Cabin Stewards

[Visaman666]

I am now on my land tour of Alaska, but, I was onboard from July 23 to the 29, I stayed on the Baja Deck Inside cabin 208. My steward was Glad. He became my best friend on the ship. I sent a note to management, commending him. My waiter, told me that he is friends with Glad, and the waiter was extra friendly to me. If you go on the Royal, try to get Glad!

[Mike45LC]

Visa Man, passengers are “stuck with” whichever steward is assigned to the cabin.  We CANNOT “try to get Glad” or any other steward.  Fortunately, they are almost all great.

 

I am glad that you had such a great experience.

[cr8tiv1]

@Visaman666Thank you so much for sharing and acknowledging your experience on the Royal.  More importantly, I am thrilled to hear that you took the time to write a note to management.  Since Princess decided to do away with comment cards, these hard working crew really have no feedback that will help promote them.  I realize that one can fill out the survey at the end of the cruise, but I am very doubtful that it will trickle back to Glad.  

 

I take personal notecards and write a comment or two to my outstanding crew.  I ask them to please share it with their supervisors.  On my last long voyage, I actually wrote out a very long review for all those that assisted me and handed it to the Hotel General Manager.  

 

I had my waiter from a previous cruise tell me that he still had my note.  Sharing a little bit of sunshine and kindness goes a long way.

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Visa Man, passengers are “stuck with” whichever steward is assigned to the cabin.  We CANNOT “try to get Glad” or any other steward.  Fortunately, they are almost all great.

 

I am glad that you had such a great experience.

Right, though I would not have used the words stuck with, even with the quotation marks.

[JF - retired RRT]

13 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Visa Man, passengers are “stuck with” whichever steward is assigned to the cabin.  We CANNOT “try to get Glad” or any other steward.  Fortunately, they are almost all great.

 

I am glad that you had such a great experience.

Not exactly stuck. But keep in mind that the stewards don't always stay in the same section. They are rotated (MDR waiters also rotate). It's management that makes the staffing decisions prior to each cruise.

[tetleytea]

The crew incentives and hiring selection look for crew to be friendly.   I find almost all crew to be friendly for that reason alone.   Although in the back of my mind, I am always wondering whether the same crew would be just as friendly under different circumstances; I would certainly prefer to work with those crew any day.    Kind of like the friendly sales reps, and friendly waitresses before they are tipped.   It's easy to get a friendly cabin steward.  Not so easy to get a cabin steward who would still be just as friendly even if you two met on shore, when you weren't even cruising.

[Mike45LC]

Tetley, we have encountered crew (cabin attendants and busboys) ashore, and they have been just as friendly and cheerful as they are on-board.  

[tetleytea]

I have run into our own cruise director ashore, and to him, we didn't exist.   Not to say he is a bad person--they are paid to be friendly.  When they are on shore leave, they might want a break from it.

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, tetleytea said:

When they are on shore leave, they might want a break from it.

I imagine it is hard to be "ON" 24/7.

[tetleytea]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I imagine it is hard to be "ON" 24/7.

 

Yeah, it's just like celebrity life. 

[cr8tiv1]

I have encountered friendly crew/staff/entertainers onboard AND off the ship who are consistently nice.  I believe it is just their disposition.

 

Gary Shahan/lecturer is willing to talk to any passenger on/off the ship.  

Tiki Dave/Elua keep up with past passengers

The MDR crew was out to lunch in Ensenada and yelled at me to join them (I didn't notice them).  

I keep in touch with several crew members when I am not cruising.

 

It is my opinion that if you treat them with respect and pleasantries, they will return the favor.  They do have the option to ignore you and I will honor that.

[Mike45LC]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I have encountered friendly crew/staff/entertainers onboard AND off the ship who are consistently nice.  I believe it is just their disposition.

 

They do have the option to ignore you and I will honor that.

Unless they open conversations, all I ever do ashore is a friendly nod and "Hi"/"Have a great day."  They deserve a break from having to be nice and friendly!  

[cr8tiv1]

32 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

Unless they open conversations, all I ever do ashore is a friendly nod and "Hi"/"Have a great day."  They deserve a break from having to be nice and friendly!  

 

I agree.  But when the MDR crew/group told me they yelled at me and I didn't turn around, they thought I was ignoring them.  

 

And as many others have commented, some have become "friends", not just service personnel.  

[ontheweb]

21 hours ago, tetleytea said:

I have run into our own cruise director ashore, and to him, we didn't exist.   Not to say he is a bad person--they are paid to be friendly.  When they are on shore leave, they might want a break from it.

We once saw the cruise director and assistant cruise director on shore in Dublin. We of course recognized them, but even with a small ship, the former Ocean Princess, I really would not expect them to recognize us.

[tetleytea]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

We once saw the cruise director and assistant cruise director on shore in Dublin. We of course recognized them, but even with a small ship, the former Ocean Princess, I really would not expect them to recognize us.

 

That's it.  I'm juxtaposing two different lines of thought.  One thought says, "He's the cruise director.  He's supposed to make us feel good and have a good time, and he must not be doing a very good job as cruise director."

 

When in fact I am thinking, "I wouldn't have it any other way.   I am not on his ship; he is not my cruise director.    What kind of person is he now?"

 

[rbtan]

This is one big reason we sail "occasionally" on Princess. The staff is the kindest & most concerned that you're having a good time. We've always had very good staff everywhere, but Princess staff just seem to "care" a bit more.

[cr8tiv1]

31 minutes ago, rbtan said:

This is one big reason we sail "occasionally" on Princess. The staff is the kindest & most concerned that you're having a good time. We've always had very good staff everywhere, but Princess staff just seem to "care" a bit more.

 

My story from a very, very, very long time ago.  My adult daughter found a cruise card while we were sailing on NCL in the buffet.  She asked me what to do with it. I thought...then suggested that she hand it to a crew member.  He looked at us if we were trying to turn in a $500 bill.  Then said he didn't know what to do with it either.

 

Now, I understand that this is just one of the my many stories I have regarding my few experiences with NCL...but it is the general "I don't care/not my job" attitude I felt (perception) while on an NCL ship.  Rarely run into this issue on a Princess Ship.  Could it happen?  Yes.  Does it happen?  Sure.  

[Ptroxx]

I seen our cruise director yesterday in Ketchikan on the discovery. “Marcus”.  And he noticed me.   And said hello.  And we talked about the last show performance for the cast of the Spotlight Bar.     Such an amazing show.  

[SiliconCruiser]

On 8/2/2022 at 2:23 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

And as many others have commented, some have become "friends", not just service personnel.  

A junior waiter from our last pre-Covid cruise has been a Facebook friend to me and my wife for a couple of years now.

[ontheweb]

17 hours ago, rbtan said:

This is one big reason we sail "occasionally" on Princess. The staff is the kindest & most concerned that you're having a good time. We've always had very good staff everywhere, but Princess staff just seem to "care" a bit more.

We actually found that on HAL. DW had sent out some laundry, and thought something was missing. (It was not, just in a different place). IIRC, 3 cabin stewards were immediately in our cabin to see what they could do for her.

 

(Note, this is not at all a criticism of Princess' staff.)

[cr8tiv1]

I am sure the majority of crew are friendly.  This is why we all cruise.  To be pampered and looked after.

 

Am I missing something here?  I tend to be a very positive, happy person.  I really don't think cruise lines hire grouchy people.  They are looking for hard working, outgoing employees.  I honestly don't think they are "on their best" 24/7.  I just think that's who they are normally.

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[Thrak]

40 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I am sure the majority of crew are friendly.  This is why we all cruise.  To be pampered and looked after.

 

Am I missing something here?  I tend to be a very positive, happy person.  I really don't think cruise lines hire grouchy people.  They are looking for hard working, outgoing employees.  I honestly don't think they are "on their best" 24/7.  I just think that's who they are normally.

 

 

We have had (with a couple of notable exceptions) excellent interactions with the Princess crew members. There do seem to be some cultural differences though. The Filipino staff seem more outgoing than the European staff. We haven't had any issues with the European staff but they do seem more "reserved". Oddly enough, the worst crew member we have ever encountered (by far the worst) was Scottish. We have normally found the Scots to be great folks when we have met them on cruises but this guy rubbed just about everybody wrong and was an actual jerk to some of the passengers. Weird. Hopefully the pandemic (or his obvious dislike of his job as Assistant CD) weeded him from the workforce.