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

[sjb317]

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).

Unless, like me, your luggage has been “detained”. 😂

 

On our Jewel cruise last month, my husband’s was outside our door when the cabins opened up.  Mine was not.  At 5pm, I decided to walk the halls, checked our deck as well as the decks above and below.  At 6, I called guest relations who said luggage was still being delivered, which did not seem to be true on our deck. 
 

My luggage showed up about 8, there was a form inside that said it had been detained and searched by security.  Also said nothing had been confiscated as it was clean.  I did not mind that it had been searched, I had nothing illegal, but whoever searched it left everything in a mess. 
 

My husband thinks they thought my flat iron for my hair was a power strip.  I think he is probably right as the cord had been completely unwound from the flat iron.

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

11 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

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. 

 

 

 

 

I think I would have left it alone but that is just me.

[Ocean Boy]

Maybe when this all dies down RCI will come up with this great enhancement to the cruise experience where everyone gets twice a day cabin service.... and they double the gratuities.

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

Maybe when this all dies down RCI will come up with this great enhancement to the cruise experience where everyone gets twice a day cabin service.... and they double the gratuities.

Or make it a optional pay for service.

[island lady]

If the twice a day cleaning is that important....just book a JS and above.  

[cruisegirl1]

24 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Maybe when this all dies down RCI will come up with this great enhancement to the cruise experience where everyone gets twice a day cabin service.... and they double the gratuities.

 

21 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Or make it a optional pay for service.

Congrats - you are both thinking like a RCCL CEO!

M

 

[silentbob007]

18 minutes ago, island lady said:

If the twice a day cleaning is that important....just book a JS and above.  

Yes that’s fine for new bookings but I think a little different for those with existing bookings and different expectations. Everyone rolls with changes in different ways.

[moposh]

I was on Explorer earlier this month.  My steward didn't ask what time I wanted service.  We did have a cabin change on the second day.  My cabin was cleaned late afternoon/early evening which was fine.  I did tip steward extra money because my daughter was a little high maintenance this cruise and I know he did more work.  He was great and friendly.  I do hope people won't take off automatic tips if service goes to once a day.  They still work very hard.  Steward was generally in the area in case I needed something.

[crusnbee]

We had a long conversation with our steward when we were on the Serenade. His cabin count went from 17 to 27 and I know a lot of them were suites. 

 

He also talked about the lower staff coming from some of the islands because the pandemic taught them they can stay home and work and be OK.

 

Hope RCI listens to some things....

[Ocean Boy]

9 minutes ago, crusnbee said:

We had a long conversation with our steward when we were on the Serenade. His cabin count went from 17 to 27 and I know a lot of them were suites. 

 

He also talked about the lower staff coming from some of the islands because the pandemic taught them they can stay home and work and be OK.

 

Hope RCI listens to some things....

27 cabins and still time for a long conversation....

[crusnbee]

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

27 cabins and still time for a long conversation....

 

I would consider 15+ minutes long looking at all that he had to do.

[island lady]

2 hours ago, silentbob007 said:

Yes that’s fine for new bookings but I think a little different for those with existing bookings and different expectations. Everyone rolls with changes in different ways.

 

Believe me I have had to roll with changes quite a bit during the last year or so.  IMHO...each time I board a ship...seems like something else has been taken away. 

 

Now....for me...it is time RCI started having things taken away from them.  After many years of being a Loyal Royal...much of my new bookings are not with RCI.  😉 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by island lady

[cinnam0n]

5 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).

I have been on numerous cruises where the luggage has not been delivered by sail away, so it wasn't a concern at that point.  And the luggage wasn't anywhere nearby - it took several hours to find and I don't really think it was selfish for us to not want to spend our first evening on board searching for a lost suitcase.

 

[Mum2Mercury]

On 4/22/2023 at 2:52 PM, cinnam0n said:

... Serviced twice a day like clockwork.  Our cabin attendant was awesome.

That's what I've always had.  I've appreciated it and have tipped well. 

8 hours ago, silentbob007 said:

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. 

I'm concerned about the same thing!  Well, not the diapers, but our adult daughter is coming with us on one of our upcoming cruises.  Since we'll be paying 3 daily tips, I don't want to put the sofa bed up and down myself.  

 

I've never expected I'd be the person withholding tips, but IF we end up managing the sofa bed ourselves, we'll reduce by one person's tips.  The rest of the work -- changing towels, emptying trash -- is essentially the same for 2 vs. 3 people.  

5 hours ago, island lady said:

If the twice a day cleaning is that important....just book a JS and above.  

A JS is a significant price increase.  That's not realistic for many people, and many others don't see the value in that larger bill.  

[KansasK]

I was on the Harmony last week.  Our cabin attendant always seemed to be working.  We asked for evening service, but we seemed to get early afternoon cleanings.  This was OK and seemed to work better in that the one time he did evening cleaning, which starts at 4:00,  we had to wait to get ready for 5:15 dinner. If we saw him when we left our cabin, we would tell him we were leaving.  Our cabin was always clean when we came back. I left him a note once to leave 4 bath towels and asked for 1 or 2 rolls of TP.  He saw me in the hall later and hurried up to me saying he got my note and understood about the towels, but asked "what is TP?"  I told him it is toilet paper and he seemed to happy to learn this! He was repeating to himself "TP, toilet paper"!  He always opened the door for us when he saw us coming.  

 

We felt he worked hard for us and tipped him extra.  Before when this came up on Cruise Critic, I felt it was not right to ask us to pay tips for half the service, but on the ship, watching him always greet us and provide what we asked for, we decided to tip him additional. It was different to deal with a person and not an issue.  If we had not had good service and a clean room, maybe I would have felt otherwise, but this was not what happened for us. 

[cruiselvr04]

We haven’t cruised with the once a day yet.  But I do want to choose my time frame.  We would want it anytime after 5. 
 

I’d be unhappy if I was using a sofa sleeper or Pullman and it was out all the time or I had to make it myself. I have no issue pulling the sheets up on the bed but the sofa sleeper is a bigger deal.  Has anyone commented on how they are handling that?

Edited April 24, 2023 by cruiselvr04

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, crusnbee said:

 

I would consider 15+ minutes long looking at all that he had to do.

So would I. Don't think I would have tied him (her) up that long.

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, cinnam0n said:

I have been on numerous cruises where the luggage has not been delivered by sail away, so it wasn't a concern at that point.  And the luggage wasn't anywhere nearby - it took several hours to find and I don't really think it was selfish for us to not want to spend our first evening on board searching for a lost suitcase.

 

I would be too OCD to enjoy anything else until my luggage was found.

[cinnam0n]

29 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I would be too OCD to enjoy anything else until my luggage was found.

Believe me, I was checking my phone for my travel insurance policy.....

[fsjosh]

11 hours 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. 

 

You'd be better off just telling the steward directly you'll tip him extra to come back in the evening to do turndown. Going over their head doesn't usually motivate people to do better work. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by fsjosh

[mcatmcat]

12 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).

yeah I do the same, I always find mine around 2-3pm

[crzndeb]

I am on my 3rd leg on Ovation, so some of the cabins have gone through multiple guests. The first 2 legs had oodles of kids, and even the ones with no kids, some of them honestly look like a tornado hit them, when I walk by opened doors.Some of them have to take an hour to clean and straighten up. I guess it equals out for those of us who are super OCD about keeping a neat cabin. Maybe they should charge less gratuities for the 5 minute cabins, and triple the tornado cabins…LOL Just kidding people!!! My room attendant and one down the hall, told me max cabins are 25. Maybe that’s just Ovation. They went from 17. 
I am right across from supply room, so I’m usually one of first in A.M. to be cleaned. I’m personally liking the early morning one a day service. She will knock on my door in evening to give me Compass (I never asked for it), or will just stick on door if my sleeping sign is up. 

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by crzndeb

[PWP-001]

10 hours ago, fsjosh said:

 

You'd be better off just telling the steward directly you'll tip him extra to come back in the evening to do turndown. Going over their head doesn't usually motivate people to do better work. 

 

Let me clarify to help you see the difference:

 

Example of "Going over their head"

Guest:  "Can you do this?"

Employee:  "No"

Guest:  "Let me speak to your manager"

 

Instead, speaking with the manager first allows the manager to make a decision on the request and deliver a clear message to the employee as to what should be done.

 

In this particular situation, bribing the steward to go against policy, as you suggest, is really going behind RCI's back, per se.  The company has a new policy that a guest is asking their employee to circumvent by "motivating" them with an extra tip.

 

 

Finally, ask yourself:  If you were running a company, wouldn't you appreciate hearing from your guests about a policy change that impacts your guests?  And if there were enough negative comments, wouldn't you alter policy to accommodate?   

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, PWP-001 said:

 

Finally, ask yourself:  If you were running a company, wouldn't you appreciate hearing from your guests about a policy change that impacts your guests?  And if there were enough negative comments, wouldn't you alter policy to accommodate?   

 

Right now, with RCI's pricing for cruises, I'm not sure that they care what any of us think about anything. They seem laser focused on two concerns which are how much can they charge and how much can they cut.  I'm not sure that will change unless booking start falling off. The cruise lines had really better hope that the generation coming up loves cruising as much as we do.

[PWP-001]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

Right now, with RCI's pricing for cruises, I'm not sure that they care what any of us think about anything. They seem laser focused on two concerns which are how much can they charge and how much can they cut.  I'm not sure that will change unless booking start falling off. The cruise lines had really better hope that the generation coming up loves cruising as much as we do.

 

I agree in concept.  The way I'd say it is their greatest concern is ensuring continued servicing of their tremendous debt taken on during lock-down, to avoid default which could lead to service interruptions.

 

I wouldn't say they don't care about about the guest experience.  Every time there's a change to service, at least one person is going to complain.  As they dial down and squeeze more, they're listening for how loud the roar of displeasure from the crowd becomes.

 

On this particular issue who knows.  Let's face it, this website --despite the voluminous posts-- remains a mere microcosm of the cruise passenger universe.