Cabin steward mystery

Now that I've read a ton of posts, I'm curious about something.

Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why?

(We've always met our stewards, but not necessarily on the first day. Our best steward was magical! I think we saw him once or twice in 9 days....but any time we left our cabin, it was always straightened when we returned. He was a ghost, but also an incredible room steward).

I'm asking because it seems quite a few people want to actually see their stewards and interact with them. I'm fine talking to them or never seeing them. As long as things go well, I'm happy.

So.....Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why? I'm just curious.

I can't recall ever sailing without meeting our room steward. We are the kind of people that are in and out of our room a lot. Sometimes we'll leave a note asking for something and we have always received it. Last time we asked for extra towels because we showered at night and again in the morning. I think the room steward left us about 5 towels each.

I don't think I would care if I didn't meet him (or her) but I just can't imagine it.

We always make a point of finding our steward on the first day and introducing ourselves and (pre) tipping (usually $20) Our last cruise, the steward said "let me serve you first" but we insisted. It just starts the week on a good note. We've always had stewards who make a point of wishing us a good day/dinner/whatever when we leave the room. It makes our vacation that much nicer.

I like to meet them if for no other fact that it makes it easier to ask them for something, if we happen to pass them. Our last cruise we were in our cabin a lot and saw our steward nearly every day. I feel like meeting them makes the whole experience more personal, guess.

~Katy

Certainly meeting the steward or not should make little impact for my enjoyment of the cruise, we have been lucky to have very present and helpful stewards 90% of the time, I do enjoy learning about there own lives aboard these floating resorts and at home, when there time allows to share. Our first butler experience led to a solid friendship that is still ongoing between our 2 families, I realize that may be uncommon but we certainly are richer for the experience. We all must remember these individuals are here for a pay cheque but they are still people not just mindless tip seeking robots

*Living large one week at a time*

Most all of my room needs are filtered thru the butler. Very rarely is a request not completed in very short order. I do make conversation with the stewards, but don't feel obligated in terms of having my room cleaned better/faster.

I see a cabin as no different to a hotel room. I rarely know who services my hotel room, and I don't need to know who is servicing my cabin.

In times gone by it was very different. Cabin Stewards were more like butlers are today. Typically they would stand in the corridor near to the cabins they served. You would have a call button, and when pressed, a light would come on outside your room. The steward would then attend to your needs.

This would probably be simple room service, such as a sandwich, tea, coffee etc.

They would tidy the room, make the beds up, polish gents shoes, and even assist with dressing the male occupant on formal nights if requested.

Imho they did as much as butlers do now. It was a pleasure to hand them an envelope. Far better than the nonesense of a daily service charge, or pre paid gratuities.

Now that I've read a ton of posts, I'm curious about something.

 

Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why?

 

(We've always met our stewards, but not necessarily on the first day. Our best steward was magical! I think we saw him once or twice in 9 days....but any time we left our cabin, it was always straightened when we returned. He was a ghost, but also an incredible room steward).

 

I'm asking because it seems quite a few people want to actually see their stewards and interact with them. I'm fine talking to them or never seeing them. As long as things go well, I'm happy.

 

So.....Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why? I'm just curious.

I think the fascination with knowing your steward goes back to the grand old days of sea travel

Others will now of course dispute my commentary but my feeling is two/three fold:

1. Some pax like the delusion of sophistication and wealth that cruising gives them and the steward is the icing on the cake to this delusion

And/Or

2. They have a guilt complex about not being quite deserving of the services the steward provided

And/or

3. Everyone is just so niceeee these days and it makes pax feel good to be overly bubbly with the steward and get to know his life story

For me and mine.... We are not looking to make friends with any crew on board.... We keep our cabin neat..... And appreciate as well as expect the room to be services 2x a day....we are very considerate if the steward and know he has a job to do so we allow him to do it.... We smile and say hello when we see him and do not care if we don't see him

We tip extra at the end as well but the steward is not are main focus...nor is the cruise director or the mdr waiter. As long as job gets done we are fine.... Even if job is mediocre we are fine too

The ship the ports the family fun are what matter.

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I will stick to what I have posted before:

The best room stewards are the ones you never see.

They observe and learn your routine.

There are a few excellent points in this thread. I have spent many a week long vacation on land and never knew the housekeeping staff or who was cleaning my room.

I can't even say that I really needed to meet them in the old days of tipping with cash envelopes, at least once (if not twice) I can recall not seeing my steward on the last day and simply leaving the cash tip on the desk in the room.

There are those who feel self worth handing a tip in person, I see it all the time in land restaurants where customers call over the server to place cash in the hand and get the gracious "thank you" - I personally think that is self serving, leave the tip on the table and get out.

 

I see it all the time in land restaurants where customers call over the server to place cash in the hand and get the gracious "thank you" - I personally think that is self serving, leave the tip on the table and get out.

I worked in a restaurant and can remember twice when the tip was picked up by a customer. When I am leaving a cash tip in a crowded "seat yourself" restaurant, I do hand it to the server. I'm not looking for a gracious thank you but I'm not looking to supplement the next diners meal.

Now that I've read a ton of posts, I'm curious about something.

 

Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why?

 

(We've always met our stewards, but not necessarily on the first day. Our best steward was magical! I think we saw him once or twice in 9 days....but any time we left our cabin, it was always straightened when we returned. He was a ghost, but also an incredible room steward).

 

I'm asking because it seems quite a few people want to actually see their stewards and interact with them. I'm fine talking to them or never seeing them. As long as things go well, I'm happy.

 

So.....Do you feel it's important to meet your cabin steward? If so, why? I'm just curious.

I've only had one magical steward that went in EVERY time we left the cabin. It got a bit creepy after a while, I don't know how exactly he knew we weren't there. Our last cruise, I didn't meet our steward until the second day. It would have been nice to at least see the person who is coming in your room daily, but to me it isn't a big deal. I do like to pre-tip just to get the ball rolling and to make sure they know we expect good service. Really though, we don't put a lot of demands on our stewards, just keep the ice bucket full and the towel animals creative and we are usually okay.

I never understood those that want the deep personal relationship with the staff and crew. I've seen and read where passengers keep in touch, and ask specifically for this crew person to be assigned to their cabin, table etc. I try to have a conversation with our steward, to make sure that they know they are doing a good job (or not), but their personal world really isn't any of my business.

We always make a point of finding our steward on the first day and introducing ourselves and (pre) tipping (usually $20) Our last cruise, the steward said "let me serve you first" but we insisted. It just starts the week on a good note. We've always had stewards who make a point of wishing us a good day/dinner/whatever when we leave the room. It makes our vacation that much nicer.

When a professional turns down a tip and says "let me serve you first" you should translate that to say "there is no need to bribe me to get good service, that's insulting". Don't insist they take your money.

Just my opinion.

I don't go out of my way to try to meet the steward. He has a job to do, and I try my best to stay out of his way. If we cross paths, I'll say hello. If he introduces himself, of course I'll do the same. Otherwise, I don't care if I ever see this person.

I can't imagine not meeting our cabin steward on the first day. Just how it has been on every cruise we have been on. Love getting to know them. I would rather ask for something I need rather than leave a note. They know pretty much the answers I have to just about everything on the ship. I don't think the extra tip at the end would be quite as big if I didn't get to know them. I would still leave extra though.

When a professional turns down a tip and says "let me serve you first" you should translate that to say "there is no need to bribe me to get good service, that's insulting". Don't insist they take your money.

 

Just my opinion.

I've always thought of it as insulting to tip first, as well. It's like saying, "I assume you're going to give me crappy service, so I'm going to bribe you to do a good job." These pre-tippers always report back, "I tipped up front, so I got excellent service!" Think about that. It's so rude.

When a professional turns down a tip and says "let me serve you first" you should translate that to say "there is no need to bribe me to get good service, that's insulting". Don't insist they take your money.

 

Just my opinion.

I was beginning to think I was missing something here! :confused:

I've read quite a few times where people have tipped BEFORE even receiving the services of their room steward and I struggle to understand that. I know I'm a Brit and we Brits are notorious (apparently!) for not understanding the whole tipping culture, but I'm MORE than happy to tip for good service.......just not BEFORE I've had it!

Back to the OP's question....we're the kind of passengers who are happy to see the room steward and pass the time of day but wouldn't be upset if we never saw them......I think that's the sign of a great steward.......doing their job quietly and efficiently and knowing your schedule.

On all 4 of our cruises, our cabins were always made up when we returned from breakfast, never or rarely saw the stewards in our cabin, but often passed them on the hallways and always passed the time of day.

I've always thought of it as insulting to tip first, as well. It's like saying, "I assume you're going to give me crappy service, so I'm going to bribe you to do a good job." These pre-tippers always report back, "I tipped up front, so I got excellent service!" Think about that. It's so rude.

Maybe it depends on what people percieve to be the origins of the word "tip".

I was led to believe it is an acronym for... To Insure Promptness. As such it would be customary to tip upfront, otherwise how would you insure the prompt service?

That said I have seen many other explanations as to the origins of the word "tip", though none seem definitive.

I was led to believe it is an acronym for... To Insure Promptness. As such it would be customary to tip upfront, otherwise how would you insure the prompt service?

Or, backronym.......http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/09/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-tip-as-in-leaving-a-tip/

I didn't think about the correlation to a hotels housekeeper. I travel for work and I never see my housekeepers. That may contribute to me not caring whether I see them. I'm very accustomed to things being done without seeing anyone do anything.

I just find it interesting that people really like to get to know them. I don't think there is a right or wrong, I was just curious about the 'why'.

Those here that know me will understand this, I talk to almost everyone I meet, I am very out going.

I have met everyone one of our room stewards and have enjoyed all of them. I always say hello to them by their name and they respond likewise.

Here Stevhan from our last cruise.

I've always thought of it as insulting to tip first, as well. It's like saying, "I assume you're going to give me crappy service, so I'm going to bribe you to do a good job." These pre-tippers always report back, "I tipped up front, so I got excellent service!" Think about that. It's so rude.

Yes . What she said.

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I don't go out of my way to try to meet the steward. He has a job to do, and I try my best to stay out of his way. If we cross paths, I'll say hello. If he introduces himself, of course I'll do the same. Otherwise, I don't care if I ever see this person.

And this. Largepizza is a mind reader!

I don't like to be around when anyone is in our space.

I don't think the steward needs to try to make our family his new BFFs, either.

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I've always thought of it as insulting to tip first, as well. It's like saying, "I assume you're going to give me crappy service, so I'm going to bribe you to do a good job." These pre-tippers always report back, "I tipped up front, so I got excellent service!" Think about that. It's so rude.

I can honestly say I never really thought of it that way and I will reconsider my habit of pre-tipping. I think I may be living in the past when room stewards had only a small handful of rooms to attend to. These days, they have so many rooms and I rarely do see them. Now they are more like hotel maids, in which case, I would only tip at the end of my stay.

It's good to at least briefly meet your cabin steward the first day. :)

LuLu

On cruise ships, we've noticed that the stewards have introduced themselves to us on the first day. Sometimes, soon after we arrived in our cabin, the steward will knock on our door.

This rarely happens in hotels, where we hardly meet the houskeeping staff.

on the first day and tipped him $60... didn't get anything special or anything at all!

total waste of money.