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Why do good cabin stewards matter?


jvermast
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I just recently found out that our cheapo inside cabin is right next to all of the Penthouse and Owners suites on our cruise this summer which I assume means we will get one of the best stewards that our cruise has to offer.

 

I mentioned it to the other couple we are sailing with and their response was "why does it matter? all they do is clean your room and make you a towel animal"

 

I struggled to find a tangible answer aside from that a good steward is always around to answer your questions to which the response was that guest services had a desk, you don't need a steward for that.

 

Can someone help me out here? Why does a good steward matter?

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On 14 sailings I've had 2 amazing stewards, 11 good stewards, and 1 bad one. The amazing ones add a personal touch to the experience, even if they don't provide a specific service like bringing you ice every day they make you feel so welcome it's almost like they're part of your group. On the Sunshine for example we had Larson we took such good care of my mother and son I still remember his name to this day, a year and a half later. All he did was bring them ice and express interest, and when appropriate, concern for them. The good ones are so common it's easy to get spoiled by them so its easy to forget why they matter but they do as well even if you don't remember their names years later ;p

 

Then you get the odd bad one who can't solve a simple problem or even direct you to someone who can. Here's the bad one a mentioned who can't work his phone, our phone, or direct us to the right place to solve a simple luggage issue. He presses the same button 8 times expecting a different result. He wasn't even that bad, just not up to Carnival's usual standards of service I'd say

 

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If anything goes wrong they're there to handle it.

 

On our Princess British Isles cruise Jeffrey was a lifesaver. He had come by and introduced himself and we told him we were easy to care for - just ice a couple times a day. We then noticed our toilet didn't seem to be flushing properly so we told him about it when we left the cabin to go to muster. We didn't go back to our cabin until after dinner - to find the bathroom floor full of water and the carpet in front of the door soaked.

 

Called Jeffrey's pager number and had to wait about 30 seconds for a call back. Told him the problem - his response was, "I thought they fixed that." He showed up at our door in the next minute or so, made a couple of calls. The young man with the water vacuum came first, then the plumber. Had the whole thing fixed in about half an hour. Not another problem after that.

 

We went to Guest Services the next day for the form to fill out complimenting Jeff and the other crew members.

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We have taken more then 100 cruises and only once had a room steward that wasn't fantastic. She couldn't seem to remember we wanted ice all the time and never picked up a grape that was a foot from the wall, etc. We canceled her whole tip but did leave a smaller one for her.

We ask for things (ice all the time, bathrobes, extra towels, etc.,) and they are always appear before you know it. Once I could not get a bottle of wine open and neither could my husband. It took our steward about 10 seconds to open it for us. When Carnival gave things in the bathroom, my husband told our steward how good the razors were and the next thing we knew he brought him a dozen!

We have not hesitated to give our steward an extra tip- $10 ,or even $20, for their great service!

The ships pay them NOTHINNG- maybe $85 a MONTH-not day or week! They more than deserve their automatic tips!

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I just recently found out that our cheapo inside cabin is right next to all of the Penthouse and Owners suites on our cruise this summer which I assume means we will get one of the best stewards that our cruise has to offer.

 

Sort of curious why this would be the assumption. I may be way off track but my understanding was the cabin stewards for suites were a different group - more akin to butlers (some lines call them that) and then the regular stewards. The presumption would be that the suite tips would be higher (some lines the automatic amount is higher for suites) and thus the more elite stewards would be assigned. Something for the newer "regular" ones to shoot for.

 

On the other hand even if yours is not "elite" they will certainly be under their scrutiny of one as well as one being close by to learn from so still a plus.

 

We've had a couple excellent, one OK and one bad one in four cruises. About par for service industry. Some excel and some need to find another line of work.

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We need a good cabin steward not only to make up the room according to how we like it done, but to make sure everything basic that we need are made available without having to remind it.

Our personal belngings within his reach, the steward likewise has to be trusted.

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I just recently found out that our cheapo inside cabin is right next to all of the Penthouse and Owners suites on our cruise this summer which I assume means we will get one of the best stewards that our cruise has to offer.

 

I think you are making a big assumption based solely on the square footage of a cabin that needs to be serviced.

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We have never had an issue with a steward in 20 some cruises. We require very little so they do not have many opportunities to wow us. Maybe to some who have a lot of requirements or are very particular then it would make more of a difference.

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We have never had an issue with a steward in 20 some cruises. We require very little so they do not have many opportunities to wow us. Maybe to some who have a lot of requirements or are very particular then it would make more of a difference.

 

We had a steward on one cruise who totally missed our cabin - twice! Although at least it wasn't two days in a row. We are not overly particular, but we do like our bathroom cleaned. We thought the first time was a fluke, but the second time did merit a word with the head of housekeeping.

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Nope...suite attendants are simply cabin attendants, with more room to clean. We do not care to make "friends" with the housekeeper....as long as they make up the cabin, give us clean towels and ice...and empty the trash once in a while, we are happy! There are NO butlers on RCI at all.

Our BEST cabin attendant was one we never, ever saw, but the cabin was always immaculate! We appreciated that! We've never had a "bad" housekeeper...but some are "chattier" than others....we had one that would talk and talk and talk and talk......too freaking much talking!

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A room steward's ability matters because the steward is an unavoidable member of the ship staff. Other departments may or may not be needed by a passenger (guest services, room service, main dining room, loyalty ambassador, etc), but every cruise passenger depends on his or her steward in order to have a habitable room - clean towels and washcloths, toilet paper, ice, etc. A less competent steward can cause great frustration and irritation to a guest by not supplying necessary items or services to the passenger, or not doing so in a timely manner.

 

Almost all of our stewards have been very good to excellent. Out of 30+ cruises, we've had about 5 stinkers, and they really had an impact on our enjoyment of the cruise. (FWIW, we require very little of our room steward. We keep our cabin very neat and tidy, change out our own toilet and facial tissue as needed, and we reuse our towels at least once. We do like ice, but other than that, we just need our towels and washcloths replenished as needed and to have the bed made.) One of the biggest sources of frustration for us is having a room steward that we are always having to dodge to accommodate his or her routine. We are generally out of our cabin from 6am until about noon when we return to take a nap. On one particular cruise, our cabin was the last one on the hall. The room steward was absolutely unable or unwilling to attend to his block of cabins in the order people vacated. He always started at the other end and worked his way in a linear fashion toward our cabin, which meant even though we were the first to have our 'make up room' sign in the door each morning, our cabin was the last to be serviced. Inevitably, our cabin was never done when we returned for a nap. The first couple of days, we wandered the ship, periodically checking back to see if our cabin was done so we could return and take our nap. After that, we would simply change the 'make up room' sign to the 'do not disturb' one and take our nap. A couple of days, he actually knocked on the door (despite the 'do not disturb' sign) and woke us up to tell us he was ready to do our cabin! At night, he followed the same linear routine, even though we told him we had a standing dinner reservation for 5:30pm every night. Needless to say, our cabin was never done when we returned after dinner. We got in the habit of getting the towels and washcloths we needed off of his cart as we passed it on the way to our cabin so we'd know we'd have them.That steward drove us absolutely nuts; we felt like we couldn't really relax and enjoy our cruise because we were always accommodating his routine rather than him working with ours.

 

Unfortunately, we have another perspective on being near the suites (and the proven, excellent stewards). On our cruise in September, our cabin was the last one before the Royal Family Suite, and our room steward serviced the suite as well. She was one of our stinkers; although, she did make a point to tell us that only the best stewards get the suites. Anyway, her priority was far and away to keep the suite passengers happy, which I suppose is understandable - there were more passengers in that cabin who were paying a higher per person gratuity. I'm sure she hoped to get an additional tip from them as well. She spent the vast majority of her time throughout the day and evening attending to their cabin. If we were in the hallway talking to the steward and one of the suite passengers walked by, the steward would literally drop our conversation to talk to them, inquire about their day and see if they needed anything. It got real old, real fast to feel like we couldn't even get minimal service because she was so focused on the suite.

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I just recently found out that our cheapo inside cabin is right next to all of the Penthouse and Owners suites on our cruise this summer which I assume means we will get one of the best stewards that our cruise has to offer.

 

I mentioned it to the other couple we are sailing with and their response was "why does it matter? all they do is clean your room and make you a towel animal"

 

I struggled to find a tangible answer aside from that a good steward is always around to answer your questions to which the response was that guest services had a desk, you don't need a steward for that.

 

Can someone help me out here? Why does a good steward matter?

 

This summer it will be 15 years since our first cruise (Alaska.) We have cruised several times since then, but no cabin steward has ever compared to Edmund. He was incredibly attentive. We had the tiniest of inside cabins, but he treated us like royalty. He was so humble and hardworking and he made my husband and I feel like we were the most important people on the ship. We have never had that level of service again and maybe we never will. But for one week in our lives, we were truly honored to be served by Edmund.

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I wonder if this Jeffrey is the one who was our cabin steward twice on the Caribbean Princess. If so, he is truly wonderful. The second time we had him as our cabin steward, we were on back-to-back cruises. We had to move cabins after the first cruise. Jeffrey was our cabin steward on the second. The difference between him and the previous cabin steward was phenomenal. It's hard to explain, but when you have an exceptional cabin steward, you really appreciate it.

 

To me, a great cabin steward learns what you want and fulfills the duties of his or her job seamlessly.

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It doesn't really matter to me. We don't require a lot when we cruise...just a towel animal and the next day's Fun Times. I can't say that we've ever had a horrible room steward, but we've had some ok ones and some great ones...it didn't impact my cruise in one way or the other.

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We have taken more then 100 cruises and only once had a room steward that wasn't fantastic. She couldn't seem to remember we wanted ice all the time and never picked up a grape that was a foot from the wall, etc. We canceled her whole tip but did leave a smaller one for her.

We ask for things (ice all the time, bathrobes, extra towels, etc.,) and they are always appear before you know it. Once I could not get a bottle of wine open and neither could my husband. It took our steward about 10 seconds to open it for us. When Carnival gave things in the bathroom, my husband told our steward how good the razors were and the next thing we knew he brought him a dozen!

We have not hesitated to give our steward an extra tip- $10 ,or even $20, for their great service!

The ships pay them NOTHINNG- maybe $85 a MONTH-not day or week! They more than deserve their automatic tips!

You didn't think to pick up the grape? Just asking.

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Had to smile at the OP's post. A few years ago we cruised on HAL (been on that line many times) and were surprised to find that our steward (in a regular outside cabin) had been our steward on another HAL vessel about 10 years earlier. When we chatted with our "old friend" he told us how his family was all grown up (we remembered he had a newborn years earlier). I remarked that with all his seniority we were surprised he wasnt't working with the large Neptune suites. He laughed and said, it was because of his seniority that he did not work the suites, which he disliked. The reason? He explained that those in the most expensive suites expected more for their money and were very demanding. That is not to say that everyone who has a suite is a prima donna ....but apparently there are enough. We have been on far more then 100 cruises (all over the world) and have always had decent stewards.

 

Hank

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A you probably won't notice good cabin Steward. A bad one can ruin a Cruise. On a Princess 10day Sis had the fold out couch. She played Find the Blankets for the last 9 nights.

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