Is it reasonable to have to vacate cabins at 7am on disembarkation?

[gold1953]

The early time to leave the cabin must be to give the ship crew more time to clean the whole ship and to load food, alcohol and other supplies on aboard the ship.

 

Loading the ship has no connection to us cruisers. Public areas will just be the regular daily cleaning

[shipshape sam]

A hundred or two land based housekeeping staff, be it in New York, Florida or most U.S. ports, at local land based salaries would make the beancounter's heads explode compared to what the ship's crew is paid.

 

bosco

 

They have many people at the port and are part time. There is a way whether is is all off shore personal or supplemental which is what I was suggesting, it can work. If I was charged with fixing it, I would find a way and it would not cost greatly more if even any more. My background is operations/finance. I love a challenge.

 

Maybe it could be done with on land based personnel, but there is a way.

[anniegb]

........ but the biggest down side is that i feel I am only viewed as a cash cow by a large percentage of the ships support crew.

 

Totally agree and advised the GRM the same.

 

Annie

[Luvcrusn]

totally agree and advised the grm the same.

 

Annie

 

grm?

[chamima]

grm?

 

 

 

Guest Relations Manager ??????

[anniegb]

Guest Relations Manager ??????

 

Yes.

 

Annie

[boscobeans]

They have many people at the port and are part time. There is a way whether is is all off shore personal or supplemental which is what I was suggesting, it can work. If I was charged with fixing it, I would find a way and it would not cost greatly more if even any more. My background is operations/finance. I love a challenge.

 

Maybe it could be done with on land based personnel, but there is a way.

 

From what I have seen the people working on shore, CAN NOT board the ship and are not housekeeping workers also their salary would be way far above anything that the cruse line pays its shipboard staff. They work for local wages.

 

There may also be somewhat of a possible immigrations problem with workers getting on and off the ship.

 

OMO

 

Maybe someone with better information could respond with a more exact answer.

[SusieV]

I just don't understand why they are cutting back the tipped staff. We are mostly paying their wages after all. But it significantly impacts the cruise experience to remove bar servers from MDR (Summit Oct 16), cut the assistant steward position, and reduce waitstaff.

 

These are the people we interact with most directly, and it costs them next to nothing to maintain a good staffing level.

[Luvcrusn]

[quote name=chj

amima]Guest Relations Manager ??????

 

When someone explains the shorthand I always want to smack my head and say "duh"! Seems so obvious after the fact. Thanks

[Pushka]

With all of the negative responses on here (and I can just imagine what's happening on the ships :eek: ) I expect this will soon be a failed experiment.

 

 

 

I don't tend to be an optimist but I really think we'll start hearing very soon that the time has been put back to 8am .

 

 

Just reading some of the trip reports posted recently the 7am exit has been mentioned a lot. The report yesterday of SIL had multiple issues with self disembark being a huge line of people and cases wrapping around the ship.

[Orator]

Just reading some of the trip reports posted recently the 7am exit has been mentioned a lot. The report yesterday of SIL had multiple issues with self disembark being a huge line of people and cases wrapping around the ship.

 

It was a 4 day cruise that was followed by a charter. Everyone had to get off and most did a walk off. My guess is that most of those doing a self disembark would have been there early and that the 7:00 AM time really didn't make much difference. Doing a seven day on SIL next week and I'll see what happens. As I said before, I left my cabin about 8:30 AM as did others and experienced only some crowded mis ship elevators. Since I was on 11 I simply took the elevator to 14 and rode down.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I just don't understand why they are cutting back the tipped staff. We are mostly paying their wages after all. But it significantly impacts the cruise experience to remove bar servers from MDR (Summit Oct 16), cut the assistant steward position, and reduce waitstaff.

 

These are the people we interact with most directly, and it costs them next to nothing to maintain a good staffing level.

 

Simple math - average $13.50/guest per day in tips on a 2800 passenger ship equals $37,800/day in revenue to the cruise line. Let's say there were originally 300 tipped staff per ship and they cut it back to 200 but don't raise the pay of the remaining staff commensurately then the cruise lines saves an average of $12,600/day in wages. Now multiply that by 9 ships and 365 days a year...... That's upwards of $40,000,000 in savings in staff wages per year. Even if the reduction in staff were only 50 staff members they would save $20,000,000 in wages per annum based on the above hypothetical situation.

 

My numbers may be off in the number of staff covered under this tip payout by guests but the basic math shows that cutting staff will significantly improve the financial performance of the business and yield better short term returns to shareholders which is all modern business really cares about at the end of the day. Guest satisfaction ultimately is lipstick on a pig. It's yields, profits and keeping "Wall Street" happy that matters.

[Pushka]

It was a 4 day cruise that was followed by a charter. Everyone had to get off and most did a walk off. My guess is that most of those doing a self disembark would have been there early and that the 7:00 AM time really didn't make much difference. Doing a seven day on SIL next week and I'll see what happens. As I said before, I left my cabin about 8:30 AM as did others and experienced only some crowded mis ship elevators. Since I was on 11 I simply took the elevator to 14 and rode down.

 

 

The 8.30am departure is no longer available so with everyone leaving at 7am there will be a lot of congestion of self disembarkation people with luggage and people with their hand luggage making their way somewhere else. Conducive to accidents and frustrations. Just an unpleasant way to finish a cruise. It's bad enough anyway but nothing like making it worse.

[chamima]

Simple math - average $13.50/guest per day in tips on a 2800 passenger ship equals $37,800/day in revenue to the cruise line. Let's say there were originally 300 tipped staff per ship and they cut it back to 200 but don't raise the pay of the remaining staff commensurately then the cruise lines saves an average of $12,600/day in wages. Now multiply that by 9 ships and 365 days a year...... That's upwards of $40,000,000 in savings in staff wages per year. Even if the reduction in staff were only 50 staff members they would save $20,000,000 in wages per annum based on the above hypothetical situation.

 

My numbers may be off in the number of staff covered under this tip payout by guests but the basic math shows that cutting staff will significantly improve the financial performance of the business and yield better short term returns to shareholders which is all modern business really cares about at the end of the day. Guest satisfaction ultimately is lipstick on a pig. It's yields, profits and keeping "Wall Street" happy that matters.

 

 

If you're saying that the cruiselines keep the "gratuity" money we pay as income then that would be fraud.

If anyone could prove that then Celebrity would be in big trouble.

Edited January 15, 2017 by chamima

[AnOnymously]

The 8.30am departure is no longer available

 

Have they stopped that stay late payable option, I thought someone said that it was still available.

 

If they have stopped it then they must be desperate, if they will not take money for people to stay in their cabins for another 1.5 hours!

[Pushka]

Have they stopped that stay late payable option, I thought someone said that it was still available.

 

If they have stopped it then they must be desperate, if they will not take money for people to stay in their cabins for another 1.5 hours!

 

 

That option is still available but only if you pay that extra amount. The post I was referring to in the above quote was someone who just left their cabin later than was stated then disembarked.

[goofysmom99]

I just compared the HAL loyalty benefits to Celebrity's. No comparison. When you finally reach their 5-star tier (500 days sailing), you get:

 

50% discount on a 100-minute Internet package (one time only per cruise)

Mariner Welcome Reception

A complimentary photo of the ship

Mariner Embarkation Lunch

Mariner Champagne Brunch

Two complimentary dinners in the Pinnacle Grill (free surcharge only)

Complimentary Culinary Arts Center cooking class (1 per cruise)

Complimentary laundry and pressing services*

Priority disembarkation*

Priority tender*

Priority check-in*

A 50% discount on specialty restaurant surcharges and on specialty coffees in all dining venues*, wine packages*, beverages in the Explorations Café* and all mini-bar purchases*

A complimentary wine tasting session

A special collectible gift presented to you on board

A 15% discount on select Holland America Line logo clothing sold in onboard shops (may exclude already discounted merchandise)

A 15% discount on merchandise from shophollandamerica.com

Discounts on select spa treatments from the Greenhouse Spa & Salon

Complimentary day pass to the Greenhouse Spa & Salon Thermal Suite (1 per cruise)* Not available on ms Prinsendam, guest will receive additional Pinnacle Dinner

A special recognition lapel pin

A complimentary one-year subscription to Travel + Leisure or Food & Wine magazine (one per household)

A free subscription to the print or digital** version of Mariner® magazine

An annual cruise planner

Advance notice of new itineraries**

Special offers on select sailings

Complimentary cruise fare on 3rd/4th guest in your stateroom on select sailings

 

Heck, Elite benefits are better than that overall, much less Elite Plus and Zenith. I'd only be at their 3-star tier, meaning almost zilch. Maybe I should be looking at Celebrity's cost-cutting measures from the perspective of how much value my Elite Plus benefits are worth to me. I genuinely appreciate 240 internet minutes (my first experience with faster speed last week was a nice surprise), laundry, a scoop of gelato, and Cafe al Bacio (really make good use of that perk). The happy hour, not so much -- last week it seemed to me that too many people were frantically trying to drink as much as they possibly could, barely able to form their words in some cases; there was only one bartender; and the house scotch wasn't worth drinking, even if free. I'll just stick to the martini or ensemble bars and pay my way.

 

So, that said, from a benefits standpoint, having to leave the cabin at 07:00 maybe isn't such a bad deal. I guess X has to pay for the ever-growing army of Elites and above somehow.

Edited January 16, 2017 by goofysmom99

[helen haywood]

My understanding of the pay extra to be able to stay on board on debarkation day option...still required vacating your cabin at the same time as everyone else...but that you could stay on board and use the public facilities for however long the option allowed. So everyone still must leave the cabins by 7 am.

 

 

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[Pushka]

My understanding of the pay extra to be able to stay on board on debarkation day option...still required vacating your cabin at the same time as everyone else...but that you could stay on board and use the public facilities for however long the option allowed. So everyone still must leave the cabins by 7 am.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

Not according to the website last week and this morning when I rechecked my booking.

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Pushka

[helen haywood]

I'd be willing be bet the website isn't up to date. [emoji6]

 

 

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[Pushka]

I'd be willing be bet the website isn't up to date. [emoji6]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

Probably true but when that is the information they provide on the 'buy now' and confirmation pages they are obliged to fulfill it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[GottaKnowWhen]

What I don't get about this whole kerfluffell is why it must be all or nothing.

 

My 2nd cruise, a TA on a Royal ship in 2014, we were arriving in San Juan. We were in no hurry, knew our hotel had a late checkin, knew that we had several days to revisit Old San Juan. So we packed up, told our cabin attendant that we were done with the cabin and he could take over except that we left out carryons to the side. And we would be back from breakfast in an hour. No problem, we didn't get in his way, we had a calm breakfast, we didn't have to lug our stuff around until we headed for disembarkation. We weren't holding anybody up, not in anybody's way, and we weren't inconvenienced by a rigid "GETOUTTAHERE" policy.

 

Oh well.

Edited January 16, 2017 by GottaKnowWhen

[richstowe]

Probably true but when that is the information they provide on the 'buy now' and confirmation pages they are obliged to fulfill it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

:D Oh wait , you're serious ?

[AnOnymously]

:D Oh wait , you're serious ?

 

They are serious in having a last throw at taking nichols and dimes.

 

I hope people do keep adding comments from their real experience having been onboard and had experience of how much it did or did not effect their leaving the ship and breakfast.

 

The best insight for good or ill is from those who have been there.

[villauk]

Not according to the website last week and this morning when I rechecked my booking.

 

[ATTACH]401953[/ATTACH]

 

I'd be willing be bet the website isn't up to date. [emoji6]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Deja vu. Did we not have this exact same conversation 9 pages ago (see post #141) :confused:? Must be Ground Hog Day :D.