Evening room service

[daiB]

40 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I agree with you.

I started a similar thread a while back because our cabin steward in a suite on Oceana in November on a 2 night cruise insisted when we first saw her that there was no service that night so we asked for more towels which we got.

Our Butler said he had just started a new contract that day and wasn't aware of this.

After our cruise we rang P&O and were specifically told this was a trial.

We believed this although I thought later they were covering their employee(CS) as the supposed trial never materialised as others have reported although 1 or 2 have reported being told the same by their CS which suggests lazy CS.

Someone on here said these things are false and I agree with you what some of us have experienced is true not a misconception.

 

However it is not happening on all ships. So it is not a policy change.  It seems to be localised.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, daiB said:

However it is not happening on all ships. So it is not a policy change.  It seems to be localised.

I now believe it is 1 or 2 cabin stewards trying it on and not a policy change.

 

[Dorset cruise fan]

Am I the only person who like the French galette style biscuit?? I think they are a big improvement on the ones that went before.  Haven't been cruising long enough to know what the ones before that were like but I genuinely do like the current ones.

[grapau27]

2 minutes ago, Dorset cruise fan said:

Am I the only person who like the French galette style biscuit?? I think they are a big improvement on the ones that went before.  Haven't been cruising long enough to know what the ones before that were like but I genuinely do like the current ones.

On our last P&O cruise we had different biscuits left for us every time the CS had tidied our cabin.

[crompton21]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

I now believe it is 1 or 2 cabin stewards trying it on and not a policy change.

 

 

The staff on P&O are unfailingly polite, hard working etc.  They work hours that seem excessive to European rules but many appear to see it as a career (as they do many contracts).  The terms of employment they work under are somewhat more draconian than what you would find in the U.K.

 

Not servicing 20 or so rooms in one day (if scheduled) would more than likely be flagged by some passengers.  I would not necessarily believe that anyone on a nine month contract many miles from home would like to take the risk of being found out.  Failing to carry out your duties probably does not just result in a slapped wrist.

 

So, no I don't believe that it's a few people taking a flyer.  In shared quarters, I would also think that it would be fairly obvious that you weren't where you were supposed to be (unless hiding in a toilet for 2/3 hours etc)    

 

I do wonder if having more cabins allocated per steward to clean has got to the stage where it has become impossible to physically get all of your allocated cabins ready for new occupants and then redo them all again in the evenings.  Can I see P&O negotiating on this by increasing rooms to be cleaned and removing the first night evening revisit, just possibly I can.

 

Maybe it is a trial and that is why it appears to be a hit or miss thing (currently).  

 

Not fact, just an opinion.

Edited April 27, 2019 by crompton21

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

 

The staff on P&O are unfailingly polite, hard working etc.  They work hours that seem excessive to European rules but many appear to see it as a career (as they do many contracts).  The terms of employment they work under are somewhat more draconian than what you would find in the U.K.

 

Not servicing 20 or so rooms in one day (if scheduled) would more than likely be flagged by some passengers.  I would not necessarily believe that anyone on a nine month contract many miles from home would like to take the risk of being found out.  Failing to carry out your duties probably does not just result in a slapped wrist.

 

So, no I don't believe that it's a few people taking a flyer.    

 

I do wonder if more cabins allocated per steward to clean has got to the stage where it has become impossible to physically get all of your allocated cabins ready for new occupants and then redo them all again in the evenings.  Can I see P&O negotiating on this by increasing rooms to be cleaned and removing the first night evening revisit, just possibly I can.

 

Maybe it is a trial and that is why it appears to be a hit or miss thing (currently).  

 

Not fact, just an opinion.

Both the CS and P&O head office guest services told me they were trialling this after we experienced no cabin service on our first night of a 2 night cruise in November and I started a thread about the trial then only a couple of people posted the same with others saying they or friends on a cruise had not experienced this.

Based on feedback on my thread indicated that it was only 1 or 2 CS who had not done night time service.

As long as we are left extra towels on the first day it wouldn't affect us.

It will be interesting to see what happens when autogratuities stop in May.

[crompton21]

19 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Both the CS and P&O head office guest services told me they were trialling this after we experienced no cabin service on our first night of a 2 night cruise in November and I started a thread about the trial then only a couple of people posted the same with others saying they or friends on a cruise had not experienced this.

Based on feedback on my thread indicated that it was only 1 or 2 CS who had not done night time service.

As long as we are left extra towels on the first day it wouldn't affect us.

It will be interesting to see what happens when autogratuities stop in May.

 

I started the thread to see if we had just been unlucky.  Pretty sure enough replies have come back to confirm that on the cruise we were on it was a planned event.

 

The interesting thing is that (without going back over every post) the majority don't seem to mind.  I don't suppose I do really either.

 

A few less staff cleaning a few more rooms would help the hole in the tips fund or, for balance, may keep prices down.

Edited April 27, 2019 by crompton21

[grapau27]

6 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

 

I started the thread to see if we had just been unlucky.  Pretty sure enough replies have come back to confirm that on the cruise we were on it was a planned event.

 

The interesting thing is that (without going back over every post) the majority don't seem to mind.  I don't suppose I do really either.

 

A few less staff cleaning a few more rooms would help the whole in the tips fund, or for balance, may keep prices down.

I replied to your thread in support as my thread was questioned too by some posters.

Even though P&O head office GS told me they were trialling no first night room service only a few people posted they hadn't received room service on the first night and some questioned the validity of my experience.

Our no room service on the first night was the first time in 49 cruises this has happened.

Since our first P&O cruise in 2003 the service has always been excellent on 7 night+ cruises but the few mini cruises we have done the service has always been inferior to the longer cruises.

A lot of newbie cruisers do these mini cruisers and it would be the ideal opportunity on these cruises to trial no first night service.

Graham.

[crompton21]

8 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I replied to your thread in support as my thread was questioned too by some posters.

Even though P&O head office GS told me they were trialling no first night room service only a few people posted they hadn't received room service on the first night and some questioned the validity of my experience.

Our no room service on the first night was the first time in 49 cruises this has happened.

Since our first P&O cruise in 2003 the service has always been excellent on 7 night+ cruises but the few mini cruises we have done the service has always been inferior to the longer cruises.

A lot of newbie cruisers do these mini cruisers and it would be the ideal opportunity on these cruises to trial no first night service.

Graham.

 

Thank you (and a couple of others) for your support.  It was nice to know that we did manage to perceive correctly what we thought we had experienced.....

[arendale1]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

On our last P&O cruise we had different biscuits left for us every time the CS had tidied our cabin.

We didn’t even look at our tea supplies, so have no idea what was there 😆

[arendale1]

Just to add to this thread. We had two cabins and both had the evening room service every night including the first.

Our cabin had three of us, so one of the bunks had to be made up each evening, but our teens cabin was also made up every evening too. Nice coming back to a cosy, ready for bed cabin each evening (and the little chocolates).

[terrierjohn]

On 4/27/2019 at 5:52 PM, grapau27 said:

Both the CS and P&O head office guest services told me they were trialling this after we experienced no cabin service on our first night of a 2 night cruise in November and I started a thread about the trial then only a couple of people posted the same with others saying they or friends on a cruise had not experienced this.

Based on feedback on my thread indicated that it was only 1 or 2 CS who had not done night time service.

As long as we are left extra towels on the first day it wouldn't affect us.

It will be interesting to see what happens when autogratuities stop in May.

P&O customer service staff seem very inventive with their excuses for any problems encountered by passengers, we are just back from Aurora and when I queried why our cabin had not had a new big screen TV fitted during the refit I was told it was because my standard GC grade balcony cabin on A deck was a lower grade to the de-luxe GC cabin next door. How anyone could be stupid enough to make such a comment beggars belief.