Best Service Stories

[Working 2 Cruise]

I thought it was time to bring back some positivity to these boards.

 

My favorite "best service" story happened onboard the Golden or the Sapphire in March.

 

My husband was sick and laying down in our cabin on the night the Baked Alaska was served. He loves the Baked Alaska so much! I went to the dining room and had dinner. I asked if I could take a plate of it back to my cabin, but the dining staff said no, and to call room service. Room service, of course, said no.

 

I went to the Cigar Bar for a few minutes and lo and behold, the food and beverage director was there.... We started to talk and eventually told him the story. Two seconds later, he was on the phone... The Baked Alaskas arrived at our cabin about 20 minutes later! That man was wonderful!

 

So, what are your stories?

[DrivesLikeMario]

Great, positive idea for a thread - thanks for starting it! :)

 

This may seem small and insignificant to some, but I like to have Kleenex by the bed when I go to sleep. Every night, I grab a couple and put them on the nightstand. Our cabin steward noticed this and put an extra box of Kleenex on my nightstand for me. I know it seems trivial and is such a small gesture, but I really appreciated his being aware and taking the time in his busy schedule to think of what would make me more comfortable.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Great, positive idea for a thread - thanks for starting it! :)

 

This may seem small and insignificant to some, but I like to have Kleenex by the bed when I go to sleep. Every night, I grab a couple and put them on the nightstand. Our cabin steward noticed this and put an extra box of Kleenex on my nightstand for me. I know it seems trivial and is such a small gesture, but I really appreciated his being aware and taking the time in his busy schedule to think of what would make me more comfortable.

 

Love that story! The staff will go the extra mile if given a chance.

[JimnKaren]

Ah! Baked Alaska! I remember when I used to eat it (I think the medical community where I go frowns on that!). We were on Grand out of Galveston and I mentioned to our waiter that the portions of Baked Alaska seemed to be skimpy. He brought one entire, complete, whole one to our table of four! Of course, I had to become humble a bit and try not to waste it.

 

I don't think that I have had it since! That was a great cruise! Rotten weather, wonderful table mates, and of course, good service! Been there, done that!

 

Jim

[Debs224]

We shared our table with a lovely older lady on the Caribbean Princess last week. She was travelling on her own, and at first seemed to be quite demanding, but as the week went on we all found her to be quite a character. The Maitre'd made a point of stopping at our table every night to compliment her and ask about her day. The first 2 nights she asked for a plate of lemon slices to go with her water, and then sugar so she could make her own lemonade. By day 3 our waiters had the lemon and sugar waiting for her without asking. It's the small things that really make a big impression!

[familia_solis]

Caribbean Princess: I didnt realize our cabin steward was in the cabin when I mentioned instead of chocolates on my pillow I would like cookies and from that night forward I had a plate of cookies in my cabin waiting for me!

 

Crown Princess: Our cabin steward noticed I was saving my chocolates and asked if I didnt like them I told him that my 6 yr old asked me to bring her some again going forward he left my husband and I handfuls on our pillows every night!

 

Princess is THE BEST!

[Pam in CA]

Years ago, I was on an LA > HI > LA cruise and while in Maui, the tender I was on was caught in a major, sudden storm and we couldn't disembark to the ship for almost two hours. I was soaked to the skin because it was so rough, people were puking into every available bag and they had to open the sides a tiny bit for air. Yours truly was right in the path of the sheet rain coming in. Anyway, the next day, I developed the worse laryngitis I've ever had. I couldn't speak for days (maybe, that was a good thing.) My waitress brought me honey and lemon every night to take back to my cabin. She couldn't have been sweeter or nicer, and was really concerned.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

I have a billion of them, but one night on our last cruise, I didn't order dessert and made an excuse that I was too full. Later that night, our waiter delivered a plate of cookies.

[TracieABD]

By day 3, the baristas at the IC knew my somewhat complicated coffee order by heart. When I would pass by, the would ask, "hot or iced?". Now if I could only get my home shop to deliver that kind of service with that level of memory!:)

[rdsqrl]

I've told this story before here, but I don't care. It still makes me happy, so if you remember it, feel free to skip it.

 

Many years ago, on the original Island Princess, night after night, the dessert menus lacked chocolate options. I should say that this was quite long ago, possibly even before the concept of Always Available, or even before the Love Boat Dream, because had that been an option, there would have been no story to tell here. Anyway, the menus at that time were very different and none of the desserts were to my taste. Anyway, along about day 572 of this (every day without dessert feels like 100!), I complained as, for the umpteenth time in a row, I handed back the dessert menu without ordering anything. The next night, after dinner, we were offered coffee but no menus. And in a short while, out came the waiter and the headwaiter with an enormous chocolate cake for our table: devil's food, with chocolate frosting, and chocolate swirls and rosettes and piping. Just the most beautiful -- and delicious!! -- cake you've ever seen.

 

At that moment, I knew I'd sail on Princess forever! I'm fairly sure that the fact that the ship's navigator was a regular at our table was not a factor. But it may have been. Either way, it's still remarkable service.

[TracieABD]

I've told this story before here, but I don't care. It still makes me happy, so if you remember it, feel free to skip it.

 

Many years ago, on the original Island Princess, night after night, the dessert menus lacked chocolate options. I should say that this was quite long ago, possibly even before the concept of Always Available, or even before the Love Boat Dream, because had that been an option, there would have been no story to tell here. Anyway, the menus at that time were very different and none of the desserts were to my taste. Anyway, along about day 572 of this (every day without dessert feels like 100!), I complained as, for the umpteenth time in a row, I handed back the dessert menu without ordering anything. The next night, after dinner, we were offered coffee but no menus. And in a short while, out came the waiter and the headwaiter with an enormous chocolate cake for our table: devil's food, with chocolate frosting, and chocolate swirls and rosettes and piping. Just the most beautiful -- and delicious!! -- cake you've ever seen.

 

At that moment, I knew I'd sail on Princess forever! I'm fairly sure that the fact that the ship's navigator was a regular at our table was not a factor. But it may have been. Either way, it's still remarkable service.

 

Yum....:)

[Working 2 Cruise]

This is wonderful! You just can't help but smile when reading these stories! Thank you and keep them coming!

[vickie_bernie]

what a great idea for a thread

 

we have so many so I will just mention the ones from our last cruise

 

- love the chocolate molten cake in Crown Grill but was too full to eat it one night there... the next late afternoon (when CG opened) it was delivered to our cabin with milk and a note

 

- the staff at facets became good friends, and the day we were in Honolulu one of them bought us flower leis to thank us for all the little treats we were giving them

 

- our cabin steward was amazing and did little special things like gave me extra things without us having to ask (like hangers, wine glasses, even lotion was put beside bed cause she saw i usually had it there for me to use just before going to sleep and it was low)

 

- Coffee bar staff on a few occassions allowed me to get my tea without having the coffee card because they knew i had one but husband had it at that time

 

- Frank playing his ukeleli for us in skywalkers

 

- Captain Circle host sent us the flowers from the table from the Most Travelled Luncheon that we sat at

 

on and on just can't remember

[RNGALNG]

I am loving this thread!!! Hope the stories never end.

 

On our last cruise (on the Coral through the Panama Canal,) our room steward was the greatest. He saw that I like ice water - lots of it, so twice a day, I found a champagne cooler filled with ice as well as the small water pitcher in the fridge.

 

Also, on the same trip, when we went through the canal, we had just left the last lock when some flying insects started to buzz around our balcony. More and more came along all seemed to be landing on the rail. Turned out to be a swarm of bees. Our poor guy was put into action by a superior to try to get them to leave by going out onto the balcony and splashing water on them. Well. we were in a mini on Aloha (one with the very small balcony on the edge of the jut outs) I felt so sorry for him. He ended up getting bit once, first time he had even been bit. But by the time we got back to our room (We left before they were going to attack the bees as I am allergic) all the bees were gone and cleaned up as well. They had had to use a spray of some kind to get them to leave. What a trooper he was to get hit in the line of duty for us!

[contentsam]

We had Godwin, head waiter on several cruises. After the second cruise, he remember us, what type of table we liked, and always give us a good wait staff.

[Murphey]

On our recent Med cruise on the Crown, our cabin steward left us a small gift on our pillow with a note thanking us for being so kind and neat. We were stunned! BTW, I don't think we are that kind, nor neat! :D

[D&L Thomas]

My shout-out is to the crew of the Crown last February on the ill fated noro cruise to nowhere. While some little touches had to be sacrificed, every crew member I encountered was polite, helpful, and as upbeat as possible. Way more so on all counts than lots of the passengers! I can't imagine the complaints, rudeness, and extra work the staff was handling and most with smiles and calm.

 

And we heard many say they were going to reduce or eliminate their tips. We increased ours.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

When my son was around 5 we were on an 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise with traditional dining. We were given menu's and when the waiter came to take our orders we all ordered and when he got to my son he asked 'for round things'. It took me a while to figure out he wanted cinnamon rolls and I had to explain that was for breakfast etc etc.

Our waiter came back with a plate of 'round things' and had a plate of them at the table every night thereafter, that was dinner for DS for the remainder of the cruise along with whatever else we could get him to eat.

[xavier]

Color my dorky but I always travel with a picture of my dogs. I had it up against the mirror in our cabin & the stewart asked me if I missed them. (They are 2 pugs how could I not miss them?!). Anyways I said yes & that night when we came back to our cabing the Stewart had mad 2 towel pugs & put them on the bed. It was too cute!

[sallybrown2012]

These stories are wonderful - keep them coming!

[Doughnut Dolly]

I remember coming back to Vancouver after a wonderful Alaska cruise. On the next to last day of the cruise, I developed an abcessed tooth. The Dr's office only had aspirin and that did not even touch the pain I was in. That night I stayed in the stateroom and planned to suffer in silence as the rest of the group went to supper. Our steward came into the room and seeing me there wallowing in pain, asked what was wrong? I told him and he said I'll be right back. He went down to the kitchen and filled a small bag with little sticks of cloves. He showed me how to place two or three on the gum above tha abcessed tooth and would check on me to make sure they were working. Believe it or not, it did help, the pain lessened enough that I was able to survive the last day of the cruise and the trip home. His care and concern when so far above and beyond. I have never forgotten it, but will admit to this day that the smell of cloves can get my stomach upset.

[minikiss]

Our first cruise was a couple of years ago started out a disaster as one of our cases got lost. The Desk staff were so hopeful and nice dispite me kicking up a major fuss. We explained that we had bought special snorkel gear of which one set of was in the lost case. at our 1st port they sent off ship a crew member to buy us new snorkels and masks and told us to keep them. As we had no need for them once the case caught up with us (day 4) we handed them back and told them to keep them in case they had some one else in our position.

On the same cruise each night after dinner we would head for Crooners (we loved to hear Martin Kaye play and sing) we had the same waitress each night and after a couple of times she learned that i liked Dune martini and DH always drank Grolsch beer. she also remembered our room number and by the end didn't need to see a room card.

On the Grand a couple of months back we had a similar thing happen with the waitress in Crooners. One of my first places to visit was there to make sure i could still get my favourite Martini i have the recipe and do make it myself, but it's not the same as having someone else make and shake it. It's not listed in the day time menus so i asked her if they still served it. I was very happy to know they did. She asked if she could get me one, please bear in mind it was 2.30 in the aftenoon and to early for me, so i declined but promised to be back later. After we walked away from her, off to explore the rest of the ship DH turned to me and said "well you won't forget her name for later" "why i asked?" DH said "her name was also Julia!".

True to my word we went straight there having had a wonderful dinner in the dinning room. Found a couple of seats to sit down at and looked around for her. she spotted me and came over asking "can i get you that Dune martini now?" "yes i will thanks and my husband will have a Grolsch"

She asked for my room card and on seeing we share the same name brought a smile to her face. If she was on duty when we were there she always took our order and always asked me by name if i wanted the usual.

 

It's the above things that made both cruises that extra bit special and would be a good reason to sail Princess again.

[PeteC22]

Your mistake was asking for a dessert to go. You should have just ordered the baked Alaska in the dining room and walked out with the plate in your hand. No one would have said a word.

[AKman2495]

We were on a repositioning cruise from Vancouver through the Panama Canal. At out first stop in LA 1400 passengers got off (it was sold as a 3 day costal). One of the rooms near our was vacated and our steward noticed a flower arrangement there that was basically new. Instead of tossing it he gave it to us. My love loved him for it and we enjoyed the flowers for several more days.

[HomelessBear]

We were on a Princess charter flight to Rome that had to turn back to Manchester due to a technical problem. It was around 10.30pm (about 10 hours later than planned) when we eventually arrived at the ship.

When we went to dinner the next evening, I discovered that I'd missed Pina Colada "soup" that had been on the menu the previous evening we were so late! I was gutted!!

When I mentioned to the wait staff that I was really disappointed that I'd missed it (Pina Colada and strawberry soup are my all time favourites), they arranged for the chef to make the soup just for us! They even did this for us for 2 evenings.

 

To make it even better, they arranged for us to have strawberry soup twice during the cruise too. I was in seventh heaven!

 

That was service above and beyond in my opinion, and very much appreciated.