we had an excellent room steward and always had a good time interacting with him! I go out of my way at my job for to be courteous of others and do a good job, I expect the same in return for my hard earned money on a cruise.

 

He got a full roll PLUS the rest of his last roll. And they always leave an extra roll under the sink. But why would anyone even mention this and why in the world would it bother anyone? It speaks volumes to me.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
gfy012

gfy012

Posted
Posted
Yes, we pay thousands of dollars for a cruise and we don't expect it to be like we're staying in a two star hotel. It does bother us. No, I don't want a leftover roll of toilet paper left on top of a new one. Sorry, I do have expectations for accomodations and service I pay for. Apparently many don't. Our room was always left spotless for him, all we needed was the bed made, towels/linens changed as necessary and ice.

 

And we find it sad that so many people on here feel they should pity their room stewards, as though they are lower class people and we should feel ashamed of the standard of living we have. Danging tip money in front of them up front for better service is downright rude and degrading.

 

They are people just like us, just performing their job they agreed to do. We treat them the same way we want to be treated. It's funny that just because we got a rude steward so many think it was our attitude towards him and not his fault. Our previous cruise the year before we had an excellent room steward and always had a good time interacting with him! I go out of my way at my job for to be courteous of others and do a good job, I expect the same in return for my hard earned money on a cruise.

 

It was YOUR TP that he put on top of the new roll. He could had just left it on and you could had put the new roll on yourself. Sounds like he was doing you a favor, he didn't want you to run out? FTLOG if you didn't want to use it you could have just tossed it in the garbage.I can't even believe someone has to explain this to a grown adult. Whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jdvmd

jdvmd

Posted
Posted
Yes, we pay thousands of dollars for a cruise and we don't expect it to be like we're staying in a two star hotel. It does bother us. No, I don't want a leftover roll of toilet paper left on top of a new one. Sorry, I do have expectations for accomodations and service I pay for. Apparently many don't. Our room was always left spotless for him, all we needed was the bed made, towels/linens changed as necessary and ice.

 

And we find it sad that so many people on here feel they should pity their room stewards, as though they are lower class people and we should feel ashamed of the standard of living we have. Danging tip money in front of them up front for better service is downright rude and degrading.

 

They are people just like us, just performing their job they agreed to do. We treat them the same way we want to be treated. It's funny that just because we got a rude steward so many think it was our attitude towards him and not his fault. Our previous cruise the year before we had an excellent room steward and always had a good time interacting with him! I go out of my way at my job for to be courteous of others and do a good job, I expect the same in return for my hard earned money on a cruise.

 

Just went back to the original post to see if you truly only wanted the bed made, have clean towels/linen provided and ice.

Not exactly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...