Room Attendants (“Stewardesses”) all female?

[HPSOV]

On a recent Sojourn cruise I noticed the room attendants were always referred to as “Stewardesses” and were all female. Is this the case? Also at the last day farewell where the staff ‘parade’ around the pool deck the chefs were entirely male (maybe 10 male chefs and 30 female stewardesses were on parade).

 

If there is a female only room attendant policy (and maybe male only chefs) does that annoy anyone else? I don’t see how a company can have such sexist hiring policies in this day and age?

[Sunviking]

No, it doesn't annoy me.  

[SKP946]

I don’t have a problem with that. (And there are female chefs)

[SLSD]

I can attest to the fact that there are female chefs which we saw on a galley tour last summer.  

Edited July 4, 2019 by SLSD

[Colgal]

All of our Seabourn cruises were staffed with female stewardesses- all of them wonderful! 

Our recent Silversea cruise room attendant was male as were many others on the floor, and he was efficient and personable. The SS staff was majority male but I don’t think of it as sexist hiring - perhaps the cruise lines promote a camaraderie among their employees.

On Seabourn many of the stewardesses would be in the hallways laughing and talking and they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.  On SS the cabin attendant seemed to be working to get the suite cleaned and then depart the floor. I appreciated that the cleaning materials etc were usually gone by late morning and there was a peacefulness to the floor.

[florisdekort]

I have indeed only met stewardesses (female) on Seabourn. It does not annoy me at all. And yes there are female Chefs. 

[2SailingNomads]

Why is this an issue?  Each company can choose to staff their positions as they best see fit.  Seabourn has Stewardesses - so female.  Does not offend either myself or my wife and we both only have compliments for all of those who have taken great care of us.  

[tv24]

Not an issue for me.  Yes, the stewardesses have been exclusively female in my experience.  But there are lots of other males and females employed on board in various positions.  For example, on our last cruise, the Cruise Director was a woman.  And she did a terrific job.

[Catlover54]

I prefer female stewardesses, so am absolutely not bothered by them, but like it better that way than on SS where most butlers are male ( though I had one butler from India there who was absolutely fantastic). I think it is because in general I experience less condescension with females in the cruise and hospitality industry, if there is a problem that needs to be dealt with when I travel. I also would rather have women dealing  with my personal things in my suite than men. 

 

At home, I also prefer female house cleaners, a female hair dresser, female doctors ( if I can find ones that are well-qualified in the field where I have a problem),  female nurses, female dentists, a female house painter, female landscaper, female auto service rep, female insurance agent, and female ( at least formerly female) cats. 

 

However, I prefer a male husband.

So it all balances out.

[Tillylovesseabourn]

No problem with this, have experienced both on different cruises, but prefer female stewardesses.

[koalapanda]

Seabourn staffing seems to have the right balance. We love the delightful ladies who look after our suite and pre empt our requirements like magic.

The obvious harmony amongst the staff and crew says it all.

Edited July 4, 2019 by koalapanda
...

[cuddles115]

My goal is to enjoy myself on a cruise.  In my eyes, I really don't care whether the person is male or female, black or white, brown or purple, gay or straight. My concern is with the quality of the champagne, the quantity and quality of the caviar, and whether the TK Grill suits me. In this era of political correctness, I leave all thoughts of PC at the gangplank.

[purpleally]

Not annoyed. Not offended. I love Seabourn 

 

[wripro]

Amazing. The more you read these boards the more things people seem to find to get annoyed with!

[raphael360]

9 minutes ago, wripro said:

Amazing. The more you read these boards the more things people seem to find to get annoyed with!

LOL wripro, you speak the truth 🙂

[cuddles115]

Disscuss what really matters..Certainly, not misogynist garbage. I'm from NYC, the misogynist capital of the world. You have your opinions.  But, not on this board.

[ab21au]

8 hours ago, cuddles115 said:

My goal is to enjoy myself on a cruise.  In my eyes, I really don't care whether the person is male or female, black or white, brown or purple, gay or straight.

 

Exactly.  We do not care and have had lots of fun with them. 

[raphael360]

20 hours ago, HPSOV said:

 

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by raphael360
never mind, not worth the effort.

[raphael360]

2 hours ago, cuddles115 said:

I'm from NYC

Our favorite nephew moved to NYC last year right out of college.  He's a young gay man and he and his companion are loving it there.  Probably will beat the life and love out of them over time.

[HPSOV]

Interesting responses! Honestly not the way I thought it was going to go. I wonder if it is a generational thing, I’m in my 30’s and have been brought up in a workplace where discrimination based on anything is a no-no. I wonder if everyone would be as happy if American Airlines decided all its cabin crew should be female? Or that it’s Pilots should all be men? Or if Apple decided that all its senior positions should be filled by men?

In Australian employment law it would be illegal if challenged. 

Anyway, I genuinely didn’t mean to start something, I just wanted to confirm if what I saw was correct (and I was wrong about the chefs). I’ll take it up with Seabourn directly and save my forum outrage for what brand of caviar and champagne are being served! 😉

 

[Mark56]

If it’s a stated hiring policy it’s dumb since you’re denying good potential applicants for no other reason than for their sex. If it’s anecdotal than I don’t have a problem with it. If the best person to captain the ship were a woman I would want that person captaining the ship. Same with every other job on the ship.

[rols]

1 hour ago, Mark56 said:

If it’s a stated hiring policy it’s dumb since you’re denying good potential applicants for no other reason than for their sex. If it’s anecdotal than I don’t have a problem with it. If the best person to captain the ship were a woman I would want that person captaining the ship. Same with every other job on the ship.

In this case it's neither a stated policy nor is it even anecdotal, it was observational only. It's true I don't recall ever having seen a male cabin attendant, but there's no way to say whether that's because few men are applying for the job, or the men who are applying aren't as good candidates as the women who apply, or if men are being offered this job but are choosing to turn it down because they wanted something different or if indeed Seabourn does have a policy around cabin attendants. In general my observation is that there is a mix of women and men in most of the jobs around the ship from the crew to the hotel staff to the officers and that Seabourn seems to me to pick excellent people everywhere and promote them regardless of gender. 

I don't think you can infer that Seabourn has a sexist hiring policy based on the observation that one specific job on the ship appears to be performed exclusively by women. 

 

[SLSD]

On our last SB itinerary, the Seabourn Club representative got her start with SB as a stewardess.  So---there is an opportunity to be promoted from that position.  

[raphael360]

On 7/3/2019 at 7:47 PM, HPSOV said:

If there is a female only room attendant policy (and maybe male only chefs) does that annoy anyone else? I don’t see how a company can have such sexist hiring policies in this day and age? 

This IS an unusual thread for the Seabourn forums. 

 

Normally it's passengers helping passengers with questions like: "do I need a tie in the MDR" or "what's the best pre cruise hotel"?  This is more of a "is a female only, are you annoyed, is it sexist" statement than a question.

 

Why are other cruise brands, including celebrity and royal, hiring 99% male attendants, many of whom live in the Philippines or India.  What do they know that Seabourn doesn’t? (Not a real question, just a statement in disguise) 😉

[raphael360]

12 minutes ago, SLSD said:

On our last SB itinerary, the Seabourn Club representative got her start with SB as a stewardess.  So---there is an opportunity to be promoted from that position.  

As did Tammy, who got promoted from being a bar tender to the head of food and beverage on the Sojourn.