What does a room steward do?

[Incognito1]

On 3/23/2023 at 4:42 AM, david63 said:

Neither as you will have already paid tips somewhere along the way. But you can always give a "little" more if you believe that your cabin steward had "gone over and beyond".

If you choose to.  You may choose to pre-pay gratuities, pay them onboard with your OBC (if you have some), or take them off completely and tip as you go, choosing where the money goes.  There are several threads with pros and cons of each method here on CC, but in the end, you choose what works best for you.

[Rick&Jeannie]

On 3/23/2023 at 11:00 AM, cruzsnooze said:

Neither because they are included in the daily auto gratuity. All cash has to be handed into the tip pool which is distributed to all the fleet. There is a misconception which I verified with corp. that crew keep cash tips if the auto gratuity is kept intact but that's not the case. So any cash tip you give a crew member goes into the pool and gets divided by thousands of crew members

I would be very interested in seeing this cited somewhere...or some kind of documentation.

[Guest ldtr]

On 3/23/2023 at 8:00 AM, cruzsnooze said:

Neither because they are included in the daily auto gratuity. All cash has to be handed into the tip pool which is distributed to all the fleet. There is a misconception which I verified with corp. that crew keep cash tips if the auto gratuity is kept intact but that's not the case. So any cash tip you give a crew member goes into the pool and gets divided by thousands of crew members

A good friend of mine was a long time cabin Steward from the Philippines.  His son still is.  He put his daughter through med school on what he made over the years working for Princess.

 

I have asked him that question. His response is that prior to auto gratuity all tips were kept by the individual.  When auto gratuities were first put in place they were split by a well defined formula based on specific roles.  Then as fixed dining started to go away and any time was introduced that changed and the money went into a pool for each specific ship. 

 

At that time they started the practice that if tips were removed any tips received in cash had to be turned in, if gratuities were removed.  They got to keep them if they were not removed.  Basically the removal of tips showed up as a black mark on their record, the black mark was removed if they turned in the tips because it indicated that the removal was not sue to their level of service.

 

After a while there was problems with the disparity of tips between different ships on different routes.  Those with large numbers of passengers from non-tipping countries tended to tip less and the crews income would be negatively impacted.  That made crew members unhappy to be assigned to different ships based upon the area in which they were sailing.  As a result the cruise line shifted to a global pool where tips are sent to a pool that is distributed evenly across the fleet, independent of ship.  That resolved the assignment issues.

 

Today the tips are pooled fleet wide.  with the advent of packages and fares with prepaid gratuities there is less emphasis on payment of gratuities since a fairly large percentage are now paid by fare or package and as such not subject to removal by passenger.  Cabin Stewards now get to keep cash tips, even if gratuities are removed.  Though he was not sure about how other positions such as bar tenders or waiters are handled. Cabin Stewards are now about the only position who can be tied to individual passengers and their behavior concerning tips.

 

He did say that removal of tips is still tracked and the number of such removals is compared to other Stewards on board ship as part of their performance measures.  Basically the best thing one can do for their Steward is to make sure that they are recognized as providing outstanding service in the after cruise survey.  Those mentions go a long way in helping them to earn promotions, bonuses, additional time off, etc. In many ways they are more valuable then extra cash beyond the standard gratuity amounts.

Edited March 27, 2023 by ldtr

[GonzoWCS]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:17 AM, cjpj said:

Your room steward will clean your room daily in the am and tidy in the pm. S/he will replenish your ice bucket and basically obtain any other items you may ask for if they can. Need a corkscrew, a bottle opener, more hangers, a robe, have a question -  your room steward is your first contact. For glasses you will often be referred to housekeeping, but I find this varies. You room steward will know your name (I don't know how they do it) and can be a great source of info. They often like to chat about their family back home, their contract, etc. 

We always tip out room steward on the eve of disembarkation and hand it to him/her discreetly.  Don't wait till embarkation day when it's all hands on deck for turnover day, your not likely to see him/her. And of course, we'd tip during the cruise for anything out of the ordinary.

Spot on!

 

Cheers

[pmallen]

Also, if you manage to lock yourselves out on your balcony and use the Crew Chat on the Medallion app to ask for help, it's your steward who will let you back in. And he'll also express amazement that you managed to lock yourselves out in the first place.

 

Or, so I'm told.

[CruiseCrabs]

2 hours ago, GonzoWCS said:

Spot on!

 

Cheers

Room stewards are usually an amazing team of people who make a million things happen for you while keeping you healthy and tidy during your journey. The good ones are deserving of extra tips and a cruise crab or two during the journey. I’ve only had one bad one who was on the last voyage of their contract and likely would not be returning. The rest have been amazing. Post pandemic, Room stewards have more rooms than ever to take care of and, based on what I have seen, have a LOT to manage for some folks. 

[AZjohn]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

Basically the best thing one can do for their Steward is to make sure that they are recognized as providing outstanding service in the after cruise survey.  Those mentions go a long way in helping them to earn promotions, bonuses, additional time off, etc. In many ways they are more valuable than extra cash beyond the standard gratuity amounts.

This is not only Princess but many other lines also.

 

Here is my issue with Princess after cruise survey wanting to mention some outstanding individuals….

WAY TO MANY QUESTIONS before I can submit survey.

 

Seriously, I just wanted to give props to several of their employees (which I did at one point where I could type in a comment). But I am not going to spend 30+ minutes to answer every stupid question that is for Princess’s marketing and sales dept before the submit button is activated. Just a big turn off to me.

 

Yes, could have just written a little note to Captain when we disembarked but, not sure if that would ever get where it really needs to go.

 

Thanks though for sharing your insite👍😊

[nini]

I am so glad that we have personally given our stewards a personal gratuity in an envelope on our last day... Especially last September on the Grand. He was so sweet and took such great care of us.

[antsp]

On 3/24/2023 at 3:28 AM, 808cruisers said:

I did some rough math.

Total cruisers 3000 X $100 in auto tips= $300,000/1000 staff=$300 each staff member.

For a 7 night cruise, <$43 a day in auto tips. I would say giving them extra gratuity is a good thing. 

There is no where near a 1000 on a ship in the tip pool

[808cruisers]

Oh, not 1000 staff in tip pool? I thought it was spread among all. Newbie here. 

[GonzoWCS]

7 hours ago, CruiseCrabs said:

Room stewards are usually an amazing team of people who make a million things happen for you while keeping you healthy and tidy during your journey. The good ones are deserving of extra tips and a cruise crab or two during the journey. I’ve only had one bad one who was on the last voyage of their contract and likely would not be returning. The rest have been amazing. Post pandemic, Room stewards have more rooms than ever to take care of and, based on what I have seen, have a LOT to manage for some folks. 

Here here!

 

Cheers

[Kellyansapansa]

8 hours ago, AZjohn said:

This is not only Princess but many other lines also.

 

Here is my issue with Princess after cruise survey wanting to mention some outstanding individuals….

WAY TO MANY QUESTIONS before I can submit survey.

 

Seriously, I just wanted to give props to several of their employees (which I did at one point where I could type in a comment). But I am not going to spend 30+ minutes to answer every stupid question that is for Princess’s marketing and sales dept before the submit button is activated. Just a big turn off to me.

 

Yes, could have just written a little note to Captain when we disembarked but, not sure if that would ever get where it really needs to go.

 

Thanks though for sharing your insite👍😊

That's interesting. I welcome the opportunity to fill in a comprehensive survey after every cruise. I see it as my chance to give constructive feedback about what was fantastic, what was okay, and what fell below my expectations. I imagine it's the operations team that is most interested in the survey results, rather than the marketing and sales departments. 🤗

[ontheweb]

A room steward makes you feel that you are the most important person in the world!

[david63]

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

A room steward makes you feel that you are the most important person in the world!

No - my wife does that😇

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, david63 said:

No - my wife does that😇

How long have you been married? We will have out 46th anniversary this summer on a cruise.

 

One of my favorite pictures in the world is from our wedding day. We are at DW's parents' house after the wedding. My tuxedo went back upstate with my parents to be returned, and I am now wearing a Grateful Dead tee-shirt and blue jeans while DW is still in her wedding dress (which she made). I am standing reading wedding cards while she is sitting down looking up at me with an adoring expression. She still loves me, but I never see her look at me with that expression any longer.

[lois1112]

if you've never had a cabin steward your in for a treat, they will be your best friend for the cruise. They will do anything (within reason) to make your cruise better.   I always want to take them home with me.

I always tip the eve of dismemberment, in person 

[Thrak]

All stewards we have had have been "adequate". Some have been "exceptional". One was an absolute disaster who was worthless. 3 hours after the other stewards were done he was still plodding along. He often failed to change towels, replace glasses that he took away, etc. I doubt very much that he stayed with Princess - especially as this was our last cruise that was shortly before the shutdown. I have no idea how the guy every passed muster when training.

[Vic The Parrot]

17 hours ago, pmallen said:

Also, if you manage to lock yourselves out on your balcony and use the Crew Chat on the Medallion app to ask for help, it's your steward who will let you back in.

 

 

But how is that possible? 

 😵

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, lois1112 said:

if you've never had a cabin steward your in for a treat, they will be your best friend for the cruise. They will do anything (within reason) to make your cruise better.   I always want to take them home with me.

I always tip the eve of dismemberment, in person 

Sorry, but “eve of dismemberment” made me giggle.  Thanks!

[pmallen]

23 minutes ago, Vic The Parrot said:

But how is that possible? 

 😵

Unclear. Near as I can tell, if the handle is tilted just so,  neither open nor closed, if the door slams shut it must be able to close. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by pmallen

[Vic The Parrot]

8 minutes ago, pmallen said:

Unclear. Near as I can tell, if the handle is tilted just so,  neither open nor closed, if the door slams shut it must be able to close. 

That kind of makes sense. The laws of physics are just as mysterious as the stuff Mr Murphy throws at us. 🤯

[Guest ldtr]

17 hours ago, AZjohn said:

This is not only Princess but many other lines also.

 

Here is my issue with Princess after cruise survey wanting to mention some outstanding individuals….

WAY TO MANY QUESTIONS before I can submit survey.

 

Seriously, I just wanted to give props to several of their employees (which I did at one point where I could type in a comment). But I am not going to spend 30+ minutes to answer every stupid question that is for Princess’s marketing and sales dept before the submit button is activated. Just a big turn off to me.

 

Yes, could have just written a little note to Captain when we disembarked but, not sure if that would ever get where it really needs to go.

 

Thanks though for sharing your insite👍😊

They used to have the cards at Customer Service to recognize employees, but they have done away with those and gone the survey route.  On occasion I have written letters praising good employees and dropped them off at customer service and asked them to please make sure that they got to the right individual (manager).  They have always been very happy to do so.  I suspect that CS is very happy to deal with positives instead of the usual negatives they get bombarded with.

Edited March 27, 2023 by ldtr

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Vic The Parrot said:

But how is that possible? 

 😵

My wife has threatened to lock me on the balcony on more than one occasion.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

My wife has threatened to lock me on the balcony on more than one occasion.

But how often does she go through with it?

 

If it is never, I am sure you recognize it as an empty threat.

[808cruisers]

5 hours ago, lois1112 said:

if you've never had a cabin steward your in for a treat, they will be your best friend for the cruise. They will do anything (within reason) to make your cruise better.   I always want to take them home with me.

I always tip the eve of dismemberment, in person 

Ok - taking them home and dismembering is too funny and a little creepy. 😆 I have fears abt cruises. Can someone start a thread on that?