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What our cabin attendant did. . . and it's not good


jkgourmet
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4 hours ago, CruisinMaterial said:

After reading all this, this was my thought exactly. If the OP signed up for the Meet and Mingle, MSC has the information on who the cabin steward was. While the OP might not have thought they would harm the person, if they cross-reference the available information... the cabin steward will likely be terminated anyway. 😐


I agree...management will take this very seriously and they will do everything they can to resolve this issue.  MSC really does read this stuff. The OP means well and I can certainly sympathize with his situation but it will be out of his hands.  “Let the chips fall where they may.”


 

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5 hours ago, April42749 said:

I'd take it this way.

The steward was wrong, however, that he did this means "he really needs the money".\

I wouldn't report him; I'd give him a couple of extra dollars.

I'm happy I'm in the position to do this and I wouldn't judge or want to get him in trouble.

I know...you all think I'm wrong.


So...if someone robs you at gunpoint on the streets of NY you wouldn’t report it because “he really needs the money” and you wouldn’t want to judge him??  Doesn’t it occur to you that this CS is cheating his fellow crew members as well as putting the OP in a very uncomfortable position?  If the OP weren’t conflicted by this he would not have put it out here.  

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7 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:


So...if someone robs you at gunpoint on the streets of NY you wouldn’t report it because “he really needs the money” and you wouldn’t want to judge him??  Doesn’t it occur to you that this CS is cheating his fellow crew members as well as putting the OP in a very uncomfortable position?  If the OP weren’t conflicted by this he would not have put it out here.  

I live in NYC....the heart of NYC....minutes away from "the bad area".   I assume the person robbing me is threatening physical harm.  The steward is more like the guy panhandling.  Don't  like it....but happy I'm the one giving, not asking.

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52 minutes ago, April42749 said:

The steward is more like the guy panhandling.  Don't  like it....but happy I'm the one giving, not asking.

I can not follow your thoughts... the cabin attending is making his living on a cruise ship like thousands of his fellow crew members but is asking for additional income (gratuities) to be paid directly to him. Do you want all crew members asking for money... waiters, pool attendants, housekeeping, bar keepers ?? That’s what DSC is for.

The cabin attendant can complain to MSC or simply walk and search for another job where he is paid fix hour wages but NEVER talk to passengers about DSC and begging for money. I don’t want anybody soliciting money from me or my wife while on a cruise ship and would take drastic measures to prevent this.

 

PS: I give to panhandlers and persons in need.

Edited by SirWolf
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42 minutes ago, SirWolf said:

I can not follow your thoughts... the cabin attending is making his living on a cruise ship like thousands of his fellow crew members but is asking for additional income (gratuities) to be paid directly to him. Do you want all crew members asking for money... waiters, pool attendants, housekeeping, bar keepers ?? That’s what DSC is for.

The cabin attendant can complain to MSC or simply walk and search for another job where he is paid fix hour wages but NEVER talk to passengers about DSC and begging for money. I don’t want anybody soliciting money from me or my wife while on a cruise ship and would take drastic measures to prevent this.

 

PS: I give to panhandlers and persons in need.

No....I don't think it's right that he asked and I wouldn't like to be asked.  But, the fact that he asked means that he's willing to risk his job for a few dollars.  I certainly wouldn't want to get him in trouble.  If he put me in that position I had give him something and tell him not to ask other passengers.

And, we are assuming it's just this one guy who asked....not the entire crew.  If more than one person asked I'd get annoyed and not bother.

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15 hours ago, Até said:

If you signed up for the Meet and Mingle with this username  MSC already knows who you are and thus who your cabin steward was.

 

Shoot.  I never thought of that.  

 

But I still doubt that MSC is going to go thru all of that for  one ANONYMOUS  report about one cabin attendant among thousands of cabin attendants. 

 

Edited by jkgourmet
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3 hours ago, KennyFla said:

Your cabin steward must read these boards, he knows this is a hot topic 🙂

 

I'm sorry - but are you serious????  The guy is working HOW many hours a day SEVEN days a week.  He's not going to be reading this forum.   Heck, I'd bet the guy doesn't read much English.  

Edited by jkgourmet
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10 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

My position on ratings is that if I had planned to give a 10 and someone begs for a 10, they automatically get a 9.  I get that ratings are important to the crew.  So earn them.

After going thru this experience,  i'm not sure that he even deserves the 9.

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1 hour ago, April42749 said:

No....I don't think it's right that he asked and I wouldn't like to be asked.  But, the fact that he asked means that he's willing to risk his job for a few dollars.  I certainly wouldn't want to get him in trouble.  If he put me in that position I had give him something and tell him not to ask other passengers.

And, we are assuming it's just this one guy who asked....not the entire crew.  If more than one person asked I'd get annoyed and not bother.

 

I'm betting that he's already arranged that it's his last contract with MSC.

 

Dont you think that if many crew members were doing this, there would be multiple  (many?) reports here?

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11 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:


So...if someone robs you at gunpoint on the streets of NY you wouldn’t report it because “he really needs the money” and you wouldn’t want to judge him??  Doesn’t it occur to you that this CS is cheating his fellow crew members as well as putting the OP in a very uncomfortable position?  If the OP weren’t conflicted by this he would not have put it out here.  

Robbing someone at gunpoint is not equitable to what the steward did. I've seen more of an attempt at coercion by the street vendors at ports than that. 

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I have followed this thread with great interest and some amusement. We have sailed 11 times, 8 with MSC. We have never had an encounter like this with any room steward or crew member. I have never concerned myself too much with the back stories of the many crew we have met onboard. We have, though, had pleasant chats with staff from all over the world. One crew member confided in me that they could buy a house back home with what they earned in two or three contracts. I accept that at face value. Lately, I have noticed some crew members claiming to remember me from previous cruises and being very friendly in the lounge. Soliciting tips? I don't know. We always paid cash tips as suggested and always leave DSC alone. I am aware of the possibility that crew do not get 100% of DSC but a lesser % of a greater pot.

 

All that said, I fully believe JKGourmet who has posted helpfully on this forum many times and seems to be an honest poster. I believe JKG ran into a rogue character, perhaps near the end of his contract, prepared to stiff his fellow crew members and risk disciplinary action and the contempt of his crew mates. How each of us would deal with this is personal to each of us and a factor of our life experiences etc. I might have ignored it or I might have headed to Guest Services, I am not sure. You have to be there, I think. Attacking the OP here is thoughtless, I think.

 

Attack the act, not the poster! Ken

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On 2/21/2020 at 11:53 AM, cvg42 said:

Meraviglia can handle 5700 passengers. Lets say 4000 of them are to pay the daily 12,50$ then MSC receives 350.000$ for a week cruise...I don't know how you feel about that amount of money, but for me that's a lot of DSC for one week to split by 1500 crew.

wow, a whopping $233 pp per week. Do you want to work a physical job 12 hours a day 7 days a week for that money?

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Just come back from a cruise on the totally breathtaking MSC Grandiosa.  We didn’t even learn our attendants name, he didn’t introduce himself but was easily found if we required anything.  The gratuities were paid up front and we had a drinks package so we only paid for extras such as things we bought in the shops on board.  We never saw or heard a thing about scoring the service we received, but this ship is very 21st century, there is even a digital assistant, Zoe, in your room.  Everything is online and digital, accessible from points all over the ship. We were on Splendida last year, there is no comparison.  The food was amazing, international, vegetarians, free-from and vegans, all catered for. It was as close to perfect as is possible.  The kids deck with the water park, slides and Himalayan climbing track were brilliant.  I was not a very enthusiastic MSC cruiser before, but the sailings matched the children’s half term holidays.  I am a total convert now, so hope people are not put off by a bad experience with this cabin stewart.  He will no doubt be losing his job if he continues.

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2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

wow, a whopping $233 pp per week. Do you want to work a physical job 12 hours a day 7 days a week for that money?

Ya know....people ought to count their blessings.  For "not much $$" you can relax on a cruise ship, eat to your hearts content, be entertain, have someone scrub your toilet etc.....

 

People should show compassion for someone who does physical work 12 hours/7 days a week and makes $233.

 

If you can't help them out at least don't make it worse for them over a couple of bucks.

 

You never know when you'll be in someone else's shoes.

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1 hour ago, SirWolf said:

Please explain what you are calculating.

I can not follow... 

$350K per ship in gratuities per week divided by 1,500 crew people. I simply quoted  somebody's calculations. Even if you consider that not all 1,500 people get the gratuities allocated to them, $500 a week divided by 7 days and by 12 hours a day comes to just about $6 per hour. That's a big IF they actually get $500 in tips a week a person.

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We always give our room attendant and bar and waitstaff extra beyond the added grats. I am sure many others so as well. I personally would be offended by such a proposal. The attendants must talk to one another. This guy seems like a lone wolf. 

 

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39 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

$350K per ship in gratuities per week divided by 1,500 crew people. I simply quoted  somebody's calculations. Even if you consider that not all 1,500 people get the gratuities allocated to them, $500 a week divided by 7 days and by 12 hours a day comes to just about $6 per hour. That's a big IF they actually get $500 in tips a week a person.

I am kind of speechless... do you really think DSC is the sole source of income and that officers including the captain work for the amount you calculated ?  wow !

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10 hours ago, April42749 said:

Ya know....people ought to count their blessings.  For "not much $$" you can relax on a cruise ship, eat to your hearts content, be entertain, have someone scrub your toilet etc.....

 

People should show compassion for someone who does physical work 12 hours/7 days a week and makes $233.

 

If you can't help them out at least don't make it worse for them over a couple of bucks.

 

You never know when you'll be in someone else's shoes.

 

But he was asking that OP take the money from the other hard working people and give all to him.

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4 hours ago, JohnIreland said:

 

But he was asking that OP take the money from the other hard working people and give all to him.

I know what he was asking and I'm not saying that OP should have complied.  More...just to be more compassionate.

 

OP had a few options:

Keep the DSC and give him some extra (My option and to be honest, I would have given him less than I originally planned because of what he asked).

Drop the DSC and give him everything

Keep the DSC and give him nothing

Drop the DSC and give nobody anything

Report him to the captain etc 

 

We all would handle it as we see fit.  I don't like when people ask for extra tips (it was part of the reason I dropped my hairdresser) but I take into consideration "Why?"

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He didn't share what his personal needs were.  And I have no way of confirming that he's truthful.  Given his actions, I wouldn't have believed him anyway. 

 

I read all the posts in this thread.  My DH and I discussed it.  We NEVER discussed or considered removing the DSC.  The cash we were going to leave the cabin attendant was redistributed to our MDR dinner waiter and the wine guy who were GREAT.

 

Neither of us wanted to report him.  I wanted to leave a brief note to the attendant explaining why he wasn't getting a cash gratuity.  DH didn't agree, so I let it be.  After all, eventually somebody will report him which will put a stop to it (and likely his job).

 

And we feel comfortable with those decisions.

 

Thx everyone for your input.

 

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