Which Ships are Pushing the Once a Day Room Servicing?

[Namelocg]

I was hoping this had gone away since not hearing any comments about it for a couple of months.

 

Leaving on the Splendor on Saturday - checking BOTH, and will tip extra since the steward will be working so hard for us.

 

I was on Splendor in August and will be on her again tomorrow. Last time I was not given a card to fill out nor was I asked. I told my steward as long as I had ice twice a day I didn't care when he did my cabin. I always had twice a day service

[vols_159]

A friend left from Port Canaval last week (dont remember the ship) but he had to select once a day service

 

I don't see a problem as long as they keep the towels fresh or ice bucket do we really need the room cleaned 2x a day? Do you clean your house or bedroom 2x a day? And remember when you remove tips you hurt the worker not the billion dollar company if you wanna hurt the company don't book with any carnivals owned company

[poobears]

A friend left from Port Canaval last week (dont remember the ship) but he had to select once a day service

 

I don't see a problem as long as they keep the towels fresh or ice bucket do we really need the room cleaned 2x a day? Do you clean your house or bedroom 2x a day? And remember when you remove tips you hurt the worker not the billion dollar company if you wanna hurt the company don't book with any carnivals owned company

 

 

You aren't paying anyone at home, I assume you don't keep ice in your bedroom at home to chill drinks either do you?

 

Personally I don't see filling an ice bucket as a room stewards job. Their job is cleaning the room, that includes extra towels or blankets if you need it. Ice is an extra job that is nice if they include it but I don't necessarily see it as one of their job duties just because Carnival use to have them do it automatically. I'm sure they waste a lot of time filling up peoples ice buckets and to me guests that want ice can carry that bucket up to the Lido and get their own or Carnival could put public ice machines on each floor like hotels do, but I doubt they do that because kids and some adults would be scattering ice around from them and making a mess.

[Life_Traveler]

i agree once a day is not a major issue other than the following.

 

Lets say they use to do 15 rooms 2 times a day. that is equal to 30 rooms. Now they do say 25 rooms once a day. That is only equal to 25. So not sure how people can say its more work yet they raised the tips.

 

I will say i do not know how many rooms they had before and how many they have now. I used those numbers because i have seen them thrown around in this forum by other people.

 

As for the Ice. It wouldn't be a big deal if they would have somewhere else other than the Lido deck to get ice. I am one that does like my ice filled twice a day. in the past they would receive $100 tip from me after 7 days if they did this. Not sure if I will continue that though if they are doing much less work. They may just get the standard Auto Tip since they aren't doing anything extra for me and going to once a day.

 

All I have ever asked my steward to do for me is Keep ice in the bucket not melted and clean towels as I do shower in the morning and at night due to I use the Gym in the morning and will not shower there and because of the Smoking in the casino making me smell bad I have to shower before bed.

[poobears]

Didn't Carnival pushed this whole once a day service thing as "for the customers". Supposedly we wanted more time to spend with the stewards to chat (does anyone really want this?) so they were going to once a day service with no turndown to give the stewards time to get to know you more. Or did I imagine that?

 

Yet from what the stewards tell us they went to once a day and almost doubled their room count. Either the stewards are playing the poor me card and just trying to get out of twice a cleaning knowing they have that option now or Carnival fed everyone a load of bull. The truth probably lies some where in the middle. Stewards are playing it up a bit and Carnival knew they were increasing their rooms and hoping people would go for the once a day so they could cut back on workers.

[LMaxwell]

So far I see:

 

Dream

Splendor

Pride

Triumph

Breeze

 

Any others?

 

Victory

[rjrpar]

I agree with you. At hotels, you should only expect it at 5 star, and maybe some 4 star hotels; that's it.

 

 

 

Forget the reviews here. Carnival is a 3 star cruise line, mass market and budget priced. If you want Carnival prices and free Guy's burgers, etc. It has to get paid for.

 

 

 

As I stated above, if you want the top-end service, you will pay for it on other cruise lines, both Carnival-owned lines and others.

 

 

Some people want much more than they are willing to pay for. A hotel with 2 daily services can exceed $500 per night for only the room. Some want room, food, and entertainment and pay $200 per night for an inside cabin and still complain about not receiving 5* service.

 

 

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[berrieh]

You aren't paying anyone at home, I assume you don't keep ice in your bedroom at home to chill drinks either do you?

 

Personally I don't see filling an ice bucket as a room stewards job. Their job is cleaning the room, that includes extra towels or blankets if you need it. Ice is an extra job that is nice if they include it but I don't necessarily see it as one of their job duties just because Carnival use to have them do it automatically. I'm sure they waste a lot of time filling up peoples ice buckets and to me guests that want ice can carry that bucket up to the Lido and get their own or Carnival could put public ice machines on each floor like hotels do, but I doubt they do that because kids and some adults would be scattering ice around from them and making a mess.

 

The Lido is very far away from many of the rooms. I'm fine with an ice machine on my floor, but most ships don't have that. So someone (steward, room service) should be able to get me ice upon request, I feel. I'm certainly willing to tip extra for the service though.

[sandkps]

I've yet to ever stay in a hotel anywhere (nor would I) where a night room needed to be turned into a day room, and then back to a night room.

 

When we started cruising, the two sofas, along the walls, were put together or set up as twin beds at night, then returned to wall couches. There was no bed in the middle of the room, even though the standard rooms were still 185 square feet.

 

These days you still have rooms with convertible couches, and beds that come from the walls or even the ceiling, as well as trundle beds. These all require twice a day service.

 

And still those of us that enjoy dress up and turn down service in the standard cabins. The living space is extremely small to even compare to a hotel room.

 

 

Exactly this.

 

While I do enjoy having twice a day service, we do keep our room tidy (a must when you have 4 in an interior room!) and would be OK with once a day only service, except for the beds. Unless the bunks are folded up each morning, it's virtually impossible to move through the room during the day. Ant then, of course, they have to be folded back down at night...

[golfb4cruzing]

As long as I have fresh towels, morning is fine. If I ever have to go on Carnival again, I'll get some extra pool towels for the evening shower. But if they keep reducing services, while steady raising gratuities, hopefully they won't mind if I go reduce gratuities. The ONLY way Carnival (any of them really) will listen is when they start losing revenue.

[falkcor]

Just off the Legend - choice of am or pm. We took am which was fine with us as is only once a day. No offer of ice whatsoever - we were in a Vista Suite.

 

When insisting on two per day, just think about these guys who now have so many more cabins to do, why add to their enormous workload even further.

 

Surely we can pull up our bed if need be after an afternoon nap.

 

think of it another way...

 

1) the cruising public did not make up this notion of twice a day service, it was a feature offered by the cruise line. some people have understandably become accustomed to it.

 

2) part of why they offer the twice a day service is the design of the rooms - they are small. some are designed for 4-5 people with pull down beds etc. the design of the product they offer necessitates the twice a day service for the room to be more liveable. and just like some require the beds to be put up etc, others will keep their rooms tidy and really just need ice and towels (i'm in that group).

 

3) they have increased gratuities, and are offering less services than they have before. how does that make sense.

 

4) people 'insisting' on twice a day service are not 'adding' to the workload - that is the steward's job, and the number of rooms (their workload) they are expected to service is by design of carnival. the fact most still do twice a day (and 'both' is on that card) proves that this is within their job description.

 

5) stewards have been doing this job for decades. they still choose to do it to this day. the job can't be so terrible if that is the case.

 

6) if this is indeed a 'trial', or moreover even if they are moving in that direction - if you are so concerned about the poor stewards' workload, then check both and send a message to carnival that many if not most cruisers PREFER twice a day service. i am certain they monitor this and are crunching numbers, that's why there's a card in the first place and not just a casual conversation with the steward with no documentation. if they realized that the majority of their customers do indeed prefer twice a day service, then perhaps they wouldn't go exponentially add (or double, or whatever arbitrary figures are thrown around here) to their workload. check both, for the stewards' sake.

 

i really don't think it's fair for carnival to push any of these thoughts onto their employees or customers, anyway. people shouldn't have to worry about burdening their steward with 'extra work' which has been part of the offered services (and still is, evidenced by BOTH!), and stewards shouldn't have to be concerned with time constraints or begrudgingly offer services they are supposed to due to a system which is just FUBAR. leave it to carnival. this is one of their dumbest ideas in a long time :rolleyes:

[falkcor]

You aren't paying anyone at home, I assume you don't keep ice in your bedroom at home to chill drinks either do you?

 

Personally I don't see filling an ice bucket as a room stewards job. Their job is cleaning the room, that includes extra towels or blankets if you need it. Ice is an extra job that is nice if they include it but I don't necessarily see it as one of their job duties just because Carnival use to have them do it automatically. I'm sure they waste a lot of time filling up peoples ice buckets and to me guests that want ice can carry that bucket up to the Lido and get their own or Carnival could put public ice machines on each floor like hotels do, but I doubt they do that because kids and some adults would be scattering ice around from them and making a mess.

 

until carnival provides a self-serve option to obtain ice in close proximity to the rooms, then i disagree, this is the room steward's job.

 

i'm sure room stewards did waste time filling ice buckets for those that did not use the ice, which was then just a lot of melted water - they said that's why they instituted 'must request ice' policy which i totally understood. i'm one that does require ice.

 

if you were staying at a hotel, would you walk to the convenience store next door to get ice? that could be as far as having to walk to lido...

 

if they added ice machines to each floor, i would be perfectly happy to get my own. but i disagree having to walk to lido is an acceptable alternative.

 

you mentioned this might result in having ice scattered about around the machines - well which would be more work, cleaning that up, or providing ice in the rooms? i don't know, but either would be the room steward's job.

 

perhaps a compromise - they could even have pre-bagged ice (similar to what you see in convenience stores, etc., albeit smaller than the 8 lb sizes - something more suitable to ice bucket size), then there's no mess. i'd go get that myself, no problemo.

 

all that said, i DO tip extra for the service (especially if i bring a small cooler) regardless. a small cooler or ice bucket filled, to be enjoyed with product purchased onboard (to chill beer bought from a bar, to ice drinks etc.)

 

i really just think this whole service issue is getting out of hand. what's next, we're supposed to wash our own towels and clean the toilet? just like the purchase of a cocktail is based on the presupposition of somebody making it for us (with an auto gratuity added, just like the rooms), purchase of the room / cruise fare itself tacitly presupposes a certain level of service.

 

Didn't Carnival pushed this whole once a day service thing as "for the customers". Supposedly we wanted more time to spend with the stewards to chat (does anyone really want this?) so they were going to once a day service with no turndown to give the stewards time to get to know you more. Or did I imagine that?

 

Yet from what the stewards tell us they went to once a day and almost doubled their room count. Either the stewards are playing the poor me card and just trying to get out of twice a cleaning knowing they have that option now or Carnival fed everyone a load of bull. The truth probably lies some where in the middle. Stewards are playing it up a bit and Carnival knew they were increasing their rooms and hoping people would go for the once a day so they could cut back on workers.

 

no, you didn't imagine that, and it's one of the most lame justifications i've ever seen for a service reduction. and no, i do not want more time to chat with the steward. i want them to do their job, which in my opinion includes twice a day service and ice upon request.

[LMaxwell]

Some people want much more than they are willing to pay for. A hotel with 2 daily services can exceed $500 per night for only the room. Some want room, food, and entertainment and pay $200 per night for an inside cabin and still complain about not receiving 5* service.

 

 

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Lou's got a lot to say factoring in he's never been on Carnival and never will go.

 

Now ask him if he'd feel stiffed if his beloved Cunard snubbed him...It's easy to tell people they shouldn't expect certain things when it has zero impact on your life.

 

Also, this post is about what ships are forcing the issue, not whether a paying guest at a hospitality company is right to want a certain level of servicing.

Edited October 22, 2016 by LMaxwell

[Computer Nerd]

I'm pretty sure that it is only a matter of time before once a day service will become the norm on CCL- no choice given.

 

Then, if you want twice a day, Carnival has other lines that will provide that.

 

One may not have a choice in the level of service received but one still has a choice in how much to pay in gratuities.

[falkcor]

Lou's got a lot to say factoring in he's never been on Carnival and never will go.

 

Now ask him if he'd feel stiffed if his beloved Cunard snubbed him...It's easy to tell people they shouldn't expect certain things when it has zero impact on your life.

 

Also, this post is about what ships are forcing the issue, not whether a paying guest at a hospitality company is right to want a certain level of servicing.

 

i don't understand why lou seems to comment on threads HERE several times daily.

 

being told 'you get what you pay for', that 'there are other lines that offer what you want' or relating current happenings to what happened on the titanic or similar era ships (often with pictures) is getting old. any time i've questioned the relevance / being off topic he's never responded. go figure :rolleyes:

[2chilover]

I like (and prefer) the twice a day service. However, to be honest, where else can you go and get twice daily service. Any hotel you stay in will make up your bed (s) in the am and won't be back until the next am. I don't have a problem with no bed turndown. I can turn down my own bed. Not a deal breaker. As for the towel animal, if that is what you like, they can do it when they make up the bed in the am. I see no eal advantage to the bed being turned down. I would much rather they make it up in the am. Just my thought.

 

I disagree in comparing cruising with staying at a hotel for a night or two. Apples and oranges, IMO. Cruising is supposed to be a much more regal (for lack of a better word) experience than just staying in a hotel.

Edited October 23, 2016 by 2chilover

[evergladesgator]

I liked it when they used to have the stewards name in a little retainer just inside the cabin door. That way, i knew whom to address.

[Thorncroft]

i don't understand why lou seems to comment on threads HERE several times daily.

 

 

Have you ever visited the Cunard bored? You'll understand why Lou hangs out here. ;)

[Shirleybird]

Bottom line is that Carnival wants to reduce the number of Stewards (payroll cutback) they want to employ. They are giving the Stewards a larger number of rooms to care for which leaves them less time for each room. Hence once a day service.

 

Me, not a messy person but I still would like to have service twice a day.

[falkcor]

Have you ever visited the Cunard bored? You'll understand why Lou hangs out here. ;)

 

haha no, not really, no. and i see what you did with that, the cunard 'bored'...

 

i think i went once after watching a documentary on the building of the QM2 to see if there was anything relevant, there wasn't.

 

it strikes me as someone staying at the intercontinental purposely driving a few blocks away into a perhaps less desirable area, to find someone staying at a holiday inn (they're owned by the same group, same as cunard and carnival so that's relevant) to tell them 'oh hey, i'm staying at a better hotel than you are - let me tell you why'. who the hell does that. i really wish he would stop.

 

it's almost always off topic and often diminutive.

 

speaking of off topic... i know, op, but i was refuting feedback from a non-qualified poster. the ships pushing it are listed in this thread from EXPERIENCE. as is feedback regarding the same from people who sail this cruise line (many of which actually like it!)

[falkcor]

Bottom line is that Carnival wants to reduce the number of Stewards (payroll cutback) they want to employ. They are giving the Stewards a larger number of rooms to care for which leaves them less time for each room. Hence once a day service.

 

Me, not a messy person but I still would like to have service twice a day.

 

that's why i think so long as they give a card that requests preference - request BOTH. they're number crunching and before we know it the story will be 'due to overwhelming response from guests preferring once a day service this is the new policy'...

 

it was met with resistance when it came out, so they put the 'both'. PICK BOTH. everyone should at least have the OPTION for BOTH. whether 'one' (the general one - people happy with once a day) wants it or not, everybody should have the option. otherwise they'll just take it away. i think most want both and many are being 'bullied' or 'pigeonholed' into selecting once.

[PlanoDebbie]

Would it be a hoot if after they tell us most people prefer one time service they offer to provide both for only a slight upcharge.:eek::eek:

 

I'm sure this is the direction they are heading in. Offer once a day service (Included), but for and extra $5 PP/PD, you can get twice a day service that used to be included.

 

How are they handling the gratuities with this? Surely a room steward shouldn't be expected to receive the same gratuity for different levels of service. Not fair to them.

[cruiselover5461]

My opinion is if service is cut then gratuities should be reduced not increased. If I'm offered only once a day cabin cleaning then I will no longer prepay grats and reduce the amount accordingly. I know the cabin stewards work hard but I am not the one increasing the work load Carnival is. Will see how goes on Freedom next week.

 

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[catemo_x]

Wow, some of y'all are harsh. To suggest that you would "remove all gratuities" based on a decision made by some corporate Bigwig at Carnival seems out of line... don't forget that your pre-paid gratuities benefit not only your room steward, but all of the other staff. And if it was up to your steward, they would probably go the extra mile to make you smile. Even if Carnival did move to a permanently once-a-day cleaning service, I would NEVER ever dream of completely removing gratuities unless every single crew member I encountered throughout my cruise was rude and unaccomodating by choice.

 

That said, we have never had to choose between morning or evening; we have always received both. And we try to keep our room as tidy as possible knowing that these room stewards are responsible for 20+ rooms per cruise. I enjoy both morning and evening service, but if I had to choose, I would gladly give up the evening turn-down service. It is a nice perk, but really in the grand scheme of things, unnecessary. I'd rather continue to cruise for a reasonable rate on Carnival than pay extra for the evening turn-down service.

 

In any industry, costs continue to climb, and I understand that. If i can continue to cruise for under $100 per person per day while sacrificing the extra turn-down service, I would be fine with that. Every room steward we have ever had has gone above and beyond to make sure we had smiles on our faces and enjoyed every bit of our time on board. They have all earned every cent of the pre-paid gratuities, as well as the extra cash we usually budget in for excellent service. IF once per day cleaning services become a reality, we will not complain. We will still enjoy our reasonably priced vacation and MOVE ALONG!!

[Mikew0805]

Some people want much more than they are willing to pay for. A hotel with 2 daily services can exceed $500 per night for only the room. Some want room, food, and entertainment and pay $200 per night for an inside cabin and still complain about not receiving 5* service.

 

 

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Twice a day is how it has always been. :rolleyes: