The change in cleaning means 24 cabins per steward vs. 12

[mets123]

21 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

...and as of last month they were still doing twice a day service.

They supposedly went to one a day on the April 9 sailing. I guess I will find out when I board tomorrow.

[fpcruiser]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

On which ship?  

Enchantment

 

[vjmatty]

17 hours ago, fpcruiser said:

Our attendant said they are changing to once a day when they go to Europe.

 

 

For all categories or just below JS?

[island lady]

16 hours ago, fsjosh said:

Will some people tip less? Yes.

 

I'm betting 90%+ just pay the prepaid/standard gratuities and never think anything else about it. Most cruisers don't cruise multiple times a year. I'd say most don't even cruise every year. While the D+ crowd may be up in arms at once a day cleanings, many many more are not going to notice. 

 

Instead of guessing by either of us, I suggest asking your cabin attendant on your upcoming cruise how it is working out for them now.  

[fsjosh]

4 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Instead of guessing by either of us, I suggest asking your cabin attendant on your upcoming cruise how it is working out for them now.  

 

So we aren't allowed to speculate on the board now?

 

But even still, one attendants experience will not tell you how its going for all attendants fleet wide. Just like you saying you are cutting your tips doesn't mean that's what most people will do. 

 

 

 

[lovesthebeach2]

On our last cruise our cabin attendant asked if we wanted service morning or evening . We picked evening and he thanked us because so many of his 25 cabins wanted mornings.  After we got ready for drinks before dinner we just put the out catching thrills on the door.  
I agree that they are overwhelmed, we hardly ever saw ours, and even though I asked for NO towel animals, he did anyway. I felt bad, he was so busy. He got a good tip from us!

[lovesthebeach2]

21 hours ago, fsjosh said:

Will some people tip less? Yes.

 

I'm betting 90%+ just pay the prepaid/standard gratuities and never think anything else about it. Most cruisers don't cruise multiple times a year. I'd say most don't even cruise every year. While the D+ crowd may be up in arms at once a day cleanings, many many more are not going to notice. 

We’re not up in arms, we actually like it better having it done only once in the evening. And we still tip same as we did when it was once a day. 

[cruisegirl1]

We've had several cruises since the once/day service was initiated.   It has been fine.  It never occurred to me to change (decrease) the daily gratuity.  Why would I?  The gratuity is for a cabin attendant servicing the cabin and the cabin is cleaned daily. 

 

As for getting to know the attendant (noted in the first post), that is not necessary for me.  I am courteous to the attendant, keep a tidy cabin, he/she does their job.  We aren't there to become friends. When I see him/her in the hallway I greet them, thank them and wish them a good day.  

 

It is none of my business what RCCL determines to be the appropriate workload.  I've never asked a hotel room attendant how many rooms they service and how often they service them. 

 

M

 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by cruisegirl1

[island lady]

1 hour ago, fsjosh said:

 

So we aren't allowed to speculate on the board now?

 

But even still, one attendants experience will not tell you how its going for all attendants fleet wide. Just like you saying you are cutting your tips doesn't mean that's what most people will do. 

 

 

 

 

I have no intention of cutting my tips.  Don't need to, and would never consider it.  I am one that always prepays my tips and then tip extra on top of that.  But I am not everyone.  

 

Though I do listen to what the crewmembers tell me about their experiences.  All of them.  And I have been on "just a few" cruises that I have done so each time.  

[Thisguylikestocruise]

.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Thisguylikestocruise

[PhillyFan33579]

On 4/22/2023 at 12:52 PM, cinnam0n said:

Don't know if it's because of the smaller ship size, but on our Grandeur cruise earlier this month, we had twice a day service, just like always previously.  No change at all.

Were you in a suite? I have cruised on Grandeur twice in the last 3 weeks (9 day cruise and 5 day cruise). For both cruises my cabin was only serviced once a day. However, my friends who were in a JS had their cabin serviced twice a day. 

[soremekun]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:42 AM, fpcruiser said:

On Enchantment last month, our room attendant said she was doing 19 cabins a day, twice a day(I saw her list of cabins). In a few weeks they will switch to once a day and she will have to do 23 cabins..

 

Did this list contain info on who removed gratuities?

[fpcruiser]

13 minutes ago, soremekun said:

Did this list contain info on who removed gratuities?

I'm not sure, I didn't read it, but it had a lot of info for each room. Probably 7 or 8 columns of info.

[cinnam0n]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Were you in a suite? I have cruised on Grandeur twice in the last 3 weeks (9 day cruise and 5 day cruise). For both cruises my cabin was only serviced once a day. However, my friends who were in a JS had their cabin serviced twice a day. 

Nope, in inside on deck 2 , probably on your 9 day! (4/7 - 4/16). We went fully expecting only once a day service (from reading it on here) Our cabin attendant was awesome.  On sailing day at 9PM, my daughter's luggage hadn't shown up yet.  He personally walked all the decks and found it sitting by itself at the end of a hall and brought it to our cabin after 10 PM.  He was well tipped!

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by cinnam0n

[mcatmcat]

I don't pre-pay tips and I always give extra in cash. But if I don't see you often and I feel less of service I won't remove the tip but I won't tip extra either. 

[cruisegirl1]

nevermind

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by cruisegirl1

[silentbob007]

One a day service was a pain with the sofa bed made up taking up most of the floor space and a toddler in diapers with a tiny trash can. Yes I was able to put the bed away myself but for the money we were paying each day in gratuities for three people, it was a bit irksome. Perhaps we should have chosen morning service but our mornings were much less structured and didn’t want to feel rushed to give him time to clean. We saw him a lot in the hall and one day I did ask for him to change the trash midday. 

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, cinnam0n said:

On sailing day at 9PM, my daughter's luggage hadn't shown up yet.

Pro tip - if it doesn't show up by sail away, you can find it yourself somewhere nearby (like your cabin attendant did).

[PWP-001]

Here's an idea that I plan to try next weekend on my Freedom cruise.  (It's the only one I have booked in a balcony rather than a JS.)

 

I like my bed made up in the morning and I like coming back to my room at night with turndown service.

 

So rather than burdening my steward directly, I plan to get in touch with a housekeeping manager to whom I will explain what I'd like.  To the manager I probably will mention that I always leave an additional cash gratuity.  I don't know what answer I'll get from the manager, though I'm hoping they'll say it will happen.

 

If, in fact, there are plenty of frequent cruisers that are upset by the change and enough of them make requests at the management level, that feedback should be heard and possibly they'll be another change.

 

Making the request directly to the steward places the steward in an awkward position. 

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, PWP-001 said:

Here's an idea that I plan to try next weekend on my Freedom cruise.  (It's the only one I have booked in a balcony rather than a JS.)

 

I like my bed made up in the morning and I like coming back to my room at night with turndown service.

 

So rather than burdening my steward directly, I plan to get in touch with a housekeeping manager to whom I will explain what I'd like.  To the manager I probably will mention that I always leave an additional cash gratuity.  I don't know what answer I'll get from the manager, though I'm hoping they'll say it will happen.

 

If, in fact, there are plenty of frequent cruisers that are upset by the change and enough of them make requests at the management level, that feedback should be heard and possibly they'll be another change.

 

Making the request directly to the steward places the steward in an awkward position. 

This is a joke, right?

 

Once a day cleaning, unless you are in a junior suite or above. You can make your feedback heard but it will not change the cleaning from once a day for your balcony cabin. 
 

Please come back and let us know how your strategy worked. 
m

[pghflyer]

Just off a NCL ship that went to once a day as well. NEVER saw my room steward once and while I thought I didn't care about turn-down, we definitely missed the evening ice delivery and having glasses and plates removed.  Some families were sad to not have their kids bed (ex. sofa) taken up/ put down as well since they had to do themselves to use the balcony. Our room was less clean than on past cruises (some days floor not vacuumed) and carts stayed in the hallways almost all day.  We will always leave our auto-gratuities on (which by the way increased while they halved a large piece of our service being delivered), but at the rate auto-gratuities are going up inverse to service, our days of leaving a little more may be over.  Just a reminder this was NCL ($18 per day standard rooms vs $16 per day on RCCL), but I don't think any of them are that different in this regard.

[PWP-001]

11 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

This is a joke, right?

 

 

No, Shirley, I am being serious.

[island lady]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Pro tip - if it doesn't show up by sail away, you can find it yourself somewhere nearby (like your cabin attendant did).

 

Totally agree.   Can't tell you how many times we have done the "hallway walk of frustration" well after most have already received their luggage.  🫤

[Marie51]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:51 AM, firefly333 said:

My mostly absent steward on oasis never asked and knew I didnt like the time. Never even introduced himself. Next time I'll push back more and choose. This was bella1 where my steward stunk. 

What is Bella 1?

[firefly333]

Just now, Marie51 said:

What is Bella 1?

There was actually a very lively live thread for oasis march 12 to 19. A bunch of us follow john Bella thread. Bella is his dog and she is a charmer. His thread is in floataway lounge. We are back  now and planning another cc group cruise on wonder feb 2 2025. A long ways away but gives people time to plan or save up. The roll call is already active lol. Come join us.