Do you straighten up your stateroom before you leave?

[hajekfam]

They changed the sheets daily on our Celebrity transatlantic. They were always so crisp each night.

[gkm]

I'm another one who puts things away and tidies up the cabin. I don't make the bed, but all of our belongings are put away.

 

Garry

[constantcruiser]

This is hilarious -- I do exactly the same thing. DH always goes to breakfast early, while I get ready and clean the room. I refuse to take the "do not disturb" sign off the door until everything is tidy. He thinks I'm nuts...but I do the same thing at home before the housekeeper arrives.

 

One time we were walking down the hall right after leaving the cabin and DH told me he forgot something and would meet me on deck. When we caught up with each other, I asked him what he had forgotten...and he said "Oh nothing...I just went back to the cabin to mess it up before the steward got in to clean!" I was furious until he finally admitted he was just teasing.

[JimnKaren]

There is an advantage to putting things in order before you leave your cabin in the morning, you know where everything is. Once, early in our cruising, we did not "neaten" up and when we returned the cabin steward and stowed a lot of things that we were not sure where they were. That convinced us that if we wanted to find something, we better put it away.

 

Jim

[Druke I]

My wife and I are relatively "neat" types, but she does spruce up the cabin often when we leave for the morning.

 

She does the same thing before the cleaning lady comes to our house.

 

I guess we shouldn't let anyone know we have frailities.

[catmand]

AkaWanda and I have a running joke and that is we are guaranteed to trash any hotel/motel/cruise room/cabin within 30 minutes of arriving. After the initial "stuff pile" is put away, we keep things relatively neat though out the stay. After cruise number one we took one of those over the door shoe rack thingys and it really helped keep all the small things in check.

We do straighten the room, the bed, and pile wet towels before we take off in the morning.

[flagger]

Since I am a good tipper, I don't feel the need to work like a cabin steward.

And for those of us who don't tip at all, we do our fair share to clean our own cabin. :)

 

We also pack our own towels, toilet paper and magic bullet blender.

[HurricaneSally]

Flagger, I will never forgive you for not tipping. I think it's really cheap. Please consider tipping your cruise staff.

[hmg]

We keep the room pretty neat--better than home, in fact!

 

I have seen rooms, like you, that you wonder who lives in there?

I'm sorry to say that my sons live there! :eek: And yes, their cabin steward gets quite a large tip...

[Karynanne]

We keep everything pretty tidy...We get into the rhythm of "cabin life" pretty quick, and each have our own routine. We don't make the bed, but straighten it out...

 

Karyn

[SEPyle]

I'm the type that crawls around on the floor in the restaraunt and picks up any food that my kids might have dropped. I've had several waiters rush over to stop me....but I just don't think that they should have to do it.

 

first of all, I love this thread...do you notice not one slob has replied, only the neat-nicks!;)

 

I love what you said about picking up after your kids in a restaraunt. All three of my girls at various times have been servers in the restaraunt business. It amazes them and me that people leave such a mess from children. Sometimes I want to go up and say: Do you allow that at home??? My girls are 26; 28; and 30 and even though not married yet, the prospect of grandchildren is not a given for me. I say it's due to a big part of their background waiting tables! We have always eaten out a lot and I would never think of leaving a big mess for someone else to pick up! Wonder if they are the same ones who leave a messy cabin????:D

 

Oh yes, to put this all into perspective...my girls are the ones to leave their room in a MESS during a cruise! They are great tippers though, so at least the cabin seward does get some satisfaction after their stay!!

[JCSM-Mom]

first of all, I love this thread...do you notice not one slob has replied, only the neat-nicks!;)

 

I love what you said about picking up after your kids in a restaraunt. All three of my girls at various times have been servers in the restaraunt business. It amazes them and me that people leave such a mess from children. Sometimes I want to go up and say: Do you allow that at home??? My girls are 26; 28; and 30 and even though not married yet, the prospect of grandchildren is not a given for me. I say it's due to a big part of their background waiting tables! We have always eaten out a lot and I would never think of leaving a big mess for someone else to pick up! Wonder if they are the same ones who leave a messy cabin????:D

 

Oh yes, to put this all into perspective...my girls are the ones to leave their room in a MESS during a cruise! They are great tippers though, so at least the cabin seward does get some satisfaction after their stay!!

 

I will admit that it's actually easier at home because I have two dogs! :o Who help clean up the dropped food.

 

Interestingly enough though, since we have always tried to keep the kids from throwing food we don't really have that much that makes it to the floor. Just those pesky bites that slip off the untensil on the way to the mouth. They are still getting the hang of using utensils.

 

Tipping does go a long way in apologizing for a mess! :)

[Live2vacation]

KAJOKG, this is too funny. I thought I was the only one that tried to use only one trash can in the room. I can't see putting a little piece here, and a little piece there, when one can will hold everything I need to throw away. It also hurts me badly when there is no plastic bag liner in the can. I hate that someone actually has to wipe out the inside of a trash can.

[Kate-AHF]

Livetovacation, thank you! You just reminded me to bring some small can liners when we sail next month. Unlined trash cans just make me twitch. Sigh. I wonder if there is a twelve step program for this problem.

 

I spread up the bed, not make it. Towels are neatly folded on the edge of the tub, and everything is put away. Clutter, particularly in a small space, makes me nuts. Used breakfast trays included. I always drape a napkin over them so I don't have look at it.

 

Hummmm.....in reading this over, I wonder if I have a mild case of OCD.

[Peaches1117]

I don't make the bed, but do put the used towels in a pile and gather up personal belongings. DH and I also try to gather up the trash in one area (like the breakfast tray). It's our mess, so we should try to take care of it.

It's funny that my mother always told me when I was a teen that I should marry a rich man because I was going to need a maid; ironically I "hired" HER several years ago to take care of my house while I went back to school and worked full-time!:rolleyes:

[Mparis184]

My husband tells me I keep the cabin cleaner than I keep our house at home - he is right. I keep everything put away and VERY neat, I am NOT that way at home. If someone passed our cabin and the door was open they would never know there were two people in the cabin.

No, I don't make the bed. Just keep everything out of sight - BUT, don't try to open any of the drawers!

You know what I mean.

Bon Voyage and Happy Sailing - just a few more weeks to go, Infinity here we come!

Marion

[nu2sea]

We spent twelve years traveling full time in a motorhome. Everytime we moved it, no matter how short the distance, everything had to be put away to avoid breakage.

Perhaps because we are at sea, which does have a tendency to move, we still put everything away, having no desire to find a broken bottle of cologne or a fallen book upon our return. (Not that that is likely, but it is one of the [B]good[/B] habits we retained!:p )

It does make it easier for the housekeeping staff, but I also like to return to the cabin and find it looking like the day we first stepped into it, with everything in its place.:)

But no, I don't make the bed (or even straighten it) or fold towels. We do tend to put the towels together for easy pick up.

[poetic license]

We are maniacs about keeping the room picked up, especially in such tight quarters. I don't make the bed, though, and stack the used towels right by the door of the bathroom to make it easy on our steward. We bring all of our own shampoo, shower gel, etc. and keep all our toiletries in the undercabinets in the bathrooms, again, to avoid clutter in tight quarters and facilitate the REAL cleaning of our bathroom.

I don't understand people who don't do these very small things, either. We're not total slobs at home, so why do that on vacation? Like most on this thread, we feel better in tidier surroundings, and take the view that being considerate to the staff who are making our vacation a total pleasure is the least we can do.

[gone_cruisin]

We pull the sheets at least up to the pillows (a half attempt to make the bed). All towels are either neatly hung or in a pile just outside the bathroom. Everything always put in the closest or the drawer. Last thing we want is be viewed as lazy, slobbish Americans.

[CaptData]

I try to leave the towels in a pile as I use them to sop up water from my shower. H/C showers usually allows water toflow over some of the bathroom. I put garbage in the cans for it (paper in one and cans in another). I don't make the bed but I do tidy up as much as I can.

[amapola]

Count me in with the tidy ones. I travel often on business and for vacations, and I can't stand to have a messy hotel room or cabin. I straighten the bedsheets but don't make the bed, leave everything put away in drawers or closets, etc. To me, it's common courtesy to the housekeeper or steward (and I do tip well ;) even without a mess LOL).

But I do have a story about an encounter with a hotel slob. LOL A couple of years ago I was in Seattle for an annual get-together with some friends (women only). Since my flight didn't leave until 11 pm, I dropped off my suitcase at a friend's room when I checked out the last day (she was staying an extra day). When I went up to the room to freshen up for the long haul home, I was :eek: at the condition of her room. There wasn't an inch of space on the bathroom countertop that wasn't occupied by makeup, hair stuff, brushes, scrunchies... all strewn about wildly. All her clothes were scattered all over the room -- and it was an all-suite hotel, so this was TWO rooms that were covered wall to wall in (dirty??) clothes! Her suitcase was open on the floor with more clothes spilling out of it. It was so awful, I was actually embarrased to be there. :eek:

[many cruises]

I always tidy up the room before we leave. I put all personal belongings away & put towels in a pile to be changed. I don't make the bed, but the room is ready to be cleaned.:)

[kryos]

[quote name='flagger']It is a force of habit for us. We make the bed, hang our towels up, put our dirty clothes in a foldup hamper in the closet before we walk out of our room. We could get away with using the same towels all week long like we do at home, but they change them out anyway.

The only time we leave the bed unmade is on the last day because we know they will be changing the sheets.

I have walked by some staterooms with open doors that have looked like a F3 has gone through that small part of the ship.[/QUOTE]
I am spoiled rotten. I have my dad living with me ... retired for years ... 92 years of age and probably in better shape than me. He keeps the house neat ... actually enjoys it ... and even does the laundry once a week. So, I am used to not having to do anything other than pick up after myself here.

On a cruise ship? Straighten out the stateroom before I leave? No. I'm too busy checking all the drawers to make sure I'm not leaving anything behind. :)

Of course, once you are all packed up, there isn't much to straighten up, is there? And, at least in my case, I don't leave the stateroom messy. Other than an unmade bed on that final morning, and some towels on the bathroom floor from my shower, there's really nothing to straighten up. The cabin steward is gonna change all the linens anyway, so why bother making the bed?

Blue skies ...

--rita

[kryos]

[quote name='many cruises']I always tidy up the room before we leave. I put all personal belongings away & put towels in a pile to be changed. I don't make the bed, but the room is ready to be cleaned.:)[/QUOTE]
On a daily basis I don't tidy up much before leaving my stateroom for the morning or evening. But then, I make sure to put everything in its place when I unpack upon arrival, so there really isn't much to straighten up. Other than perhaps a sweatshirt thrown over the back of a chair, I don't leave clothes laying around. They are either hung in the closet or folded in drawers, and dirties are stored in a plastic bag in my duffle bag which is usually on the closet floor.

Believe me, the cabin steward has it easy with me. But then, I am usually the only one in the cabin, so it's easy not to make a mess.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[kryos]

[quote name='hajekfam']They changed the sheets daily on our Celebrity transatlantic. They were always so crisp each night.[/QUOTE]
Really? I don't think my sheets were changed every day ... but then I was only on a five-day Caribbean itinerary aboard the Zenith. Even on my other cruises of longer duration, on other lines, I think the sheets are normally changed twice a week ... unless, of course, you request them changed more often, or have a need to have them changed (such as dropping a can of Coke all over the bed one evening as I did) ... :(

But everyday? Wow, you sure did get the royal treatment!

Blue skies ...

--rita