Another cut being tested: Once per day cabin service

[Starry Eyes]

7 minutes ago, pcur said:

Even though my cabin may only be cleaned once a day, I will still use the same amount of towels, sheets.  I would think that will remain a constant. The frequency of room cleaning has nothing to do with it.

 

I figure the cabin steward gets about $7.50 per day of the daily gratuity charged.  I think it's perfectly OK to pay that with one room cleaning. I imagine the attention to detail and personal requests will improve, too. 

 

It might reduce towel usage a bit.  Right now some guests might immediately toss every used towel onto the floor.  With the new system, if a guest with morning service uses a towel in the afternoon, they might hang up the towel (allowing it to be re-used if needed before the next service and also keeping the bath neater).  Every time a guest doesn’t toss that once used, air dried towel to the floor in the morning before service, the ship will wash one less towel.

[Jimbo]

Pretty soon......BYOT  ??

[jrapps]

My biggest concern here is the pull out bed. As a family of 4 that usually sails in a single cabin, the room is not usable during the daytime unless that pullout bed is put back away. How do they intend to handle that, regardless of if I select morning or evening service, they will have to leave the pull-out set up all the time.

[pcur]

7 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

It might reduce towel usage a bit.  Right now some guests might immediately toss every used towel onto the floor.  With the new system, if a guest with morning service uses a towel in the afternoon, they might hang up the towel (allowing it to be re-used if needed before the next service and also keeping the bath neater).  Every time a guest doesn’t toss that once used, air dried towel to the floor in the morning before service, the ship will wash one less towel.

I doubt I will change my towel habits at all.  I definitely don't want to re-use a damp towel that's been hanging in a small, closed space. 

 

As a solo cruiser, I get towels for 2 people, anyway, and always ask for extra washcloths.  I'll rehang a hand towel, because they dry quickly. As a Californian, I practice conservation measures as much as possible, but wet towels..... (now) folded on the floor and under the counter. 

[Angelica1104]

On my last cruise on Carnival our Steward had 36 cabins with an assistant only in either the AM or evening service. We ended up calling room service for ice because we have our ice filled twice a day. Oh and the animals still appeared every day

[Tenderpaw]

29 minutes ago, pcur said:

Even though my cabin may only be cleaned once a day, I will still use the same amount of towels, sheets.  I would think that will remain a constant. The frequency of room cleaning has nothing to do with it.

 

I figure the cabin steward gets about $7.50 per day of the daily gratuity charged.  I think it's perfectly OK to pay that with one room cleaning. I imagine the attention to detail and personal requests will improve, too. 

 

If they clean once a day, they will cut steward staff in 1/2, so forget about getting better service. They will use 1/2 cleaning chemicals.  And a lot of folks will reuse their towels that don't today.  Yes, you can request extra towels, but a lot of folks won't know to do that or will forget. 

[pcur]

Just now, Tenderpaw said:

If they clean once a day, they will cut steward staff in 1/2, so forget about getting better service. They will use 1/2 cleaning chemicals.  And a lot of folks will reuse their towels that don't today.  Yes, you can request extra towels, but a lot of folks won't know to do that or will forget. 

I think the opposite will happen: they will keep the same number of staff, and cut their workload (which is waaay too much right now with twice daily cleanings). 

 

Passengers will most likely ask for extra towels, and if they run out of towels, they will learn quickly to do so.

 

I don't know about your crystal ball, but that's what mine is telling me.  😁

[SargassoPirate]

Just another nicety that will disappear "due to covid", never to reappear.  I guess we can also include personal service in the "shrinkflation" that we are experiencing.

[John&LaLa]

When we meet our steward the afternoon of boarding day, we make 4 requests

 

No towel animals

1 extra blanket

No morning service, evening only

2 compasses every day

 

And we tip a little extra when we depart

 

It works well for us

Edited December 7, 2022 by John&LaLa

[grapau27]

We got off P&O Azura last Friday after a 14 night cruise.

The cabin stewards tidy the cabin in the morning only.

We asked our cabin steward to leave us alone as we can keep our cabin tidy and he left his trolley and container for used towels near our cabin so I could get our own clean  towels,toilet rolls,cookies etc from his trolley and put our used towels in the container.

We let him change our bedding at the mid point of our cruise.

We preferred this and our cabin steward was happy too.

Tipping is not required on P&O but I still gave our cabin steward a cash tip for leaving us alone and for being there if we needed anything.

The captain announced if you didn't put the Make Up Cabin card in the key slot the cabins would not be serviced.

This was our seventh cruise post pandemic 5 P&O and 2 Royal and we have done this on every cruise.

Edited December 7, 2022 by grapau27

[Deeliteful]

More than happy with just one service per day.

[loman]

1 hour ago, Tenderpaw said:

LOL!  That isn't likely to happen.  But maybe they can set up a kiosk at the table where we order the food electronically and and a robot brings it to us.  But still charge us the same or more for gratuities and tell us how its better for us and for the environment too.

 

And the robot will keep strict control and track of any extra appetizers or main courses you order so you can be charged extra for your convenience.

Was at the Riverside hotel in Fort Lauderdale having breakfast in their restaurant and a robot came out with our order . There was a few tables occupied as it was early and it blew us all away. Nobody was expecting it.

I was so amused i forgot to tip it personally. I would of liked to put a few bucks on his tray as it retreated back to the kitchen.

[neverbeenhere]

Personally, I like it twice a day, but the wife says it's only once a day from now on.

[fpcruiser]

2 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

As long as they leave more than one set of towels per person, I have no issue with this.

I don't use one towel just once, usually change about every 4th day at home, so why would I need a different towel each day on the cruise.

[Starry Eyes]

30 minutes ago, pcur said:

I doubt I will change my towel habits at all.  I definitely don't want to re-use a damp towel that's been hanging in a small, closed space. 

 

As a solo cruiser, I get towels for 2 people, anyway, and always ask for extra washcloths.  I'll rehang a hand towel, because they dry quickly. As a Californian, I practice conservation measures as much as possible, but wet towels..... (now) folded on the floor and under the counter. 

You do you.  I certainly did not mean to imply the service change would influence everyone’s habits or yours specifically.  I only meant that it may change some people’s patterns.

I occasionally hang personal items to dry in that “small, closed space” and have been surprised how quickly they dry.  That leads me to believe the bathrooms generally have a high ventilation rate, so, depending on number and hanging pattern, the towels may be dry not damp in the morning.

[davekathy]

13 minutes ago, fpcruiser said:

I don't use one towel just once, usually change about every 4th day at home, so why would I need a different towel each day on the cruise.

There's a lot of things we do while on vacation that we don't do at home. Twice a day for us. Make the bed in the morning, fresh towels and ice bucket. In the evening fresh towels, ice bucket and Cruise Compass.  

Edited December 7, 2022 by davekathy

[reallyitsmema]

11 minutes ago, fpcruiser said:

I don't use one towel just once, usually change about every 4th day at home, so why would I need a different towel each day on the cruise.

 

Ewww.  I choose not to harbor the growth of bacteria in a wet towel.  You do what works for you and I will do what works for me.

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Ewww.  I choose not to harbor the growth of bacteria in a wet towel.  You do what works for you and I will do what works for me.

 

I generally don't throw wet towels on the floor at home. The 'help' would get pissed😉

[Tenderpaw]

9 minutes ago, davekathy said:

There's a lot of things we do while on vacation that we don't do at home. Twice a day for us. Make the bed in the morning, fresh towels and ice bucket. In the evening fresh towels, ice bucket and Cruise Compass.  

 

If the standard the cruise line has to meet is whether we'd do the task at home, they can cut a LOT.  We can cook our own meals, clean our own cabins, organize into groups to clean the public areas in shifts, carry our own luggage, wash the linens ourselves, etc.

 

Whether we do something at home is a silly argument.  But the bean counters at the cruise lines love that attitude so they can keep on cutting.  And there is absolutely no way they keep the same number of room stewards.  This is corporate America.  They will reduce staff.

[reallyitsmema]

38 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We got off P&O Azura last Friday after a 14 night cruise.

The cabin stewards tidy the cabin in the morning only.

We asked our cabin steward to leave us alone as we can keep our cabin tidy and he left his trolley and container for used towels near our cabin so I could get our own clean  towels,toilet rolls,cookies etc from his trolley and put our used towels in the container.

We let him change our bedding at the mid point of our cruise.

We preferred this and our cabin steward was happy too.

Tipping is not required on P&O but I still gave our cabin steward a cash tip for leaving us alone and for being there if we needed anything.

The captain announced if you didn't put the Make Up Cabin card in the key slot the cabins would not be serviced.

This was our seventh cruise post pandemic 5 P&O and 2 Royal and we have done this on every cruise.

 

I am surprised that cabin stewards would okay a passenger to go through their cart for items they need.  Very easy way for someone to spread germs to all the cabins in that area.  

[smokeybandit]

51 minutes ago, pcur said:

I think the opposite will happen: they will keep the same number of staff, and cut their workload (which is waaay too much right now with twice daily cl

Room stewards are bottom tier employees. Their workday won't be reduced. They'll just do other jobs instead. Or just get double the cabins to clean.
 

Edited December 7, 2022 by smokeybandit

[TravelGirlinDallas]

This is disappointing. I've cruised both Carnival and Royal, and the continued twice-a-day service was for us one of the big advantages of Royal over Carnival once Carnival discontinued the second service. 

 

Do I need new towels twice a day at home? No. But at home I'm not going to the beach all day and then showering afterward, then needing another shower the next morning when the towel hasn't had time to dry. That was an issue for us on Carnival. Also, when our son slept on the sofa bed on Carnival, the steward left it as a bed the entire time, so we didn't have use of the couch at all. I really appreciated having the couch available during the day and the bed made up at night on our Ovation cruise. 

 

It's just one of the special things that (used to) set cruising apart from all other types of vacation. It was something I appreciated and will miss when it's gone. 

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, Tenderpaw said:

https://www.cruisehive.com/service-change-spotted-on-royal-caribbean-ship/89773

 

Ugh!  Note, no reduction in gratuities, no reduction in fares.  Just less service.

 

But in before all the cheerleaders:

1.  it doesn't matter to me because of xyz

2.  at least we can still cruise and we don't want Royal to go out of business

3.  its still better than at home so it doesn't matter

4.  i reuse my towels to save the environment and you should too you terrible person

5.  Carnival already does this and its fine.

Looks like you missed a few items in your list 😉

 

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, Tenderpaw said:

 

If the standard the cruise line has to meet is whether we'd do the task at home, they can cut a LOT.  We can cook our own meals, clean our own cabins, organize into groups to clean the public areas in shifts, carry our own luggage, wash the linens ourselves, etc.

 

Whether we do something at home is a silly argument.  But the bean counters at the cruise lines love that attitude so they can keep on cutting.  And there is absolutely no way they keep the same number of room stewards.  This is corporate America.  They will reduce staff.

So is this entire post. 😂

[grapau27]

14 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I am surprised that cabin stewards would okay a passenger to go through their cart for items they need.  Very easy way for someone to spread germs to all the cabins in that area.  

The cabin stewards wear blue disposable gloves and clean toilets,make beds replace towels,empty bins etc wearing the same gloves so they are more likely to spread germs.

Most days the cabin steward was nearby and handed me towels etc.

I was particularly careful in just picking off his trolley what I needed if he was in a nearby cabin and not touching anything else.

Most of the time the trolleys are unattended in the corridor.

Edited December 7, 2022 by grapau27