Here's your hat; what's your hurry?

[GottaLuvCruising]

This is a saying my Mom used (so therefore, I now use it) when people are being encouraged to leave.

 

We disembarked Ruby Princess this morning. We had a nice long weekend with lots of reading and relaxing on our balcony, good food & shows and a fun day in Cozumel.

 

But we were surprised to have disembarkation information in our mailbox exactly halfway through the cruise and with almost two days still to enjoy. I just want to enjoy my cruise and don't want to think about it ending.

 

Then Sunday / yesterday morning, stateroom attendant put the luggage mat on our bed. Like I still have 24 hours to enjoy, meals to eat, books to read, balcony to be enjoyed, a show to see, movie to watch on deck, a nap to take. I am not packing now.

 

Last night we got back to our stateroom to find that attendant had filled the shower gel / shampoo bottles, but took / removed the dispenser nozzle. We always shower before bed and fortunately did have a bar of soap on the sink.

 

Got into bed and found that stateroom attendant had also removed our TV schedule. Hubby ran down to guest services to retrieve another.

 

This morning we had to be out of our stateroom by 8am (per the dreaded paperwork that we reluctantly brought in from the mailbox). But just to be certain, our stateroom attendant had circled the time in ink.

 

This was my 36th cruise, but only 4th on Princess. Is this typical? Would you have found it annoying?

[DonJuan77]

On the princess cruises I have been on this has happened. I totally agree that it is a vacation bummer, but I think they just want to inform people of what is going on early so they can ask questions if need be or get the right forms from guest relations etc.

Edited January 27, 2014 by DonJuan77

[funny1]

It is typical on Princess. We feel the same way that you do. We get a warm and fuzzy welcome and then it's "wham, bam, thank you ma'am. I know they're anxious to get ready for the "new" people, but some other lines let you stay in your cabin until departure and still manage to take care of the new passengers in time. You can, though, usually get right into your cabin when you board on Princess, and some other lines you have to wait.

[DonJuan77]

It is typical on Princess. We feel the same way that you do. We get a warm and fuzzy welcome and then it's "wham, bam, thank you ma'am. I know they're anxious to get ready for the "new" people, but some other lines let you stay in your cabin until departure and still manage to take care of the new passengers in time. You can, though, usually get right into your cabin when you board on Princess, and some other lines you have to wait.

 

It is a huge downer for me, but a couple of buckets later and I forgot all about it haha. I know on Royal Caribbean I have never been able to go right into my cabin, which sucks because we are usually in our Jeans and longsleeves coming from NH. I have learned to pack some shorts/bathing suits in my carry on along with my reefs!

[GottaLuvCruising]

Interesting...I just didn't remember it being like that on our other Princess cruises. Glad it wasn't just us - Yikes!

 

We intentionally arrived at the pier mid-afternoon embarkation day - because we don't have status on Princess. We were pleasantly surprised to board immediately and that our stateroom was already available.

 

But if I had my druthers (my mom again), I'd board a little later and not have to set an alarm disembarkation day.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 27, 2014 by GottaLuvCruising

[-Lew-]

What you outline is typical...except for your steward circling your disembarkation time. He may have just been attempting to be helpful since you need to be out of your stateroom by 8:00am regardless of when you're scheduled to disembark.

 

Nobody wants a cruise to end...or be reminded it's imminent.

 

Lew

[Colo Cruiser]

These same type of things have come up quite a few times recently.

Especially the taking of shampoo/conditioner etc. :(

I would not be happy either!

Edited January 27, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[GottaLuvCruising]

These same type of things have come up quite a few times recently.

Especially the taking of shampoo/conditioner etc. :(

 

My husband was certain that aspect had to be an error. It's really quite rude as the room is ours until morning.

 

I'm glad I asked as it's always better to understand the protocol and know what to expect. I appreciate the feedback!

[dorisis]

If you were offended by your stewards less than subtle hints you could have told him not to rush you. You were aware of Princess cabin check out time. Surely you understand that it is a big rush for stewards now that Princess is cutting back on crew.

[sminfiddle]

Glad it wasn't just us - Yikes!

I read another review a couple of days ago about the steward removing the pump-tops from the bottles in the shower, we are guessing for cleaning...

Don't the wide-open bottles at least come out of the holder, to tip out some shampoo/gel, or should "Eyedropper/Turkey Baster - To Suck Up Shampoo" be added to the list of Items To Pack? :eek:

[GottaLuvCruising]

I read another review a couple of days ago about the steward removing the pump-tops from the bottles in the shower, we are guessing for cleaning...

Don't the wide-open bottles at least come out of the holder, to tip out some shampoo/gel, or should "Eyedropper/Turkey Baster - To Suck Up Shampoo" be added to the list of Items To Pack? :eek:

 

We could have and considered just pouring shower gel from the bottle. But we were made to feel that he had filled our dispensers for the next guest. It was our room and the nozzles should not have been removed. Now that we know it was not an error, we will call steward for soap or gel as a matter of principle.

[paul929207]

We usually take longer cruises, so getting the debarkation info on day 38 of 40 doesn't seem to be rushing us. We also have more to pack, so putting out the bed cover is fine too.

[geoherb]

I noticed the missing pump from our shampoo/conditioner bottle on the last full day of our Ruby cruise last month. I thought the cabin steward did it to keep people from taking the bottle. Once they've installed the permanent dispensers on the shower walls on all ships, they won't have to do this any more.

 

As for being pushed out, we were eager to leave the ship and requested an early departure time--8:15--for a change. We stayed overnight in Fort Lauderdale and wanted to have the whole day to do things.

[jrzebird]

Personally, I usually wake up pretty early on disembarkation day, and I NEVER wake up early unless forced to do so. I prefer the way Princess does it to how HAL does. You're up and your out. With HAL, you're up and then you sit and sit and sit in your cabin, watching the room stewards strip your bed, dust and clean the balcony, while waiting for disembarkation. I'd rather pull the band aid off fast than peel it back slowly.

 

The reason they put the luggage mat on your bed the day before you left the ship was so you could pack whatever luggage you were going to put outside for him to pick up later that night. I've had that on HAL, too.

 

I hate that they give you the forms to fill out a few days after you board, but as someone else said, if everyone on the ship has questions, or the ship needs more info, there is no way it will all get done the night before you leave.

 

These stewards and stewardess work very hard, and turn around day is the worst. Whatever they can get done early, they do. Those boarding are quick to ask why their beds are in the wrong configuration or where their robes are, without considering the yeoman's work that has to be done in a very few hours.

 

It would be lovely if we didn't have to think about reality until it was necessary, but unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way. I'm glad that the rest of the trip was great.

 

Maureen

[RickEk]

Heck...on a three day cruise, you have disembarkation info the day after you board! :p

 

I understand the OP's feelings, I certainly dread the "disembarkation document day", since that means the cruise is coming to a close, but really, they need to do it that way so that if there are problems, they won't be inundated on the final night/morning. Turnaround day is stressful enough and these shorter cruises put further stress on the crew.

[baronessk]

Was on Ruby for 22-26 Dec. cruise. Mini Suite. Never had any of this. We actually got up on Christmas morning, opened gifts, went to brekkie and came back (to our made up room) and decided to pack, as we were putting luggage out that night. We had everything we needed in our cabin right up until the time we vacated about 7:45 with our carry on bags. I will be back on Feb. 20th in OV. Will be interesting to see if there is any difference. Our steward (Michael) over Christmas was the best I have EVER had. Those 4 & 5 day cruises do go FAST! But they are all about relaxing for me.......

[wilfros]

OP I agree with everything you are saying, when it is my turn to depart the ship , HOWEVER, I really appreciate all this when it is my turn to embark.

 

When we arrive for our Carnival Cruise the cabin is never ready and we end up going to lunch with our hand bags and carry on luggage, but I have never boarded a Princess Ship where the cabin was not ready for my arrival.

 

Just both sides of the story.

[blazerjan]

Six of one...half a dozen of another (that's what my mom used to say) Either you get in your cabin right away and have to vacate at 8 on the last day or you can sit around in the public area's with your carry on luggage when you board but can sleep in on the last day.

That being said... I have never had a steward make me feel like I was being rushed out.

[moosenaroundtheship]

On our last cruise our attendent came into our room at 8am. Announced he thought we were gone and stated taking the sheets off the bed. He said he had lots to do and we needed to leave NOW. We were just on our way out, but that seemed rude to us.

[DrivesLikeMario]

This is a saying my Mom used (so therefore, I now use it) when people are being encouraged to leave.

 

We disembarked Ruby Princess this morning. We had a nice long weekend with lots of reading and relaxing on our balcony, good food & shows and a fun day in Cozumel.

 

But we were surprised to have disembarkation information in our mailbox exactly halfway through the cruise and with almost two days still to enjoy. I just want to enjoy my cruise and don't want to think about it ending.

 

Then Sunday / yesterday morning, stateroom attendant put the luggage mat on our bed. Like I still have 24 hours to enjoy, meals to eat, books to read, balcony to be enjoyed, a show to see, movie to watch on deck, a nap to take. I am not packing now.

 

Last night we got back to our stateroom to find that attendant had filled the shower gel / shampoo bottles, but took / removed the dispenser nozzle. We always shower before bed and fortunately did have a bar of soap on the sink.

 

Got into bed and found that stateroom attendant had also removed our TV schedule. Hubby ran down to guest services to retrieve another.

 

This morning we had to be out of our stateroom by 8am (per the dreaded paperwork that we reluctantly brought in from the mailbox). But just to be certain, our stateroom attendant had circled the time in ink.

 

This was my 36th cruise, but only 4th on Princess. Is this typical? Would you have found it annoying?

 

That was not normal! DH would've been pretty ticked about the shampoo nozzle being gone! I've only had those dispensers once so far (in 2 different cabins) and the nozzle wasn't removed on the last night. Sounds like your cabin steward needed to take a deep breath. :rolleyes:

[helenb]

We're always early disembarkation people so we don't mind it at all. The shampoo pump thing does seem a bit weird.

 

I recall once on a Celebrity cruise, they replaced the stationary on the last night (in concierge class cabins they haver personalized stationary, and ours was gone, with someone else's name on it). The steward had put bags of fresh bedding underneath the bed as well. We didn't mind, and in fact we were impressed at how the steward was trying to spread out his turnaround work, to make the next day easier. We also recognized that he had done the same for us, before we had arrived.

[Loonbeam]

I don't think the nozzle issue was related to disembarkation. They have to be pulled for sanitation once per week or so, that was most likely the day. The protocol is to replace with clean nozzles, maybe they just didn't have enough or the procedure is not quite settled in yet.

 

I understand the paperwork coming early, as noted, the passenger services folks need time to deal with questions, etc (and even with it coming two days earlier, I guarantee you people were still trying to change their times the morning of...)

 

I don't recall the luggage mat being out that early, or the departure time being circled, I have to wonder if that's a reflection of stewards having more cabins in the past few years and them having less net time to turnover a cabin.

[NewPennCruiser]

While we understand the rush to get people out, we have never been shown all those "hints" nor have we had times circled on notifications, etc. I have heard others say that luggage was laid out for them to pack, etc but that has never happened to us either. We are usually out before the 8am deadline though and certainly respect the need to get things turned around quickly.

 

I will say that they did take the nozzle off our shampoo/conditioner bottle on our Ruby cruise in December and we just thought it was very strange to do that. But we were told that the Stewards were told to do this until the bottles are fixed in the shower holders so that people don't take them. I don't know if that's true but from what I'm hearing on cruises where the dispensers aren't attached to the shower, they seem to be doing this on the last night of the cruise. Dave

[Bucky3]

Can't agree more with how sad the day embarkation is! However, I much prefer that when we board, our cabin is ready. I would much rather have that extra time onboard to enjoy my first cruise day.

 

I suppose Princess will get the soap dispenser problems solved asap. Sad to think people would actually steal them if not firmly attached. We bring our own soap and shampoo, so this doesn't affect us.

 

We try to leave our cabin in good order as we realize the stewards have a huge job on turnaround day. We have seen huge messes left in cabins when walking down the hall on that last morning.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I did mention our impressions of this experience in my survey response just now. We certainly respect check-out time and the hard work required of the stewards especially on turn-around day. However, we should not be made to feel that we can't use our own shower on the last evening.

 

We were not given the option of having our bags taken Sunday night, but were instead informed that we'd be doing "walk-off" and carrying our own bags. So we packed after we returned to the room Sunday night - took maybe 10 minutes at most.

 

Understanding Princess' disembarkation process will better equip us to deal with this in the future.