How is the new process of only once a day cabin cleaning going?

[hawkeyetlse]

47 minutes ago, DMP609 said:

What can be done that won't penalize the room steward but make NCL realize this isn't working and their customers aren't happy?

You can write a letter to the General Manager about it and leave it at the front desk. I don't know what they'll do with it, but they're the ones who need to know, and who have any sort of input to corporate.

 

Adjusting the DSC, and mentioning anything about housekeeping as the reason, probably just gets your steward in trouble.

[jimsig]

50 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

.... So, that leads me to wonder what happened to those other stewards that were originally servicing those rooms? Jobs cut? If so, NCL are raising service charge fees, decreasing service, and cutting positions. Am I correct in thinking this? 

 

Edited to add: My naivety came from the position that if service charges were raised while service was reduced, the service that we DID get (once a day) would be of a higher quality.

It's been a combination of things as to why there is a lack of cabin stewards.  A lot of those laid off because of covid never returned, not having enough job candidates to fill the needed vacancies, and of course job cuts in that the company feels they can do more with less.

 

If the industry, not just NCL, keeps cutting passengers will go elsewhere for there vacations.  Sure you will have passengers to replace those leaving but it may be a one and done thing for potential cruisers.  

[dbrown84]

52 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. I had (naively) thought that the once a day service would actually be beneficial to stewards. In my mind, instead of having, say, 10 rooms to service twice a day they would now have 10 rooms to service once a day. I hadn't even thought about a scenario where, in fact, they would now have 20 rooms to service once a day (as I said, I'm naive). So, that leads me to wonder what happened to those other stewards that were originally servicing those rooms? Jobs cut? If so, NCL are raising service charge fees, decreasing service, and cutting positions. Am I correct in thinking this? 

 

Edited to add: My naivety came from the position that if service charges were raised while service was reduced, the service that we DID get (once a day) would be of a higher quality.

My guess is that you are probably correct in your thinking.

[Dorhead1230]

7 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Thanks! I suppose the $400 we spent (and lost) on two cruises, in the casino didn't scratch the surface of getting comps. I think it's a lot to blow, but I doubt Casino at Sea does. 🙂

 

I don't think we care about once, or twice, a day service. We'll see next week. My current plan is to tell the room attendant to treat our suite as they treat the other rooms. I also don't want to make them work any harder than they already do, so if I can take away one stress point in their day, that works for me! Boo on NCL for making me make that decision though.

Heehee nah that won’t quite do it ☺️. We haven’t called to book anything for the summer yet, so we’ll see what we’re offered, but to give you an idea, in a week, DH will make around 5-6K points and I’ll make about 2K. We play slots, so each point is $5 run through a machine. Now, we are not bringing anywhere CLOSE to this amount on a cruise because it would be insane and we’re not rich lol, but it works out to us combined cycling about $35-40K through the machines in a week. So a combination of our gambling budget we bring and mostly (hopefully) cycling through as much of the casino’s money as possible. Obviously DH is the bulk of that so he gets better offers than I do, because even my level of play is small potatoes compared to a lot of other people. If we were able to sail more than 1-2 times per year (limited by our work schedules), then cruising might be our primary gambling location rather than land casinos, and we’d probably get comped even better. But as it stands it’s a piece of our gambling pie and we end up playing more at Caesars AC and Mohegan Sun because we can easily get there for a day or two here and there. And this was off-topic for this thread so I’ll stop here 😬.

 

It’s nice of you to be so considerate of the steward! I find that we try very hard on cruises to keep our cabin as neat and orderly as possible to make their job as easy as possible. But it does stink that NCL is putting you in a position to be paying the big bucks to sail Haven and then feel guilty about having the cabin steward service your cabin as often as they’re assigned to 😕.

[uneamie]

10 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I’m clean when I dry off after a shower…I don’t need two towels a day for that…

 

And I will say I feel sorry for the stewards at times…you can see the state of the rooms that some people leave them to deal with…slobs comes to mind.  

So yes we are clean after a shower but I always use 2 towels, one for my body and one to wrap my wet hair up. That said, many times the towels are not dry after a morning shower when you go to do one before dinner. Some people, depending on what they are doing daily take 2 showers. I think having access to the towels is the answer because not everyone needs them but many people do. And we should have "ice machines" on each deck ( forward, middle and aft )....There are ice machines in every hotel I've ever been in. I use a ton of ice daily....I don't want to be hunting down a room steward to fetch it for me every day. The ship is saving money by decreasing all it's services so instead of giving us less...make it so we can get it ourselfves. 

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

The point I think most people are missing here is that the majority of pax on any mass market cruise ship are 1st time cruisers. Don't let those chocolate strawberries and free waterboxes fool you, NCL doesn't give a frickin' free at sea about you compared to that new millennial couple with the young kids who don't even know this little microcommunity of cruise ship power users exists, and who have no standards against which to judge the service cuts. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by LoungerOnBalcony55

[cruiseny4life]

12 minutes ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

The point I think most people are missing here is that the majority of pax on any mass market cruise ship are 1st time cruisers. Don't let those chocolate strawberries and free waterboxes fool you, NCL doesn't give a frickin' free at sea about you compared to that new millennial couple with the young kids who don't even know this little microcommunity of cruise ship power users exists, and who have no standards against which to judge the service cuts. 

Well dang...this super (cruiser) user Millennial has dogs. I guess NCL don't give a "frickin' free at sea" about me. 

[laudergayle]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Well dang...this super (cruiser) user Millennial has dogs. I guess NCL don't give a "frickin' free at sea" about me. 

BINGO. just your wallet and/or your pocketbook🤔

[uneamie]

1 hour ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

The point I think most people are missing here is that the majority of pax on any mass market cruise ship are 1st time cruisers. Don't let those chocolate strawberries and free waterboxes fool you, NCL doesn't give a frickin' free at sea about you compared to that new millennial couple with the young kids who don't even know this little microcommunity of cruise ship power users exists, and who have no standards against which to judge the service cuts. 

Good point...but there's this thing called "return customers". Like in a restaurant, if the food is awesome you will go back. New customers might make comparisons to other vacation venues like "all inclusives" and make a decision that they are not getting enough on a cruise ship for their money. It's all relative, ya know it can come down to the "little things" making a big difference.  I can't imagine that the cruise industry could survive solely on one time new customers. For myself, I just want to be on a ship cruising around the ocean. All those little things would not stop me because I find ways around it....but not sure if there will be a point where it becomes annoying. Lugging ice up to my cabin a few times a day  from the buffet, because I am one who wants ice 24/7, might get old. It's not a deal breaker for now but you know how us old people get cranky making us hard to be around. 

[PTC DAWG]

I too wish ice more accessible for the room…

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

The point I think most people are missing here is that the majority of pax on any mass market cruise ship are 1st time cruisers. Don't let those chocolate strawberries and free waterboxes fool you, NCL doesn't give a frickin' free at sea about you compared to that new millennial couple with the young kids who don't even know this little microcommunity of cruise ship power users exists, and who have no standards against which to judge the service cuts. 

Good point, but even those first time cruisers would have either something to compare to, or some expectation/standard they are expecting. My first time ever cruising, I compared it to staying at a hotel - and found that cruising offered more service, amenities, value for my family. We have been cruisers ever since. If I was a first timer coming in today and making that comparison, I'm not sure if I would feel the same way. This is NOT unique to NCL, though. I have sailed mostly with Princess and definitely noticing cuts and price gouging there, too. This is the main reason I am sailing other lines more and more - to see what others can offer and to find the one that gives what I'm looking for. Last year I sailed Virgin, Princess, and NCL. This year I currently have NCL, Cunard, and Virgin booked. Hands down, Virgin offered the best in service, quality, and overrall value - what they didn't cater to was my family (no kids allowed). I'm hoping that NCL comes through for us in April, as we really love the Bliss...

[LloydJr]

2 hours ago, uneamie said:

Lugging ice up to my cabin a few times a day  from the buffet, because I am one who wants ice 24/7, might get old.

What are you doing with all that ice?

[LloydJr]

18 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

So, that leads me to wonder what happened to those other stewards that were originally servicing those rooms? Jobs cut?

It's likely that they're just retaining the same staff while occupancy increases.

[laudergayle]

1 hour ago, LloydJr said:

What are you doing with all that ice?

@uneamieis known as The Crusher”…

 

JK

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

1 hour ago, LloydJr said:

What are you doing with all that ice?

It melts fast. I like having ice in the room too. 

[CruiseMH]

6 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

The point I think most people are missing here is that the majority of pax on any mass market cruise ship are 1st time cruisers. Don't let those chocolate strawberries and free waterboxes fool you, NCL doesn't give a frickin' free at sea about you compared to that new millennial couple with the young kids who don't even know this little microcommunity of cruise ship power users exists, and who have no standards against which to judge the service cuts. 

 

the problem is that there are not endless first time cruisers available.

A first time cruiser is usually not a loyal cruiser. They book NCL this time and another cruise line next time.And if they like the service on the other cruise line better they will stay with them.

 

So this is a very risky strategy of NCL.

 

Nevertheteless i agree with you that NCL takes much more care about getting newbies than taking care of loyal long time NCL customers.

Edited March 13, 2023 by CruiseMH

[uneamie]

2 hours ago, laudergayle said:

@uneamieis known as The Crusher”…

 

JK

Like it's been said, it melts fast. By the time you get back to your room at any given time...it's nothing but water. One bucket of ice in the morning does not last till dinner. And you will be lucky if you even get one bucket of ice. On our last cruise, which was on the Breakaway in 2018 our cabin steward NEVER brought ice to our cabin. I had to hunt him down to get it and who wants to go through all that every time you want an ice bucket???  We should not have to do that. I know they are busy...I get that and I get that it's not their fault, so in light of that the cruiseline needs to address these issues where the root problem is they do not have enough staff and they are over worked. It's that simple. 

[MoCruiseFan]

On 2/27/2023 at 10:38 AM, AK Dreaming said:

We are three women in one cabin and want to know how the bed set up and and put away system has been working with passengers that have experienced this situation.  We are in a Club balcony suite on the Bliss and will propably need help getting the bed down and made and put back daily.  

It went just fine for us.  Then again we are not pigs or slobs!

[mking8288]

On 3/12/2023 at 3:42 PM, ggTexasGal said:

This suggestion ... use the beach towels in the room, and then have your teens go exchange them near the pools.  Fresh, dry towels in a pinch?!

 

#cough #cough - except, good luck finding fresh beach towels being stocked in a balcony cabin next time, b/c we certainly didn't see them this January and I just checked with those that sailed more recently on the Getaway ... and, no can't do - in line with sail & sustain, apparently - beach towels are no longer automatically provisioned in all the staterooms.  Maybe in Havens and/or spa cabins only ?? 

 

"For your convenience" - you can pick them up yourself on the pool deck and/or sign them out near the gangway when going ashore or doing an excursion, etc.  Or, speed dial the butler to bring them along 😉 🤣 👴  

 

Another subtle thing we've noticed, the personalized name of one's room attendant (steward) has been "de-listed" or no longer shown on the stateroom's interactive TV, recently on the Getaway (at least) but could be an I.T. issue.  

 

Go with the flow and pack lots of humor & patience.  

[cruiseny4life]

3 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Another subtle thing we've noticed, the personalized name of one's room attendant (steward) has been "de-listed" or no longer shown on the stateroom's interactive TV, recently on the Getaway (at least) but could be an I.T. issue.   

Wait! Was this a thing? I never noticed it. What screen would one find it? I'll take a look for it on Joy.

[mking8288]

22 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Wait! Was this a thing? I never noticed it. What screen would one find it? I'll take a look for it on Joy.

Turn on your TV in the cabin, it's on the main/first screen - this one, from 2022 - on both the Joy & Getaway.  

 

[cruiseny4life]

33 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Turn on your TV in the cabin, it's on the main/first screen - this one, from 2022 - on both the Joy & Getaway.  

 

Oh wow, never noticed. I'll be sure to report back on the current status. Thanks! 

[PistolPete13]

50 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Turn on your TV in the cabin, it's on the main/first screen - this one, from 2022 - on both the Joy & Getaway.  

 

My attendant's name was there on the 2/26/23 Getaway cruise but in a tiny font on that tiny screen, easy to miss.

[Sugar Magnolia]

4 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

My attendant's name was there on the 2/26/23 Getaway cruise but in a tiny font on that tiny screen, easy to miss.

 

My attendant's name was also on the TV screen on the 2/1/2023 Getaway to Nowhereland cruise, as well as on the 3/5/2023 Prima cruise.

 

[Suntanz]

Maybe this has been brought up before, but I have two kids in my room. One sleeps on the couch & the other the fold down bed from the wall. On the Joy this past summer, the cabin steward came in after dinner & made up those beds. Any idea if they will do that now or will they just do it on the one visit in the afternoon?