Which Ships are Pushing the Once a Day Room Servicing?

[Mikew0805]

Sorry. Cruise ship environment ≠ hotel environment.

 

Our steward on the Splendor did pressure us to only choose one. There was NO box for us to check, he controlled the form, and he checked the boxes. When I stated that I would like ice, towels, and make-up/turn down twice daily. I advised there was no need for vacuuming, towel animals, etc. and he stated "You will get what you get." I responded with "The same applies to your gratuity."

 

He then checked both boxes, performed the service twice a day, and received his full gratuity.

 

This workload issue is NONE of my concern. My workload is between me and my employer, and has nothing to do with my patients. Same on a cruise.. the workload is between the crew and Carnival, and has nothing to do with me or any other guest.

[Computer Nerd]

Wow, some of y'all are harsh. To suggest that you would "remove all gratuities" based on a decision made by some corporate Bigwig at Carnival seems out of line... don't forget that your pre-paid gratuities benefit not only your room steward, but all of the other staff. And if it was up to your steward, they would probably go the extra mile to make you smile. Even if Carnival did move to a permanently once-a-day cleaning service, I would NEVER ever dream of completely removing gratuities unless every single crew member I encountered throughout my cruise was rude and unaccomodating by choice.

 

That said, we have never had to choose between morning or evening; we have always received both. And we try to keep our room as tidy as possible knowing that these room stewards are responsible for 20+ rooms per cruise. I enjoy both morning and evening service, but if I had to choose, I would gladly give up the evening turn-down service. It is a nice perk, but really in the grand scheme of things, unnecessary. I'd rather continue to cruise for a reasonable rate on Carnival than pay extra for the evening turn-down service.

 

In any industry, costs continue to climb, and I understand that. If i can continue to cruise for under $100 per person per day while sacrificing the extra turn-down service, I would be fine with that. Every room steward we have ever had has gone above and beyond to make sure we had smiles on our faces and enjoyed every bit of our time on board. They have all earned every cent of the pre-paid gratuities, as well as the extra cash we usually budget in for excellent service. IF once per day cleaning services become a reality, we will not complain. We will still enjoy our reasonably priced vacation and MOVE ALONG!!

 

If once a day service becomes a reality, I'm not going to complain either. But I'm also not going to be stupid enough to pay for twice a day service while getting only once a day service. If you have money to burn, feel free to spend it as you wish and overpay for a product or service if you want. Me, I'm going to pay for the level of service that I receive. Nothing nefarious about that.

[Computer Nerd]

This workload issue is NONE of my concern. My workload is between me and my employer, and has nothing to do with my patients. Same on a cruise.. the workload is between the crew and Carnival, and has nothing to do with me or any other guest.

 

Amen and Hallelujah

[Je Souhaite]

Wow, some of y'all are harsh. To suggest that you would "remove all gratuities" based on a decision made by some corporate Bigwig at Carnival seems out of line... don't forget that your pre-paid gratuities benefit not only your room steward, but all of the other staff. And if it was up to your steward, they would probably go the extra mile to make you smile. Even if Carnival did move to a permanently once-a-day cleaning service, I would NEVER ever dream of completely removing gratuities unless every single crew member I encountered throughout my cruise was rude and unaccomodating by choice.

 

That said, we have never had to choose between morning or evening; we have always received both. And we try to keep our room as tidy as possible knowing that these room stewards are responsible for 20+ rooms per cruise. I enjoy both morning and evening service, but if I had to choose, I would gladly give up the evening turn-down service. It is a nice perk, but really in the grand scheme of things, unnecessary. I'd rather continue to cruise for a reasonable rate on Carnival than pay extra for the evening turn-down service.

 

In any industry, costs continue to climb, and I understand that. If i can continue to cruise for under $100 per person per day while sacrificing the extra turn-down service, I would be fine with that. Every room steward we have ever had has gone above and beyond to make sure we had smiles on our faces and enjoyed every bit of our time on board. They have all earned every cent of the pre-paid gratuities, as well as the extra cash we usually budget in for excellent service. IF once per day cleaning services become a reality, we will not complain. We will still enjoy our reasonably priced vacation and MOVE ALONG!!

 

So much wrong with this post.

 

- Since when do "most" know why a service tipped employee is underperforming. We, as customers, should not even be told sob stories that their work load has increased, decreased or anything.

 

- your gratuities do NOT do to all ship employees

 

- you sound like you are being held hostage by a tip.

 

- if you wish to do the work that you are being supplied with to perform, that's between you and he.

 

- if the persons assigned to me is not performing to my specifications for any reason, their tip WILL be adjusted.

[Yvonne]

We plan to opt for just evening service from our room steward. No need for twice a day for us. Many times on other cruises I will leave a sticky note on the door letting the room steward know that we don't require his/her service that morning, or if we see them in the hall I will let them know then. I prefer relaxing mornings, as I love having room service breakfast delivered to the room and eating on our balcony, relaxing with a pot of coffee and a good book on the balcony, showering in the morning, etc. and not having to worry abou the room steward wanting to come in and make up the room. And quite often we will leave the room for an hour or two and come back to the room and it still hasn't been made up so then we feel like we need to leave again.

 

So, for us evening service is what we prefer. We can make up our own bed in the morning, and we keep a neat, tidy stateroom. They always give 4 bath towels and there are only 2 of us in the room so that is enough for us for the day.

 

Definitely would not decrease tips, as we feel once a day service is enough and the stewards still work very hard. We have almost always given an extra cash tip at the end of the cruise, and will continue to do so if the steward is pleasant and does the job we ask him or her to do.

[steve4031]

Iirc I read somewhere that a steward once had 15 rooms a day and now have 30 or more rooms to manage. How long does 1 service take? Assuming cabin occupants are not to messy, 15 minutes per cabin. If all cabins select twice a day service, that's 15 hours of non stop work. Not everybody takes twice a day, and my math may be off. Also I'm sure they have breaks in there. If they have other duties besides cleaning our cabins, then they have a pretty steep work load.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Beach710]

Wow, some of y'all are harsh. To suggest that you would "remove all gratuities" based on a decision made by some corporate Bigwig at Carnival seems out of line... don't forget that your pre-paid gratuities benefit not only your room steward, but all of the other staff. And if it was up to your steward, they would probably go the extra mile to make you smile. Even if Carnival did move to a permanently once-a-day cleaning service, I would NEVER ever dream of completely removing gratuities unless every single crew member I encountered throughout my cruise was rude and unaccomodating by choice.

 

That said, we have never had to choose between morning or evening; we have always received both. And we try to keep our room as tidy as possible knowing that these room stewards are responsible for 20+ rooms per cruise. I enjoy both morning and evening service, but if I had to choose, I would gladly give up the evening turn-down service. It is a nice perk, but really in the grand scheme of things, unnecessary. I'd rather continue to cruise for a reasonable rate on Carnival than pay extra for the evening turn-down service.

 

In any industry, costs continue to climb, and I understand that. If i can continue to cruise for under $100 per person per day while sacrificing the extra turn-down service, I would be fine with that. Every room steward we have ever had has gone above and beyond to make sure we had smiles on our faces and enjoyed every bit of our time on board. They have all earned every cent of the pre-paid gratuities, as well as the extra cash we usually budget in for excellent service. IF once per day cleaning services become a reality, we will not complain. We will still enjoy our reasonably priced vacation and MOVE ALONG!!

 

Not everyone is cruising for the same amount. I'm paying more than double this and not in a suite. Do you suggest people who are paying more should get more service? This is basically the concept of suites on many lines but there is a larger price difference and you get more space. How would people in inside cabins feel getting less service than those in outside or balcony cabins? To me it is a slippery slope.

[BNBR]

Just got off Glory and they did twice daily. One night, went down for dinner, realized I forgot my card - went back to the room just 10 - 15 minutes after leaving - the service was already done! I don't see an issue with providing twice daily service. The evening service they just clean do a quick turn down and pick up anyways. Overall, the service on Carnival this last week blew us away, very impressed.

[catemo_x]

So much wrong with this post.

 

- Since when do "most" know why a service tipped employee is underperforming. We, as customers, should not even be told sob stories that their work load has increased, decreased or anything.

 

- your gratuities do NOT do to all ship employees

 

- you sound like you are being held hostage by a tip.

 

- if you wish to do the work that you are being supplied with to perform, that's between you and he.

 

- if the persons assigned to me is not performing to my specifications for any reason, their tip WILL be adjusted.

 

- I've never had a room steward who "underperformed." They have always been exceptional. I've also never been told a "Sob story" from any employee on a Carnival ship. However, I do know they have a huge workload and get paid very little for it, less than minimum wage in the US. The reason anyone's cruise vacation is affordable is because they have cut costs in labor. A pre-paid gratuity helps to off-set that loss for the employees, but is also COMPLETELY optional. My point is that I would personally NEVER remove the gratuity COMPLETELY. These people work hard for a long time away from their families and deserve their tips.

 

-Maybe the gratuities do not go to "all" employees, but they don't just go to your room steward. So if you remove the pre-paids based on what you perceive as bad service from the steward, you're also taking your money away from cleaning staff who work in common areas, as well as kitchen and laundry staff etc.

 

-Never been "held hostage by a tip." I'm not even sure what you mean by that statement. I believe all service workers deserve to be tipped and I budget accordingly.

 

-Just because I don't leave my room a mess doesn't mean I'm doing the work for my room steward. I like things to be organized and I personally enjoy my cruise more when my surroundings reflect that. BUT I also know it means the steward can spend less time on my room if need be, in order to spend more time on a room where someone has been less conscientious.

 

-And yes, it is absolutely your right to adjust the tips how you see fit if you are receiving bad service. My original point is that i would personally never completely REMOVE the tip based on all the above reasons.

[iahawkize]

Yes my friends got twice a day service. I ended up making my own bed each morning because I didn't want to come back to an unmade room. In hindsight I should have requested morning service but I thought I might want to sleep late.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks mzlinda for joining our Carnival Sunshine December 10,2016 Meet & Mingle consider joining our thread located in the roll calls section

Ken "Sunshine Gang" Group leader

Edited October 23, 2016 by iahawkize

[EpcotBill]

I was on the October 16th Pride cruise. My steward asked me if I would like morning or evening service. I said both. He didn't show me the paper and didn't offer both. He definately made it seem like both was not an option.

Edited October 23, 2016 by EpcotBill

[jimbo5544]

I was on the October 16th Pride cruise. My steward asked me if I would like morning or evening service. I said both. He didn't show me the paper and didn't offer both. He definately made it seem like both was not an option.

 

 

What did you end up with?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Micahs Grandad]

What did you end up with?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Seems more and more passengers are getting pushed into once a day service.

[sparks1093]

Just back from Fascination and the steward never brought this up. We received superlative service twice a day.

[Duelpear]

This workload issue is NONE of my concern. My workload is between me and my employer, and has nothing to do with my patients. Same on a cruise.. the workload is between the crew and Carnival, and has nothing to do with me or any other guest.

 

Yeah? You work 7 days a week for months on end, too? Not getting to see your family except for every few months?

 

Seriously, some of you people need to get over yourselves. You're on Carnival, basically the cheapest major cruise line and you're expecting to be treated what, Like a Kardashian?

 

Look, I'm all for a good experience and everything but allowing some very hard working folks have a little lighter workload in exchange for me not needing to be treated like I'm Prince Charles, I'm a-ok with.

[tatt2ed]

I've yet to ever stay in a hotel anywhere (nor would I) where a night room needed to be turned into a day room, and then back to a night room.

 

When we started cruising, the two sofas, along the walls, were put together or set up as twin beds at night, then returned to wall couches. There was no bed in the middle of the room, even though the standard rooms were still 185 square feet.

 

These days you still have rooms with convertible couches, and beds that come from the walls or even the ceiling, as well as trundle beds. These all require twice a day service.

 

And still those of us that enjoy dress up and turn down service in the standard cabins. The living space is extremely small to even compare to a hotel room.

I agree to that point. One of our upcoming cruises we are doing 5 in a cabin. I surely am not setting up and putting away the 3 extra beds every day. If im paying 5 sets of gratuities to clean the same size cabin i better get something for it. And mind you we are the type that straightens up our cabin before the steward is allowed to clean it. So to me 2x a day should be the norm not the exception.

[tatt2ed]

As it has been stated many times, it is a trial. I can;t argue with your way of handing it, if (big if) it should occur. My advice, again if it were to occur, is handle it on the ship, if you can't get satisfaction, or you feel the experience was distasteful, when you return home, let Carnival know your thoughts as you displayed them here.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Even tho i have never encountered this my pvp asked my thoughts on it as well as other items. She even had me put it in an email to forward it on to the bean counters. From what she makes it seems is that carnival does care. But just as other billion dollar corporations they only care about their customers if it bolsters their bottom lines. And personally i dont blame them.

[jimbo5544]

Even tho i have never encountered this my pvp asked my thoughts on it as well as other items. She even had me put it in an email to forward it on to the bean counters. From what she makes it seems is that carnival does care. But just as other billion dollar corporations they only care about their customers if it bolsters their bottom lines. And personally i dont blame them.

 

 

They are a business, just like all other cruise lines. My post is based upon my conversations with various Carnival mgt friends. That is the best way to handle it, if it should occur.

 

While all stock companies have to answer to their stockholders, they also have a responsibility to put out the best product they can. I have talked with enough people at Carnival to know that they really want to do that. Not every idea floated out there is a home run. There have been enough people that are fine with once a day to make them think they can make this work. We will see

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

Edited October 24, 2016 by jimbo5544

[tatt2ed]

Whats next ? Limiting the food at the buffets ? Making the comedy club a 2 drink minimum ? Taking turns washing dishes ? Making us was our own towels and sheets ?

[falkcor]

I agree to that point. One of our upcoming cruises we are doing 5 in a cabin. I surely am not setting up and putting away the 3 extra beds every day. If im paying 5 sets of gratuities to clean the same size cabin i better get something for it. And mind you we are the type that straightens up our cabin before the steward is allowed to clean it. So to me 2x a day should be the norm not the exception.

 

exactly. this situation, 5 in a cabin, is a big part of why there is twice a day service. it's by design for the product they sell (5 people to a room, and small rooms to begin with). i don't like the slippery slope they're forcing. this said, while they increase gratuities, and are proposing as a 'trial' half the service, while apparently they increase the workload of the stewards. it's their problem, and i think the customer should be entitled to the service standards offered, and they can figure out their own staffing and payroll issues.

 

that's why i say so long as an option is offered, choose BOTH, regardless of whether you want it or not. otherwise soon enough we'll have a stupid comment about how they're going to reduce service further (and you'll still pay more). i still love carnival but you gotta tell them when they're being stupid and have crossed a line.

[falkcor]

Whats next ? Limiting the food at the buffets ? Making the comedy club a 2 drink minimum ? Taking turns washing dishes ? Making us was our own towels and sheets ?

 

exactly. agreed. i said the washing towels and added cleaning toilets a few 10's of posts back. i think we agree.

 

i am tired of 'apologists' trying to say 'oh please think of the poor steward when you 'demand' twice a day service' - come on... it is not our job to worry about the employment agreement between employee and big corporation - it is our job to say when they've gone too far.

 

if people keep accepting, and even worse, apologizing for the cruise line making further cuts, then the cruise line will keep taking, and will be in a downward spiral to the bottom.

[mummsie]

Just off Celebrity Spirit out of Sydney. One service a day and no option to ask for another. We didn't even see the steward until 8pm the first night. mummsie

[Cafedumonde]

I agree with those who have said that the contract is between employer and employee and not the responsibility of the customer. Also, if they are doing more rooms, they are collecting more gratuities. It is the customer who is squeezed in this situation, not the employee or employer. How then have some people managed to conclude that the customer should feel sorry for the employee? Twisted logic, emotions played.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Cafedumonde

[Computer Nerd]

We plan to opt for just evening service from our room steward. No need for twice a day for us. Many times on other cruises I will leave a sticky note on the door letting the room steward know that we don't require his/her service that morning, or if we see them in the hall I will let them know then. I prefer relaxing mornings, as I love having room service breakfast delivered to the room and eating on our balcony, relaxing with a pot of coffee and a good book on the balcony, showering in the morning, etc. and not having to worry abou the room steward wanting to come in and make up the room. And quite often we will leave the room for an hour or two and come back to the room and it still hasn't been made up so then we feel like we need to leave again.

 

So, for us evening service is what we prefer. We can make up our own bed in the morning, and we keep a neat, tidy stateroom. They always give 4 bath towels and there are only 2 of us in the room so that is enough for us for the day.

 

Definitely would not decrease tips, as we feel once a day service is enough and the stewards still work very hard. We have almost always given an extra cash tip at the end of the cruise, and will continue to do so if the steward is pleasant and does the job we ask him or her to do.

 

Just curious, are you more worried about how hard they work for you or for everyone else? Personally, I'm only worried about their workload for me and if they cut that workload in half (2 cleanings become 1 cleaning), then for me, their tips will be cut in half. What they do after they leave my cabin is of no concern to me.

[Computer Nerd]

Yeah? You work 7 days a week for months on end, too? Not getting to see your family except for every few months?

 

Seriously, some of you people need to get over yourselves. You're on Carnival, basically the cheapest major cruise line and you're expecting to be treated what, Like a Kardashian?

 

Look, I'm all for a good experience and everything but allowing some very hard working folks have a little lighter workload in exchange for me not needing to be treated like I'm Prince Charles, I'm a-ok with.

 

For many of us who were in the military, that was exactly how our life went.

 

Not expecting Kardashian treatment. Expecting to get what we pay for. It's that simple.