"Get to know your room attendant"

[north29]

Some RAs are fun and some not so fun but business, some are both, some you never see except on rare occasions, some seem to be BS artist. Some RAs have invited us to their homes, if we were in their city while they are home, and gave us phone numbers and emails. Some learn your basic schedule, and clean your room accordingly even if it not in numeric order, they are the best, and I reward them, on top of PPGs, well I usually do that, some more some less

 

ON the first day they have worked their buts off with luggage, cleaning etc. I ofter wondered how they find the time to be nice to each of us in there cabin assignments.

[SelfCheckoutGuy]

As mentioned through out the thread, they really open up when you are interested in them. Our last trip we had my 4 yr old and they became best friends. Our RA was always trying to get my son to save a seat at dinner or the show for her.

 

As for towel animals, usually in the morning we will place the towel animal in a funny situation. Reading a book, watching TV, etc. We also "feed" the towel animal money (tip), and that goes a long way also.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Some room attendants would love for you to be chatty... For example, on our Oasis cruise in May, our room attendant loved to talk to us. Almost every time she saw us in the hall she would yell down the hall and drop what she was doing to come talk to us. She told us all about her daughter and (she's from Jamaica) how she gets off in Falmouth to see her family every other week when the ship ports there. She was definitely the best room attendant I've ever had. But on the other hand, our room attendant last year on the Radiance was less than personal and we maybe got a wave once or twice, although our room was always made up nicely.

 

I forgot to say that because of this friendliness, in addition to doing a great job, she earned a very nice extra tip at the end of the cruise.

Edited July 23, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[ColoradoGurl]

On my last cruise, our room attendant was there to open our door every time we came down the hall. I'm not sure where he was standing in order to see everyone, but I never had to have my key out, and if I did, he would race me to my door to open it before I could do it myself. He was great. He also made sure to ask me how my daughter was doing on a sea day where she was seasick and stuck in bed all day. Very attentive!

[Lady Chew]

While their duties may be the same as their on-land counterparts in hotels & restaurants, their lives are very different ... hotel workers get to home to their families every night ... they have at least a few days totally off every week ... and get to see their friends often ... workers on ships do not, and that is why we try to show a little interest in their lives. And many of them have fascinating stories ...

[rudeney]

We have always gotten to know our room attendant and any other crew on the ship that we interact with on a regular basis. I remember one RA from Jamaica. She excited to get off in port to see her family and daughter. IIRC, the ship only stopped there every other week so she only got to see her family twice a month. That evening when she came in for turn-down service, my wife gave her some extra cash for her visit home. Of course this was in addition to the tip we'd leave at the end of the cruise (back in the days before automatic gratuities). When she returned, she showed us a photo on her digital camera she had taken with her daughter in a dress she bought with the money. I love forming that sort of bond with people, even those we only get to know for a short time.

[dolphin27502]

As mentioned through out the thread, they really open up when you are interested in them. Our last trip we had my 4 yr old and they became best friends. Our RA was always trying to get my son to save a seat at dinner or the show for her.

 

 

 

As for towel animals, usually in the morning we will place the towel animal in a funny situation. Reading a book, watching TV, etc. We also "feed" the towel animal money (tip), and that goes a long way also.

 

 

Love the "feed" the towel animal idea, thanks!!

[TBone2K]

Are there other cruise workers that are generally ignored that you have found time to talk to?

 

Any of the crew that generally don't see the pax can be interesting (such as maintenance), but also be aware that since they don't deal with the public as much, their English might not be as good.

 

Our best conversation with a crew member was the payroll manager on Vision. We met her during the walk for wishes. She was the only Canadian on the crew, so it was nice for her to chat with us as she doesn't get to speak much Canadian, eh?:)

[BillOh]

I'm in the "no need to make long-lasting friends" with any of the ship's staff/crew camp. Our BEST cabin attendant was one we never saw! To this day we don't know if it was a man or woman, but our cabin was immaculate all the time!

 

I don't make friends with hotel staff or restaurant staff...I don't see any difference in the ship staff!

 

I can certainly understand that POV. I've had attendants that want to make sure you know who they are and make a point to make sure you know them. But that seems less lately. Its been said that they have more cabins per attendant than in the past.

 

On Freedom we didn't see him till well into day 2. This only became a problem because he was the one that is supposed to pick up laundry. To avoid a an extra carry on we started packing a shirt and having it pressed for formal night. On Freedom we boarded on Sunday and formal night was Monday. It took us till late Monday afternoon to get it picked up.

[Mjoellnir]

Thank you for this thread !

 

We will stay in a GS on our honeymoon and pay some more in gratitudes. Is that because of the size of room, or are they supposed to give a higher level of service to suites?

we do not want to make unreasonable requests anyway, so I quess all we will ask for is for them to keep the ice bucked filled.

I hope to get to know some of the crew though.

[ryano]

Thank you for this thread !

 

We will stay in a GS on our honeymoon and pay some more in gratitudes. Is that because of the size of room, or are they supposed to give a higher level of service to suites?

we do not want to make unreasonable requests anyway, so I quess all we will ask for is for them to keep the ice bucked filled.

I hope to get to know some of the crew though.

 

Its because the size of the room IMHO. Royal Caribbean "WOW" service SHOULD apply to inside cabins just as it does suites.

[foxgoodrich]

I agree, and we've actually had some fantastic stewards when we were in inside cabins! I do think the suite tip is larger because suites take longer to clean and straighten up. Ironically, our WORST cabin steward was the one when we had our first and only Owners Suite. While he was very nice and very friendly, he delivered the bare minimum - not the wow! We'd ask for something and he'd forget. Usually he forgot to restock our ice - we had to start leaving notes, and even then once we had no ice. By the end of the week we were just happy to have towels! I always had heard that the BEST stewards were assigned to suites, but that guy was definitely not one of the best.

Judy

[TheTruthCanHurt]

along with the prepaid grats. I always tip at leas $20.00 cash

when I first meet them. In my opinion, they can make or break your cruise experience so why not let them know they are appreciated.

 

I have a crown loft suite on the oasis coming up, and I will probably tip

$60 to $100 when I meet them. it just seems right.

 

but then again I tip the baggage guys $20 when I dont carry my bag on,

just something I do

[LuvBNatC]

I let the steward take the lead. A few kept themselves scarce, and I didn't seek them out.

 

But they typically introduce themselves quickly and know I'm alone. I often get a sense they want to know who I am so they can watch out for me -- in a good way. :)

 

On a 12-night t/a on Vision OTS, my steward was from the Philippines. Mid-voyage, I tipped her extra and gave her a nice lapel pin CCers had made for that sailing. I thanked her for taking care of me and explained we only had 100 pins, and we shared them only with our favorite crew members. She seemed pleased.

 

Then some catastrophe hit the Philippines (tsunami? I don't recall), and I asked about her family (prepared to have her crying on my shoulder). She told me she'd finally reached them that day and they were OK, but she'd been worried sick. Whew!

 

Since the steward has to work around my stuff and sees my dainties in the bathroom :eek: I try not to be aloof, but not so friendly I'm intrusive.

[kalliekae]

I like getting to know the crew. As similar as cruises are to hotels/restaurants/bars, I don't view them the same. We try to make our cruises as "special" as possible, and building relationships with the staff, where we can have a nice conversation with them and they know our names and preferences, helps make the cruise more enjoyable. JMO. I'm not out to make life-long friends, but I like to build relationships with them. I also like to think that maybe it helps make their work day just a bit better.

 

Agree! I find the staff to be very interesting and I enjoy talking to them about their lives. However, I never do the same for hotel staff on a land vacation. There's something different about a ships' staff. I think the cruise line emphasizes to their staff that they are there to provide us with a wonderful week aboard their floating home so the least I can do is get to know them and make their working lives easier. I always straighten the cabin and keep things neat before the RA comes in each day. With multiple rooms to keep clean and passenger requests to fulfill each day, they need a little cooperation and goodwill from us.

[tserface]

We love getting to know the people who work on the ship. On our last cruise we met the RA on the first day and from then on we saw him often in the hall. We learned that his daughter was getting married later that month and he was taking time off to go back to the Philippines to participate.

 

He often came and opened our door for us when he saw us coming down the hall and made a big point almost every day of asking if there was anything we needed.

 

He also made some really creative towel animals.

 

Needless to say, he added greatly to the experience of our cruise. We knew that he was getting compensated through the prepaid gratuities, but we gave him extra just because he was so great.

 

Part of the joy of cruising, for us, is meeting people from all over the world either working or traveling on the ship. I often think that it's amazing how well people from different countries and cultures can get along in that kind of environment.

 

It's funny how with other types of vacations (land based or whatever) you are never really encouraged to sit and eat with others or meet the hotel staff or any of the things that seem so natural while cruising.

 

Tom

[mek]

it always amazes me how they remember passengers names from the first day. I don't spend much time talking when they are busy, but I always try to great them by their name when I run into them in the hall.

[Yorkvillain]

I always tickle my stateroom attendant with two hands for a good 10-15 seconds when I first meet them. Just to break the ice.

 

Ok, that was a joke. Only once have I done a "pre-tip" with my stateroom attendant. I didn't end up noticing any difference in service that week so from then on we just give them extra cash at the end of the cruise.

[tiggeril]

I always straighten the cabin and keep things neat before the RA comes in each day. With multiple rooms to keep clean and passenger requests to fulfill each day, they need a little cooperation and goodwill from us.

 

Same here! I know that they'll probably have a "problem cabin" in their rotation and so I try to keep mine as neat as I can. I work in the service industry myself and having a customer take even a few seconds out of their day to smooth things along makes a huge difference.

[KansasK]

On our cruise on the Oasis in 2014, our cabin attendant was a friendly, good natured person. Our daughter and SIL were two cabins away and had the same cabin attendant. He was more their age and had kids and he really enjoyed their one year old daughter, our granddaughter.

 

When we got home, a few days later, both my daughter and I got a friend request from him on Facebook. He had told us he had asked to go home for 6 months starting two weeks after our cruise because his mother was ill. He did get to take the 6 months off and was able to spend that time with his mother and family. She died while he was there and it was nice to be able to offer him sympathy and support at that time. His name is Yerri. He is back on the Oasis.

[awhfy]

We've been blessed with great room stewards on all of our cruises. One little tiny Filapina was totally hysterical. Ive spent quite a bit of time in the Philippines & know a bit of Tagalog, her surprise when I greeted her in her language (on a Caribbean cruise) was something. One evening my DH wore a barong (Philippine wedding shirt for men), Emmy grabbed his hand & dragged him down the hall to show her friends (that weren't Filapina) his shirt. I always bring high quality individually wrapped chocolates that I put in a bowl & tell the stewards to enjoy, that's in addition to a cash tip at the end of the cruise, they earn it

[blondie from arizona]

Being on a cruise is like summer camp for adults. Awesome experience, so enjoy the time with RA as well. They can really make your vacation great! Same with the dining room staff. An unfriendly waiter can really put a damper on things.

 

I really enjoyed this thread. It is really getting me in the mood for summer camp!!!!

[casinostreer]

Continuing this theme, we greatly enjoyed getting to know about all the staff. We loved our RA, our Dining room servers, all of our bartenders (and there were MANY,) the casino hosts, etc. The more that they saw we were interested in them as people - the more likely they were to give us "wow" service.

[Thoie]

I love the idea of feeding the towel animals as well. I usually just leave an extra envelope at the end, but might steal that idea!

 

I let the steward take the lead. A few kept themselves scarce, and I didn't seek them out.

 

But they typically introduce themselves quickly and know I'm alone. I often get a sense they want to know who I am so they can watch out for me -- in a good way. :)

 

Ditto. I generally find as I approach my cabin for the first time on day one, someone suddenly appears and already knows my name (before I'm even at my cabin) - they have a list of cabins, names and countries, so I guess they take a stab at "pasty solo woman" might the solo Irish guest.

 

I find they really do watch out for me - one night I was partying too long and didn't make it back to my cabin until about 10am, and my steward was visibly relieved. I normally put the DND sign out when I'm going to bed, so when it wasn't there she'd gone in and found the bed hadn't been slept in, and was starting to worry about me, which I really appreciated.

 

I generally have a small chat with my steward if we both have time - during their morning rush isn't the greatest time. Normally it's at the level of how's your day going, they ask me have I done anything fun, we talk about upcoming ports - but have never got into really personal details.

 

I always tickle my stateroom attendant with two hands for a good 10-15 seconds when I first meet them. Just to break the ice.

 

Ok, that was a joke. Only once have I done a "pre-tip" with my stateroom attendant. I didn't end up noticing any difference in service that week so from then on we just give them extra cash at the end of the cruise.

 

The tickling line actually made me laugh out loud - thanks for that :)

 

I'd be too embarrassed to pre-tip. I've only ever had one steward who was "just OK" rather than great, and even "just OK" is still pretty damned good given their workload!

[foxgoodrich]

I once saw a picture review on here where the guy created a "towel animal" by rolling a dirty towel and sticking it between the toilet seat and lid and then tucking it into a pair of shoes to look like the toilet had eaten someone. I decided to steal that idea and then on another day I made a towel swan on the bed. Our attendant was a pretty clever guy who was mostly about business but the toilet gag cracked him up. Of course nothing makes their day better than some extra cash for all their hard work (which we also did) but I know that if I were working their job I'd at least like people to be friendly with me and maybe even share a little of their fun.

 

I've posted this pic before, but here it is again! Our cabin steward did this one night on our 2013 transatlantic. We had come back to the room because I wanted to use the bathroom - when I opened the door and saw this I screamed with laughter. Buz, who had stepped out onto the balcony, thought I was having some kind of an attack and kept yelling at me to find out what was wrong. I was incapable of speech - just kept pointing into the bathroom and laughing. Here's why…. (It would be easy to do this!:o)

Judy