Never met room steward in 7 days?

[Scottohiocpa]

We just got off the Glory May 31 - June 7 sailing.

 

Our room steward never introduced him/herself and we never saw them.

 

Finally on day 2 I asked guest services to have the room steward come meet us, unlock the refrigerator, and remove the alcoholic items from it. The guest services person called the "floor manager" and spoke to him. He said the room steward would come meet us as soon as he came on duty that afternoon. No one ever showed up. A guy who said he was just a "runner" finally came by with a ring of about 100 keys. He found 1 that opened the fridge. He said only our room steward could remove the alcoholic items because he didn't have a place to store the stuff. I said OK and he left. A little while later, he came back and said he was authorized to remove the alcohol items. We ran into several people out in the hallways during the cruise that looked like they might be our room steward but when I asked them, they all said no. On day 6 I went guest services again to make sure we didn't get charged by our phantom room steward for the missing alcohol. They vowed to have the floor supervisor meet us and the room steward too. Again, no one ever showed up.

 

Somehow the room got cleaned, the beds were done, and a towel animal showed up each day. If it had been a Disney Cruise I would have thought that Sorcerer Mickey had something to do with it, but this was Carnival.....

 

We had prepaid our tips for this cruise and I thought about removing the tips for a minute, but then I decided that the most important thing was that the room got cleaned and so I left the tip as is. We usually give our room steward an extra $20 or $30, but you can't tip someone you have never seen, so no additonal amount was left this time.

[MicksMom]

We always pre-pay our tips & extra in cash at the end. I agree, wouldn't have left extra if you never met them.

[montana200024]

that happened to us on one of our cruises, It was like a ghost was cleaning our room...never met him/her..thought that was so strange..

So it does happen..

[momof4boys]

I have had a couple of room stewards that have said hello to us, removed frig stuff, then went on their way, and I have had a couple who have cleaned our rooms and tried to not be in our way (never met 2).

 

I think it depends on the steward....some want to be out of the way when possible. As long as they do their job I am OK with it!! I realize that they may be in the middle of someone else's room when it is convenient to talk to me so I don't worry about it!

 

We bring sticky notes to put on our mirror if we want to leave a message for him/her. That has always done the trick!!

 

Happy Sailing!

[jacmo24]

Our Steward on the Valor was nearly invisible. I found it somewhat amazing. We saw him once on the first day for a brief minute.

 

Other cruises however we've had near relationships with our steward and their assistants (for lack of a better title). Especially on the Victory. We enjoy meeting our steward and having them greet us by name in the hallways. I'd miss that part now that I've experienced it.

[Laurie S.]

We always empty the fridge ourselves to have some room. Why bother the room steward with it?

[OnePsychLynne]

The Sensation cruise I just got off of was the first cruise I've ever been on where I didn't see our steward. Ever. I was surprised but everything was taken care of. I was kind of bummed because I like to meet them. Very unusual.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

[FireEater]

Like you said, the place was clean each day, beds turned down nightly...Animals on bed......and you did not have to lift a finger for it........

 

I do not personally care if I meet mine or not...but that is me....

[golfadj]

We have always met our room steward.

 

Do remove stuff as necessary from the fridge and just leave it on a shelf out of our way.

[sprint180]

I only seen my guy on day 3 or our first cruise. I was disappointed because I had heard such wonderful things. On our princess cruise last year our steward was always around. Thank goodness he was there to tell me I was trying to go into the wrong room every time I went to it.:) He got a big tip.

[topofE]

"Finally on day two" you complained that he hadn't met you and contemplated taking off your tips? Despite the fact that he did his job? People amaze me.

[Badfinger]

The less I see of them, the better.

[Dayenu]

It happened to us that the room steward knocked on the door on the day of embarkation to greet us, and this would be the last time we saw him. We are good at moving the dial, or whatever the way of notifying when we are out.

 

Never happened that we wouldn't see the steward at all. This is weird, especially that you wanted to see him/her.

[CruisinKibble]

"Finally on day two" you complained that he hadn't met you and contemplated taking off your tips? Despite the fact that he did his job? People amaze me.

 

 

Exactly.

 

 

My manager would rather me do my job than him see me all the time. The room stewards are extremely busy - if they stopped for social hour with ever cruiser the work would never be finished.

[cruizinisthebest]

On our cruise last year, DH met the met the room steward but I never did. Wasn't offended as he did a fantastic job with our two connecting cabins. I actually was impressed that he was so good at being out of the way.

 

Removing the tips never entered my head.

[SeagoingMom]

You experienced my favorite sort of steward -- the one who does his job well, but whom I never see. This is how our first cruise (Celebrity Infinity, 2006) went, and I was more than happy. (Well, now that I think of it, he did introduce himself on embarkation day, but we never saw him after that.) I would never not tip because I did not see the steward, as long as he did his job to my satisfaction. I do not tip because someone has been my pal, but for a job well done.

 

I have found that when we leave the cabin in the morning, or go out in the evening, leaving a polite note out requesting anything extra I might need always does the job, and beats trying to hunt up the steward who might be busy elsewhere.

 

Now if I got into my cabin and found something that needed to be addressed immediately, yes, I would want a word with the steward to rectify the situation, so I would hunt him up.

[kona_wahine]

We always empty the fridge ourselves to have some room. Why bother the room steward with it?

 

Us too! I can't believe people bother the room stewards with this.

[Argigi]

I have cleaned houses for about 10 years. Some of the ladies I clean for every week, I might see once a year, if I'm lucky. It doesn't bother me. My family and I have been on a couple of cruises. Both times have been able meet our room stewards. But I also know that it's much easier to do a job if I'm not having to stop and a have conversation with every person that walks by.

[loxley]

You experienced my favorite sort of steward -- the one who does his job well, but whom I never see. This is how our first cruise (Celebrity Infinity, 2006) went, and I was more than happy. (Well, now that I think of it, he did introduce himself on embarkation day, but we never saw him after that.) I would never not tip because I did not see the steward, as long as he did his job to my satisfaction. I do not tip because someone has been my pal, but for a job well done.

 

I have found that when we leave the cabin in the morning, or go out in the evening, leaving a polite note out requesting anything extra I might need always does the job, and beats trying to hunt up the steward who might be busy elsewhere.

 

Now if I got into my cabin and found something that needed to be addressed immediately, yes, I would want a word with the steward to rectify the situation, so I would hunt him up.

 

 

Me to. That is the kind I hope I get every time but rarely do.

[1PCcruiser]

We have been on 13 carnival cruises and I have met and had regular contact with every room steward on each. We have even booked again based on the "relationship" with our room steward. That being said, as long as they do their job well I guess it wouldnt matter wether I met them or not although I kinda like to know who is in my living quarters with my personal belongings. Thats just me though. Cruise on!

[Tara Jane]

Same thing happened to us on the spirit in May 2013, never set eyes on the steward but the room was done each day. We also empty the fridge ourselves and put the goodies on one of the shelfs or in the cupboard. we do always check the fridge contents against the list to be sure we aren't being charged for something that was never there in the first place. I would say at least 50% of the time there is a discrepancy so we advise the steward when we first meet them which has always been sometime on the day of boarding. In this case the contents agreed with the list so no need to do anything about it.

I did note the OP mentioned the fridge was locked. We have never had a locked fridge on any of our cruises.

[TPFKAH]

We just got off the Glory May 31 - June 7 sailing.

 

Our room steward never introduced him/herself and we never saw them.

 

Finally on day 2 I asked guest services to have the room steward come meet us, unlock the refrigerator, and remove the alcoholic items from it. The guest services person called the "floor manager" and spoke to him. He said the room steward would come meet us as soon as he came on duty that afternoon. No one ever showed up. A guy who said he was just a "runner" finally came by with a ring of about 100 keys. He found 1 that opened the fridge. He said only our room steward could remove the alcoholic items because he didn't have a place to store the stuff. I said OK and he left. A little while later, he came back and said he was authorized to remove the alcohol items. We ran into several people out in the hallways during the cruise that looked like they might be our room steward but when I asked them, they all said no. On day 6 I went guest services again to make sure we didn't get charged by our phantom room steward for the missing alcohol. They vowed to have the floor supervisor meet us and the room steward too. Again, no one ever showed up.

 

Somehow the room got cleaned, the beds were done, and a towel animal showed up each day. If it had been a Disney Cruise I would have thought that Sorcerer Mickey had something to do with it, but this was Carnival.....

 

We had prepaid our tips for this cruise and I thought about removing the tips for a minute, but then I decided that the most important thing was that the room got cleaned and so I left the tip as is. We usually give our room steward an extra $20 or $30, but you can't tip someone you have never seen, so no additonal amount was left this time.

 

As long as they are doing their job, I could care less if I EVER meet them

 

I don't chase down hotel maids either.

[okgirl]

I keep pretty strange hours and often go for days without seeing our steward. On one cruise I wasn't around when he came to introduce himself on embarkation day......my sister was there and saw him everyday.

 

He finally started asking her if I was really on the cruise.......one day about 5 days in my sister and I had gone back to the cabin prior to going ashore and our steward came running down the hall practically yelling "Miss Beverly, Miss Beverly".......I finally meet you........you're real"

[092306]

I think we've had one or two that we didn't meet on day one and were pretty scarce throughout the cruise, but always took care of the room. For the most part we've had very nice, friendly stewards who we saw often throughout the day.

[crusinpsychRN]

One steward knocked on the door just after the announcement for muster was made. I figured he was reminding me to go but he actually had chosen then to introduce himself and tell me what he would be doing, how to reach him...and seemed to go on and on! I finally said I had to ge to the muster station, he apologized and went to the next cabin...