I Wish I Knew How to Quit You

[BrianLo]

1 minute ago, UKstages said:

 

my experience has been that cabin attendants very quickly learn the schedules of their guests and adjust their rounds accordingly, so they accommodate guests whenever they can.

I think I just have a sub par steward right now, you are probably right. The quantum test cruise one they actually seemed seriously understaffed.

[ontheweb]

8 minutes ago, BrianLo said:

I don’t miss the turn down itself personally. But what I have found is that the quality of the whole housekeeping has declined because your room stewards room load is doubled.

 

I mean it is probably steward dependent, but my worst experience was on Quantum, we happened to be the Australian bubble cruise where the once a day was trialed, before NCL or RCL officiated. My poor steward seemed overwhelmed and basically couldn’t get to my room until 1630. I sent him away one time because I just didn’t feel like leaving pre dinner and the poor guy was so concerned that I wouldn’t have anything since his shift was ending.

 

I largely find now you get your room cleaned based on the order they do cabins. Putting your ‘clean my room now’ sign is meaningless, it will literally go ignored for up to 8 hours if you are towards the back of their load.

 

it was a breath of fresh air on the Celebrity Edge recently to have the double service and the room steward who would see us leave for breakfast and go in and out like a ninja.

 

I mean, you do eventually learn when you are due, and right now I’ve learned my time is about 2PM on my current cruise. Didn’t matter that my you can clean my room now thing was flagged at 4am (literally).

At the meeting with the officers, I did ask the officer who was in charge of the stewards about their workload. He tried to say that they really did not have more cabins than pre-Covid.

 

He later noticed me at the latitudes meeting and thanked me for the question.

[JamieLogical]

Well, since I settled on Princess for this May sailing and my next two after that are MSC, I won't have to worry about missing out on evening turndown service for another year or so at least.

[PATRLR]

19 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

The Enchanted Princes out of FLL!

As that will be before we are on Sky in July, I'll be looking forward to that report.  Hoping the newer ship has a better feel for you.  

[jaapie]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

At the meeting with the officers, I did ask the officer who was in charge of the stewards about their workload. He tried to say that they really did not have more cabins than pre-Covid.

 

He later noticed me at the latitudes meeting and thanked me for the question.

On the Breakaway a few months ago, our steward told us that when cabins were serviced twice a day he had 12 cabins to service, now with once a day he has 18 cabins.

[cruisebeachgirl703]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

Well, since I settled on Princess for this May sailing and my next two after that are MSC, I won't have to worry about missing out on evening turndown service for another year or so at least.

Yes, I love my turndown service. Can't help it. Was your princess casino offer based on slot play?

Good for you. Way to go.

[JamieLogical]

9 minutes ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

Yes, I love my turndown service. Can't help it. Was your princess casino offer based on slot play?

Good for you. Way to go.

 

It wasn't a huge offer... ended up being about 20% off with $100 OBC, but it was enough to make the Princess pricing competitive. I only play slots, so it must have been based on my slot play on my Panama Canal sailing

[cruisebeachgirl703]

10 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

It wasn't a huge offer... ended up being about 20% off with $100 OBC, but it was enough to make the Princess pricing competitive. I only play slots, so it must have been based on my slot play on my Panama Canal sailing

Thanks. Hope you enjoy. Hope food has improved for all interested.

[BrianLo]

11 hours ago, ontheweb said:

At the meeting with the officers, I did ask the officer who was in charge of the stewards about their workload. He tried to say that they really did not have more cabins than pre-Covid.

 

He later noticed me at the latitudes meeting and thanked me for the question.

I’d be a bit surprised if they didn’t have at least a few more cabins in some form, maybe not the doubling like the RCL test bubble attempted.

 

Otherwise, where is the cost savings if house keeping crew also can’t be cut back? Maybe a few less refreshed towels.

[UKstages]

7 hours ago, BrianLo said:

I’d be a bit surprised if they didn’t have at least a few more cabins in some form...

 

in post #105, it was shared that cabin attendants had 12 staterooms to service before the change and now they have 18.

 

so, prior to the change, they made 24 cabin visits a day... 12 X 2, half of which were long, intensive top to bottom cleanings and half of which were short touchups for turn down and towel replenishment, emptying of garbage cans and tidying up.

 

after the change, they now have 18 cabins... so, while they now make only 18 cabin visits (as opposed to 24), all of those are intensive top to bottom cleanings.

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

 

in post #105, it was shared that cabin attendants had 12 staterooms to service before the change and now they have 18.

 

so, prior to the change, they made 24 cabin visits a day... 12 X 2, half of which were long, intensive top to bottom cleanings and half of which were short touchups for turn down and towel replenishment, emptying of garbage cans and tidying up.

 

after the change, they now have 18 cabins... so, while they now make only 18 cabin visits (as opposed to 24), all of those are intensive top to bottom cleanings.

The way it was explained to me (at a Meet and Greet last October on the Epic) by the head of Housekeeping, the stewards had twice as many cabins to service, but only had to service them once instead of twice.  Their days were consistent instead of broken up into two sections.   Now, each day, once they're finished, their day is done.  Before, they had to service each cabin twice, with a break in between, resulting in longer hours overall.

 

Don't know what a short touch up is....unless that was considered a clean the bathroom, make-turn down the beds, replenish ice, etc.

Edited March 15 by graphicguy

[JamieLogical]

On 3/13/2024 at 8:56 PM, JamieLogical said:

Well, we finally booked a cruise for May and the winner is....

 

 

Drumroll, please....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Enchanted Princes out of FLL! I am as surprised as anyone else that we decided to give Princess another shot after having sworn it off back in January 2023. Our Christmas/New Years Panama Canal sailing on the Emerald Princes was (and still is) the worst cruise we have ever been on. But the combination of a casino offer, a chance to go to Belize, a newer ship, and upgrading to a Mini-suite for less per day than a balcony on the Joy that same week was enough to convince us to give it a shot.

 

I started the Live thread for my upcoming Enchanted Princess sailing for anyone here who cares to follow along:

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by JamieLogical