Noisy Cabin - Final Night

[Brisbane41]

Just putting it up here but after a brilliant cruise on the Majestic Princess just this week in a forward facing mini-suite on a cruise that I could not fault at all.

 

Along comes the last night...

 

After packing my bags I neatly place all the coat-hangers on the floor of the cupboard (note that in the mini suites all cupboards have doors so are closed and you cant see in), I then leave the cabin for the final evening. (The coat-hangers were placed on the floor to avoid the repetitive banging noise through the night on a moving ship. I always do this and replace them in the morning).

 

After a good night out I return to my cabin to find that the steward has decided to invade my privacy by opening the cupboard doors and upon finding the coat-hangers neatly on the ground he then replaces them on the racks and hence making the cabin noisy on a moving ship with the rattling and banging as they swing and move with the movement. It would take an incredible lack of common sense not to know the reason they were placed on the floor. I normally inform the stewards to leave them on the floor and I will replace them myself in the morning. Unfortunately I forgot to do this but even still the lack of common sense and invasion of privacy is concerning.

 

To compound the stewards thoughtlessness he then decided to reset most of the cabin for the future occupants. This involved opening the balcony divider as the mini-suite was to be connected to the next suite as it was a family or group needing both that requested the balcony divider be open. What concerned me was this daft steward decided to open the partition while I was at dinner and leave it open. This particular night the ship was heading into heavy winds. The ferries in Sydney were cancelled that morning due to high winds. What happened was that the hook could not hold the partition door and the winds got hold of it and when I returned to the room it was swinging violently bashing and banging on the mini-suite wall making an intense drumming sound.

 

By then I had pretty much lost my temper as I could not sleep with that kind of noise. I knew from the entire cruise that the balcony partition was closed. I then went down to reception and told them what had happened and asked that the balcony secured immediately as I needed to sleep. The reception agreed and telephoned the steward waking him up and asked him to go up and lock it closed. He did not want to do it and said that he opened it in preparation for the new guests in the morning and to save time. To cut the long story short he was then ordered to go to my cabin instantly and rectify the situation and told to go onto the balcony and close and lock the partition.

 

Finally problem solved. I did then write up a formal complaint about him as I was pretty annoyed that late at night. It is incredibly bold to try and reset a cabin on the last night of the cruise to such an extent that it feels like you are being pushed out of the cabin. The coat-hangers I probably could have overlooked but that balcony partition really set me off as I had to get re-dressed and go back down to reception to deal with so I put complaints in for both.

 

It is a shame it had to happen as overall the entire experience was awesome apart from this one small incident on the last night which all comes down to a lack of common sense.

[Micahs Grandad]

I would have adjusted his tip accordingly.

[Aus Traveller]

Why didn't you just phone Reception instead of dressing and going down?

 

BTW, I agree that it was unreasonable that the steward opened the balcony partition. I don't think it would have taken him very long to do it the next day and it wouldn't have mattered if he left it to do as his last task. I agree that  having the steward open the wardrobe while you are still in the cabin is an invasion of your space.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[OzKiwiJJ]

The stewards do check the wardrobes occasionally as the laundry bags are usually stored there clipped to a hanger, so may need replacing. I was amused on our last night on Sea Princess to find all the hangers had been organized and tidied while we were at dinner.

[NSWP]

50 minutes ago, Micahs Grandad said:

I would have adjusted his tip accordingly.

No tipping on Majestic Princess in Australia/NZ, gratuities are included in fare and not negotiable.

[kywildcatfanone]

IYou think it's odd that he finds coathangers on the floor and doesn't hang them?

 

As far as the partition, I do think that odd that they would do that while occupied.

[NSWP]

Sounds like the cabin steward was a bit eager to get a quick start on the next day's set up for new pax.  I bet he was not a happy little Vegemite being directed to attend the cabin in the early hours.

[Aus Traveller]

18 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The stewards do check the wardrobes occasionally as the laundry bags are usually stored there clipped to a hanger, so may need replacing. I was amused on our last night on Sea Princess to find all the hangers had been organized and tidied while we were at dinner.

Now you say that, I can agree. On our last cruise I noticed that, while we were at dinner, new laundry bags were clipped to a couple of the otherwise empty hangars in our wardrobe. I think this has happened many times, or maybe every time.

[JF - retired RRT]

How would the steward know that the next occupants wanted the balcony divider open?

[Brisbane41]

1 minute ago, JF - retired RRT said:

How would the steward know that the next occupants wanted the balcony divider open?

People send in the request with their booking and it is part of the cabin make-up list that they get to arrange.

[MustangGT]

I have found a solution to the empty hangers banging around on the last night.  I use the belt from the robe to tie the hangers together.  Works for me but YMMV.

Sorry the steward contributed to your bad night.

[Katyoparty]

My solution for the banging hangers is to push them all tightly together on one side and then use one of the pant hangers clipped to the rod to keep them from moving. 

[Brisbane41]

1 hour ago, Katyoparty said:

My solution for the banging hangers is to push them all tightly together on one side and then use one of the pant hangers clipped to the rod to keep them from moving. 

That too is one possibility however depending on the movement of the ship it is sometimes wiser to have them on the floor of the cupboard in a neat pile with something on top of them like a light bag or padding. I have used that method in the past though when the ship is not sailing in open ocean waters and the sea is somewhat calmer.

[donaldsc]

I agree w your comment on the balcony divider.  I think that you overreacted a whole lot on the hangers.  You could have just taken them off the rods again and put them on the floor.  How much work would that have been.

 

DON

[ldubs]

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of who took the strawberries!  😁😁😁

 

Seriously, I can see how the steward overlooked the importance of the hangers.  But the banging balcony divider should have been handled as soon as you reported it.  Somehow pushback from the steward became known to you.  I can only hope that didn't result in too much of a delay.   

 

[toads45froggy]

wow... your words say a lot about you in loud volumes.

[ldubs]

42 minutes ago, toads45froggy said:

wow... your words say a lot about you in loud volumes.

 

Aw, I hope it isn't all bad.  

[caribill]

8 hours ago, Brisbane41 said:

Along comes the last night...

 

After a good night out I return to my cabin to find that the steward has decided to invade my privacy by opening the cupboard doors and upon finding the coat-hangers neatly on the ground he then replaces them on the racks and hence making the cabin noisy on a moving ship with the rattling and banging as they swing and move with the movement.

 

I have also experienced last evening actions by cabin stewards that should not have happened:

 

a) Removing items from a shelf in the closet because he thought they were trash when they were not. They were not able to be retrieved when I found them missing and reported it.

 

b) Emptying out a desk drawer and putting the contents on the desk. I had pieces of paper in the drawer with important information I had written on them. The steward decided they were trash and disposed of them.

 

While I appreciate that the cabin stewards have a great deal of work to do on turnaround day, they should leave passengers' belongings alone that last night even if it makes their job a little busier the next day.

 

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, caribill said:

I have also experienced last evening actions by cabin stewards that should not have happened:

 

a) Removing items from a shelf in the closet because he thought they were trash when they were not. They were not able to be retrieved when I found them missing and reported it.

 

b) Emptying out a desk drawer and putting the contents on the desk. I had pieces of paper in the drawer with important information I had written on them. The steward decided they were trash and disposed of them.

 

While I appreciate that the cabin stewards have a great deal of work to do on turnaround day, they should leave passengers' belongings alone that last night even if it makes their job a little busier the next day.

I would have been upset if the incidents you refer to occurred to me. You would have removed and most likely taken with you the items you had still in the closet and those in the drawer. The steward should not make decisions on what is trash unless you have indicated that is is by putting it in the bin.

 

You have paid your fare to be in the cabin until 8am (or whatever time they say) on disembarkation day. No-one should interfere with your belongings or the set-up of the cabin prior to that time. The steward's actions with your belongings would have ended up taking him more time when you asked about your missing items and he, presumably, tried to retrieve them.

[caribill]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

I would have been upset if the incidents you refer to occurred to me. You would have removed and most likely taken with you the items you had still in the closet and those in the drawer. The steward should not make decisions on what is trash unless you have indicated that is is by putting it in the bin.

 

You have paid your fare to be in the cabin until 8am (or whatever time they say) on disembarkation day. No-one should interfere with your belongings or the set-up of the cabin prior to that time. The steward's actions with your belongings would have ended up taking him more time when you asked about your missing items and he, presumably, tried to retrieve them.

 

On both occasions I reported what happened to the head of housekeeping before I disembarked the ship. Of course that could not possibly cause the recovery of items that had been put into trash somewhere, but supposedly the supervisors would speak to the stewards about what they should not have done.

[flamomo]

9 hours ago, MustangGT said:

I have found a solution to the empty hangers banging around on the last night.  I use the belt from the robe to tie the hangers together.  Works for me but YMMV.

Sorry the steward contributed to your bad night.

Or bunch all of the hangers together and then wrap them with a bath towel, using the pinch clips of one of the hangers to secure the bath towel in place.

[Brisbane41]

20 hours ago, donaldsc said:

I agree w your comment on the balcony divider.  I think that you overreacted a whole lot on the hangers.  You could have just taken them off the rods again and put them on the floor.  How much work would that have been.

 

DON

That was my thoughts initially too. The coat-hangers were no major issue and would have been overlooked. However when it became clear that opening the balcony partition was intentional then that changed everything.

[bemis12]

And you wrote up a formal complaint 

[ldubs]

22 hours ago, toads45froggy said:

wow... your words say a lot about you in loud volumes.

 

21 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Aw, I hope it isn't all bad.  

 

Sun of a gun. I thought you were talking about me.  Maybe you were but now I'm not so sure!  I feel like that guy who jumps up at the end of the Perry Mason show and yells "I did it! I'm guilty!"  Hahah

[Brisbane41]

8 hours ago, bemis12 said:

And you wrote up a formal complaint 

Exactly. Strike 1 is easy to forget but strike 2 and then its a complaint for everything.