Cabin steward question

[rsail203]

We're on the Bliss now. Day 3 of our 14 day cruise. It's now 1:20 and our steward has yet to come in for the morning cleanup. On the first day my wife told him at around 9 PM when he came to clean that we eat early and could he clean the cabin in the evening at 6 Pm. The next day he came at 9. Is this normal? On other cruises, they cleaned the cabin around your schedule. How many cabins do they have? Why do they come so late? We don't want to complain to his bosses as we have to live with him for 2 weeks. What can we do?

[$hip$hape]

13 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

We're on the Bliss now.

Day 3 of our 14 day cruise.

It's now 1:20 and our steward has yet to come in for the morning cleanup.

On the first day my wife told him at around 9 PM when he came to clean that we eat early and could he clean the cabin in the evening at 6 Pm.

The next day he came at 9. Is this normal?

On other cruises, they cleaned the cabin around your schedule. How many cabins do they have? Why do they come so late? We don't want to complain to his bosses as we have to live with him for 2 weeks.

What can we do?

Talk to your steward.

(You may be interested of working hours.)

I'm sure he/she would like to comply.

Edited February 4, 2020 by $hip$hape

[tef43]

Is perhaps your light requesting service not set correctly?

 

[rsail203]

It's working fine and being ignored.

[jemz1949]

In reading your original post, I'm confused as to what you want and what has been asked of him....my guess is that he might be as well.  As $hip$hape suggests, talk to your steward.  

[ColeThornton]

17 minutes ago, $hip$hape said:

Talk to your steward.

I'm sure he/she would like to comply.

 

 

Yep, and if he doesn't comply then speak to his superiors.  Simple.  It may be that there are other guests who want the steward to accommodate them also.  It's not always possible.

[BirdTravels]

7 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

It's working fine and being ignored.

Not being ignored. The Stewards have a full day of work to service the cabins assigned to them. You are nothing special. (Although the steward could try and come and service your room when you demand). 
 

They have a couple of hours off. Then a full night of evening turndowns. 
 

This isn’t the olden days when the steward would watch for you to leave, then quickly dash in to service your room. Some stewards resort to paying others to help them get through their daily services, since it is more than they can handle. 

Edited February 4, 2020 by BirdTravels

[rsail203]

We asked for the night turndown while we are at dinner as it's always been done on other cruise lines. Is this something that can't be done? We'd rather he clean the cabin while we're out. He's here now cleaning while we're in the cabin. 

[Peachypooh]

Are you at the end of their "route"? The only time I had this kind of service issue was when we

were at the end of the hall and the steward even though working as fast as they could

just didn't get to us. I think they will work around your schedule most of the time but sometimes

this happens.  Edited to add: on one of our last cruises we saw the cabin steward crying in the

hallway. She was new and totally exhausted. That day our cabin service was very late and very

basic. They had sent her to sick bay and someone had to do the rest of the cabins for her.

I think (not sure) her cabins were divided up and that cruise I did most of the "extras"

that just didn't get done. Like wipe the handprints off the walls and balcony doors

from the previous cruiser and dust the furniture. Interestingly we were in the same cabin

a year later and it was sparkling clean. Stewards sometimes just get overwhelmed...

Edited February 4, 2020 by Peachypooh

[ColeThornton]

10 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

We asked for the night turndown while we are at dinner as it's always been done on other cruise lines. Is this something that can't be done? We'd rather he clean the cabin while we're out. He's here now cleaning while we're in the cabin. 

 

 

Sounds like a good opportunity to talk with him since he's there.  We can't do anything for you.  🙂

[DinaS]

34 minutes ago, rsail203 said:

We're on the Bliss now. Day 3 of our 14 day cruise. It's now 1:20 and our steward has yet to come in for the morning cleanup. On the first day my wife told him at around 9 PM when he came to clean that we eat early and could he clean the cabin in the evening at 6 Pm. The next day he came at 9. Is this normal? On other cruises, they cleaned the cabin around your schedule. How many cabins do they have? Why do they come so late? We don't want to complain to his bosses as we have to live with him for 2 weeks. What can we do?

 

I am not even sure that their schedule for evening turn-down/cleaning starts that early.  They may have other responsibilities during that time frame.   I guess they figure that anyone going to dinner early would be out of their cabin at least for a couple of hours after early dinner seating, which would bring it to around 7:30PM or later.

 

Talk to him - give him a time range instead of an exact time.  What if 4 other cabins want their cabins cleaned at 6:00PM?  Even if he could schedule it on their time, clearly it wouldn't be possible.

 

I don't know how many cabins each steward has, but it's very likely more than we can imagine.  

[$hip$hape]

18 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Yep, and if he doesn't comply then speak to his superiors. 

Simple. 

It may be that there are other guests who want the steward to accommodate them also.  It's not always possible.

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by $hip$hape

[ziggyuk]

Personally I think it is unreasonable to ask for your cabin to be cleaned at 6PM, they have other work to do later and to get all the equipment, the vacuum and trolly out again to service one cabin is too much to ask.

Why not tell your steward what time you are at breakfast and ask if it's possible to do it then, they are probably short of cabins to service early until people are up and out.

[$hip$hape]

5 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

Personally I think it is unreasonable to ask for your cabin to be cleaned at 6PM,

they have other work to do later and to get all the equipment, the vacuum and trolly out again to service one cabin is too much to ask.

Why not tell your steward what time you are at breakfast and ask if it's possible to do it then, they are probably short of cabins to service early until people are up and out.

Nice post!

Edited February 4, 2020 by $hip$hape

[gmbhardy]

8 minutes ago, $hip$hape said:

 

 

Love it! 😂

[$hip$hape]

2 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

 

Love it! 😂

WE are located 20 miles from Ontario,CA ...just south of you, near Erie,PA,USA

[NLH Arizona]

40 minutes ago, DinaS said:

 

I am not even sure that their schedule for evening turn-down/cleaning starts that early.  They may have other responsibilities during that time frame.  

When I was on the Breakaway, I usually had dinner at 7 and noticed, when I left for dinner, that the Cabin Stewards were just getting started rolling out their equipment.

[snorklinbarb]

rsail203,

 

Evening shift starts at 6 pm so agree that asking for early turndown  may get better results than nailing down an exact time request.  Same for the morning if you are more of an early bird (there are plenty of passengers who sleep in and don't mind 1:20 pm towards the end of the shift.)

 

There is a deck supervisor assigned to various sections.  You may see him/her in uniform or you can ask to meet up with them.  You've got 2 weeks so they usually do make an effort to meet their guests to see how service is and if there's anything else you might need.  They have business cards as well.  He/she can have a quick word with the cabin steward, reinforcing your previous request.  

 

A polite request that you would really appreciate being one of the early cabins to get tidied may resolve the issue without getting your steward in "trouble."  

 

Please come back with an update.  Good luck!  Enjoy your cruise.  Bliss is a great ship!

Edited February 4, 2020 by snorklinbarb

[smplybcause]

27 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

When I was on the Breakaway, I usually had dinner at 7 and noticed, when I left for dinner, that the Cabin Stewards were just getting started rolling out their equipment.

 

I second this. We had our group parties from 7-8 and the steward wasn't out when I got back to my room to get ready and I didn't always see her out if I left early. She'd usually wave at me from 4 cabins down if I was running out of my room late. 

 

They also follow the lights. I use an old card to turn on the lights in my room (after forgetting my card in there once I never do it again) and one time had it still turning on the lights so the "at home" light was one with the "make up room" light and my room wasn't turned down that night (oh well).

[Pauser]

On our March 2019 Jade sailing, we had an aft balcony and were at the end of the route. Our steward had 24 cabins he was responsible for. 24!

Edited February 4, 2020 by Pauser

[NutsAboutGolf]

When you talk to them, be sure to ask the earliest he could come.

Edited February 4, 2020 by NutsAboutGolf

[hallux]

2 hours ago, smplybcause said:

They also follow the lights. I use an old card to turn on the lights in my room (after forgetting my card in there once I never do it again) and one time had it still turning on the lights so the "at home" light was one with the "make up room" light and my room wasn't turned down that night (oh well).

On my last Bliss cruise I think the steward left a card in the slot for me, my "at home" light was always on as a result.  I recall one time early in the cruise that he came into the cabin while I was on the balcony reading, I told him to just do his thing and I stayed on the balcony while he did.  One of the few times I saw him but my room was always clean and ready for me and one time he even mentioned having some issue with a door fixed (that I wasn't even aware of until he mentioned it).

[Turtles06]

We’re just off the Gem. Our (fabulous) steward had 16 cabins, including a number of suites. 
 

OP: I don’t recall seeing turndowns as early as 6 PM, that might be unrealistic. But as others have said, do talk to your steward.  
 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

[hladygirl]

This is not always an issue with the steward. More likely an issue with NCL cutting back on room stewards and giving them too many cabins to attend to in a reasonable time. I went on my first cruise on NCL on the spirit in 2009. We had a housekeeper and steward. They were great. Next cruise NCL spirit 2010. Never saw the room steward. No housekeeper. Towels not replaced at times. Cabin not made up or turned down at times. Completely different experience since 2009 until now.

[rsail203]

Thank you for all your suggestions. We're in the room now after dinner and we haven't seem him. I guess he does start later as several people have mentioned. We didn't need turndown service tonight as he keeps the cabin very clean. The next time I see him, I'll ask him what is a reasonable time to do the cabin.