Worst cabin attendant ever!

[fishin' musician]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

I am not paying for bad service. Princess has decided to combine all the tips so we have no way of penalizing who is bad. As I mentioned, I complained to everyone and nothing changed. It was the last resort  and I told them why. 

So please tell me how one goes about getting their cruise fare refunded?   This is the only way you would not be "paying for bad service".   Seems some folks are just looking for any way to keep a few more bucks in their pocket and out of the pockets of those that provide great, economical vacations by working 12 hour days for 6-8 months with zero days off!  Sheesh...

[oskidunker]

I am not paying for bad service. Princess has decided to combine all the tips so we have no way of penalizing who is bad. As I mentioned, I complained to everyone and nothing changed. It was the last resort  and I told them why. 

 

I do do not appreciate this nasty response. I have been on over 30 Princess cruises and often tip more than the automatic tips. ONE TIME I removed half the automatic tips due to rude, poor service that did not improve even when I went to the head waiter and mitre D. I will not have my wife treated the way she was by this waiter. 

 

How to do it? You go to passenger services and you tell them to reduce the tips by whatever amount you want. Usually the last night there is a huge line of people removing the automatic tips.. I did not remove the tips to save money. Tips are for service. There was none in the dining room. So I reduced them. I do not blindly tip for bad service. If you do, fine. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by oskidunker

[JF - retired RRT]

19 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

ONE TIME I removed half the automatic tips due to rude, poor service that did not improve even when I went to the head waiter and mitre D. I will not have my wife treated the way she was by this waiter. 

When you did that, you didn't punish just one rude waiter, you punished everyone who is in the tip pool. A better way to do it is to complain while on the ship and fill out a comment card about that ONE person's poor attitude and service.

[Coral]

I can tell you I complained about one waiter once to a head waiter. Let me tell you - he had a huge attitude adjustment the next day! The head waiter later told me he was put on probation for what he said to me. It explains that attitude adjustment.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Coral

[myjillian]

18 minutes ago, Coral said:

I can tell you I complained about one waiter once to a head waiter. Let me tell you - he had a huge attitude adjustment the next day! The head waiter later told me he was put on probation for what he said to me. It explains that attitude adjustment.

Princess employees are the only ones who go thru an intensive public relations course...if you mess up your retrained...and then...sometimes I think people want to get out of their contract because it's not what they thought it would be.😐

[shipndip60]

Please, Please, !! everyone.  Let's just step back take a deep breath and chill, there is no need for some of you getting so worked up over this, I mean come on now people can do what they want to do with there own money, it's not like this person is reaching into your pocket.  Let him do what he wants and everyone else do what they want.  Just enjoy life and cruising with the one you love and tip when you want or not !!!😎

[caribill]

15 hours ago, myjillian said:

Every time my husband and I board a ship I ask for the room steward...find him, introduce myself to him and shake his hand where I have a folded $20 bill. Never had any trouble getting anything at anytime...anywhere 😀

 

When you eat at a restaurant on land, do you also do this when the waiter introduces himself before taking your order?

[caribill]

20 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Unfortunately Princess doesn't leave people much of a choice other than the comment cards.

They're the ones that created the program & didn't leave any adjustment for specific departments.

 

Since the gratuity goes into the general tipping pool which is divided among all of the eligible crew, the effect of reducing your gratuity by half means only a slight actual reduction per waiter of about 4 cents a day. So for a week-long cruise if you have reduced the gratuity for two passengers by half, the amount your waiter and the assistant waiter revceive will each be reduced by about 28 cents each.

 

That will show them what poor service costs them!!!

[nukesubsailor]

In the interests of fair and balanced reporting I must state that the only bad steward I have had in 38 Princess cruises was the only one to whom I gave a cash tip at the beginning of the cruise.

[Griller]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 7:10 PM, partybarbie said:

Well, being the "little housekeeper" that I am.  I wash the wine glasses, with hot water and soap, then put them back next to my bottle of wine.  I can't be bothered to call room service for new glasses every day.

 

I agree with the comment about putting the card in the door.  If that card is missing, it's easy for your cabin to be missed for turned down.

 

To the OP,  please just have a brief, polite conversation with your cabin steward.  I agree that some stewards are better than others, but they should at least be meeting the minimum requirements.  

Yes we wash our own wineglasses as well, and we always use the do not disturb sign/ makeup cabin sign.

In fact we have the do not disturb on the door most of the time, just have Stewart in a couple of times a week for linen change and vacuuming.

Other than that we dump used towels in his cart and grab a couple of fresh ones every day or two.

Most times they are happy about this as its one less cabin to service every day, occasionally you get one who is worried by it in case their Supervisor finds out and chastises them for some reason.

We generally book longer cruises, 28 to 49 days so its pretty much  like being at home for us rather than a once in a lifetime vacation. And we just like as much privacy as we can get, a butler would be a nightmare for us, fortunately they never come with an inside guarantee cabin.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Griller

[Doug R.]

12 hours ago, shipndip60 said:

Please, Please, !! everyone.  Let's just step back take a deep breath and chill, there is no need for some of you getting so worked up over this, I mean come on now people can do what they want to do with there own money, it's not like this person is reaching into your pocket.  Let him do what he wants and everyone else do what they want.  Just enjoy life and cruising with the one you love and tip when you want or not !!!😎

Those who remove the automatic tip are reaching into your pocket. Their refusal to pay is no doubt in the calculus the lines use to determine increases in the amount of the tips.

[richsea]

16 hours ago, hm9912 said:

Same here!

Never had a problem with a cabin steward when you make their hand green at the first meeting.

Also this works well at automobile dealer service.

Learned that from my father

 

Howard

There was only one time that I pre tipped our stateroom attendant, & oddly enough we had the worst service in all of our cruises. Go figure. 

[land lover]

Have had the most excellent attendants for our last several cruises. Our worst ever was in a suite a few years ago. We are relaxing on a cruise so the last thing I want to do is pay attention to what the attendant isn't doing. 

 

 We r spontaneous so I guess we always leave them guessing...sign out sometimes other times not...

 

regarding wine glasses , Call room service when we first arrive...it takes a few tries until, i get put on hold. But them I just put the phone on speaker until they answer.  I ask for 8 wine glasses. We have also decided to not bring a cork screw or ask for one. So much easier to have our wine opened at a bar and opportunity to get more glasses.

 

It is certainly disappointing when service is not what we expect, after past experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by land lover

[4cats4me]

I’m amazed at the amount of pre-tippers. LOL

We have over 20 cruises on Princess,  have never pre-tipped and have always  had excellent cabin service,  except for one time, and even then it was still okay.  

We do give extra tips at the end though. 

 

OP glad to hear things have resolved.  

 

[voljeep]

9 minutes ago, 4cats4me said:

I’m amazed at the amount of pre-tippers. LOL

We have over 20 cruises on Princess,  have never pre-tipped and have always  had excellent cabin service,  except for one time, and even then it was still okay.  

We do give extra tips at the end though. 

 

OP glad to hear things have resolved.  

 

we, err, my wife will generally write a short note to the "steward" once we get to the room - ask for robes, wine glasses, and fresh ice in the afternoon ... attached a fiver ...

[Dani24]

The challenge with pre-tipping is the same as reducing tips. The staff are not allowed to keep those extra tips for themselves. It's written into their contract that ALL gratuities -- auto-tip, cash, etc. -- must be put into the pool. If they get caught withholding any tips their contract can be terminated on the spot. So if you give your steward a $20 bill at the start of the cruise, it's just going into the pool and they're seeing very little of it (if anything... because it's really just covering for others who reduce their tips). Not much motivation to provide better service....

An employee who gives poor service is going to give poor service regardless. Your extra money isn't going to suddenly make the difference (when they know they'll ultimately see maybe a few pennies of that). And if they tend to give good service, they'll give it whether you grease their palms or not. 

Instead, get some comment cards and use them liberally for both compliments and complaints. Stewards who are giving good service will actually directly benefit from your positive feedback. And those that are not up to standard will also be directly impacted -- whether with a reprimand, retraining, reassignment, etc. 

[JF - retired RRT]

17 hours ago, Coral said:

I can tell you I complained about one waiter once to a head waiter. Let me tell you - he had a huge attitude adjustment the next day! The head waiter later told me he was put on probation for what he said to me. It explains that attitude adjustment.

I had that same experience.

The waiter at lunch refused to let DH have spaghetti & meatballs from the kid's menu. I complained to the MD. This particular waiter was stationed at the tables adjacent to ours. Every night after the incident when we arrived for dinner, he would welcome us with a big smile, pull out our chairs, offer us water. We weren't at his station!!

And this was very near the beginning of a 34 day cruise.🤣

Edited April 11, 2019 by JF - retired RRT

[Coral]

46 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

I had that same experience.

The waiter at lunch refused to let DH have spaghetti & meatballs from the kid's menu. I complained to the MD. This particular waiter was stationed at the tables adjacent to ours. Every night after the incident when we arrived for dinner, he would welcome us with a big smile, pull out our chairs, offer us water. We weren't at his station!!

And this was very near the beginning of a 34 day cruise.🤣

Mine was similar. I asked for blueberries in my pancakes (which I have done many times). He said "no" with out even asking a head waiter for approval. If the head waiter would have said no, I would have accepted that but he never asked. I asked him to ask (head waiter said yes) and later when he brought our meals, he told the whole table that it was my request that held up everyone's order. He made a big deal about it which was wrong and uncalled for. The problem was that this was my waiter at dinner also. We all know throwing some blueberries in doesn't take that much time. This was a long time ago when waiters were not allowed to say no with out asking a head waiter. Not sure what the status on that anymore. So after that, he was offering me sodas and making a big deal about things - I said I didn't have a soda card and he was like "I will bring you one anyway"...... His attitude changed quickly. Later in the week, the Head Waiter came and asked me if things improved. So they really do care about stuff like this.

 

The waiter was acting like I was asking for steak and lobster for breakfast. Geez.

 

BTW - my Mom always ordered spaghetti and meatballs at lunch and dinner as an appetizer.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Coral

[masterty]

9 hours ago, Griller said:

Yes we wash our own wineglasses as well, and we always use the do not disturb sign/ makeup cabin sign.

In fact we have the do not disturb on the door most of the time, just have Stewart in a couple of times a week for linen change and vacuuming.

Other than that we dump used towels in his cart and grab a couple of fresh ones every day or two.

Most times they are happy about this as its one less cabin to service every day, occasionally you get one who is worried by it in case their Supervisor finds out and chastises them for some reason.

We generally book longer cruises, 28 to 49 days so its pretty much  like being at home for us rather than a once in a lifetime vacation. And we just like as much privacy as we can get, a butler would be a nightmare for us, fortunately they never come with an inside guarantee cabin.

I like your style. I will try to be more like you on future cruises. As for the OP I believe some people just prefer to be the victim than the critic. 😉 

[Clampram]

2 minutes ago, masterty said:

I like your style. I will try to be more like you on future cruises. As for the OP I believe some people just prefer to be the victim than the critic. 😉 

OP here..........interesting how much you know just by a few words from me........

[AmazedByCruising]

9 hours ago, Griller said:

In fact we have the do not disturb on the door most of the time, just have Stewart in a couple of times a week for linen change and vacuuming.

 

I wondered if they would like that, and not everyone was enthusiastic. 

 

[joeyancho]

On 4/10/2019 at 7:27 AM, myjillian said:

It's not a bribe...it's a "hello" I'm glad to meet you😃 and please don't yell at me...by the way who is Stewart?

His first name is Cabin.

[myjillian]

11 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

His first name is Cabin.

Oh tha'ts adorable...I've met his brother Wine.

[fishin' musician]

46 minutes ago, myjillian said:

Gee...I don't want to upset your moral apple cart but I'll even ask when the next day off will be

Um, at the end of their contract.  They can get off the ship between morning and evening shifts, but there are no days off.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Dani24 said:

The challenge with pre-tipping is the same as reducing tips. The staff are not allowed to keep those extra tips for themselves. It's written into their contract that ALL gratuities -- auto-tip, cash, etc. -- must be put into the pool. If they get caught withholding any tips their contract can be terminated on the spot. So if you give your steward a $20 bill at the start of the cruise, it's just going into the pool and they're seeing very little of it (if anything... because it's really just covering for others who reduce their tips). Not much motivation to provide better service....
 

 

Actually, they will be allowed to keep the cash tips if the giver has not reduced/eliminated the daily gratuity.