Princess Standards

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

Having just come of the Emerald, I can still hear folk saying how good the service was while the person next to them was complaining about how poor the service was. May thats why I have a head ache tonight.

 

Anyway I thought it would be good to chat about what we understand the level of service to be, on a Princess ship.

 

So lets start off with the Room Steward.

 

On getting on board

The cabin should be clean, I mean the carpet hoovered, the furniture dusted, mirrors cleaned, rubbish bin empty. The bathroom stocked, new clean towels and the bed changed. Items like TV guide, welcome on boad papers etc should all be there.

 

Now twice a day I expect the bathroom cleaned, stocked up new towels etc, the bin emptyed.

 

Paper work eg the Patter to be delivered at a reasonable time, not much point after I have gone to bed.

 

If I call the steward on his pager I expect a call back within 10 minutes.

 

If I request some thing I expect it within a few hours max, eg, ice, fruit, water robes. etc

 

 

I think once they start folding up your clothes , lining up your shoes in straight rows. organsing your desk top papers etc, they are going beyond standard levels of service.

 

While not having ice after requesting it, runing out of supplies, not get towels for the beech replaced etc is below standards.

 

What do you good folk think.

 

yours Shogun

[Woodmnky]

I would have to agree. Also, a friendly attitude and a smile now and then should be expected.

[pedirn]

Oh how I would love to be able to forward your comments to our last cabin stewardess. She barely cleaned and forget towels and ice (as well as our chocolates) Always delivered the papers one at a time often making three or four trips to room in a couple hour span. Did not make for a fun 31 days.

 

I agree immensly with you standards. My biggest pet peeve is lack of towels and ice...why can't they get a decent size ice bucket?

[Beryl]

1. A clean cabin!

2. A spotless bathroom.....extra towels if I request them.

3. My room made up in a timely manner. (I expect that it is my job to vacate the cabin in a timely manner so the steward can do his job! I know if I sleep in 'til noon it will not be made up early!)

4. Extra wineglasses if I request them....replaced when necessary.

5. A friendly greeting if we pass in the passageway.

6. Ice in the ice bucket.

7. Any problem with the room taken care of in a timely manner.

 

8. It is nice to meet the steward on arrival but if they are busy and it doesn't happen it's not a deal breaker!

 

What I don't expect from a Steward.

 

1. A new best friend.

2. A servant that picks up my mess...I make a special effort to pick up after myself because space is so very limited and I like my cabin to look nice!! I would hate it if the steward touched my personal items to tidy up the desk or whatever.

 

These are the things that I have expected from every steward on every ship I have ever been on. They are the things that I consider to be the steward's basic job and this is what I expect from the steward for the "suggested" or basic tip.

[katisdale]

I agree with these posts. Fortunately we have always had excellent stewards on Princess.

[wizard-of-roz]

I agree....If I start dusting the tables and wiping the sink....I'm not happy!!!

I have learned to just call housekeeping and express myself!

That goes for suppliesl and cleanliness!!!!

[kirbyrox]

Is a room steward advising that there is drug sniffing dogs at our next port, going above and beyond. lol

 

I guess I look like a hooligan.

 

btw every single room steward i have had was Grade A

[sultan_sfo]

I assume that 10 minutes is if you page the steward during his/her working hours and NOT during his/her "off" time. Times are on the steward info on the cabin desk.

 

Same for your second comment.

 

Please do NOT expect the steward to be at your beck and "call" 24x7. It is not fair.

 

Hi Folks,

...

If I call the steward on his pager I expect a call back within 10 minutes.

 

If I request some thing I expect it within a few hours max, eg, ice, fruit, water robes. etc

 

What do you good folk think.

yours Shogun

 

_________________

On most Princess cruises, providing wine glasses is now the responsibility of Room Service and not the cabin Steward. So if this is the case, you may have to arrange this with Room Service and get mad at Room Service and not your cabin Steward.

 

...

4. Extra wineglasses if I request them....replaced when necessary.

...

[jean s]

I agree with most of the previous posts. We usually have no complaints about our room steward. We always pick up after ourselves and are pretty low maintenance. On our last cruise on Grand in February though our steward was late every day cleaning our cabin which was difficult for me because I like to sit out on the balcony.

[Beryl]

On most Princess cruises, providing wine glasses is now the responsibility of Room Service and not the cabin Steward. So if this is the case, you may have to arrange this with Room Service and get mad at Room Service and not your cabin Steward.

 

Who said I get mad??? I usually just ask the steward nicely and the wine glasses are there next time I come into my cabin. Perhaps the steward calls Room Service on my behalf! :D

[sultan_sfo]

I read this (boldface by me) as your reaction. OK -- hope you do not reduce the tip if the Cabin Steward suggests YOU call Room Service for wine glasses because this is now becoming the "norm".

 

[quote=Beryl;15599981

...

These are the things that I have expected from every steward on every ship I have ever been on. They are the things that I consider to be the steward's basic job and this is what I expect from the steward for the "suggested" or basic tip.

 

Who said I get mad??? I usually just ask the steward nicely and the wine glasses are there next time I come into my cabin. Perhaps the steward calls Room Service on my behalf!

[ptcruzers]

We had a room steward on the CB in April, 2007, (Nora), who was so nice and so good my wife wanted us to smuggle her home to work for us!!:D

[Beryl]

YOU call Room Service

 

Actually, if the room steward spoke to me in the tone you suggest (by the capital letters you have chosen to use) I might very well reduce the tip! Yelling is rude. If he explained the policy to me I would have no problem with it at all.

 

I stand by what I previously stated. These are the things I expect of my cabin steward. I have never been disappointed. Do you expect less than what I have indicated I expect as basic service. Perhaps I am out of line. I have never read a room steward's job description or business contract.

[Jolynn2262]

Just have to comment on my room steward Jose. He was wonderful to say the least. I just retuned from the Crown, and if you have a lido deck room port side coming up, consider yourself lucky.

 

I had/have been seriously ill with Lyme disease prior to my trip and not sure if I could go, but I was determined to do my best, but take it very easy. I had planned so far in advance and all.

 

Anyway, upon boarding around 12:30 when I got to my cabin, things I had faxed in for, robe, feather pillows, egg crate were not in place so I called/paged him and he was there right away.

 

I gave him my requests and explained that I was recovering and that I would sleep quite a bit. He went out and brought me 5 different pillows to see which was best, the crate and robe etc and then made everything up immediately even though I said it wasn't needed so I could nap until the muster drill. (I was exhausted and it showed) Even asked if I had a travel alarm and reminded me the drill was important.

 

He took great care of me, in to do his job in an instant when I left because he knew sometimes I wasn't gone long. Did his job to perfection and if he was unable to do turndown because I had come in from a port day exhausted and stayed in my cabin to sleep, he left me two chocolates the next night to make up for it. He also always asked how I was feeling and if I was managing to enjoy myself and expressed such saddness along with me that I had had to miss day two in St P's because of a high fever and exhaustion. Stayed in bed the enitre day :(

 

Yes I filled out the Make a Difference card. I was very very impressed. so here I will toot his horn as well. So while some may not be good, my tablemate never had ice or met her steward, mine was 5 star!

[Jolynn2262]

I did not intend to have the sad face there by my post. Not certain why it showed there as well as in my text. I was not unhappy in the least! Just clearing that up.

[cruiseryyc]

Regarding wine glasses - we always tell our room steward when we first meet him, that we would like wine glasses in the room. They show up, they get replaced when dirty, he/she gets a big extra tip at the end of the cruise. Room stewards can get you wine glasses; you just have to ask at the beginning of the cruise. If you decide mid way through to have wine in your room, then yes by all means call room service.

[Toto2Kansas]

Regarding wine glasses - we always tell our room steward when we first meet him, that we would like wine glasses in the room. They show up, they get replaced when dirty, he/she gets a big extra tip at the end of the cruise. Room stewards can get you wine glasses; you just have to ask at the beginning of the cruise. If you decide mid way through to have wine in your room, then yes by all means call room service.

 

On our last three or four cruises we requested wine glasses from the room steward when we met. Each time we were instructed to call room service, that the room steward doesn't supply them anymore.

So, this must be one of those things that it might depend on either the ship or the room steward, but we have not been able to get our room steward to supply them for us. :(

[Crusing Grandparents]

We didn't know that you could order robes, wine glasses or even egg crates--are these an extra charge?

On the subject of the stewards and cleaning we must remember that the stewards have several rooms to take care of and a friendly attitude is always helpful as my parents always told me.

I have enjoy and getting great advice on all of the different ideas so thank you all. We are looking forward to our Alaska cruise and can't wait until then.:D :D :D :D

[Toto2Kansas]

We didn't know that you could order robes, wine glasses or even egg crates--are these an extra charge?

 

:D :D :D :D

 

No charge for any of the above mentioned items. Robes and egg crates will be supplied by the room steward if requested. Wine glasses, either from the room steward or just pick up the phone and call room service and they will deliver whatever glasses you might need. :)

[sultan_sfo]

I am glad that you recognized this as an extra service on Princess cruises -- beyond the "basic" tip. Thank you. I think you will always get excellent service with this attitude.

 

Regarding wine glasses - we always tell our room steward when we first meet him, that we would like wine glasses in the room. They show up, they get replaced when dirty, he/she gets a big extra tip at the end of the cruise. Room stewards can get you wine glasses; you just have to ask at the beginning of the cruise. If you decide mid way through to have wine in your room, then yes by all means call room service.

[sultan_sfo]

What concerns me is the posts on this thread will be confused with similar posts about "what to pack". That someone will prepare a cumulative list from each of these expectations and think that like a packing list the cumulative list is what the cabin steward should provide. Our experience is that each cabin steward adjusts to the demands (or lack of demands) and balances the service for each cabin -- say a reasonable tidy cabin will allow the steward to provide other extra services for that cabin. So I hope those who read the list will avoid a cumulative expectation. And also the duties of the steward change over time and is different for different cruise lines.

[LARGIN]

What concerns me is the posts on this thread will be confused with similar posts about "what to pack". That someone will prepare a cumulative list from each of these expectations and think that like a packing list the cumulative list is what the cabin steward should provide. Our experience is that each cabin steward adjusts to the demands (or lack of demands) and balances the service for each cabin -- say a reasonable tidy cabin will allow the steward to provide other extra services for that cabin. So I hope those who read the list will avoid a cumulative expectation. And also the duties of the steward change over time and is different for different cruise lines.

 

I agree.. We keep our cabin spotless and ensure that the bed is almost made up in the morning.. Often we are told by stewards that we are one the the neatest passengers they have. Because of this we receive excellent and prompt service and they go out of their way for us..

[Crusing Grandparents]

No charge for any of the above mentioned items. Robes and egg crates will be supplied by the room steward if requested. Wine glasses, either from the room steward or just pick up the phone and call room service and they will deliver whatever glasses you might need. :)

 

Thank you very much for this information-Looking forward to the cruise.:)

[PhoneGoddess]

We had a room steward on the CB in April, 2007, (Nora), who was so nice and so good my wife wanted us to smuggle her home to work for us!!:D

 

 

We had Nora as our room steward too on the CB in May 2007! She was absolutely wonderful! We wanted to take her home with us as well. She was not only outstanding at her job but she was so sweet!:)

 

I absolutely agree with Shogun's assessment of what should be expected of a room steward.

[cruiseryyc]

On our last three or four cruises we requested wine glasses from the room steward when we met. Each time we were instructed to call room service, that the room steward doesn't supply them anymore.

So, this must be one of those things that it might depend on either the ship or the room steward, but we have not been able to get our room steward to supply them for us. :(

 

In 14 Princess cruises our room steward has always been able to supply them. I agree, it might depend on each individual steward.