What's a 'normal' time for turndown?

[AdoraBelle]

I'm on the GA right now. This is my fourth cruise (total). This is the latest I've ever had turndown run (it's 8:30 ship time, nothing yet) and it was the same last night. I eat pretty early (5:30 or 6) and I turn on my service-room light. I like to come back after dinner and chill for a while, and tonight in particular the seas are rough due to the tropical system and I'm not feeling so hot. I went to the thermal suite for a while to try to give them more time, but like I said it's 8:30 now and turndown doesn't seem to be happening anywhere on this deck.

 

On that note, I don't think the morning service happened until about noon. (I was out by about 8:30 and put on the green light.)

 

(All I really care about at night is getting the dailies and fresh towels, and if the room steward was around I'd just ask him for that.)

 

I guess they must be understaffed. Would it be obnoxious for me to request an earlier turndown time?

 

Anyway, I'm just curious if 8:30 seems 'late' for turndown.

[bbryan5]

Unless your room steward happens to be perusing cruise-critic right now, you posting here won't really help the situation. Why not just talk to him/her :confused: :confused:

[zqvol]

Doesn't really seem late at all. Our experience is that turn down is usually between 6:30 and about 10:00.

[Diane123boys]

Please dont take this the wrong way but, why dont you just go to bed and put the do not disturb on? If i felt unwell thats what I would do! Please sleep well and enjoy the rocking of the boat !(it always puts me right to sleep!

[LrgPizza]

That doesn't seem that late, and it doesn't mean they are understaffed. He has a lot of rooms to service, and yours might be later in his order. Simply tell him the times you prefer, and he'll adjust his order. No big deal.

 

 

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[phoenix1181]

You need to let your cabin steward know you want your cabin taken care of earlier in the morning & evening. If your schedule is pretty regular, they should be able to accommodate your request.

[NLH Arizona]

Have a conversation with your Cabin Steward and let him/her know what times you would like make-up and turn down. I'm sure if he/she is able to accommodate you, they will.

[triptolemus]

What part of...

 

(All I really care about at night is getting the dailies and fresh towels, and if the room steward was around I'd just ask him for that.)

 

... are you people not understanding. How is OP supposed to ask for what they want if the steward isn't around to be asked?

[NLH Arizona]

What part of...

 

 

 

... are you people not understanding. How is OP supposed to ask for what they want if the steward isn't around to be asked?

I'd probably use the telephone in the room and call him.

[Kingmaker_inc]

I'd probably use the telephone in the room and call him.

 

 

Or put a note on the door...

[BirdTravels]

What part of... ... are you people not understanding. How is OP supposed to ask for what they want if the steward isn't around to be asked?

 

Pick up the phone and call your room steward to your room to talk. All room stewards always have their handiphones with them. I think that there is even a speed dial button on the phone on the GA to get him/her.

[triptolemus]

I didn't know the stewards carried ship phones. I guess I've never had occasion to call them...

[mking8288]

We can usually tell if our RS in around/started his "routines" if we see the service carts & other gadgets/tools/buckets, etc. in the nearby hallway/corridors ... easy to take a few steps actively to look for him/her if we needed something done that evening or have a special request.

 

Our RS actually spoke to our friends next door on day 3 or 4 to let them know he didn't/couldn't go into their room in the evening to freshen things up, refill the ice buckets, empty the garbage bins & replace the towels, etc. as they always forget to turn OFF the DND light (and, they leave the lights on with the tricked/extra "cardkey" from home) ... thinking that they are in their room, he wasn't going to knock on the door. RS was sharp & knew who's out for dinner/away from their room - usually.

 

Speak to him/call him on the extension - speed dial preprogrammed into the room telephone; or, leave a note for him to see in the morning about your preference ... they aren't perfect mind readers. Each RS have as much as 15 to 20 staterooms and it take a while for them to properly "service" each room, twice a day - and some rooms needing more attention as expected with children & other messy occupants.

 

Next day's Freestyle Dailies are usually out in the evening at Guest Services - we sometimes pick one up if passing thru, as I don't need/want/feel like going back to our stateroom just to read that ... if we are going to be "out" for a while, can be a longer walk. As for fresh towels, why not ask for extras on the next day ... and leave the soiled ones for next day pickup in the morning.

[IsanTom]

When you leave for dinner and before you return!

[suzycruise]

Sometimes people make the simplest things difficult. There is a reason there is a phone in the cabin and there is usually a card on the desk with your cabin steward's name and number to reach him. Make the call and explain your wishes for turndown and cleanup known to your steward.

[casofilia]

On our cruise from Buenos Aires to San Francisco our steward was very regular, starting "turn-down" about 6.30 and finishing about 9.30. We were about half way through his cabins so he was there about 8pm most days.

 

Mike

[mypleasure]

I always make a point of speaking with our cabin steward on the first evening. I like to say Hello and to tell him that we are a couple who rarely go out for dinner and our evening before 8PM and would be happy for him to service our room last. They have always been happy to get some idea of what our schedule is likely to be in the evenings. It saves them the trouble of trying to work it out by reading minds.

[luckyinpa]

i have to ask. is turndown in all cabins. if so what is to be expected?

[Sissaaaaaa]

That's pretty late. We only had one cruise that I can remember where it was that late. I would call the room steward, or even let guest services know. We cruise a lot, and with the exception of that one trip, the room has always been turned down while we were at dinner. The better Stewards will even ask you what time you normally dine. Regardless, I would mention it to someone and have it rectified. Have a nice trip!

[All-ready2cruise]

The "turndown" is simply the final visit of the day by the steward. It's when they tidy your room, remove the bed scarf/runner, fold down the sheets not unlike you'd do when putting a child to bed. They also clean the bathroom put in fresh towels too, etc. It's usually done, as someone else mentioned between 6:30 - 9:30 preferably when you're out of the room.

 

It usually only takes about 10minutes or so.

[Windsailer]

I'm glad all of you have had success in getting the room steward to understand your preferred schedules. After years of being a HAL cruiser (still am, actually) and having awesome room stewards, we have been really disappointed with the RS on NCL. We've been on 4 NCL cruises in the last year. Jewel 3x and the Epic once. Even after many polite conversations (we eat breakfast and dinner early) at least 1/2 the time our cabin isn't done when we returned. Those cruises are the first time I've not left an extra tip for the RS.

 

The strangest experience was on the Epic when the cart was parked outside of our large balcony cabin morning and night, with the RS coming and going - but still the cabin wasn't serviced. For evening turn-down I just started to go to the cart to get my daily and new towels if I needed them.

 

And yes, I turned the sign to service or turndown when we left the cabin.

[AdoraBelle]

Thanks for the responses.

 

Since this was seemingly missed by some people:

 

I've been lurking on CC a long time, and we are relentlessly told that cruise ship staff is overworked. That's why I came to ask about normal turndown times and asked whether it would be obnoxious to request an earlier time--I'm trying not to be a PITA to the staff. I've only been on four cruises now so I don't have enough data points. Hence the thread title.

 

Not every post is a disguised complaint that needs to be dogpiled.

[Windsailer]

Thanks for the responses.

 

Since this was seemingly missed by some people:

 

I've been lurking on CC a long time, and we are relentlessly told that cruise ship staff is overworked. That's why I came to ask about normal turndown times and asked whether it would be obnoxious to request an earlier time--I'm trying not to be a PITA to the staff. I've only been on four cruises now so I don't have enough data points. Hence the thread title.

 

Not every post is a disguised complaint that needs to be dogpiled.

 

You can ask and ask for an earlier time but don't be surprised if you don't get it. I never did.

[hawkeyetlse]

I don't know if NCL is understaffed compared to other cruise lines. On one recent cruise our steward told me he had 16 cabins to service. (I know, everything the crew members say is just lies to get more tips, blablabla :rolleyes:)

 

Turndown service is relatively quick and easy, probably no more than 10 minutes per cabin give or take, but even then that's almost 3 hours of work for 16 cabins. I don't think there is anything obnoxious about letting them know if you need your cabin done by a certain time every day. As long as you understand that if another 10-15 cabins ask for the same thing, there is no way for the steward to accommodate everyone.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I noticed that our cabin steward on the Gem, deck 9, cleaned the cabin at a much later time than usual. We'd return from an excursion in the early afternoon, and our room wasn't touched yet. We'd go for lunch and an activity around the ship. and found the cabin clean sometime between 1:00 and 2pm. Her turn-down time was later as well. In some instances we went to bed before she came, and just adjusted the wheel to "Do Not Disturb." She'd slide the next Daily under our door.

 

Maybe NCL reduced the number of Stewards, giving the remaining ones more cabins to clean.