madat Posted November 7, 2022 #1 Share Posted November 7, 2022 I've been on eight cruises in total, mostly with Celebrity and Princess. I have never seen a female cabin steward. Not once. Housekeeping staff in hotels tend to be mostly female but on cruise ships, they seem to be exclusively male. Why is it so? Or am I wrong? These ships are so big, maybe it's just been a coincidence that my stewards have always been males? Indeed, there seems to be a mix of genders employed across most other roles on a ship. Just curious, and this seems like a good place to ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeezerCouple Posted November 7, 2022 #2 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Thus far, it does seem that there are more male stewards than female, but we've had several female stewards, and we've seen others in the hallways. Also, the Butlers (where they are available) seem to be even more frequently male than female, but even there, some Butlers are females. And there is one full cruise ship Captain who is female. Google "Captain Kate", and take a look at her little cat, "Bug Naked", who is on the ship with her. 🙂 [There is a reason for the cat's name! 😉 ] GC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach1213 Posted November 7, 2022 #3 Share Posted November 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said: And there is one full cruise ship Captain who is female. Google "Captain Kate", and take a look at her little cat, "Bug Naked", who is on the ship with her. 🙂 Damn, I read that way too quickly and thought you were promoting her OnlyFans page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madat Posted November 7, 2022 Author #4 Share Posted November 7, 2022 7 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said: Thus far, it does seem that there are more male stewards than female, but we've had several female stewards, and we've seen others in the hallways. That's interesting GC, thank you. I suspected I may have been walking around with blinkers on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted November 7, 2022 #5 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Each cruise line has their own hiring practices. If you were to cruise on Seabourn you would find that all the cabins are serviced by stewardesses. Hank 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Essiesmom Posted November 7, 2022 #6 Share Posted November 7, 2022 I e had many female cabin stewards. And there are at least three female cruise ship captains. The first was more than ten years ago, on Royal. Second is on Cunard. CPT Kate is the first American woman to be a cruise ship captain. I think there may be a female captain or two on the smaller/luxury lines. EM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisemom42 Posted November 7, 2022 #7 Share Posted November 7, 2022 On my Celebrity BTB last month I had a male steward for the first cruise and a female steward for the second one -- and I was in the same cabin, lol. I've experienced both over the years but it does seem that there are more female stewards now than maybe 10 years ago. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare whogo Posted November 7, 2022 #8 Share Posted November 7, 2022 56 minutes ago, Hlitner said: Each cruise line has their own hiring practices. If you were to cruise on Seabourn you would find that all the cabins are serviced by stewardesses. Hank Stewardesses were a surprise to us on our Seabourn cruise. I thought the positions were filled by men because the stewards were responsible for toting the guest luggage to and from staterooms and the heavy lifting jobs did not go to women for whatever reason. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles4515 Posted November 7, 2022 #9 Share Posted November 7, 2022 2 hours ago, madat said: I've been on eight cruises in total, mostly with Celebrity and Princess. I have never seen a female cabin steward. Not once. Housekeeping staff in hotels tend to be mostly female but on cruise ships, they seem to be exclusively male. Why is it so? Or am I wrong? These ships are so big, maybe it's just been a coincidence that my stewards have always been males? Indeed, there seems to be a mix of genders employed across most other roles on a ship. Just curious, and this seems like a good place to ask! I have been on over 60 cruises and while there have been more males than female attendants I have had plenty of female cabin attendants. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammajamma2013 Posted November 7, 2022 #10 Share Posted November 7, 2022 We've had female stewards on both Princess and Norwegian. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenquixote66 Posted November 7, 2022 #11 Share Posted November 7, 2022 We have had female Stewards on HAL 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted November 7, 2022 #12 Share Posted November 7, 2022 The only female steward we had was a very long time ago on RCI. We arrived in our cabin on embarking day and immediately met our steward, who had been used in a picture in the brochure for that cruise. Immediately recognized her! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted November 7, 2022 #13 Share Posted November 7, 2022 In my experience, there do seem to be more male Cabin Stewards than female. But, on my most recent Princess cruise aboard Coral Princess, my Cabin Steward was a young Thai woman who did an excellent job. On MSC Meraviglia, as Yacht Club guest, my Assistant Butler (who performed Cabin Steward duties) was a Filipino female who also did an excellent job.) I did not see any female Butlers other than the Chief Butler who was obviously very experienced in her position. I have not observed any female Cabin Stewards on HAL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navybankerteacher Posted November 7, 2022 #14 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Many female cabin stewards on NCL - it seemed they were largely from Eastern Europe, rather than Indonesia or the Philippines as on HAL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles4515 Posted November 7, 2022 #15 Share Posted November 7, 2022 20 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said: Many female cabin stewards on NCL - it seemed they were largely from Eastern Europe, rather than Indonesia or the Philippines as on HAL. HAL has training centers in Indonesia and the Phillipines so they hire their crew from those. I was told Filipinos are mainly cabin stewards and Indonesians are mainly serving in the lounges. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted November 7, 2022 #16 Share Posted November 7, 2022 36 minutes ago, Charles4515 said: HAL has training centers in Indonesia and the Phillipines so they hire their crew from those. I was told Filipinos are mainly cabin stewards and Indonesians are mainly serving in the lounges. Its the other way around. Indonesians are typically the room stewards, and Filipinos are typically waiters and bartenders. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles4515 Posted November 7, 2022 #17 Share Posted November 7, 2022 26 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said: Its the other way around. Indonesians are typically the room stewards, and Filipinos are typically waiters and bartenders. Thanks for the correction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted November 7, 2022 #18 Share Posted November 7, 2022 34 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said: Its the other way around. Indonesians are typically the room stewards, and Filipinos are typically waiters and bartenders. In my experience, Filipinos are Lounge Stewards and bartenders. Indonesians are, as you said, Cabin Stewards and dining room Stewards. Lido Restaurant Stewards? Seems to be a mix. PG/specialty restaurants? Unsure of the nationality of the staff. Certainly a more welcoming and "warmer" mix of folks than when the PG was initially staffed. In my opinion, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonsoffun44 Posted November 8, 2022 #19 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Had female stewards on MSC and Celebrity years ago - they were also the only ones to call us Mr. Ms. or Mrs. the entire cruise. Was kind of odd they told us to call them by their first names but would NOT use ours, yet the male stewards on those sailings all used our first names when they saw us in the halls. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BklynBoy8 Posted November 8, 2022 #20 Share Posted November 8, 2022 We had Camila on QM2 and she was Truly a Gem! Beautiful and Extremely Helpful... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanger727 Posted November 8, 2022 #21 Share Posted November 8, 2022 On 11/7/2022 at 9:55 AM, Hlitner said: Each cruise line has their own hiring practices. If you were to cruise on Seabourn you would find that all the cabins are serviced by stewardesses. Hank Well, that's quite sexist (on the part of Seabourn, not you). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George C Posted November 8, 2022 #22 Share Posted November 8, 2022 We have had female cabin stewards on rccl and celebrity and more lines, last celebrity cruise in royal suite we had a female attendant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammajamma2013 Posted November 8, 2022 #23 Share Posted November 8, 2022 (edited) 21 hours ago, CruiserBruce said: Its the other way around. Indonesians are typically the room stewards, and Filipinos are typically waiters and bartenders. Granted we haven't cruised as much as you have, but in the twelve cruises we have completed, all of our room stewards have been Filipino. Princess, Norwegian, and Carnival. We always ask country of origin when we meet them; my husband was stationed in the Philippines and always wants to make some kind of personal connection, albeit a small one. Edited November 8, 2022 by mammajamma2013 Expand my thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetardis Posted November 8, 2022 #24 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Across many cruise lines and many years, my stewards have always been male. I have never thought about it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted November 8, 2022 #25 Share Posted November 8, 2022 17 minutes ago, mammajamma2013 said: Granted we haven't cruised as much as you have, but in the twelve cruises we have completed, all of our room stewards have been Filipino. Princess, Norwegian, and Carnival. We always ask country of origin when we meet them; my husband was stationed in the Philippines and always wants to make some kind of personal connection, albeit a small one. The comments I posted were about Holland America's staffing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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