Rough start to Haven.

[gizfish]

6 hours ago, david_sobe said:

I have found socks under the bed.  I once found a plastic mouthwash bottle full of smuggled alcohol in a dresser drawer.  Unfortunately with how much needs done and cleaned during disembarkation and embarkation things like a sponge or shaving razor could be over looked.  While not great, I dont think it would reflect on how clean the room was.  I have never seen dirty sheets and every disembarkation I have seen all the sheets are ripped off the bed.  There is a difference between cleaning and deep cleaning.  Can you clean your shower and bathroom and leave a sponge or razor in the shower?  I think so.  We have a difference of opinion. I simply would throw those items away.  Calling the hotel manager over a sponge is a bit extreme IMHO.  But I respect your right to do so.  If I see dirt in the bathroom or smell something I will call housekeeping.  
I used to follow a certain cruise channel and this guy made such a big deal because while he was staying in the cabin one day the room steward did not empty the bathroom basket.  It had some kleenex in it (from himself). He made such a big deal that I unsubscribed from his channel.  I have seen how they vacuum and rip these rooms apart.  Small abandoned items does not equate to a dirty room IMHO.  But to each their own.

I suppose when they clean the shower every day with people in the cabin they are mentally trained not to touch the passenger's razor and sponge.  This force of habit could explain why he or she missed them this morning.  

Sorry, but that shower was obviously not cleaned.  There is absolutely no reason to overlook personal items in the shower on turn around day. Yes, there is a difference between deep cleaning and regular cleaning. Anything less than deep cleaning between passengers is not acceptable.  And if something so glaringly obvious as the previous passenger's personal items in what should be an empty shower can be overlooked, what else was overlooked? I also find it unacceptable to find things under the bed or in drawers left from previous passengers.  Do you not clean under your bed and furniture when you deep clean your home?  The amount of things needing to done on turn over day is no excuse for them not being done.  I expect a thoroughly, deep cleaned room whenever I check into a hotel or cruise ship.

[ChiefMateJRK]

44 minutes ago, gizfish said:

Sorry, but that shower was obviously not cleaned.  There is absolutely no reason to overlook personal items in the shower on turn around day. Yes, there is a difference between deep cleaning and regular cleaning. Anything less than deep cleaning between passengers is not acceptable.  And if something so glaringly obvious as the previous passenger's personal items in what should be an empty shower can be overlooked, what else was overlooked? I also find it unacceptable to find things under the bed or in drawers left from previous passengers.  Do you not clean under your bed and furniture when you deep clean your home?  The amount of things needing to done on turn over day is no excuse for them not being done.  I expect a thoroughly, deep cleaned room whenever I check into a hotel or cruise ship.

Good for you!  Prepare to be disappointed and have a miserable cruise.

[complawyer]

hey chief mate. for the 1st time in a very long time and a great number  of posts, i completely disagree with you.

 

i can ignore no cookies, no hash browns, boring entertainment, crowed pools, chair/ seat hogs, and almost any little nuisance that may arise once i'm on the ship.

 

what is inexcusable, is finding prior passengers paraphernalia  in my cabin. sorry my friend the least i would expect is a clean cabin. while i might ask the cabin steward to take away things left in a drawer, someone else's junk under the bed, or in the bathroom/ shower, just shows (at least to me) an extremely lazy and or inefficient steward. 

 

you will notice my responses to peoples complaints are usually backing norwegien and advising people not t sweat the small stuff or let it ruin the cruise.

 

to quote the infamous don corleone, "this i cannot forgive"

[DraesMiran]

On 3/18/2024 at 2:35 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

They used to give spa access. No more. 

 

The difference in price was about $200 actually.  I booked it this year. There were 12 cabins available.

Another thing I noticed besides the TA cabin description is the size this room is much bigger.

 

Oo I'm sorry you're disappointed but I'm also a tiny bit envious. I love the big windows and the layout is so much nicer than the courtyard rooms imo. I am so curious, though...did they leave the big tubs? I really hope your cruise improves. 

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

someone else's junk under the bed, or in the bathroom/ shower, just shows (at least to me) an extremely lazy and or inefficient steward. 

Exactly.  Incompetent (at least with respect to cleaning) is another word that comes to mind.

[david_sobe]

4 hours ago, gizfish said:

Sorry, but that shower was obviously not cleaned.  There is absolutely no reason to overlook personal items in the shower on turn around day. Yes, there is a difference between deep cleaning and regular cleaning. Anything less than deep cleaning between passengers is not acceptable.  And if something so glaringly obvious as the previous passenger's personal items in what should be an empty shower can be overlooked, what else was overlooked? I also find it unacceptable to find things under the bed or in drawers left from previous passengers.  Do you not clean under your bed and furniture when you deep clean your home?  The amount of things needing to done on turn over day is no excuse for them not being done.  I expect a thoroughly, deep cleaned room whenever I check into a hotel or cruise ship.

I bet you would be running to the front desk asking for OBC if housekeeping cleaned your room and threw away your sponge and shaving razor.  When you clean hundreds of rooms per week these things happen.  You're excited to get hardworking crew in trouble over a freaking sponge.

Good for you!

[SomewhereGirl]

2 hours ago, david_sobe said:

 You're excited to get hardworking crew in trouble over a freaking sponge.

 

Obviously not working too hard.  What if it was a used condom or a needle that was not properly disposed of?  Acceptable?

Edited March 21 by SomewhereGirl

[amygutman]

5 hours ago, complawyer said:

hey chief mate. for the 1st time in a very long time and a great number  of posts, i completely disagree with you.

 

i can ignore no cookies, no hash browns, boring entertainment, crowed pools, chair/ seat hogs, and almost any little nuisance that may arise once i'm on the ship.

 

what is inexcusable, is finding prior passengers paraphernalia  in my cabin. sorry my friend the least i would expect is a clean cabin. while i might ask the cabin steward to take away things left in a drawer, someone else's junk under the bed, or in the bathroom/ shower, just shows (at least to me) an extremely lazy and or inefficient steward. 

 

you will notice my responses to peoples complaints are usually backing norwegien and advising people not t sweat the small stuff or let it ruin the cruise.

 

to quote the infamous don corleone, "this i cannot forgive"

@complawyer and @ChiefMateJRK chiming in here as well: As someone with many cabins across many lines, there is always an "hold my breath" when entering a room for the first time. 

 

Perhaps the smell of cleaner and fresh linen sheets is not enough to ease my mind, but after 4 cruises in a row where something small was missed (leftovers in the fridge, used soap in the shower, old snacks in one of the drawers, and used coffee mugs on the coffee service tray PLUS a loofah in the shower that had hair on it). Most common is cigarette butts on the balcony ledges. We once turned over the pillows on the "cleaned couch" to find what looked like crusted baby puke. Ugh. 

 

It's really off-putting; and these were in premium suites / Havens / Yacht Club rooms. Makes for an uncomfortable situation because we do not want anyone to get in trouble - the work it takes to turn over a ship perfectly is massive and exhausting. Yet, it starts off the cruise with an "ick" factor.  Ironically, the cleanest room we've stayed in recently was on a very old Carnival ship in a balcony room which was wonderfully sanitized for our pleasure. It may have been a bit rusty, but dang, it was clean. 

 

Now, each of those dirty room situations was immediately addressed by the concierge / butler / suite manager. OBC, a free meal at the steakhouse, a spa certificate have each been offered and happily accepted. We are not a-holes, but even in the cleanest-appearing of rooms we usually bring our own sanitizing wipes and clean exposed surfaces (especially remotes, phones and furniture - too many bare bottoms have been on those couches!). 

 

Never ruins our trip, but with any money spent - be it on the cheapest room or the grandest suite, should always come the minimal expectation of a room "cleaned and sanitized for your pleasure". 🧼🧹

 

Warmest Amy

[david_sobe]

21 minutes ago, SomewhereGirl said:

 

Obviously not working too hard.  What if it was a used condom or a needle that was not properly disposed of?  Acceptable?

Seriously?  You have to lower the bar that low.  Good grief!

Look over there.......a fuzz ball on the carpet.  Go demand your OBC. 

Edited March 21 by david_sobe

[graphicguy]

8 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

IT AIN'T ABOUT THE CABIN!  

Amen, my friend!

[RocketMan275]

7 hours ago, gizfish said:

under your bed and furniture when you deep clean your home?  The amount of things needing to done on turn over day is no excuse for them not being done.  I expect a thoroughly, deep cleaned room whenever I check into a hotel or cruise ship.

You must be very disappointed. Take some time and read the reviews of hotels.  Every hotel will include reviews lamenting how poorly the rooms were cleaned.  Exactly like this room.  Things left behind, etc. 

[Oakman58]

Wait a minute, this was a Haven cabin in this discussion.  If I paid that kind of money for a cabin, I would expect no less than spotlessly clean.  I would have demanded the cabin be cleaned including the bedding.  And that cabin steward should have been reprimanded for doing sloppy work.

[PATRLR]

3 hours ago, david_sobe said:

I bet you would be running to the front desk asking for OBC if housekeeping cleaned your room and threw away your sponge and shaving razor.  When you clean hundreds of rooms per week these things happen.  You're excited to get hardworking crew in trouble over a freaking sponge.

Really? 

I can only assume it is OK with you if they simply didn't clean the bathrooms.  It has to be OK with you because if there is a razor and a loofa left behind, there is no way to know that they did clean the bathroom.  But that's OK, you can enjoy (or at least not be bothered by) someone else's filth.  I'm going to insist my room is cleaned and if that means someone gets fired, so be it.  

[cruiseny4life]

One of my last hotel stays was in a room that cost more than $400 a night. Of course it was inside Grand Canyon National Park, so I was really paying for the location, not the service or cleanliness of the room. Maybe I was willing to accept lesser as I had just finished backpacking the canyon rim to rim, but those rooms were...well...gross.

 

The first room we were given was half made. The sheets were obviously not cleaned, the shower still had dirt and grit in it, and there were no towels to be found. We did have issues with this so went to the front desk to ask for a cleaner to clean the room. Instead they gave us a new room. The shower still had dirt in it, there were stains on the chair and carpet. The box spring was ripped, but the sheets were clean.

 

We just said whatever, we'll take it. We were tired and sore. Took a nice very hot shower with amazing pressure. We needed to be blasted and were. Anyway, we disputed the charge with AmEx. The hotel never responded so we didn't actually have to pay for the room. All we wanted was clean.

 

So, would a leftover razor or loofa faze me? Nah. So long as I could tell the stateroom was cleaned, I'd be happy. And we have found leftover tooth flossers and q tips in our room on a ship. We just disposed of them and kept enjoying our vacation. I'm not a neat freak, so won't be bringing my own disinfectant wipes with me either. The stateroom attendants clean the room. I agree they may overlook something. If the sheets are obviously dirty (stains/smells/etc.) or the towels are laying in the floor, then yes, I'll request some service. Otherwise, I'm happy to be cruising! 

[david_sobe]

It is a weak argument and almost a false premise because of a shaving razor left in a shower caddy means the room or bathroom was not cleaned.  You know when a room is not cleaned.  Do you see soap scum on the shower door?  Hair clippings in the sink?  Sand on the carpet?  The bed not made?  Room smells?
Its a ridiculous argument to make such an allegation because a sponge was left in the shower caddy.  Room stewards leave those personal items alone when they clean rooms every day.  Ok they had a brain fart on disembarkation day and left them in place.

If this is what you have to complain about on your cruise how can any of you be happy?

Edited March 21 by david_sobe

[Distinctive-Destinations]

Have we determined if the cabin attendant was actually done cleaning?

 

If the person was only halfway done and had to get supplies or something and then come back, it would make sense that it wasn’t completely clean. If the OP came back in the middle of cleaning, of course it wouldn’t be completely clean.

 

On the other hand, if the attendant showed off the room as if it was clean and the stuff was still there, that’s obviously an issue.

[havoc315]

Especially on a cruise ship which is amenable to spread of viral and bacterial infections, it’s appropriate to expect full deep cleaning between cruises.  
 

It might be overreaction to be upset about a misaligned towel.. a missed candy wrapper under the bed.  
 

But certainly, expect a deep cleaning of the bathroom. Used toiletries from a prior guest left laying out in the open, is certainly a legitimate complaint.  
Enough to ruin the entire cruise? No.  
But definitely a pretty legitimate gripe. 

[UKstages]

tough crowd.

 

i find nothing wrong with the OP's careful and considered report.

 

it's not a litany of complaints... it's a "hey, a couple of odd things happened to me today that didn't look right as i boarded the encore..." and then those things were detailed... you know, as if the OP was writing in a public forum in which cruise experiences are shared.

 

all this debate about items left behind and legitimate reasons a cabin attendant might miss something and the suggestions to overlook less than pristine rooms is noise. they serve to successfully shift the focus away from shoddy housekeeping and on to the guest. but the guest didn't clean the room!  the cabin attendant did. and the guest doesn't get paid to clean the room, but the cabin attendant does... and that is, in fact, the primary responsibility of the cabin attendant.

 

how a guest chooses to respond to the discovery of a poorly cleaned cabin is an entirely different issue than whether or not the cabin should have been cleaned properly. all this talk of "oh, it happens everywhere, it's no big deal, get over it" reminds me of when kids say "oh, mom, please, all my friends are doing it and they say it's OK." to which the mother invariably responds, "if your friends told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" just because you found a tennis ball under the bed at a courtyard by marriott once, doesn't mean it's OK for an NCL cabin attendant to leave a used razor in a shower.

 

a guest has the right to expect a spotless well cleaned cabin, whether it's in the haven or an inside cabin next to the medical center. it's not my job to remove a used bar of soap (with hair from down below) or a razor from the shower, anymore than it's my responsibility to throw away a box of mallomars left in a bureau drawer. it's not my job to distribute free style dailies to every cabin, so why should i be expected to change the sheets and disinfect the bathroom?

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

It is a weak argument and almost a false premise because of a shaving razor left in a shower caddy means the room or bathroom was not cleaned.  You know when a room is not cleaned.  Do you see soap scum on the shower door?  Hair clippings in the sink?  Sand on the carpet?  The bed not made?  Room smells?
Its a ridiculous argument to make such an allegation because a sponge was left in the shower caddy.  Room stewards leave those personal items alone when they clean rooms every day.  Ok they had a brain fart on disembarkation day and left them in place.

If this is what you have to complain about on your cruise how can any of you be happy?

I agree with everything you listed as signs a room wasn't cleaned.  I happen to also include personal hygiene gear (not 1, but 2 in this case) in the shower as a sign the room isn't cleaned.  You mentioned "shower caddy" - I've not stayed in Haven but just looked at a couple videos and I don't see any "shower caddy". if those things were left behind they were right out in the open, presumbably sitting on a shelf or something that should have been getting a deep clean. 

 

If anything is a false premise, it's the idea that the steward forgot s/he was doing a deep clean between guests.  

 

44 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

Have we determined if the cabin attendant was actually done cleaning?

Exactly, we don't know and that's the problem.

42 minutes ago, havoc315 said:

Especially on a cruise ship which is amenable to spread of viral and bacterial infections, it’s appropriate to expect full deep cleaning between cruises.  
 

It might be overreaction to be upset about a misaligned towel.. a missed candy wrapper under the bed.  
 

But certainly, expect a deep cleaning of the bathroom. Used toiletries from a prior guest left laying out in the open, is certainly a legitimate complaint.  
Enough to ruin the entire cruise? No.  
But definitely a pretty legitimate gripe. 

Agree on all those points.  Especially the items under the bed, behind the couch etc that a few others have mentioned - those are understandable.  They still shouldn't happen, but, I get it.   Not toiletries in the shower.

It's obvious different people (cultures?) have different views on cleanliness.  It's all good.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

3 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

They still shouldn't happen, but, I get it.   

This is kind of where I am. If the steward did actually miss it, I’m pretty sure it was unintentional. Have any of you missed items in your home when cleaning? I know I have.
 

People make mistakes, especially when trying to flip multiple rooms in a hurry to get all the new guests on. Should it have been caught? Obviously, yes.

 

Some of you make it sound like this is the Exxon Valdez disaster. 

[Capitan Obvious]

5 minutes ago, UKstages said:

i find nothing wrong with the OP's careful and considered report.

 

5 minutes ago, UKstages said:

as if the OP was writing in a public forum in which cruise experiences are shared.

 

I have to agree...nothing wrong with a careful and considered report, especially on a public forum where cruise experiences are shared.

 

However, one can make a careful and considered report in a review, so that others can be informed as to the poster's experience. The issue seems to arise when the poster puts that result in a discussion forum instead of doing the review...it, by design, opens it up for discussion...where people can present a wide variety of differing opinions. When it appears in the discussion forums, I think the whining about the replies and responses is really what is out of line. If you don't want the discussion, just write a review...then nobody has to play the "tough crowd" card.

[david_sobe]

Here is what they do to the cabins on embarkation day:

Take off all sheets and bedspread.  Make the bed with fresh linens

Vacuum the carpet

Empty trash and remove trash

Mop the bathroom floor

Clean toilet

Clean shower and sink

 

For those that want or demand a deep cleaning of vacuuming under the bed, sterilizing all hard surfaces, and sanitizing the cabin please do not show up to embark until 7pm.  That means no embarkation day lunch and maybe no dinner.   The cabins are cleaned more thoroughly than most hotel rooms after a guest leave.  However those checking for dust bunnies behind the head board and other remote places will have to wait to board until 7:30 pm.  But I don't want to hear anyone complain.

Even if this did happen there STILL could be a possibility of a razor left in a shower caddy. And if it did you can hunt down your room steward and make him/her walk the plank.

Now are you happy?

Edited March 21 by david_sobe

[PATRLR]

2 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

This is kind of where I am. If the steward did actually miss it, I’m pretty sure it was unintentional. Have any of you missed items in your home when cleaning? I know I have.

But my expectation is the shower is cleaned and disinfected, top to bottom, side to side, 100%.  I'm not sure how one misses a couple of items in the shower if in fact it was cleaned top to bottom side to side, 100%.  

OP said "in the shower".  If I found the items sitting on the counter, as if the intent was to throw them away, I'd be more understanding.  But if they were in shower and the shower received a thorough cleaning it means the steward moved the items from one location to another in the shower while cleaning - I just don't think that is plausible.  Or the steward moved the items into the shower after cleaning it - even more unlikely.

[PATRLR]

4 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

However those checking for dust bunnies behind the head board and other remote places will have to wait to board until 7:30 pm. 

There's a strawman if ever there was one.

 

4 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

razor left in a shower caddy.

Could someone point me to a picture of one of these "shower caddy" that supposedly exist in Encore showers?  I'm quite certain mine didn't have one.

 

 

Edited March 21 by PATRLR

[roddy good boy]

8 hours ago, DraesMiran said:

Oo I'm sorry you're disappointed but I'm also a tiny bit envious. I love the big windows and the layout is so much nicer than the courtyard rooms imo. I am so curious, though...did they leave the big tubs? I really hope your cruise improves. 

According to the description and pictures on the NCL website, the big tub is still in the HI’s. The spa pass for our 9 day med cruise is $313, per person.