Tips Up - Service Down!

[Don Haynes]

One can't live in a cabin for less than a week and not be a pig? Surely one can live in a cabin without destroying the place, keeping the place neat. This reminds me of the Odd Couple.....

We want the towels changed daily, the trash serviced once a week, and our ice delivered twice a day, our beds made and turned down daily with the little chocolate on the pillows. We expect them to vacuum the carpets once a week, dust once a week, and clean the windows once a week. We do not expect them to clean the cabin thrice daily.....

[njhorseman]

[quote name='sottovoce']And when I asked what that difference is, the only difference you cited was that they "straightened up" your room during the day. This is "NO comparison?" This is "so much better?" Hyperbole, I'd say. Worth three times the daily cruise fare? Really?[/quote]


You forgot the most important difference...Goofy. :D

[big green]

[quote name='Don Haynes']One can't live in a cabin for less than a week and not be a pig? Surely one can live in a cabin without destroying the place, keeping the place neat. This reminds me of the Odd Couple.....

We want the towels changed daily, the trash serviced once a week, and our ice delivered twice a day, our beds made and turned down daily with the little chocolate on the pillows. We expect them to vacuum the carpets once a week, dust once a week, and clean the windows once a week. We do not expect them to clean the cabin thrice daily.....[/QUOTE]

Don--that is what you want--please be tolerant of other peoples desires and wants-- who appointed you king of NCl cruisers.

Big Green

[suzyed]

[quote name='big green']Don--that is what you want--please be tolerant of other peoples desires and wants-- who appointed you king of NCl cruisers.

Big Green[/quote]
He did. :p

[G-Funk]

[quote name='sottovoce']On NCL, the only difference has been that the room wasn't "straightened up" during the day--whatever "straightened up" means. I don't think I want to pay three times as much cruise fare to have my room "straightened up"--again, whatever that means--during the day. We've always had our room cleaned early in the morning, always had the room turned down, chocolates on the pillows, towel animals most nights (and ask me if I really care about towel animals:rolleyes:), and the room made ready for sleep.

Doesn't sound like much difference in the level of service. Of course, there's always Goofy.[/quote]

Yeah, "three times as much cruise fare" - no exaggeration there! Anything to make a point, right??

[horsesrus]

[quote name='sottovoce']This has always been our experience, too. I really don't understand all the complaining that goes on here. And I'd really like someone to put into substantive words--with specifics, not generalities--just what it is that makes, say, Disney's service so much better. Someone dressed up as Goofy? Please.[/quote]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I would too, we've done Disney, RCCL and Carnival so far and they all had excellent service in our experience. Did we occasionally run into a not as friendly or slightly underachieving staff member? Sure, it happens, but we just didn't let it bother us. It was never bad enough to complain about, even on their worst days no staff member on a cruise has ever come close to comparing to the poor service we see on land so often (cashiers having personal conversations with other employees or talking on the phone while checking you out or those that act like it’s killing them to actually do their job; you know like it’s almost painful). Stuff like that just sends me through the roof. To this day no cruise ship staff has ever come close to anything so blatantly rude or so lacking. I suppose it can and does happen but I have to believe that they are few and far between.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[horsesrus]

[quote name='suzyed']And is it one or the other? In other words, do you have both a suite attendent AND a room steward?

When we sailed last year on RCI, I believe the tip for children was half of the adult amount...but maybe I am wrong on this.
Also, I thought the "service charge" on NCL was for ages 2 and up. :confused:[/quote]

Perhaps that's what it was at the time but when I checked their website just the other day it states tip amounts per person/per day regardless of age. NCL site I believe said ages 3 and over pay the service fee.

[teacher_md]

This spring break I was on the Pearl and last spring break I was on the Adventure of the Seas. I'd say that the service was very comparable. Room stewards were probably a little better on NCL. Dining service was slightly better on Royal Caribbean because we had the same dining staff all week and they got to know our preferences. That may have more to do with the freestyle vs. traditional cruising, but I have to still give the nod to RCI on that one. Bar staff HANDS DOWN goes to NCL.

For the price we paid and what we got (an amazing balcony stateroom), I definitely think NCL has excellent value. Is it the best service I've bad? Nope... but still pretty good.
-aj

[suzyed]

[quote name='horsesrus']Perhaps that's what it was at the time but when I checked their website just the other day it states tip amounts per person/per day regardless of age. NCL site I believe said ages 3 and over pay the service fee.[/quote]
Yup! One thing is for sure...nothing stays the same! ;) Change is good!

[chrisbd1]

[quote name='njhorseman']On the deck plan 11660 appears to be a balcony stateroom, not a suite.[/quote]

It's a balcony, a BC to be specific. We had VIP service, for some reason. Our cabin stewards simply rocked. Though we were just one of 20 or so cabins they serviced, I heard others gushing about how great they were.

I had to interact with the Pursers desk a couple of times and even they were really nice. I even wrote a STYLE card out about one of the ladies there. One of the Asst Matri 'd's let me take a full dinner tray back to our cabin for Ms Belp when she couldn't come down for dinner. Every reasonable request was met with a smile and delivered promtly. The Future Cruise Consultant even called to have the curtesy holds we had two cruises extended beyond 24 hours so we could book them once our FCC were active.

Service with a smile :) I think I wrote out more STYLE cards on this last cruise than on any other cruise we've been on.

[Don Haynes]

[quote name='suzyed']He did. :p[/QUOTE]

Half the time I turn my door knob to do not disturb, as the cabin is in good shape. I am not a pig.....

Once I clean a room for a day, I don't expect to be cleaning it again in six hours.

I am happy with refilling the ice, swapping the towels, making and turning the bed as long as the cabin is clean.....

Maybe the daily surcharge should be doubled for pigs.....

[suzyed]

[quote name='Don Haynes']Half the time I turn my door knob to do not disturb, as the cabin is in good shape. I am not a pig.....

Once I clean a room for a day, I don't expect to be cleaning it again in six hours.

I am happy with refilling the ice, swapping the towels, making and turning the bed as long as the cabin is clean.....

Maybe the daily surcharge should be doubled for pigs.....[/quote]
Yeah that's a great idea! :rolleyes:

My expectations are the same as yours, except I would like it cleaned and touched up [I]daily[/I].(no need to change the sheets each day though).
The only thing I would add is that the towels we used for our shower after swimming or after a shore excursion during the day, be replaced with fresh towels when they come in for the evening turn down service.

[Griller]

I was on Sky recently like the OP on this thread and the service was not wonderful.

However its worth remembering that the Sky was doing 4 day cruises and the strain on the crew, specially the cabin stewards, is immense with such a lot of frequent luggage handling etc.

I've been on Jewel for the last 2 weeks or so and the service was excellent, as was the cleanliness of the ship and the food was as good as it gets on NCL.

I did notice some changes, handed down from head office, no croissant/jam waiters in the main dining rooms any more, they are on the table in miniscule quantities but you can ask for more of course.

In the buffet on Jewel there seemed to be less waiters clearing tables.

Other than that, just about the same staffing levels as on the last 3 occasions we were on Jewel in the last year or so, but better service this time all round.

I certainly left the $12 a day alone, was happy to pay it.

[KerCar]

[quote name='horsesrus']Perhaps that's what it was at the time but when I checked their website just the other day it states tip amounts per person/per day regardless of age. NCL site I believe said ages 3 and over pay the service fee.[/QUOTE]

From the NCL site is:

[I]A charge of $12 per person per day for guests [B]over the age of 3[/B] will automatically be added to your onboard account. [/I]

Dumb question~Does "over the age of 3" mean 3 years 1 month or 4??? My DD will be 3 years 2 months at the time of our cruise.

[smeyer418]

[quote name='KerCar']From the NCL site is:

[I]A charge of $12 per person per day for guests [B]over the age of 3[/B] will automatically be added to your onboard account. [/I]

Dumb question~Does "over the age of 3" mean 3 years 1 month or 4??? My DD will be 3 years 2 months at the time of our cruise.[/quote]

I believe it means 3 and above so it you have a child that is 3 and one day its charged....

[mbisson]

Oops, my bad

[Renmar]

[quote name='islandgirlejfan']There is a very long thread in the Carnival forum about this very same thing. There are a number of unhappy ppl where service in concerned over there.

I am just wondering where the $9.75 for RCI is because when I was looking at the *gratuity guidelines* yesterday and this is what I pulled up:
Suite attendant: $5.75 USD a day per guest
Stateroom attendant: $3.50 USD a day per guest
Dining Room Waiter: $3.50 USD a day per guest
Assistant Waiter: $2.00 USD a day per guest
Headwaiter: $.75 USD a day per guest

That added up to $15.50 a day pp....$3.50 more than NCL.:eek:[/quote]
You either have a Suite attendant or a Stateroom attendant, NOT both.

[Don Haynes]

I take the attitude I am on vacation for R&R. The key to get this is to slow down. Not worry about service issues. So many are still rushing around aboard the ship as if they are still in the rat race. Leave the rat race behind. You shouldn't be in any hurry. So many are so worried that they will lose five minutes of their shore time, its almost impossible to get through the backed up lines to leave the ship. Avoid the cattle lines. Its in those lines you will hear the most complaints from the complainers.

Are you on vacation or did you just bring your daily rat race pace of life aboard the ship. Who cares how slow the service is? Who cares about the one strand of hair in the sink? Who cares about the clipped finger nail on the table. So the room steward didn't see it when they rushed to clean the cabin. Why grade service? This isn't a restaurant at home....SLOW DOWN! One quick wipe and all of these hick ups disappear.