A terrible cabin steward. Have you ever?

[Isa65]

We just stepped off the Allure last Sunday after a fantastic cruise. Loved the ship, ate a lots of different places, saw so many awesome shows and spots, it was just amazing.

 

The only negative point (but an important one) was our cabin steward. We had a female steward from Nicaragua who was not friendly, did NOT clean our room every day (we got a total of 1 towel animal) and made it a point of ignoring us when meeting us in the hall.

 

On day 4 I mentioned this to Guest Services who promised to look into it. Still no fresh towels, beds not made, etc.

 

I hate the fact that there are no more surveys (would be mailed after the cruise, but we haven't received any yet) so we can let RCI know about this.

 

Having sailed on several cruiselines and several time on Royal Caribbean, this is the very first time we didn't receive outstanding service.

It didn't ruin our vacation, but I do wonder how we can let her supervisor know this. (And yes, we have placed the "clean the room" card in the key slot and requested her to clean the cabin as we were at dinner).

 

Anyone ever experience this?

[Fat Paul]

I don't care about towel animals but if the room wasn't cleaned every day I would be very unhappy. In short, no cleany....... no tippy

[setsail]

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/contactUs.do?cS=NAVBAR&pnav=5&snav=1

[matj2000]

We have had a few so=so one's but nothing that bad.

I would have complained a little earlier and made tip deductions...

[megr1125]

The survey comes by email now if you provided one...check your SPAM

 

You can write or call post cruise guest relations but honestly the time to deal with the situation was on the ship, before day 4.

 

She really did not clean the cabin daily? Not that I don't believe you but if you left towels hung, they aren't replaced as part of SAVE THE WAVES...and the sheets are not changed daily...

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/contactUs.do

 

The post cruise info is there....

 

Sorry you had a bad cabin attendant, really that's kind of rare....possible yes, but rare....

[gerif]

A rare occurrence, but after the second day you should have made a call to the head of housekeeping - guest services doesn't do much in that situation.

[cb at sea]

Nope...some have been BETTER than others, but we've never had one that didn't do what was expected of them. If that HAD happened, I would have called housekeeping, and complained onboard!

 

As far as the 'Save the Waves"...what a joke! We always hang our towels, and they've ALWAYS been replaced daily. On most cruises, our sheets are changed at LEAST every other day...whether we request it or not...I like that!

[Harooni]

mine was a little lazy also , but not that bad. but this is a great eample why i take tips off and tip myself if they are going to the autotip pre-paid on all cruises in the future i wont like that

[VillaHappy]

I've had a few so so ones, but this one could take the cake.

 

Sounds like she shouldn't be employed too much longer.

[Langley Cruisers]

The bed not being made is unacceptable. As someone else stated, the Save the Waves program may have played into your towel shortage - were the wet towels hung, or put on the floor? It does make a difference.

 

I would have called Housekeeping while onboard as well. I know sometimes we just want to slide by under the radar and not make a big deal about something, but making the bed is part of the job description. Housekeeping would need to know about this.

.

[aurelius180]

Most have been super on our cruises but one was not that great. Nothing like you've encountered. I would have made more of an issue of it on board rather than after. No benefit to you now.

[newparents]

Steward on Indy was not really a nice guy at all, never saw the guy smile,, bed not always made (that happened a good few times o this 2 week cruise), however I didnt complain because to be honest I was just loving my holiday regardless of this guy not really doing all that much, the way I look at it is I have no idea whats going on in his life, I might be on hol and loving it but this guy might be missing his wife, kids, his parents, I do however take my towel animals extremely seriously ;) I did ask for towel animals if he had a chance because the kids loved them, he reluctantly agreed :)

[Mykitteh]

Nope...some have been BETTER than others, but we've never had one that didn't do what was expected of them. If that HAD happened, I would have called housekeeping, and complained onboard!

 

As far as the 'Save the Waves"...what a joke! We always hang our towels, and they've ALWAYS been replaced daily. On most cruises, our sheets are changed at LEAST every other day...whether we request it or not...I like that!

 

 

Same here-our last cruise we always got fresh towels-even the ones we left hanging.

[cruiselife4me]

We had a very odd ( by Royal's standards) room attendant on Liberty. No smiles, didn't bring the down pillow I had requested, etc. Usually they are amazing, this woman was sub-par at best. Write Corporate, they need to know.

 

Sent from my QMV7A using Forums mobile app

[Vanilla]

I make my own bed every day - just because I can't stand it not being neat looking. I only want 3 things from my steward/stewardess.... clean towels/wash cloths, ice twice a day and a towel animal every night. Some of you might say that the towel animal is just an extra - but for me, its my vacation, and its what I expect. I do tell them this up front and I have never been disappointed.

Sorry you had a bad stewardess - and I agree with the other posters - someone needs to know.

[LindaO]

Never had anything like that happen on all my cruises. If it ever happens to you again... go to guest services and ask for a 2 pieces of paper... 2 envelopes... and a pen. Write a short, to the point note to the head of housekeeping (by name) and to the hotel director (again, by name) -- ask at guest services for their names. Leave the notes in the sealed envelopes at guest services. :eek: You will get a response. Likewise, if you ever have a room attendant do something way above and beyond... do the same thing.

 

I also think that you should follow the advice of other posters and send a letter to corporate.

 

I'm glad you didn't let this ruin your cruise holiday!!

[Isa65]

Thanks all! I will send a letter to Corporate. It won't help me, but it will at least get that lady's ear pulled. With the automatic tips, she received a whole lot of $$$ for doing nothing.

[parrotfeathers]

I wonder if the female stewards perhaps are more reserved? I've had one female steward and she was much more reserved than males.

[JLSPOOL]

(1) We pre-pay tips for cabin and dining service. Then give extra.

 

(2) This thread makes me re-think the auto pre-payment in favor of paying all appropriate tips in the last couple of days aboard so they can be divided evenly. Then give extra for extra service that can be pocketed by the individual.

 

Looking forward, my question is:

does plan (1) mean better service or plan (2)?

 

I'll post this on the Celebrity board too. Thanks for your comments.

 

jls

 

jls

[PerferWarmWeather]

Only bad cabin steward we every had, believe it or not, was an American. Worthless IMO. We complained to the guest services, no help. The only time in 7 days did he show up was on departure looking for his tip. He could still be looking as far as I know.

[BecciBoo]

I make my own bed every day - just because I can't stand it not being neat looking. .

 

I'm a ship shape kinda gal also. Our attendant doesn't have to do much except replace towels and ice...I do like the way they finish the bedding in the evening when we return... but I have even requested they not change sheets but once in the middle of the week. I don't change sheets but once a week at home, why would I require it onboard? I keep our cabin picked up and ship shape at all times myself...a place for everything and everything in its place....my Mom's mantra.

I hate clutter...and I am kinda weird when it comes to a stranger handling my things.

 

However, I would be displeased if they didn't honor a request...that is a pet peeve! If you make a request known, they must honor it to get my tip. It can be easily removed. I can honestly say, I've never been disappointed. A couple have been awkward or slow, but that is endurable.

[ryano]

LOL! I am also one that makes the bed every morning, keeps everything picked up and makes it easy as I can on my cabin attendant.

 

Not because I feel sorry for them, or want to tip less or anything but because my OCD wont allow for a messy cabin :D:eek::o

 

I have passed by SOME cabins and been in shock before!! :eek:

[NemoCrownie]

You may be right about female attendants. Both of our mediocre expreriencses were with females. Our worst was this year. We had one day our room wasn't attended to at all and one day it wasn't attended to until turn down. We requested ice and received it once a day at turn down, she NEVER removed dirty dishes or replaced our used wine glasses and we only received clean towels two times on an 11 day cruise. We didn't complain because she was very sweet and appeared to be very tired and overworked. It wasn't worth it to us to get her into trouble and I chalked it up to RCI's cost cutting and the attendants having too many rooms and no assistance. We usually tip extra in cash at the end but this time we left the gratuities in place but did not tip extra. I addressed my concerns on the survey; specifically that the staffing cut backs have gone too far and the attendants have too many rooms to attend to. I think I am like many others in that I really don't want to be responsible for making someone elses life harder so I am hesitant to address the issue onboard like I probably should.

[dcourt]

My sister and I were doing a "Girl's Cruise" on another line (ship's name was Star). The first full day on the cruise our room was not cleaned until it was turn down time. The second and third day same thing. Finally I called housekeeping and explained that this was unacceptable and they told me they had a new person. I told them that was their problem and certainly not my problem. They said the manager would be right up and when he appeared he could see our room had not been touched and we were getting ready for dinner. He left and the next thing we know is someone is knocking on the door and it was our attendant who entered the room yelling at us!!! She wanted to know why I would contact her boss. DAH!!! After that we went to guest services and they refunded the automatic tip. When we got home I sent a letter to their corporate offices and they actually responded and gave both of us $100 on board credit on our next cruise. That was not expected but appreciated. Did it ruin our cruise no, did we still have fun, yes.

[beej]

We had a similar experience on the Allure in October. We told the young woman, can't remember where she was from, we needed the beds separated. She absolutely refused. Said if we wanted the beds apart, she was putting one against the closet and we could crawl on it to get clothes out. She was not very nice to say the least. The woman I was was with also needed a bed board in the bed. This was all asked for before we boarded, so there was a heads up. We went right to guest services who sent the room supervisor to our room. She said all they do is move the couch and separate the beds, no problem. We left for the evening, and when we came back about 11PM, the beds were separated. Everything's good so we thought, NOT. The beds were apart, the bedboard was under the mattress, sort of sideways so you hit your leg walking by it, and she short sheeted the bed. Called guest services who got the deck supervisor again

 

She came up and was really sort of pissed since she was off. When she started looking at the bed, she called another supervisor for confirmation. They stripped the bed, called for everything new including the mattress. When they stripped the bed, the mattress was really dirty, but on pulling it off, the underside had disgusting stains all over it. It looked like fit was covered with blood stains. Both supers went nuts. They checked the other bed, and it was okay.

 

Needless to say, she was written up, and guest services sent us a very good bottle of champagne and strawberries. When we got home, they said call resolutions, which we did, and were compensated on our next cruise. Moral is check your bed before you sleep in it. You can still call resolutions and complain