How come rooms not ready?

I know on Princess rooms are ready the moment you board. It sure is nice to dump off the carry ons and freshen up from traveling. Much prefer it to schlepping bags around the buffet for lunch.

Another thread mentioned the default setup is now going to be beds together, ostensibly to make less work for stewards on turn around day. Hopefully a bit less work will let them open up rooms at boarding.

The cabins are ready. They just don't open them until the set time. They just want/need/require a few peaceful hours without passengers roaming the halls. I would certainly be able to get my job done quicker if it wasn't for those darn customers! :D:p;) haha

And yes, on Princess they don't begin boarding until the cabins are ready, that was nice, I agree. Oh well, good thing we have choices in this world.

You can still go to your cabin. The doors to the hallway are closed, but not locked. That being said, it wouldn't be very polite to hang out in your cabin while the cabin attendant is still working on it. But, it does give you a chance to check out other cabins and take pictures of the suites. Would you rather wait to board because your cabin isn't ready, just so you can see your cabin is ready when you board, or board as soon as possible to start enjoying your cruise?

The cabin attendants are always in the halls waiting to greet you, I would imagine they use any extra minutes for lunch ect.

Then they can be there to tend to all our wishes :)

The cabin attendants are always in the halls waiting to greet you, I would imagine they use any extra minutes for lunch ect.

Then they can be there to tend to all our wishes :)

Is that sarcasm? Since I can't tell I will say that turnaround day is crazy. We really seen how fast they are working to get things ready during our B2B. They were ripping out and replacing carpet in a few cabins along with the normal cleaning. So, while they may be courteous, I'm pretty sure they don't want people hanging around in the middle of all that.

Both times that I have sailed Princess we did have access to the rooms right away.

Here's an excerpt from my review of the 1st Princess cruise:

At first, this seemed like an advantage over other cruiselines that make you wait, however, the trade-off is that the cabin wasn't so clean and fresh. The bedding hadn't been changed from the previous week (there were hairs in my bed, and stains on the sheets of my daughter's upper berth), the balcony hadn't been cleaned and the furniture was filthy, pool towels and other supplies hadn't been set up yet, etc. (This was in two different cabins, with different stewards).

When we brought this to the attention of the cabin stewards, they said not to worry, it would all be done by evening when we returned from dinner (and it was!), but we had to endure sailaway on our sticky-furnitured balcony, we didn't have towels to freshen up, and my mom couldn't take a nap in the skeevy bed.

So, as nice as it was to get to the cabin early, we'd rather have the "inconvenience" of waiting until 1pm to enter a cabin that's fully cleaned and freshly supplied, with no traces of the previous occupants.

And this is from my review of the 2nd Princess cruise:

Princess allows immediate access to our cabin to drop off our carry-ons before exploring the ship and eating lunch. While many cruisers consider this a significant advantage over the other cruiselines that restrict access to the cabin until after 1pm, we have a different point of view. As with our last Princess cruise, the cabins weren't fully prepared to receive new guests when we arrived. All the doors were propped open to the passageways, and the stewards were all still hard at work. Although the stewards were courteous to us, we felt that our presence, even in quickly dropping off our hand-luggage, was an imposition on them, hindering their ability to complete their job in a timely fashion.

Go to the Windjammer, pool or explore the ship. Of all the things to complain about this is the silliest. You are on a cruise, many people in this world are concerned at this very moment about how they will feed their families. What time your room is available is our biggest concern? Really?

Donna K - we found the same thing on our first Princess Cruise - while the bedding had been refreshed - we didn't have robes or ice - and it took forever to get it. While these are minor inconveniences, I don't feel like they were really ready for embarking passengers - but Ill take that in order to get into the cabin.

I think the RC system works well. I would be very upset if my linens were not changed and the cabin was not truly ready when I was allowed to use it.

I must admit on a B2B on the Allure last year I was amazed at the "organized chaos" of turnaround day. We kept our same cabin - which I think is the simplest. Our steward was wonderful - said he would have ready ASAP and to feel free to come back.

Doors were closed and I believe locked, but we told a crew member we were B2B and he allowed us down the corridor. This was around 11:00 a.m. Wow! What a mess! i had no idea how hard they worked. There were beds and assorted furniture out in the hallway. Loads of crew working so hard - not just the "usual" stewards that we were used to seeing. There were people shampooing carpets, fixing stuff, etc. There were bags of linen, garbage, dishes, you name it - all in the hall. It was like negotiating a mine field!

From a safety point of view I couldn't imagine allowing open access to everyone. There was too much stuff and too many people.

It is not that difficult to handle your carryon bag for a couple of hours (perhaps like the airlines people want to carry too much stuff on board, but that's another story!)

Perhaps another reason the cabins are not accessible until 1:30 or so is that passengers are no longer required to be out of them and waiting in a crowded, noisy lounge or showroom until your disembarkation number is called. I can remember doing that for a lot of cruises in the "old days", and frankly I'd rather have the option of waiting in my cabin, in comfort, and pay for that privilege with waiting for the cabins to be ready later on.

Pat

You can still go to your cabin. The doors to the hallway are closed, but not locked. That being said, it wouldn't be very polite to hang out in your cabin while the cabin attendant is still working on it. But, it does give you a chance to check out other cabins and take pictures of the suites. Would you rather wait to board because your cabin isn't ready, just so you can see your cabin is ready when you board, or board as soon as possible to start enjoying your cruise?

They don't want you there for a reason. If the doors are closed, whether locked or not, it's pretty rude and disrespectful to sneak in. Don't want to haul your stuff around? Simple. Just wait to board after cabins open.

They don't want you there for a reason. If the doors are closed, whether locked or not, it's pretty rude and disrespectful to sneak in. Don't want to haul your stuff around? Simple. Just wait to board after cabins open.

Agree...A shut door means don't enter...If you don't want to carry bags around with you and you want to board early another option is to check those bags...far too many people are carrying around bags that really should have been checked...same thing goes for the airlines...if you can't afford to check those obviously larger than really allowed bags...stay home until you can and stop taking up all the overhead bins...

YIKES :eek:...Sorry for the rant but can you tell this particular situation just got to me recently on a flight...GEE people :(

They don't want you there for a reason. If the doors are closed, whether locked or not, it's pretty rude and disrespectful to sneak in. Don't want to haul your stuff around? Simple. Just wait to board after cabins open.

Agree...A shut door means don't enter...

Completely agree with both of you. I cannot believe there would be some passengers who disrespect this. The only time we have accessed our cabin prior to them opening the fire doors was on our 2 B2B cruises, and then they didn't mind.

Do you go into Ikea before it opens? Sure there are people in there but that doesn't mean you are permitted to enter. ;):)

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Maybe some of the welcome aboard gifts have been walking off while people do some freestyle shopping in the open cabins before the corridor doors are officially opened?

Really, go poking around in the suites taking pictures?:rolleyes:

When I was on Oasis recently, I needed to get from one end of the promenade to the other on deck 6 at about noon on embarkation day and took a cabin hallway with my carry on - forgetting it's actually quite a walk. The stewards were working furiously and there were all kinds of odds and ends in the hallway since they do maintenance it seems as well… and I was clearly in the way. I was embarrassed by the time I got to the other end of the hall actually :)

Whatever they're doing - they're certainly not being lazy about getting the cabins ready.

You can still go to your cabin. The doors to the hallway are closed, but not locked. That being said, it wouldn't be very polite to hang out in your cabin while the cabin attendant is still working on it. But, it does give you a chance to check out other cabins and take pictures of the suites. Would you rather wait to board because your cabin isn't ready, just so you can see your cabin is ready when you board, or board as soon as possible to start enjoying your cruise?

I did not know that you could still go to the cabin to drop off your bags. I do have concerns that if stewards have doors propped open over theft by passerbys; it does happen. On Princess they are done, out of the way, no carts in the hall.

Twice I have done in-port ship tours on Princess and one time I boarded at 11:40AM and the other at 11:55AM. I think the earliest I have ever been on a Royal ship is 11:15AM and the earliest room openings were probably 12:45PM but you have a good point; would I rather cool my heels in the terminal 30 more minutes, or would I rather be on board 30 minutes sooner but wait 90+ minutes for a room announcement. Honestly...I think I would wait 30 mins more in the terminal for being able to access the room immediately and being able to lock the door.

Like I said; if Royal is creating a default bed setup in order to save time, maybe that means cabins will be ready at boarding time/11:30AM or thereabouts. If this decreases steward workload on turnaround day, all the better. If the rooms really ARE ready and we can go right to them but the stewards are in there working...they aren't really ready.

Much like arriving to any other hotel; first things I do after checking in is drop off my bags and freshen up in the rest room. I just hate dragging a bag or wearing a backpack in Windjammer. Boarding day lunch is always hectic. That's all I really want on Royal.

Go to the Windjammer, pool or explore the ship. Of all the things to complain about this is the silliest. You are on a cruise, many people in this world are concerned at this very moment about how they will feed their families. What time your room is available is our biggest concern? Really?

No it isn't my biggest concern.

And I'm not complaining either.

The only thing I find silly is your response; we are on a cruise forum to talk about cruise topics with people that enjoy cruising.

I'm just comparing and contrasting that this is provided as routine on another cruise line; what would it take Royal to match that? It's convenient and my preference, so I am sharing my opinion and idea with others. I do enjoy exploring the ship; it would be nicer without toting bags with me though:cool:

I was onboard Caribbean Princess a few weeks ago and we were among the first to board at 11:55AM. We went direct to our parties room and it was ready; door closed, and fully stocked. No stewards or carts in sight. I don't know how they get it all done so quickly between departures and arrivals, but I do hope they are getting a well deserved break in there.

Perhaps another reason the cabins are not accessible until 1:30 or so is that passengers are no longer required to be out of them and waiting in a crowded, noisy lounge or showroom until your disembarkation number is called. I can remember doing that for a lot of cruises in the "old days", and frankly I'd rather have the option of waiting in my cabin, in comfort, and pay for that privilege with waiting for the cabins to be ready later on.

 

Pat

That's a good point and can explain the later availability times; but Princess to my knowledge doesn't kick people out abnormally early and queue them in lounges to be called off. Maybe Princess boards an extra contingent of housekeeping staff from shoreside when they dock and those workers are only on for turnaround morning to speed things up? I don't really know.

Two beds together has been the default for years, I don't think that's new.

You can still go to your cabin. The doors to the hallway are closed, but not locked. That being said, it wouldn't be very polite to hang out in your cabin while the cabin attendant is still working on it. But, it does give you a chance to check out other cabins and take pictures of the suites. Would you rather wait to board because your cabin isn't ready, just so you can see your cabin is ready when you board, or board as soon as possible to start enjoying your cruise?

Another pro tip: the doors to the kitchens are also closed but not locked. I usually use embarkation day to take my own self-paced galley tour.

Don't want to haul your stuff around? Simple. Just wait to board after cabins open.

I know how it works. I am saying I don't like how it works. I'd prefer a different way.

Do you prefer dragging bags or not dragging bags; all other things being the same?

Something, somewhere could be improved to remove the wait time and make it a more relaxing experience at boarding. In addition, if people DO go to their rooms it may help stagger out the crowd in the buffet a bit making that a bit less hectic too.

Two beds together has been the default for years, I don't think that's new.

I think they recently removed the ability for a guest to pre-select a preference of having beds separated. Meaning that the stewards can set all rooms to one default = more efficient with time.

Restricting access also makes it easier to get the first lot of customer baggage to their rooms without having to worry about passengers in the corridors.

Personally, I don't think the room preference thing is going to make a difference in cabin ready time. But even so, the new thing about not being able to select a bed preference does not seem to be fleet wide. I can still select my bed preference on my upcoming sailings. I think it's just Bayonne, where they are trying to do the new Quantum 10 minute check in thing.

They just want/need/require a few peaceful hours without passengers roaming the halls. I would certainly be able to get my job done quicker if it wasn't for those darn customers! :D

I have said many times that I could get some work done if it wasn't for all these damn prescriptions! :D

same thing goes for the airlines...if you can't afford to check those obviously larger than really allowed bags...stay home until you can and stop taking up all the overhead bins...

 

YIKES :eek:...Sorry for the rant but can you tell this particular situation just got to me recently on a flight...GEE people :(

Yup, and because they don't check their bags, when they get to boarding, the airlines valet check them for free. How is that fair? I see people trying to board with larger bags than I paid $25 to check. :mad: These same people are usually also the ones carrying full sized bed pillows and bulky jackets. :rolleyes: