BalekFekete Posted May 7, 2018 #176 Share Posted May 7, 2018 T-minus 80 days until boarding the Anthem, and while I wish I hadn't stumbled across this thread until AFTER I finished eating lunch, I'm certainly going to A. bring some cleaning supplies with me and B. pay a hellva lot more attention to the state of the cabin upon arrival. I've been blindly unaware of the potential for this type of filth, but won't be moving forward. Thanks OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHARTWICK Posted May 7, 2018 #177 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Holy moly, I'm no germophobe, but I think I'll be packing along some Lysol wipes next time! Same here. We sail on Liberty in less than two weeks. I think I'll just try to avoid the temptation of checking the air filters/air intakes. After reading this thread, it doesn't seem like RCCL even cares anyway. Very disappointing, but my guess is most of the cabins have these issues. Same with hotel rooms. Thanks to the OP for bringing it to our attention. So sad...and disappointing. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshikitty Posted May 7, 2018 #178 Share Posted May 7, 2018 That's not an RCI issue only. We have been on Celebrity Solstice last year for a Tahitian Treasure (many seadays) cruise. From day one, we both where dry coughing and had respiratory issues. On day 2 I have asked our steward to replace the air filter in the cabin and assumed that he did so. Our coughing was constantly there, we felt ill and thus spent lots of times in cabin (and bed) to make sure that we where at least ok on Bora Bora and Tahiti. We mostly needed NiQuil for the nights and put our health issues to bad luck. After our first stop in New Zealand (day 14, only more days to go), I told my wife, that everytime that we had been on shore, our health was significantly better., I immediately confronted our cabin Steward with this and asked, if he had replaced the filter when I have asked him. He told me, that his supervisor told him to vacuum it and that's what he did. A serious talk with him and his boss followed and the filter had been immediately replaced (I never saw how it looked like) and the entire cabin had been sanitized the next day. Our problems suddenly and immediately disappeared! We partly blame ourselfs not having followed our request up in the first place but we will make sure to demand a replacement of the cabin filter on our next cruise. The airfilter basically ruined our long cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted May 7, 2018 #179 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Lived in Florida all my life. The hottest I have ever been was in Columbia, South Carolina June-August. Army Boot Camp and no AC. Sent from my iPhone using Forums The first time we went to Orlando was October 6th 1992 for 3 weeks and it was so hot we didn't want to get out of the car as the AC was great.Now we tend to come across for Thanksgiving,or New Year and the latest was late February 2016 when we added in a Bahamas cruise from PC. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravisP Posted May 7, 2018 #180 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Lived in Florida all my life. The hottest I have ever been was in Columbia, South Carolina June-August. Army Boot Camp and no AC. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Yes it does get warm here in the summer. I live just a few miles from Fort Jackson. Here is a advertisement the the City of Columbia did a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare little britain Posted May 7, 2018 #181 Share Posted May 7, 2018 I looked for my air vent in my cabin on Navigator this week. When I finally found it hidden behind the door, I though I would try the “finger test”.... spotless. I then tried a wet wipe... spotless. Panic over. End of. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70s first Posted May 7, 2018 #182 Share Posted May 7, 2018 OMG, we are cruising for the first time in August on an older ship. I have been reading so many negative posts I'm wondering if we made the right decision to cruise. If I find our cabin is less than I expect I will complain to?????????? Guest Services office, or who please????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmenOH Posted May 7, 2018 #183 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Good Lord, just go and enjoy your cruise. If you have a problem with the room mention it to the attendant if it’s not taken care of go down to guest services and then grab a drink at the pool bar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
time4u2go Posted May 7, 2018 #184 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Good Lord, just go and enjoy your cruise. If you have a problem with the room mention it to the attendant if it’s not taken care of go down to guest services and then grab a drink at the pool bar They did. Did you not read the original post? It's a little difficult to "just go and enjoy your cruise" when one has difficulty breathing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmenOH Posted May 8, 2018 #185 Share Posted May 8, 2018 They did. Did you not read the original post? It's a little difficult to "just go and enjoy your cruise" when one has difficulty breathing. I was not referring to the OP. I was answering the questions to the post above and apparently did not hit “ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
time4u2go Posted May 8, 2018 #186 Share Posted May 8, 2018 I was not referring to the OP. I was answering the questions to the post above and apparently did not hit “ Ah got it! Thanks for clearing that up! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marci22 Posted May 8, 2018 #187 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Pressure fit; no tools needed to remove that vent cover Good to know. Glad you posted and brought attention to this issue. Even after the recent refresh, our Adventure cabin already had dust buildup along baseboards and on the edge of the bedside tables. Smelled mustier than I would expect after a refurb and next cruise at end of summer I will be checking the filters. After that I have no more cruises booked. Maybe I will feel better if I look and see a clean filter. Have to say that a bad bedding experience really left a lasting negative impression on Freedom. My kids kept complaining of a bad odor coming from the bed. I finally pulled the sheets off and the bedding was really hideously stained with multiple large brown and yellow circles; it smelled terrible. They did locate a cleaner mattress and replace it that day but the memory does stick with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted May 8, 2018 #188 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Good to know. Glad you posted and brought attention to this issue. Even after the recent refresh, our Adventure cabin already had dust buildup along baseboards and on the edge of the bedside tables. Smelled mustier than I would expect after a refurb and next cruise at end of summer I will be checking the filters. After that I have no more cruises booked. Maybe I will feel better if I look and see a clean filter. Have to say that a bad bedding experience really left a lasting negative impression on Freedom. My kids kept complaining of a bad odor coming from the bed. I finally pulled the sheets off and the bedding was really hideously stained with multiple large brown and yellow circles; it smelled terrible. They did locate a cleaner mattress and replace it that day but the memory does stick with you. Not so long ago there was a thread on Bed bugs on Independence i think it was although some posted for other ships too. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkkunk Posted May 9, 2018 #189 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Not so long ago there was a thread on Bed bugs on Independence i think it was although some posted for other ships too. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Bed bugs! My worst nightmare! We also had a bad experience with bedding on the Allure in a GS. It wasn’t the mattress but the down comforter inside a not so clean duvet cover on the sofa bed. That comforter was so dirty it was almost brown. I was so disgusted, I threw it out into the hallway by the door. My poor son froze half the night. I guess security made a report on it and the next day, not only did our room steward ask us about it, but the head of housekeeping came to our room. They brought clean everything for the sofa bed. We also received a bottle of wine. ( We didn’t ask for it, it was sent with an apology note.) We always check the room now and the sofa bed bedding. Half the time we ask for clean bedding for the sofa bed because it just doesn’t look clean and we ask them NOT to put it back under the bed. They usually fold it and stack it at one end of the sofa, which is fine with us. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruiselvr04 Posted May 9, 2018 #190 Share Posted May 9, 2018 The pics of the filthy wipes on this thread got me. I was on this same cruise deck 10. We wipe the room down every time with sanitizing wipes for our peace of mind. Our cabin on this cruise was very clean including baseboards. Our wipes had very little on them. The DH even commented that this was one of our cleanest cabins ever. My point is the ops room was NOT clean to normal standards as his wipes were filthy. If we had had wipes that dirty I would have had to say something to someone. I can’t comment on the the air filters. To me it’s two different issues. One the steward has control over and the other is maintenance. Or maybe they hadn’t had any anyone like me stay in that room for a long time! Lol. While I don’t like to clean on vacation it’s just something we do when we move in for 9 nights as this cruise was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkkunk Posted May 9, 2018 #191 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Like I said earlier, some room stewards are just better at their job and care more. Just like at a hotel one time, our original room was not clean to our standards. We complained, they moved us to another room. Those two rooms were night and day! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted May 9, 2018 #192 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Like I said earlier, some room stewards are just better at their job and care more. Just like at a hotel one time, our original room was not clean to our standards. We complained, they moved us to another room. Those two rooms were night and day! Sent from my iPhone using Forums My thoughts too.We had a Chinese lady CS on Harmony and she moved the bed and hoovered underneath and the room was spotless. I cannot understand why 99% of CS are young men when in hotels it seems 99% are women room stewards. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FionaMG Posted May 9, 2018 #193 Share Posted May 9, 2018 I cannot understand why 99% of CS are young men when in hotels it seems 99% are women room stewards. My guess is that it's simply easier for young men to be away from home for the long periods of time required by crew contracts than it is for women. A lot of the female cleaners working in hotels will be going home to take care of their families when their working day is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted May 9, 2018 #194 Share Posted May 9, 2018 My guess is that it's simply easier for young men to be away from home for the long periods of time required by crew contracts than it is for women. A lot of the female cleaners working in hotels will be going home to take care of their families when their working day is done.Nowadays nothing stopping the men looking after the family.Personally my wife and i agree our cabins have always been much cleaner and hoovered daily when we have had women CS and we are delighted when we have a lady CS. We have often commented about things on the carpets which have been there all week when a hoover would have removed them instantly. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted May 9, 2018 #195 Share Posted May 9, 2018 My guess is that it's simply easier for young men to be away from home for the long periods of time required by crew contracts than it is for women. A lot of the female cleaners working in hotels will be going home to take care of their families when their working day is done. Nowadays nothing stopping the men looking after the family. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Unfortunately, this is a case of applying your cultural norms to others. While you are correct that in the US, the UK, and most of Western Europe, there is far less stigma about men being "Mr. Mom", that does not apply to many of the countries where the crew come from. This is the reason that 98+% of merchant mariners today are male. The same with guest workership, where most are men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatour Posted May 9, 2018 #196 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Chengkp75 beat me to it. It is more of a cultureal thing. I wouldn't necesary call it a stigma, but an expectation. The husband is the primary bread winner while wife stays home and takes care of the children/household. For example my wife is filipino. Her dad was in the Navy. After having several duty stations, he was assigned to Jacksonville Mayport base when she was 6. From then on when he was assigned to a different duty station, the family stayed in Jacksonville and he we would periodically fly back on weekends. I don't believe my MIL had any type of job. My wife's aunts and uncles were similiar. Although a couple of the aunt's did have part time jobs off an on. For my wife's generation it is a mixture of both parents working full time and some where just the husband works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.A Posted May 9, 2018 #197 Share Posted May 9, 2018 I’ve waited some time to post this. I wanted to give RCI the opportunity to address this. They never did address to my satisfaction meaning they did not want to explain why we encountered this or why this is acceptable maintenance standards. On the first evening of our 9 night Navigator cruise when we finally got to the room to unwind and unpack after a few minutes my wife complained that it was difficult to breathe. She went on the balcony and was fine but a few minutes after coming back in same complaint. It was approximately 845pm at this point. I have about a dozen photos of the condition of our room but I’ll post these to start and let you form your own opinions. Many of the issues were discovered day one and taken to guest services where we were outright lied to by the Assistant Guest Service Manager Maria onboard Navigator as to how the situation would be handled. No one from RCI corporate disputes the fact that Maria mislead us. I was able to meet on another day, with strong pressing of the issues, the Guest Services Manager Mr.Newell and his boss Hotel Director Mr.Davies. They chose to accept my photos and declined inspecting the room for themselves. Let me be clear; spending time on vacation in meetings is a WASTE of my vacation time. On day one we had maintenance workers in our room until 1130pm and on day two we were asked to vacate our room for several hours while workers tried to access the air handler and replaced trashed carpet. If not for the efforts of the Diamond Concierge Patricia we would have left the ship very disappointed. The first photo shows the cabin air filter as it was day one. The second photo shows the same filter after ship personnel banged it out and reinstalled the spent filter. The third photo shows the new filter they finally located and installed. More to follow. These are the exact same photos I provided onboard management and to Mr. Bayleys office and my travel agent. I was offered an FCC last Thursday but the terms on the FCC do not match what I was told verbally by the corporate office. Would you expect to find this in a cruise ship room? Sent from my iPhone using Forums We found a pair of glasses left behind by a previous occupant on the floor of our room. Our stateroom attendant had obviously not vacuumed anywhere near the bedside table or curtains by the windows (we were in a balcony room). This was on the transatlantic cruise with Navigator and we found that cleanliness of the room was far worse than on the transatlantic two years ago. That air filter is a health hazard and it is shocking that they allow them to get to state poor state. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted May 9, 2018 #198 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Unfortunately, this is a case of applying your cultural norms to others. While you are correct that in the US, the UK, and most of Western Europe, there is far less stigma about men being "Mr. Mom", that does not apply to many of the countries where the crew come from. This is the reason that 98+% of merchant mariners today are male. The same with guest workership, where most are men. Maybe they need to expand their recruitment.Every female CS has kept our cabins immaculate and just concentrated on her job. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted May 9, 2018 #199 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Maybe they need to expand their recruitment.Every female CS has kept our cabins immaculate and just concentrated on her job. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app Unfortunately, given the wages, there isn't a lot of demand for these jobs outside the countries where they currently recruit. I believe you'll find that most female stewards are either young and single, or have grown children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted May 9, 2018 #200 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Maybe they need to expand their recruitment.Every female CS has kept our cabins immaculate and just concentrated on her job. Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app You know, of all our cruises, we have only had a female as a Cabin Steward one time. That was GS on 4 night EN. We have had two CS males while in GS that their wife also worked onboard as a CS. Once they shared towel making responsibilities. In each case, the spouse worked on a different deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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