Little Things to Help the Stewards......

[Q.E.D.]

I dust if the steward doesn't

You...dust your cabin...on a cruise? While you're on vacation? And paying for a room steward???

 

..the mind boggles..

[Q.E.D.]

I don't need clean towels everyday; I don't think they would see it as a reason to cut the number of stewards but acknowledgment that the passenger wants to do something for the environment.

I personally really don't want a stranger in my room one or more times a day.

 

Is it that unusual to inform housekeeping that you don't want the bed made at all, and for them to just provide fresh towels each day and do nothing else?

[our turn]

I always try to keep things put away because I just can't relax in a mess. Last year on the Westerdam, we had a problem with the room service trays. The orders were always perfect and on time but it took hours for the trays to picked up afterwards. It drove me crazy having the dirty dishes sitting around the cabin. I knew better than to set them outside the door but it sure was tempting.

[CroneWynd]

Who are those peolpe? You know the ones I mean. We have all walked by cabins, in the process of being cleaned, and observe that it looks like a cyclone came through.

Personally, I think that they are same people that leave the huge trays with piles of mostly uneaten food in the buffet dining area. :eek:

[DCLegalLady]

This may be a dumb question (I know, I know, there are no "dumb" questions) but I'm somewhat new to cruising so I don't understand why you would not leave your dishes outside the door. Could you explain that to me? Many thanks. Oh, and for the record, I agree with most of the postings, I like things somewhat neat -- I am delighted if that makes the steward's life a little easier. :)

[RustaRoo]

This may be a dumb question (I know, I know, there are no "dumb" questions) but I'm somewhat new to cruising so I don't understand why you would not leave your dishes outside the door.

I believe the hallways are somewhat narrower on a ship than in most hotels and anyone using crutches, walkers, scooters, wheelchairs or simply staggering back to one's stateroom after a night of frivolity and endless cocktails;) would have difficulty maneuvering around trays in the hallway. Also unruly 'urchins' love to play with leftover food, dishes and cutlery. Then there's the possibility of the ship rolling and tipping glassware off the tray into the hallway. Quite a few reasons actually....:D

[sail7seas]

This may be a dumb question (I know, I know, there are no "dumb" questions) but I'm somewhat new to cruising so I don't understand why you would not leave your dishes outside the door. Could you explain that to me? Many thanks. Oh, and for the record, I agree with most of the postings, I like things somewhat neat -- I am delighted if that makes the steward's life a little easier. :)

 

 

Moving ship; hit a wave; glassware/dishes/steak knives could go flying. :eek: People trying to hold hand rail if they need the support while walking on a moving ship could trip over tray and contents.

[Juanita462]

Q.E.D.

 

I am allergic to dust mites - hence the dusting. I don't do that to save the room steward as that is part of his job - but for myself, so that I won't choke up during the night.

 

Also DH uses a CPAP machine and it is important not to draw dust into the machine.

 

That is one area that is not usually done well by room stewards - have had only 2 or 3 that did a really good job.

 

Sorry - I should have given more info as to why I dust - on holiday - when I am paying a room steward to clean ;)

[Boytjie]

I'd like to see way less advertising for art auctions....gold by the inch....sales in their stores. That would help with the amount of useless paper wasted:rolleyes: :eek: .

 

The paper is (supposedly) recycled. Maybe the laundry water is too? It could be part of the 'grey water', I guess, so, maybe not so bad environmentally :) But overwashing the towels (and linen) can wear them out quicker. ;)

[TMJplus1]

I too tidy up. Question: What do you do with the towel animals? Last cruise our room steward never took them away so by the end of the week we had a zoo!!! I love them but the cabins really aren't big enought to house all the critters.

 

Oh I would love to have that cabin steward! On my last cruise my friend and I wanted to keep the towel animals and take a "zoo" shot at the end of the week. The first day, we put our animal in a cupboard but the steward found him and took him away. The next two days, we hid our animals a little better but he always found them! Then we just gave up. Oh well.

 

Now I am feeling badly that we might have cause our steward extra work looking for those hidden towel animals! (And, for the record, I definitely try to pick up after myself and have felt bad on the few occasions I've had to call my cabin steward for something "extra" - I know they are so busy and their "free" time is so limited, I hate the feeling of making extra work for them.)

[ellbelle]

I am also one that puts everything away. Would feel terrible of our cabin steward had to pick up any of our things. Shoes always in the closet, items neatly arranged on the desk, toiletries hidden away in bathroom vanity. Just normal for me....not so much for our 13 year old, but working on it!

 

Cheryl

[Down-Unders]

I've read a few comments lately that made me wonder.....

 

Do you find yourself doing little things that might make it a tiny bit easier for your cabin steward?

 

Do you put your bathroom things on shelves/in your hanging shoe bag or wherever to clear the vanity and make it easier for your steward to clean the bathroom well?

 

Do you put your clothes away?

 

If we all did one or two small things, it could save an hour or more per day for our cabin stewards.

 

 

Giving them a night off, we can do without a turn down a few nights on our cruise, of course we cannot do without our chocolate but it does not have to be on our pillow!

[Q.E.D.]

Giving them a night off, we can do without a turn down a few nights on our cruise, of course we cannot do without our chocolate but it does not have to be on our pillow!

Do you think our HAL steward would be offended if we told him we didn't want any room service AT ALL except for fresh towels and a mid-week sheet change?

[sail7seas]

I have no idea HAL's policy on such a request. They do have regular cabin checks so a steward might not be able to oblige that request. You can always ask. :)

 

[Q.E.D.]

I travel extensively on business, with a 3-night stay typical. I just prefer that my room be as I left it in the morning, and also just don't like the thought of a stranger touching and re-arranging my things while I'm gone. I just leave a note on the doorknob for housekeeping if I need anything like towels or shampoo or something.

 

I could see why HAL might want a steward to poke his head in every day or 2 to make sure everything's alright. I have no problem with that.

 

But does anyone think HAL's hotel manager would think it's bad or weird if we just say "no housekeeping needed, thanks, we'll let you know if we need anything"?

[sail7seas]

I have no idea HAL's policy in that regard. You can ask. :)

[kryos]

But does anyone think HAL's hotel manager would think it's bad or weird if we just say "no housekeeping needed, thanks, we'll let you know if we need anything"?

No, but I do think they want to keep the room tidy simply to avoid a huge workload on turnaround day. If the cabin steward never got in there to vacuum or clean up the bathroom, he could conceivably be really screwed on turnaround day when that one room took him an hour or more to make up for the next occupants.

 

I honestly don't think the cabin stewards spend more than ten minutes or so in each cabin ... unless, of course, its occupants are real slobs. They might spend a little more time if the bedding needed to be changed. But other than that, they're in and out, and I really think they would prefer to get in there at least once a day.

 

I also know from when I sailed Princess that it is a policy on that line to make "cabin inspections" periodically during the cruise. These are done with a housekeeping supervisor and I think the purpose is to make sure the occupant of the cabin wasn't trashing it. I would assume HAL has a similiar policy because it does make sense.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I could see why HAL might want a steward to poke his head in every day or 2 to make sure everything's alright. I have no problem with that.

I don't know if any of you all have heard about it ... but HAL is changing their entire cabin cleaning procedure. On the Statendam, the new program went into place on the cruise after our Hawaii/South Pacific sailing -- the one that is currently running.

 

In the past a cabin steward had maybe 15 or so cabins he was responsible for. He took care of everything ... from cleaning the bathroom, to making the beds and changing the linens, vacuuming, etc. The new procedure is gonna pair cabin stewards into teams. Ideally one team member -- the lead steward -- will be very experienced and will be paired with an inexperienced steward ... perhaps someone on their first contract ideally.

 

Together they will have about 30 cabins to service twice a day, everyday. The stewards will work together on the beds, and then split off ... one doing the bathroom, while the other does the general cabin. I forget who is responsible for the balcony. Having the stewards work on the beds together will have the added benefit of saving the stewards' backs since making the beds and changing bed linens is heavy work.

 

The idea here is primarily one of training and mentoring. The lead steward will train his partner, mentor him, etc. The idea (and I'm not saying necessarily that it's a good one) is that being a lead/mentor will help the cabin steward to be more outgoing and more willing to share his knowledge with others who could benefit from it. To compensate him, he is getting a raise in salary. The regular steward, too, is getting a raise under this new plan (at least that's what I was told), and will benefit in having someone more experienced to help him ... especially if he is on his first contract and totally clueless as to how to live and work on a ship. It is hoped that the lead stewards will step up to the plate to help the new one ... in more areas than just with doing their work.

 

Again, this is the information I was given. I'm just reporting it ... not judging it ... because I honestly don't know if it's a good idea or not.

 

Thirty cabins is a lot to service twice a day, but supposedly by splitting their efforts, they will be serviced better and faster under this new plan. Also, because only one person is doing bathrooms, there will supposedly be less of a chance for the spread of disease since you won't have the same person who cleaned your toilet also filling your ice bucket. Makes sense ... especially when you consider that true, initially there could be some problems and cabin service could actually take the teams longer to complete than it does now. But I would imagine that once they get into their routines, and tweak things so that the system works best for them, they could really get into a nice groove where cabin service could actually be speeded up considerably. At least that's my thinking anyway.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RuthC]

Do you think our HAL steward would be offended if we told him we didn't want any room service AT ALL except for fresh towels and a mid-week sheet change?

I think he would be terrified of getting in trouble. He wouldn't say so right out, but he would be.

[innlady1]

I've read a few comments lately that made me wonder.....

 

Do you find yourself doing little things that might make it a tiny bit easier for your cabin steward?

 

Do you put your bathroom things on shelves/in your hanging shoe bag or wherever to clear the vanity and make it easier for your steward to clean the bathroom well?

 

Do you put your clothes away?

 

If we all did one or two small things, it could save an hour or more per day for our cabin stewards.

 

Of course we do. :o