Should Cruise Line Employees have access to your Cabin if they are off duty?

Even if you're perfectly polite, it doesn't stop someone from thinking you're not. Look in the papers at people who get stabbed because someone thought 'he looked at me funny'.

How does the hotel (cruise ship) know how many times your cabin door has been opened?

 

Unless there is an electronic imprint on master room keys.

 

Might be a +1 for wrist bands.:p:p

It is my understanding that this is recorded and may be accessed if necessary to show who entered the room.

If this were a frequent occurrence then I might agree that it needed to be addressed but this isn't something that you read about everyday. As mentioned stewards are responsible for checking cabins in an emergency and if someone is bent on doing something wrong they will find a way to do it.

Think about really. If they wanted in your room to kill you would it really matter whether they where off duty or on duty ? Also if your not the kind to belittle anyone then there would be nothing to worry about... Just sayin'

I truly hope you do not think this is true and that you were just being facetious. You know that the woman who was assaulted didn't actually "belittle" the crew member, right? He HEARD her utter the words, "son of a b*tch" while she was getting to the door and assumed she was insulting him, according to the information released. His perception that she had insulted him incited his rage. Because he was unstable to begin with, obviously.

Victim blaming makes little sense in most cases and absolutely none in this case.

This did actually happen, although it was sexual assault and attempted murder, and he entered a guilty plea. The female victim did survive. I believe the trial was in September 2014.

 

There are bad people everywhere, all we have to do is read a newspaper or listen to the 10PM news.

 

Treat people with respect and be smart and aware. I believe this was an extremely rare occurrence for a cruise ship.

While we all really want to believe it is an extremely rare occurrence, the fact that it has happened again already makes it seem like it is becoming less rare. I have to admit that this IS something I worry about when I cruise. I am concerned when I return to my cabin alone and enter it that there is the possibility that someone is in there already. :mad:

I thank everyone for their thoughts. This is just something that can happen anytime and anywhere.

Stewards come and go and no one thinks about it. Do you know when you see that steward entering that room down the hall is actually doing his job or is he up to something else.

99% of the cruise ship employees are great but there is always that 1% that may not be trustworthy.

I understand room stewards get their master key before they start their morning duties. When they are finished they are turned back in. They don't get them again until they sign in for evening duties then return them. The House Keeping director knows when they should get the keys back and when a key is not returned when its supposed to be.

If some one is going in your cabin to fix something, the Housekeeping Director's person in charge of that floor lets them in and stays until job is done. The maintenance person does not have a key.

I truly hope you do not think this is true and that you were just being facetious. You know that the woman who was assaulted didn't actually "belittle" the crew member, right? He HEARD her utter the words, "son of a b*tch" while she was getting to the door and assumed she was insulting him, according to the information released. His perception that she had insulted him incited his rage. Because he was unstable to begin with, obviously.

 

Victim blaming makes little sense in most cases and absolutely none in this case.

Thank you. The fact more than one poster assumed she must have provoked the attack is disturbing, if sadly common.

99% of the cruise ship employees are great but there is always that 1% that may not be trustworthy.

You can say that about any work force.

I don't think stewards are prohibited from using the cabin keys more than once a cleaning period. Sometimes the linens aren't all ready yet and they have to come back, and sometimes they let passengers in if they have an armful of "stuff" (packages, laundry, etc), and also passengers in wheelchairs or on scooters.

I believe it happened on Holland America where a ship employee felt a guest had belittled him so he used his badge, even though he was off duty, to enter her room to wait for her return to kill her.

 

 

Any opinions?

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

Other than emergency they shouldnt have access to your cabin when off duty

While this sounds good, how do you implement it? An off duty employee hears someone screaming in your cabin, what does he do? Now, he has access and can enter the cabin to determine the problem. Take away that access and the employee must get someone else to help. Maybe too late.

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-cruise-ship-rape-victim-20141226-story.html

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

While none of us were there, making it impossible for anyone posting to "prove" the validity of the reports of the attack, I would think the reports should be sufficient to "convince" you. You can google and find numerous sources. I am opting to include a link from NY Daily News.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/cruise-worker-raped-throw-woman-overboard-fbi-article-1.1619217

Should off duty cruise personnel enter your cabin. No!!! The key words are "off duty."

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

Happened on Holland America Cruise in Feb. The steward just went to court in December. They had him on camera jumping from cabin to cabin by way of balconies to get away from security.

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

Hope the above articles give you the "proof" you are looking.

While none of us were there, making it impossible for anyone posting to "prove" the validity of the reports of the attack, I would think the reports should be sufficient to "convince" you. You can google and find numerous sources. I am opting to include a link from NY Daily News.

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/cruise-worker-raped-throw-woman-overboard-fbi-article-1.1619217

He admitted guilt and was sentenced, this week, to thirty years in prison.

The same thing can happen in a hotel. My husband was staying in a suite at a hotel where you need a key card in the elevator just to get on the floor and for your room. He settled into the room, did a little work on his laptop, answered emails etc, then went to the gym, then straight back to his room. His laptop disappeared while he was at the gym. The hotel checked the key card data and it did not show anyone entering the room while he was gone, so the hotel said it didn't happen at their hotel, that he must have lost it before he arrived. He was SOL. Except he had worked on the laptop before going to the gym. A few months later, the police contacted him that his laptop had been recovered in a sting, along with a whole lot of other stolen goods, from one of the hotel's employees. He had entered the room with a keycard and taken the laptop, but had somehow deleted it from the hotel computers.

I think there's far more crime in land hotels than on cruises, considering the number of passengers that pass through all the ships every year. I figure you can either hide in your home in fear your whole life, or accept that there is a certain amount of risk in living, and do what You can to minimize risk, but get out there and enjoy life.

My opinion is that this is hearsay.

 

I believe that there should be proof in posts like this.

The attacker immediately admitted his guilt and has since been sentenced.

My opinion is that this is hearsay.

 

I believe that there should be proof in posts like this.

Since when did Cruise Critic become a court of law?:confused:

It's an easy fix. Install these:

Just like nearly every hotel room you go to.

If the bar is in place, no one can get in. But the bar can only be activated if someone is IN the room. As far as checking the room in case of a muster, if the bar is activated, SOMEONE must be in the room.

Could you provide some proof that this is true?

This is actually an old story (very well publicized around the world) that happened last year. Here is a link to one of the original news stories:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/cruise-worker-raped-throw-woman-overboard-fbi-article-1.1619217

There has been a lot of follow-up on this horrid tale including the perpetrator being jailed and subsequent trial info.

Hank

We would add a comment about various crew members having master keys to cabins. This is a safety issue on ships where a major emergency can happen at any time. In order to properly assure the safety of all passengers it is necessary that many crew members be able to get into cabins at a moments notice. Technically, the crew is never totally off-duty whenever they are on the vessel. Even during their off-duty hours, they are still on duty in the event of an emergency.

This brings up another issue regarding the interior cabin locks. Most of us turn that little knob thinking we have securely locked the cabin door. But on many (perhaps all) ships that security lock really has little impact on security. In fact, we were recently on a Celebrity ship and I had locked the interior cabin lock when I returned early one afternoon. About a minute late our cabin steward opened the door with his pass key/card...and quickly apologized saying "I did not know you were in the cabin." The point is that the security lock is more window dressing then real security. Access to all spaces on a ship is a necessity due to safety issues. Restricting such access would put the ship in violation of various SOLAS (Safety of Life At Sea) regulations.

Hank

There are two issues with restricting a steward's access when on duty.

1. How restrictive are his duty hours? If he's a bit behind, or covering for someone, is he to be automatically locked out when his duty hours officially end?

2. What's the point? Restricting the time that the steward can kill you to a 12-hour time period, rather than 24 hours a day, isn't enough of a restriction in my book. And what's to stop a steward (who presumably knows what time he goes off duty) from slipping into a cabin last thing before his key ceases to work? Or even wedging a door ajar?

We would add a comment about various crew members having master keys to cabins. This is a safety issue on ships where a major emergency can happen at any time. In order to properly assure the safety of all passengers it is necessary that many crew members be able to get into cabins at a moments notice. Technically, the crew is never totally off-duty whenever they are on the vessel. Even during their off-duty hours, they are still on duty in the event of an emergency.

 

This brings up another issue regarding the interior cabin locks. Most of us turn that little knob thinking we have securely locked the cabin door. But on many (perhaps all) ships that security lock really has little impact on security. In fact, we were recently on a Celebrity ship and I had locked the interior cabin lock when I returned early one afternoon. About a minute late our cabin steward opened the door with his pass key/card...and quickly apologized saying "I did not know you were in the cabin." The point is that the security lock is more window dressing then real security. Access to all spaces on a ship is a necessity due to safety issues. Restricting such access would put the ship in violation of various SOLAS (Safety of Life At Sea) regulations.

 

Hank

Please explain the bolded. Let's say I'm in my room. If there was a bar lock (like I pictured), I agree, crew can't get in my room. But they can yell, scream, blow an air horn, whatever (that's assuming there's not access from a connecting cabin or balcony).

I would think any safety issue on a ship would be a safety issue at a hotel (especially a high rise). So why are the bar locks allowed in hotels?