Which Ships are Pushing the Once a Day Room Servicing?

[bury me at sea]

So I am guessing you don't think it should be $3.90......;)

 

I think 3.90 per person per day for twice a day service is reasonable. Have never hesitated to pay it, and extra.

 

Neither do I object to the small increase.

 

Object only if forced to accept once a day service for the same amount of tip. I have stated that several times and don't know how to make it any clearer.

[RTlady00]

We just got off the Glory on Saturday and had both morning and evening service - same as on the Magic in June. Excellent stewards both cruise.

 

The only FAQ info on tips: - They don't provide a breakdown any longer

 

Should a guest not be satisfied with the service they receive, they can contact the Guest Services desk while onboard. This will allow us to address their concerns in a timely and appropriate fashion. At the discretion of the guest, they may adjust the gratuities at any time while onboard. Gratuities will be deemed undisputed unless a request to modify is received prior to disembarking the ship.

 

Please note the total gratuties per cruise:

 

Standard Staterooms & Suites

 

$12.95 USD

per person, per day

 

$13.95 USD

per person, per day

[jimbo5544]

Actually a very telling post and a prediction of things to come.

 

 

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[sanmarcosman]

I think 3.90 per person per day for twice a day service is reasonable. Have never hesitated to pay it, and extra.

 

Neither do I object to the small increase.

 

Object only if forced to accept once a day service for the same amount of tip. I have stated that several times and don't know how to make it any clearer.

 

I don't see how you could make it any clearer either and I wouldn't begin to try ;)

[poobears]

The conclusion I've come to is before I was giving them extra tips for twice a day service with all the extras little touches. Now I'll just leave Carnivals standard tips in place and accept their once a day service without the extra touches for the increased price and leave no additional tip. Standard service=standard tip

[Computer Nerd]

The conclusion I've come to is before I was giving them extra tips for twice a day service with all the extras little touches. Now I'll just leave Carnivals standard tips in place and accept their once a day service without the extra touches for the increased price and leave no additional tip. Standard service=standard tip

 

I can't speak for others but to me, Standard service=twice a day cleaning. So if it goes to once a day cleaning then Half service=Half tip.

[blondietink]

So, if a steward has 35 cabins, and if the tip is $4.00 per person per day, then he/she is making $280.00 per day if they are all 2 person cabins. There are probably cabins in the mix with a solo passenger and/or cabins with more than 2 people in them (like ours) along with people who remove their tips.

 

If they have 25 cabins, then they are making $200 per day.

 

I believe the cabin stewards work very hard for their money.

 

Last cruise we only ate in the MDR once, but my tips still remained the same. So, I expect some of the wait team lost money on the fact that we didn't go to the MDR and others possibly got extra tip distributed? Who knows?

 

I remember speaking with a bank teller at Port Canaveral once and she said that when the ships are in port and the crew come in to cash their checks/put money in their account/pay bills, etc, that their checks were much larger than hers at the bank.

[Je Souhaite]

If there is a pool then they are required to put any cash tips into the pool. If they don't then they face the wrath of their fellow employees. In any event once I've left the tip my obligation is over, if the employer is doing something improper then it's up the employees to rectify it.

 

Nope. If it's cash, they keep the whole thing. John Heald confirmed this.

[sparks1093]

Nope. If it's cash, they keep the whole thing. John Heald confirmed this.

 

Sure. You said that if you left it for the bartender on the card they had to split it with the pool but if you tipped in cash they could keep it all. Tip pools cannot and do not work that way. Ever. Anywhere. It's all or nothing at all. So there is a pool or there isn't. If they keep the cash then they also get what's on the card. (I don't know for sure one way or the other and don't really care because as I've said once I've left the tip my obligation has ended and what happens to it isn't my concern, but I do know how tip pools work.)

Edited October 26, 2016 by sparks1093

[MCFTJCH2V]

Sure. You said that if you left it for the bartender on the card they had to split it with the pool but if you tipped in cash they could keep it all. Tip pools cannot and do not work that way. Ever. Anywhere. It's all or nothing at all. So there is a pool or there isn't. If they keep the cash then they also get what's on the card. (I don't know for sure one way or the other and don't really care because as I've said once I've left the tip my obligation has ended and what happens to it isn't my concern, but I do know how tip pools work.)

 

Jesuit is correct. If you're tipping extra and to want the whole staff to split it, add it on your receipt. If you want the extra tip to go just to a specific person, just tip in cash.

[sparks1093]

Jesuit is correct. If you're tipping extra and to want the whole staff to split it, add it on your receipt. If you want the extra tip to go just to a specific person, just tip in cash.

 

If you say so but that goes against everything that I know about tip pools.

[pugsley1992]

Two weeks ago on the Valor we were not asked about service. Must have been twice a day since steward was out and about early. We only like evening service so put " snoozin" sign out.

[jsglow]

We got excellent service twice daily on Freedom last week. But this was the first time I had to specifically request an ice bucket. Provided immediately and regularly refilled.

 

We also always make it a point to keep our cabin tidy. First, it makes a small space very livable. Second, it reduces the workload for the staff to what's necessary and important. All good.

[Computer Nerd]

We got excellent service twice daily on Freedom last week. But this was the first time I had to specifically request an ice bucket. Provided immediately and regularly refilled.

 

We also always make it a point to keep our cabin tidy. First, it makes a small space very livable. Second, it reduces the workload for the staff to what's necessary and important. All good.

 

That changed, I'm guessing, about a year ago. To save on ice and cleaning up the water for those who didn't want it to begin with.

[jimbo5544]

That changed, I'm guessing, about a year ago. To save on ice and cleaning up the water for those who didn't want it to begin with.

 

 

Ore the former than the latter, not really sure what savings on ice there is but many and I mean many were never touched. Hence the removal

 

 

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[I Luv Crusin]

I sailed on Pride in July. Received the card checked both boxes and had service twice daily

 

I sailed the Pride in September and no card and service both morning and night.:confused:

[sparks1093]

That changed, I'm guessing, about a year ago. To save on ice and cleaning up the water for those who didn't want it to begin with.

 

We didn't receive ice until my bucket of beer hit the cabin, then we got it twice a day without asking for it and we kept our drinks in the bucket. The steward put a folded up towel under the bucket and that handled the condensation.

[Micahs Grandad]

Ore the former than the latter, not really sure what savings on ice there is but many and I mean many were never touched. Hence the removal

 

 

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Interesting when suddenly you had to request ice.

 

People started to think they should tip extra to the steward for extra work.

 

Very often we do not touch the ice but we like it to be there when we want it as opposed to calling room service or making trip to lido for ice

[jimbo5544]

Seems that's the way it works (tipping that is). Not required, but at the clients prerogative. That said, has zero to do with whether people want or wish to have ice.

 

 

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[funinthesun1964]

Interesting when suddenly you had to request ice.

 

People started to think they should tip extra to the steward for extra work.

 

Very often we do not touch the ice but we like it to be there when we want it as opposed to calling room service or making trip to lido for ice

 

 

Yes, I know what you're saying. Ice was in your cabin, up until a couple of years ago all the time, whether you asked for it or not.

Now, you have to ask for ice and then feel as if you should tip more for extra work.

Now, if you have to ask for twice a day room service, you feel as if you should tip more for the extra work.

 

Makes you wonder what it's going to come down to in a few years.

 

I won't be needing ice this time, as I bought Cheers package, and water at room temperature is fine with me. But if I pre-order beer for my cabin, I want the ice.

 

But I definitely want twice-a-day service in the cabin, just as I've always had.

I board Splendor on Sunday and will advise.

[nealstuber]

Seems that's the way it works (tipping that is). Not required, but at the clients prerogative. That said, has zero to do with whether people want or wish to have ice.

 

 

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Disagree, when I ask the steward to do something that is out of his normal routine, I feel like I'm asking for something extra even if it is in steward's job description. I usually tip extra, in part because we do ask for ice, robes and other things that used to be a given. Now, with respect to the issue at hand, it would certainly seem that if I ask for twice a day service, on a ship that has once a day as the standard and has redistributed extra rooms accordingly, I would think steward's perspective is that I'm asking for twice as much so I feel obligated to for a much larger extra tip. I'm not wild about that, I don't many other are either.

 

 

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[KatieCharlotte]

Okay, I'm just going to say that I don't think there's an ice conspiracy :D and I think it make sense to provide ice only when requested rather than to everyone. I also accept the argument that not everyone uses the robes and it's a lot of unnecessary laundry. I think it is reasonable to use a card to take requests for ice and robes. I would not feel that I was asking for something extra that required an extra tip when ice and robes are offered as choices on a card. Without the card, it starts to feel like a special request... and newbies wouldn't know to ask.

[jimbo5544]

Disagree, when I ask the steward to do something that is out of his normal routine, I feel like I'm asking for something extra even if it is in steward's job description. I usually tip extra, in part because we do ask for ice, robes and other things that used to be a given. Now, with respect to the issue at hand, it would certainly seem that if I ask for twice a day service, on a ship that has once a day as the standard and has redistributed extra rooms accordingly, I would think steward's perspective is that I'm asking for twice as much so I feel obligated to for a much larger extra tip. I'm not wild about that, I don't many other are either.

 

 

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All those are your choice, not Carnival direction. If you feel it is above and beyond and you want to tip the RS at the end of the cruise then go ahead. In regards to your second point, it is not what the RS feels is appropriate (regardless on whether it is once or twice) is immaterial. It is what you think. We always tip more but our criteria (of what we think is deserving vs what you do and how much of anything that it is worth) might be totally different than yours....and both are not wrong.

 

I no more think Carnival is doing this for any other reason other than they think it is partly what their cruisers want than it is part of of a cost cutting conspiracy. There are some here who do and everybody is welcome to their own opinion. Just my two cents on the subject.

 

 

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[nealstuber]

All those are your choice, not Carnival direction. If you feel it is above and beyond and you want to tip the RS at the end of the cruise then go ahead. In regards to your second point, it is not what the RS feels is appropriate (regardless on whether it is once or twice) is immaterial. It is what you think. We always tip more but our criteria (of what we think is deserving vs what you do and how much of anything that it is worth) might be totally different than yours....and both are not wrong.

 

I no more think Carnival is doing this for any other reason other than they think it is partly what their cruisers want than it is part of of a cost cutting conspiracy. There are some here who do and everybody is welcome to their own opinion. Just my two cents on the subject.

 

 

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Remember the days when you had to beet servers of with a stick on the pool deck (especially on departures day)?

 

Under those circumstances I was happy to order a drink to stop the barrage and never considered adding an extra tip. Now, servers are so scarce, a generous extra tip (or better yet cash) is more or less mandatory on the pool deck if you expect to see the server a second time (btw it is far worse on RCCL these days).

 

I'm not calling it a conspiracy theory, but you would have to have your head in the sand not to see the conscious effort to lower customer expectations on all of the mainstream lines and the one day service thing is one of the more blatant examples.

 

If it resulted in lower fares , I might be more willing to accept a more streamlined product. But cruise fare increases, drinks and other extras alonf with service service charges (tips) are exceeding the inflation rate despite the fact that the cruise lines primary costs: fuel, labor, and interest on capital have been flat or stagnant.

 

Fares are going up, product quality is decreasing in part because experience cruisers accept it.

 

 

 

 

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[pusywillow]

I sailed the Pride in September and no card and service both morning and night.:confused:

 

I was on the Pride in Sept and Oct and there was a card. Some stewards may have not showed them to you. I also got twice a day service on all three of my cruises.