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Another cut being tested: Once per day cabin service

Tenderpaw

By Tenderpaw,
in Royal Caribbean International

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dunedinmaiden

dunedinmaiden

Posted
Posted
On 12/7/2022 at 1:06 PM, smokeybandit said:

Serious question, but who does this benefit?

 

It's not like the room stewards are just going to go to the crew bar and put their feet up the rest of the day. They're going to be kept busy somewhere on the ship.

Or does this mean they'll hire less stewards but give them more rooms to clean?

Hire less and give them more rooms, for sure.

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dunedinmaiden

dunedinmaiden

Posted
Posted
On 12/7/2022 at 1:11 PM, Tenderpaw said:

It totally benefits Royal as a cost cutting effort:  fewer room stewards, less towels to wash, less laundry attendents, less water to produce on board, less cleaning chemicals for the rooms, less soap in the laundry.  All under the guise of "sustainability".  

Yes, it insults our intelligence!

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dunedinmaiden

dunedinmaiden

Posted
Posted
On 12/11/2022 at 8:01 AM, mramella said:

RCCL is a publicly traded company. Order of priority is:

 

1. Shareholders.

2. Customers.

3. Employees.

 

For a CEO of a publicly traded company, return on shareholder value is an imperative, above all other things.

 

In order to return maximum shareholder value, RCCL must always find ways to cut costs. Each year, the dial is clicked further and further around implementation of cost cutting measures.

 

The trick: Balance cost cutting measures with customer tolerance. You cut too much, and you risk devaluing your brand, and customer loyalty. It's quite the dance!

 

Luckily, we all have choices! 

 

Thanks!

Yes, but don't insult our intelligence by citing sustainability!

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grandgeezer

grandgeezer

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, JsMom2 said:

I prefer once a day service.  I tell my room attendant how many towels and washcloths I need to have in the room, and tell them not to worry about coming in the morning. 

 

On Celebrity they actually gave me an extra night of captains club points for choosing 1 service a day.  And I couldn’t see the difference between twice a day!
 

 

Really? We get up in the morning, we don’t make the bed, there are usually used glasses and plate from drinks and snacks we brought back to the room. Off we go and when we come back to the room and the mess we left, is no more. We usually bring drinks back to the room and we shower before we go to dinner. We come back, the bathroom is cleaned up and towels and wash cloths have been replaced as well as the dirty glasses are gone. If/when  they go to cleaning once a day, we won’t be there to notice the difference.

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Ret MP

Ret MP

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

So this isn't a trial at all. What a surprise. 

When I see a company saying they are testing something that offers less than what once was, I immediately know that the decision has already been made and saying that a test is going on is just a way to ease into the reductions.  I'm almost always right with that.  It especially comes true when they try to put lipstick on the pig, say it is for sustainability, and will provide something better in the long run.  

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mpdog42

mpdog42

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They are doing it to enhamce the cruising experience as requested by the majority of cruisers!

Yeah....Checks in the mail...I love you and so on...I joined CC in 2014, and have been amazed by the people who on one hand will tell you that they don't trust Walmart or ATT, banks etc..but trust these cruise lines completely.... I love to cruise but i don't for one second trust any Billion dollar corporation!!

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DallasGuy75219

DallasGuy75219

Posted
Posted
On 12/13/2022 at 2:27 PM, grandgeezer said:

Cutting half the work means in theory, they should be able to cut the number of staff by one half. Then they can sell the extra cabins as singles. With all the money they would save they could cut the cruise prices.

Crew and staff generally stay in quarters at or below the waterline.  At best, high level staff may have a private room with a porthole.  Fly-on/off entertainment or contractors working on short-term projects onboard--not cabin stewards--are some of the few staff who stay in pax cabins.

 

Cutting the number of stewards by doubling the number of cabins each is responsible for will decrease RC's cost to pay and feed these employees but will not increase the number of pax cabins available for sale.

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DirtyDawg

DirtyDawg

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Crew and staff generally stay in quarters at or below the waterline.  At best, high level staff may have a private room with a porthole.  Fly-on/off entertainment or contractors working on short-term projects onboard--not cabin stewards--are some of the few staff who stay in pax cabins.

 

Cutting the number of stewards by doubling the number of cabins each is responsible for will decrease RC's cost to pay and feed these employees but will not increase the number of pax cabins available for sale.

But I'm sure the marketing folks are had at work dreaming of ways to sell this subprime real estate. 

 

Perhaps marketing to the environmentally conscious crowd with the fuel saving of a below waterline cabin vs those topside cabins with all those non streamlined, fuel sucking port hole and balcony cabins. "Save the Planet by sailing below!"

 

Or perhaps market them to the history crowd; "Sail just like your forefathers did, in the belly of the ship!" 

 

I'm sure there are more target markets but I'm still on my first coffee of the day. ☕

 

Like my Marketing 101 professor  used to say; "If someone gives you sub-prime real estate, find some suckers to sell it to who think they are buying midtown Manhattan!" 😉

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DallasGuy75219

DallasGuy75219

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

But I'm sure the marketing folks are had at work dreaming of ways to sell this subprime real estate. 

 

Perhaps marketing to the environmentally conscious crowd with the fuel saving of a below waterline cabin vs those topside cabins with all those non streamlined, fuel sucking port hole and balcony cabins. "Save the Planet by sailing below!"

 

Or perhaps market them to the history crowd; "Sail just like your forefathers did, in the belly of the ship!" 

 

I'm sure there are more target markets but I'm still on my first coffee of the day. ☕

 

Like my Marketing 101 professor  used to say; "If someone gives you sub-prime real estate, find some suckers to sell it to who think they are buying midtown Manhattan!" 😉

I hope this is a joke, but if it's not, the cruiselines would never allow non-crew/non-staff pax to stay on crew decks for the same reason crew are not allowed in passenger cabin areas unless performing their work functions.  Fraternization is a big no-no, and putting pax in a situation where so many crew have access to pax cabins is a big liability for the cruiselines.

 

Besides, Carnival started cutting crew numbers faster and earlier, and if there was a way to monetize empty crew cabins, I'm Carnival would have tried it.

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DirtyDawg

DirtyDawg

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I hope this is a joke, but if it's not, 

A 😉 and me talking about my first coffee in the morning and my Marketing 101 Professor saying;  "If someone gives you sub-prime real estate, find some suckers to sell it to who think they are buying midtown Manhattan!" = joke.

 

Usually ... 😉

 

Fun fact, the entire Carnival marketing department failed Marketing 101 just like the entire IT department at Royal failed  ... High School. 😉

 

I'm up to two cups now! ☕ ☕ 

 

Edited by DirtyDawg
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robmtx

robmtx

Posted
Posted

Where's the ice machine? Can I just run down the hall and fill up my ice bucket?

 

We can store our used glasses, plates, and other crap in the hallway. We already see that the hall is popular for storing trash, so we can be flexible and do the same.

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st5310

st5310

Posted
Posted

This is a cut I can live with.  Don't need 2x per day for cleaning.  And I agree with pcur... I will continue to use the same number of towels, sheets, washcloths, etc.  I imagine the room steward would still deliver laundry, daily news rag, and other invitations and notices in the evening.  The towel animals are fun, but I can live without those as well.

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, dunedinmaiden said:

I have an issue with it because truth be told, it's a way to stretch their staff.  It has nothing to do with sustainability!  Don't raise my daily gratuities AND cut my service.  I just wish they'd be truthful -- their reasoning insults my intelligence 😠

Agree.  The real reason is profit-based.  I greatly dislike being lied to.  If they wanted to say (and perhaps truthfully) that most guests are happy enough with a single service per day, then come out and say it -- don't make up something else.  

 

Kinda like years ago when they started charging for Johnny Rockets -- they claimed that teenagers were hanging around /claiming all the booth space, and a charge would prevent this.  It was a blatant lie.  I never cared about Johnny Rockets one way or the other, but the lie still sticks in my craw.  

17 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I (and most others) have no intention of using fewer towels so the entire "windfall of savings" from the laundry services is just a silly comment.

Eh, I agree that I'm going to use X amount of towels ... but it does take manpower to deliver them to the room, and that's not free.  If this comes to pass, I will start requesting double towels.  

11 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

... I love to cruise but i don't for one second trust any Billion dollar corporation!!

Yes, every one of us likes Royal -- we wouldn't be here otherwise -- but I don't blindly trust any company.  

3 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

But I'm sure the marketing folks are had at work dreaming of ways to sell this subprime real estate. 

I don't think they'll start selling crew rooms to guests.  Those "below stairs" hallways aren't carpeted, and the guest elevators don't reach them.  The rooms themselves would require heavy renovations.  Remember, too, that additional guest rooms don't give you more space in the MDR, by the pool, etc.  

 

If they reduce staff, they'd probably give the more senior staffers private (or double instead of triple or quad) rooms.  I'm sure the crew'd like this.  

1 hour ago, robmtx said:

Where's the ice machine? Can I just run down the hall and fill up my ice bucket?

 

We can store our used glasses, plates, and other crap in the hallway. We already see that the hall is popular for storing trash, so we can be flexible and do the same.

I'd be happy to have a self-serve ice machine available. 

 

And I really wish each hallway had a "depository" for dirty dishes.  I'd be glad to haul my husband's pizza plate and wine glass down the hall to be RID OF IT ... rather than have it hanging around in my room or outside my door.  

13 minutes ago, st5310 said:

This is a cut I can live with.  Don't need 2x per day for cleaning.  And I agree with pcur... I will continue to use the same number of towels, sheets, washcloths, etc.  I imagine the room steward would still deliver laundry, daily news rag, and other invitations and notices in the evening.  The towel animals are fun, but I can live without those as well.

I'm really on the bubble.  What I could live with would be an HONEST announcement that we'd get full service in the morning and then a quick "refresh" in the evening.  A "refresh" might mean straightening the bed, taking away dirty dishes and leaving the next day's paper Compass.  I could do without the bathroom being touched a second time -- I don't clean my bathroom at home daily, and towels could wait overnight.  

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Ret MP

Ret MP

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Yeah....Checks in the mail...I love you and so on...I joined CC in 2014, and have been amazed by the people who on one hand will tell you that they don't trust Walmart or ATT, banks etc..but trust these cruise lines completely.... I love to cruise but i don't for one second trust any Billion dollar corporation!!

Yep, and they won't remember your name in the morning!

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DirtyDawg

DirtyDawg

Posted
Posted (edited)
50 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, and they won't remember your name in the morning!

Au contraire mon frère! The best (greediest) ones do remember your name in the morning! They need to so they can call you up and do it to you all over again the next time, and the next time, and the next time ...  😉

 

Edited by DirtyDawg
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