CABIN STEWARDS

[rabin1]

HI

I have never had a bad or remotely bad cabin steward on any cruise. How do they determine which one goes where? Do suites get the longest tenured ones then club class and so on down the line? I often wondered how the ships decide which steward gets which floor and which cabins. They all do such an incredible job.

Thank you

Kathy

[TracieABD]

I am not sure, but we are in a CC mini.  Our cabin steward has just been promoted, so this is his first contract as a steward.  He is fabulous!  So much attention to detail.  
 

 

[beg3yrs]

Forgive my hazy memory here but I seem to recall being told by a steward that they start out taking care of crew and officer cabins as part of their training. Still have no idea how they get assigned to particular cabin groups.

[john watson]

I think they get promoted to the higher grade cabins on the basis of feedback given by cruisers. The feedback forms are very important to staff.

 

Regards John

[LarryL]

We, for the most part, have had very good cabin stewards. One was not attentive as much as the rest, but certainly did his job in a very satisfactory manner. I doubt there is a pecking order for where they work. Our aft balcony cabins have been sandwiched between suites. Also, there are and abundance of inside cabins in those locations. I think they are all subject to working where told by section. It seems there had been, prior to covid, fewer stewards which caused a larger workload for those still working. Probably the cause of any perceived drop-off in the attention to cabins and their respective occupants.  

[jondfk]

I personally can't ever remember a bad one, sure some are better than others, but all in my memory have been very good to exceptional.  We've sailed in all cabin categories and never noticed that it made any difference to the level of service (granted, there's more to do in a suite than an OV, but aside from that . . .).

 

On our most recent sailing, which was Grand sailing to Travis, believe it or not the Steward got BETTER after we were confined to cabins.  This might sound odd since he could no longer come into the room, but he did absolutely everything he could to make a miserable situation slightly better.  We developed a sort of code since we couldn't converse.  Leave the wastebasket outside the door - poof it was empty.  Leave towels out - poof a bag of fresh towels appeared.  Need shampoo or body wash, leave an empty outside and - poof 4 new would appear.  For 6 days the only interaction we had was the service he provided to our door step.  Drinks, water and ice were essentially impossible to obtain and the kitchen repeatedly forgot to deliver us meals (4x) but our Steward was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise tense and stressful situation.

 

Fingers crossed our return to cruising, again on Grand, in 5 weeks time, comes off as planned.

[Hlitner]

Sometimes the assignments are made for a very simple reason.  Crew members come and go as their contracts expire.  When replacement crew comes aboard it is often as simple as them being assigned to replace somebody who just went home :).   But we have learned of other reasons.  We once knew an excellent steward on HAL who would often be assigned to the most expensive suites (Neptune and Pinnacle) because of his experience and multi-language skills.  On one cruise we were surprised to have him working in the regular verandah cabins and mentioned we were surprised he was not working the suites.  He told us (in confidence) that he had actually asked his supervisor to move him from the suites because "those folks are very demanding."  LOL.

[XBGuy]

In our experience, stewards are assigned a section of cabins which are, typically. a combination of cabin types--e.g., inside, balcony, and, possibly. suites.  On a Hawaii cruise on the Grand Princess we had an aft suite on the C deck.  I am happy to report that our steward was outstanding,  He would even leave towel animals to greet us when we returned to our cabin in the evening.

 

 

Also, though, I saw him servicing adjacent balcony and inside cabins.  In a casual conversation with him towards the end of the cruise, he mentioned that for the next cruise his "territory" was going to be forward on the B deck.

[franktown]

On are last pre-pandemic cruise we were in a suite and are room steward did our suite and the two suites on either side and also inside cabins near us.  If you notice their cart is usually covering a block of rooms.

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, john watson said:

I think they get promoted to the higher grade cabins on the basis of feedback given by cruisers. The feedback forms are very important to staff.

 

Regards John

Not too sure about that. One of our stewards was the best we ever had. We saw her on a subsequent cruise and she was assigned on deck 3 (Pacific Princess), all OV cabins with the round portholes. She was the current "employee of the month".

[RLK33853]

We routinely book Mini-Suites but have stayed in Suites, Balconies, and once in an inside (38 cruises with Princess).  Room stewards have been for the majority of cruises - excellent, or very good - with a couple of averages, and once a complete dud (he had to be over 60 years of age and past caring).  

 

As to how they are assigned sections of the ship - no clue.

[eagletwo]

We had a cabin steward on one of our cruises that was just ok. We were upgraded to the Owners Suite on the Caribbean Princess, which we paid for. We were so excited. The cabin was great as was the huge balcony. We asked our cabin steward for two things. Fresh ice daily and menus for the dining room each day. (This was before the Medallion app). Ice delivered every other day. Menus delivered at 5-6 pm daily.  Yeah, we could walk around the ship and see the dinning menus at 3 pm daily. 
 

We are now on the Regal. Rusty is our cabin attendant. 22 years with Princess. Best attendant ever! 

[AVCruzers]

When we were on the Majestic a month ago, we mentioned to our cabin steward that we would be returning in December and looking forward to having him as our steward again.  He said they rotate assignments so therefore would probably not be with us.  

[john watson]

6 hours ago, AVCruzers said:

When we were on the Majestic a month ago, we mentioned to our cabin steward that we would be returning in December and looking forward to having him as our steward again.  He said they rotate assignments so therefore would probably not be with us.  

 

Interesting, when cruising with my daughter who has to be the most untidiest passenger on board and must be incredibly hard work for even the best steward.  We have never had a steward with suicidal thoughts like this.

 

Regards John

[rabin1]

Thank you for the info everyone

Kathy

[Marelaine]

I believe some cabin stewards have worked their way up. A restroom attendant on Celebrity told me that she was hoping to be promoted to cabin steward. She was told she needed to improve her English, which was pretty darned good. 

[Thrak]

We have always had good room steward until our last cruise. We had the absolute worst steward. We would either get no new towels or half of them. Old towels might be left on the floor in the bathroom and no new towels put in place.

 

Twice we had to ask for new glasses as we had none. He took the old ones but didn't replace them. When he did, we got the "drinks" glasses that are usually left in the cabin but he also gave us that same type of glass(but only one!)  in the bathroom - which always gets a different kind of glass. When he was doing the cabins in his area he would still be at it 2 or 3 hours after all the other stewards in the area. We would return to the cabin hours after leaving in the morning and it would still be untouched. We would see other stewards working down the hall in the morning but they got their work done and left in a reasonably short amount of time. Not this guy...

 

We had asked to have the ice refilled each day but had to "remind" him a number of times. He returned laundry that my wife had sent out but didn't bring back her long pants. Instead he brought her a pair of denim pants that might fit a very small person. I can't remember exactly but the tag inside said something like a 28" waist and a very short inseam. The tag also said "Skinny". Trust me, my wife doesn't wear that size. (She said they looked like they might fit a 10 year old girl.) We had a heck of a time trying to get him to understand what "corduroy' meant. It took 2 days to get the correct item back.

 

We were shocked that someone with this level of "skills" was working as a steward in the passenger areas. We were appalled.

[rcp6146]

On 11/27/2021 at 11:11 AM, TracieABD said:

I am not sure, but we are in a CC mini.  Our cabin steward has just been promoted, so this is his first contract as a steward.  He is fabulous!  So much attention to detail.  
 

 

Where is the Club Class Dining on the Regal? We have a CC mini in Dec

[TracieABD]

19 minutes ago, rcp6146 said:

Where is the Club Class Dining on the Regal? We have a CC mini in Dec

Concerto. Jelena is fabulous. 

[san diego sue]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

We have always had good room steward until our last cruise. We had the absolute worst steward. We would either get no new towels or half of them. Old towels might be left on the floor in the bathroom and no new towels put in place.

 

Twice we had to ask for new glasses as we had none. He took the old ones but didn't replace them. When he did, we got the "drinks" glasses that are usually left in the cabin but he also gave us that same type of glass(but only one!)  in the bathroom - which always gets a different kind of glass. When he was doing the cabins in his area he would still be at it 2 or 3 hours after all the other stewards in the area. We would return to the cabin hours after leaving in the morning and it would still be untouched. We would see other stewards working down the hall in the morning but they got their work done and left in a reasonably short amount of time. Not this guy...

 

We had asked to have the ice refilled each day but had to "remind" him a number of times. He returned laundry that my wife had sent out but didn't bring back her long pants. Instead he brought her a pair of denim pants that might fit a very small person. I can't remember exactly but the tag inside said something like a 28" waist and a very short inseam. The tag also said "Skinny". Trust me, my wife doesn't wear that size. (She said they looked like they might fit a 10 year old girl.) We had a heck of a time trying to get him to understand what "corduroy' meant. It took 2 days to get the correct item back.

 

We were shocked that someone with this level of "skills" was working as a steward in the passenger areas. We were appalled.

We had a room steward that sounded a lot like yours. Unfortunately for us we were on a B2B Panama Canal cruise so had him for 30 days. He didn't change our sheets. On turn around day, he didn't. I asked him why he didn't change them and he said he did(lipstick on the sheet so I knew he hadn't). Two days later he said he changed the sheets and that he ran out of sheets on turnaround. No way. The guy kept lying and then forgot what he told us. Making up room another thing. Forgot towels, glasses, and we were lucky if he remembered to make up our room. To add to the problems our A/C kept going out and fire alarm kept going off in the room. We told him and he lied that things were fixed. Finally we had passenger services call someone for A/C. The bridge kept calling us regarding fire everytime we took a shower. No, we didn't steam it up. Sensitive alarm in the dressing area.This was on the Coral Princess. He also said he had 10 mini suites so by the time he got to our balcony cabin, he ran out of time. Crazy that he should even admit it. We were early risers so he could have done the cabin but he never did till late.Last morning of the cruise I gave Passenger services a letter about him. Didn't want to complain till we were getting off the ship. Hope he is no longer with Princess. We have always had good room stewards, most outstanding.This was the only one we ever complained about in 72 Princess cruises.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, san diego sue said:

This was the only one we ever complained about in 72 Princess cruises.

 

An interesting story, but not a pleasant experience for you.

 

My tale of an inadequate Steward was on HAL's Amsterdam.  Embarking in Port Everglades for my World Cruise and arriving at my stateroom:  the door was open, the beds were made, but, there was no soap or towels in the bathroom, no daily activity sheet or other information present, no appearance of my Steward.  Throughout the first parts of the cruise, his service was no more than OK, almost daily  there was a Supervisor in my hallway keeping an eye on him, but, I did get to know him.  This was his second contract on HAL (the first one was on Prinsendam).  As we approached Singapore, because I think I showed some concern about him, he confided in me that he was going to "jump ship" in Singapore.  His wife was having a difficult pregnancy and her doctor believed that he needed to be with her.  He had applied for emergency leave and had been denied.  (Since, I have learned that such a denial was unusual.)  I spoke with him about the negative consequences of such an action would mean for his future.  He did so anyway.  He was caught at the gangway by ship's security.  He was not thinking straight:  didn't have his Indonesian passport or other documents.  Carrying off a piece of luggage for a shore leave?  The poor guy was fired on the spot.  I have often thought about the gentleman and wonder how his family and he are doing.

 

My replacement Cabin Steward was a rookie working in the guest areas.  He was promoted from being the Officers' Cabin Steward.  No more Supervisors in the hallway; he did a satisfactory job.  Was he the best Cabin Steward that I have experienced?  No.  But, during my career, I have worked with many "rookies" and those who are in training to be "rookies" in their job.  Didn't expect that to happen on a Grand World Voyage, however.  

 

 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

An interesting story, but not a pleasant experience for you.

 

My tale of an inadequate Steward was on HAL's Amsterdam.  Embarking in Port Everglades for my World Cruise and arriving at my stateroom:  the door was open, the beds were made, but, there was no soap or towels in the bathroom, no daily activity sheet or other information present, no appearance of my Steward.  Throughout the first parts of the cruise, his service was no more than OK, almost daily  there was a Supervisor in my hallway keeping an eye on him, but, I did get to know him.  This was his second contract on HAL (the first one was on Prinsendam).  As we approached Singapore, because I think I showed some concern about him, he confided in me that he was going to "jump ship" in Singapore.  His wife was having a difficult pregnancy and her doctor believed that he needed to be with her.  He had applied for emergency leave and had been denied.  (Since, I have learned that such a denial was unusual.)  I spoke with him about the negative consequences of such an action would mean for his future.  He did so anyway.  He was caught at the gangway by ship's security.  He was not thinking straight:  didn't have his Indonesian passport or other documents.  Carrying off a piece of luggage for a shore leave?  The poor guy was fired on the spot.  I have often thought about the gentleman and wonder how his family and he are doing.

 

My replacement Cabin Steward was a rookie working in the guest areas.  He was promoted from being the Officers' Cabin Steward.  No more Supervisors in the hallway; he did a satisfactory job.  Was he the best Cabin Steward that I have experienced?  No.  But, during my career, I have worked with many "rookies" and those who are in training to be "rookies" in their job.  Didn't expect that to happen on a Grand World Voyage, however.  

 

 

I think you can understand why your original steward was so distracted.

 

I am sure you rookie replacement steward tried very hard to do a good job.