How would you handle a very subpar service from cabin attendant ?

[nho9504]

We just came back from a nice 10-day X'mas cruise on Star.

 

Most of the things work fine on this cruise, though as usual, the food was not always up to the usual standard in both dining room and Horizon Court. However, they were generally adequate.

 

The only annoyance in our 10 day cruise was the cabin attendant. We have never experienced such subpar services on any ship from any line. This was truly a surprise to us. I have never thought about to deduct the gratuity, but come close to do so on this cruise. Hubby said to just report the subpar performance on the guest questionnaires but leave the standard tips intact on our account. So that was what we did.

 

On our first day we told him there was no need for him to put the bedcover back in the morning - we stored the covers on the shelf. Presumably this would make his work slightly less with our room as there was no bedcover to handle each morning and each evening.

 

We are also very tidy people - we cleaned up after ourselves in the bathroom, we had very little trash, and for the fruit peels we even wrapped them up with tissues before we threw them to the trash cans.

 

The 2nd day was a Sea Day and also was the first formal night of the 3 formal nights on this itin. We left our cabin for dinner when the attendant was at the hallway readying his routines. We chitchatted with him and indicated he could work on our room which happened to be the 2nd room from his section starting from the laundry room down.

 

When we came back after dinner, the room was not done yet. He was in the hallway and made a gesture on his face - obviously he realized he forgot our room. He scurried in and rushly replaced the wet towels. Hubby went to replace the ice himself. We told him not to worry about the rest (turn down etc).

 

We thought this was the only incident. Boy, were we wrong.

 

In the subsequent days, every single day he forgot one or more things in his daily clean up job. On 3 occasions he forgot to put the cover down after he cleaned the toilet. On 4 occasions he did not replenish the shampoo which was used up faster than other stuff. On 4 occasions he took away the wet towels but did not put the dry towels back in place - with the last incidents happened on the last 2 nights of the cruise. Every other day he forgot to replace ice. Virtually everyday I wiped clean the basin myself as I could feel the grit around the basin.

 

I dont know if they do vaccum in the middle of the cruise (given it is a 10 day). Some day in the middle of the itin, I found piles of peeling carpet fibre on the floor.

 

At first we felt he was just forgetful. Then we started to suspect he had something against us - may be because we did not pre-tip him ? God knows. We never pre-tip and do not have any issue in our previous 8 to 9 cruises. But each time we met him at the hallway, he would smile and greet us - that compared to the other attendant who took care of the adjacent section, was a lot better already. We have not seen a single smile out of 10 days of the other attendant. However, like I said earlier, it got so annoyed especially the last 2 days I had to chase the cart down to get dry towels, I felt I would come down to purser office to take off the tip. At the end we did not do so. Hind sight, we should have. On disembarkation day, I overheard our neighboring cabin gave him a tip, but she did not say "this is extra." She simply said "this is for you." in a not so cheerful tone. He said "Thank you." That was all I overheard.

 

Hubby said may be after the evening he forgot to make up our room and was caught, he figured he would not get extra tip from us, so he basically just slacked off.

 

What would you guys do if you come accross such lousy service ?

[Host CJSKIDS]

Wow, sorry to hear you had such lousy service. We've been lucky enough never to have received such subpar service and hopefully we won't have the same cabin attendant when we sail on the Star in March.

[pcsanity]

Out of our multiple cruises - we have experienced similar events on two of them. The second time we had to ask about something, we sent a message to the hotel manager via the pursers desk. What a difference that made. (Day 2 of a 7 day cruise.)

 

The other time, we handled it similarly but the service did not improve. (nor did it get better.) Neeless to say we moved the tips to about 1/3 of what the reccomended was. (We felt he did about 1/3 the work he should have done.)

 

IMNO a tip is not mandatory, but rather a reflection of a quality job. If they did a quality job...reccomended tip. As a point of reference, we usually tip 20-30% more than reccomended.

 

PC

[Druke I]

Rather than waiting to express your displeasure on the Cruise Questionaire

at the end of the cruise, you should have asked to speak to the Hotel Manager fairly early on, when it was apparent that you were not receiving the service you should.

 

No need to have substandard service throughout the cruise, when you could have probably shortstopped it earlier on.

[nho9504]

I mean, the attendant is a young guy from Philippines, he is at least pleasant, most of the time wearing a smile. We could not bring ourselves to report him early on and were willing to chalk it up to youthful carelessness.

 

Of course, at the end, we were wrong. We were, in a way, encouraging such behaviors, as he got away quite easily, did not even suffer a financial damage.

 

I know in our future cruises, we wont put up things like that. And if they would lose their jobs, so be it. A job is a job, they have to do it with quality.

While the tips are not a big deal - afterall, 3.50x2x10 = 70 as the standard, however, he should not be paid in full, for a job we felt his mark is 50 out of 100. He should receive a message so he would correct his mistakes next time.

[Stevesan]

We just came back from a nice 10-day X'mas cruise on Star.

The only annoyance in our 10 day cruise was the cabin attendant. We have never experienced such subpar services on any ship from any line. This was truly a surprise to us. I have never thought about to deduct the gratuity, but come close to do so on this cruise. Hubby said to just report the subpar performance on the guest questionnaires but leave the standard tips intact on our account. So that was what we did.

 

We had exactly the same type problem with the cabin steward on our last cruise. Following day two, I informed the Guest Relations Manager of our difficulty, emphasizing competence as the problem and not indifference.

 

The next two days our steward had two white coat supervisors directing him. Thenceforth his performance was first rate. Towards the end of the cruise, I wrote a note to the GRM letting her know how much the steward had stepped up his performance and was now an exemplary employee. I also thanked her for not being punitive towards the steward, but instead providing him with direction and inservice training.

 

In the end, reporting the steward was the right thing for both him and his passengers.

[earljr]

We are"'died in the wool" Princess only cruisers. We have only had a problem like you describe once in 18 plus cruises with Princess. We tried 3 times to talk to our stewart and I guess that talk was counter productve and we were classed as trouble makers. (Per another stewart who i had struck up a regular morning chit-chat.)

 

So as Druke I has stated I talked to the hotel manager. A really unpleasant move on our part as we really would rather let the "little stuff" not bother us and just enjoy.

 

Much to our suprise, a new stewart was assigned to our cabin area. We found out from the supervisor that there had been other complaints and he thanked us for our action to correct the situation.

 

This experience just further convinced us that "Princess cares"

 

Earl

[Toto2Kansas]

Rather than waiting to express your displeasure on the Cruise Questionaire

at the end of the cruise, you should have asked to speak to the Hotel Manager fairly early on, when it was apparent that you were not receiving the service you should.

 

No need to have substandard service throughout the cruise, when you could have probably shortstopped it earlier on.

 

I totally agree with this answer. If there is a problem, they really need to know about it so it can be corrected immediately. Telling them after the fact at the end of the cruise on the form does not help you out at all.

I would have talked to the room steward myself, and if that did not help, I would have gone to the hotel manager.

[bdjam]

I would have talked to the room steward myself, and if that did not help, I would have gone to the hotel manager.

I would have done the same thing. I would have talked to the steward first as maybe I didn’t properly understand his process. If I found that I still wasn’t getting the proper attention, I would have talked to the Accommodations Manager. And like a previous poster pointed out, I would have talked to the Accommodations Manager with the objective of helping the steward to improve his performance, not to be punitive (I like that idea). I think it important to remember that in order to save on costs, room stewards are asked to handle more rooms than they did in the past – so lapses to me are understandable. That’s a cruise line issue and not one of a particular crew member.

I wonder if the soap/shampoo issue isn’t Princess policy – you get one for the trip? I had to ask for a refill of bath gel on my Dawn Princess cruise – there was no hesitation and I had it immediately, but it didn’t look like my steward was going to do it on his own. As for towels, he replaced them whether or not I had hung them up or put them on the floor – so there must have been plenty to go around.

[LARGIN]

I agree with bdjam and toto.. A little one on one conversation with the steward and if that did not work, elevate the problem to the Accommodations Manager..

[chasetf]

I wonder how much the switch to PC dining throws off the poor cabin stewards. We have always been Late Traditional and our steward knows when we will be away at dinner. So he / she knows we will be changing in the early evening and gone at about 8:30 so he / she can plan for the evening room makeup. It's not uncommon to meet him / her in the hallway on our way to dinner and let them know we are leaving. :)

 

With PC it must be hard if their passengers are ln and out at different times each night....:confused:

[bdjam]

With PC it must be hard if their passengers are ln and out at different times each night....:confused:

I would say so…

[nho9504]

I wonder how much the switch to PC dining throws off the poor cabin stewards. We have always been Late Traditional and our steward knows when we will be away at dinner. So he / she knows we will be changing in the early evening and gone at about 8:30 so he / she can plan for the evening room makeup. It's not uncommon to meet him / her in the hallway on our way to dinner and let them know we are leaving. :)

 

With PC it must be hard if their passengers are ln and out at different times each night....:confused:

 

We learned that from our Sept cruise on Island. Our cabin attendant was a very shy guy from Thailand. He was very anxious to finish our room as we seemed to be the only cabin in his section that did Anytime dining and we tended to dine late. So this time we have been very accommodating towards the attendant by letting him know when we would go to dining room. We even tried to accommodate him by leaving our cabin for 30+ minutes in the early evening when he started his round. We always used the Blue Card to let him know it was OK to service the room.

 

The problem with him probably is 2 fold - one is the training may not be enough to make him realize what is expected of his performance, the other may be that once he groofed a few times he realized there would be no more extra tips so he just let it slack.

 

I dont feel I should talk to him on a one to one basis in order to get his attention. That should be the job of his supervisor. I would do what Stevensan has done should we encounter similar situation again, talk to the Guest Relation Manager, or the Hotel Manager, or the Housekeeping Manager, with an emphasis on the training and not the indifference.

 

I dont think about writing on the questionaires has no value - I informed them there are some problems that need to be looked at. As for not helping ourselves - after all, like my hubby said, these are rather minor issues, annoying, yes, some inconvenience, yes, but not something major.

 

As for the soap/shampoo thingie - he just did not pay attention - he would put stuff into the tray but did not pay attention to see what is really needed. So we would wound up having lots of conditioner, and running out of shampoo, things of that nature.

 

As for the towels, he always took away the wet towels, be it on the hanger or on the floor. He just did not remember to put dry towels back. lol.

[Times Prince]

We had exactly the same type problem with the cabin steward on our last cruise. Following day two, I informed the Guest Relations Manager of our difficulty, emphasizing competence as the problem and not indifference.

 

...In the end, reporting the steward was the right thing for both him and his passengers.

On our last cruise we were lucky enough to have lunch with the Hotel Manager, and from his sharings with us this was exactly the right thing to do.

[DeltaOne]

I wonder how much the switch to PC dining throws off the poor cabin stewards. We have always been Late Traditional and our steward knows when we will be away at dinner. So he / she knows we will be changing in the early evening and gone at about 8:30 so he / she can plan for the evening room makeup. It's not uncommon to meet him / her in the hallway on our way to dinner and let them know we are leaving. :)

 

With PC it must be hard if their passengers are ln and out at different times each night....:confused:

We used the Privacy Please/Service Please sign in the door lock to let our steward know whether we were in the room or not during the evening hours. We had Anytime Dining and ate at 8 pm each evening.

[bdjam]

I dont feel I should talk to him on a one to one basis in order to get his attention. That should be the job of his supervisor.

It’s just that if you go directly to the supervisor, you don’t give the crew member a chance to rectify the issue without a mark on their record. I don’t think there is a need to coach the crew member in his job – right, that’s the job of the supervisor. But if there was a misunderstanding about expectations, a short conversation with the crew member might have rectified it. You were there, however, and you may have already done this. As I say, with my case and the bath gel, it was immediately taken care of…

[Coral]

This is a tough one and it is not a good situation to be in. I had a poor room steward this summer for 2 weeks. It didn't seem to be a big deal for me in the beginning and I just decided to live with it. Though I was pretty jealous of my friend two doors down who had a very good room steward. I had mail/invitations that were never delivered to me that my friend 2 doors down received (and thankfully let me know) - some were important because Princess arranged for all of us doing a B2B to have a free excursion on turn around day because they wanted us off the ship (norovirus on our ship, long story but they had to clean the ship), my cruise evaluation surveys were never delivered, I asked for some liquor to be swapped out for soda (I don't drink) and this was never done - she took the liqour away but never replaced it with soda, she would frequently walk into my room with out knocking, etc...When I did try to talk to her- she nodded but didn't understand.

 

Though towards the end of the cruise there was a mixup with my laundry/dry cleaning and something I sent out did not get returned (and ultimately got lost). When I asked her about it and told her I was going to report it - she got furious with me and told me not to go down to the Purser's Desk to report it. I knew I had to report it if I wanted to send a claim into my insurance company. I then did the wrong thing and suggested that when she picks up laundry, she should check that she picked everything up according to the list. This was the wrong thing to say because she got furious with me.

 

On the last morning, I wrote a long note and put it into the evaluation form drop off box concerning her and had secretly wished that I had reduced the tips but it was too late. I have never reduced tips to anyone on Princess before and have always tipped above and beyond on Princess. I guess it is a good thing that it was too late to adjust my account because I was upset with her and would definitely have adjusted her tips.

 

Looking back - when I noticed there were problems early on, I wish I would have said something to her manager (I tried to say things to her). Though I have no doubt my 2 page note of my comments about her service made a difference after I left. I still can't believe I did that but she was lousey.

 

If this would happen again -I definitely would handle things differently.

[snorklgrl]

In the past we had a Princess cabin attendant who didn't vacuum, wasn't overly friendly and had to be chased down for beach towels (this was a man from the Philippines). On this cruise though, (Star 12/18-28) our cabin attendant was a woman from Thailand. She was friendly, kept us well supplied, turned the bed down, etc. She even gave us a Christmas card! At the end we gave her an extra $20 (in addition to our deducted tip). The one practice that kind of gave me the creeps was that she placed our bed cover on the floor UNDER our beds every night (neatly folded). I was imagining the dust and mites it would collect and then it would be placed on top of my bed and on my pillow the next day. I decided, hey, it's only 10 days, I'll just live with it. And there really weren't many other places to put the darned thing either. But, I'm sorry to hear about your poor service and I think you did the right thing by reporting it. The people themselves and their attitudes and service are really what makes or breaks any company in the hospitality industry.

[cherie b]

My husband and I were on the Star 10/9 and we had the worst cabin attendant--when we arrived we could see rings from prior peoples drinks on the counters, hair on the couch. WE asked him to clean it. When we got back the situation got worse, there was wet towels on our bed (that we didn't use) and brown paper bag. He cleaned again and again it got worse until head of housekeeping came in and did it correctly. He finally told us if we needed anything else that evening to contact him. He never intoduced himself during the cruise and never said bye, even though he was in the hall when we left. My husband and I nicknamed him, Caper the Friendly Ghost. We barely saw him and our room showed it. He never vacummed during the 7 days. We complained while on board. We also had to chase for towel and had to clean the bathroom ourselves. The head purser Scott Ross advised us to contact the home office when we get off, and actually sent a letter to our room with the Passenger Relations Adress and telephone number.:confused:

[cruise182]

I hate having to take my time to track down different managers and so forth. I, as a paying, guest should receive good service without having to run around playing games. I would of talked to the steward. If the service was still poor I would have removed the tips and left a comment card reporting the issues. I would then forget about it. Working 5-6 days a week in public relations, the last thing I should have to do on cruise is have to fight for what is right. I’d rather put up with the poor service then report it. Some people have no problems with reporting and going up the chain. Not me. But that is just the way I would handle it. If Princess truly uses the comment cards to better service, then no need for me to report the problems while on vacation. That said, I am not very picky about room stewards as I am a neat freak and usually have the cabin in good shape. Dust ball, grime and other is still not acceptable.

 

Seems like Princess has some issues in the service department.......judging by this thread and others...

 

One more note. The steward I had on the Golden was probably one of the best I have ever had. My mother, who was in a suite, was not happy with hers at all. i guess it is a hit or miss deal.

[bdjam]

I’d rather put up with the poor service then report it. Some people have no problems with reporting and going up the chain.

Seems like Princess has some issues in the service department.......judging by this thread and others...

The problem with that is you don’t give Princess a chance to ensure that you leave their ship satisfied that the cruise line does not have service issues. Princess first and formost wants you to be happy. As is noted above, a word to a supervisor might just instantly make a difference in the level of service you receive. Right – there are employees here and there who don’t perform up to snuff but I don’t think that means Princess as a cruise line has service issues and mentioning a poor performing employee – as mentioned above in a non-punitive way – might just prove that to the passenger.

[cruise182]

The problem with that is you don’t give Princess a chance to ensure that you leave their ship satisfied that the cruise line does not have service issues. Princess first and formost wants you to be happy. As is noted above, a word to a supervisor might just instantly make a difference in the level of service you receive. Right – there are employees here and there who don’t perform up to snuff but I don’t think that means Princess as a cruise line has service issues and mentioning a poor performing employee – as mentioned above in a non-punitive way – might just prove that to the passenger.

 

Good points, but for me I speak with my wallet and the comment card. As I stated it would be more of a nuisance to report the issues then to just deal with them. Everyone handles situations in a way that is comfortable for them.

[rwdtgb]

We have had small issues with the the cabin Stewards and when an issue goes past day one then it is time to contact the Pursers desk. Since going past the Pursers desk a few times a day to get to other ship venues stopping by to talk to someone about an issue to us is not much trouble. By doing so we get our issue taken care of and never have to worry about that issue the rest of the trip. Once we get home we don't have to worry about sending off a letter to Princess or any other line for that matter.

 

Tom

[sultan_sfo]

This quote is from a recent Star Cruiser posted on an upcoming Roll Call:

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Sultan ---Hedy, our last cabin steward paid us a nice visit with gifts for our grandchildren. She will soon be on home leave and asked about you.

She was so sweet to us in Sept....

 

 

We were on the Star Princess in September!

 

A couple of points:

 

The cleaning at the end of the cruise is NOT done by the cabin steward. It is done by other housekeeping staff.

 

Those of us not in suites get the paper containers for the toileterries. It is Princess Management's fault that they use one so poorly designed. One has to read the fine print to find out which is a shampoo or a conditioner. Princess buys a lot of that stuff and life for the cabin steward (and pax) would be a lot simpler if each were a different color!

 

There is deck supervisor for each deck who is in charge of all the cabin attendants on that deck. Discussing the issues of poor service with the deck supervisor would in most cases help resolve some of the issues without adversely affecting the future contract renewal of the cabin attendants.

 

/Sultan

[cruzinchris]

DH and I just had a lengthy conversation about this thread. Here are a couple of observations:

 

It has been our experience that the majority of stateroom stewards inquire about their performance: "Is everything alright in your room? Is there anything I can get for you? Is there anything more that I can do to make your cruise more pleasant?" etc. We use this opportunity to make special requests, if necessary, and also to compliment our cabin attendant on his/her service - which is most often the case.

 

If we encountered a serious problem with a steward (or waitstaff), we would certainly address the issue with the individual before approaching his/her superiors. Such action could make the situation more unpleasant, and who needs that on a vacation? (i.e. If you or your child is having a problem with a teacher, it's best to discuss the situation with the teacher before going to the Principal.) Once you begin going up the chain of command, you may cause difficulties that you didn't consider. Simply put, no one likes a tattletale.

 

Like Anne Frank, I believe that "people are really good at heart," and it's been my experience that Princess staff aim to please and assure that all passengers have an enjoyable and carefree cruise.

Chris