Cabin service: Changed to once a day on RCI ?

[mlbcruiser]

Thought I saw something a few weeks ago about Royal Caribbean having changed regular cabin service by cabin stewards to once a day instead of twice. Then there was something else saying you could request twice.

 

I’m especially interested in what the situation is on Quantum of the Seas. We’ll have a grandchild in our 190 sq ft cabin & don’t want to have to make the sofa bed up each night, nor put ot away each morning. Besides, the cabin stewards do up sheets and other bedding so much nicer! 
 

Hoping someone who knows for sure, will reply. Thanks for any helpful info!

Edited June 24, 2023 by mlbcruiser

[Norwich Cruiser]

It was once a day on our cruises the past few months our cabin steward asked us on embarkation which we preferred morning or evening.

 

We choose morning it worked out well.

[OCSC Mike]

It’s once/day unless staying in a JS or higher, then it’s still twice.

[mlbcruiser]

Thanks so much for replying and for the info., (even though it wasn’t good news for us). 

[joeyancho]

18 minutes ago, mlbcruiser said:

Thanks so much for replying and for the info., (even though it wasn’t good news for us). 

You can ask your steward for ideas on how to handle the situation.  Our steward,  on our last cruise said he would come twice daily if we wanted.  We said no, just ice.  We always had fresh ice. 

[not-enough-cruising]

The Royal Caribbean published policy on pullmans and sofa beds states that the steward will, in addition to once daily service, setup and take down convertible bedding as requested.  

[little britain]

Has anyone offered their steward a cash incentive to still service the room twice a day? Wondered what the going rate was? 
#askingforafriend 

[libbismom]

10 minutes ago, little britain said:

Has anyone offered their steward a cash incentive to still service the room twice a day? Wondered what the going rate was? 
#askingforafriend 

They had just switched to once a day on our cruise on Anthem in April. The room steward said they monitor how often he entered rooms by his key card. So I’m not sure that is an option for cleaning service.

I have heard they can setup & putaway the beds, but can’t do cleaning service both times. But I don’t have first hand experience with that. 

[mlbcruiser]

Yes, I had thought of an incentive. Even though the ship has those mandatory service charges, we always tip our cabin, steward, waiter, etc. extra. That is another thing I thought that I saw on a thread somewhere   -  that someone mentioned they had asked to the steward to visit twice a day and he did. However, I couldn’t find that thread ( it could have been the same thread. the once a day cleaning was first mentioned on) so posted this question.  I understand that maybe there isn’t enough staff or something but I’m sure our service charges won’t be adjusted for not getting a twice a day cleaning, it has been a hallmark of cruising for many years. If they will at least do the bed in the evening that’s fine. Make a trip I’ll be sure and ask her cabin steward when we first meet him or her.

 

Thanks for the input and info!

 

adding this in an edit. I missed a few of the posts above and only saw the last couple. That’s good to know that Royal officially understands about putting back folding beds. Thanks.

Edited June 24, 2023 by mlbcruiser

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

Has anyone offered their steward a cash incentive to still service the room twice a day? Wondered what the going rate was? 
#askingforafriend 

I thought I read that about $5 of the $16 daily gratuity goes for the attendant, so I would suggest some amount greater than that per day.  Afterall, they have their rooms assignments nearly doubled for the once a day service so in effect they are cleaning an extra cabin if they clean a cabin twice. Then, they may be breaking some sort of in-house protocol so something even more  in  case they get in trouble. Not sure what price to put on someone's livelihood. 

 

JS and up still get twice a day cabin service. 

 

M

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by cruisegirl1

[Another_Critic]

Do people clean their bedroom and bathroom at home twice a day?

[little britain]

1 hour ago, libbismom said:

They had just switched to once a day on our cruise on Anthem in April. The room steward said they monitor how often he entered rooms by his key card. So I’m not sure that is an option for cleaning service.

I have heard they can setup & putaway the beds, but can’t do cleaning service both times. But I don’t have first hand experience with that. 

I’ve had stewards use their card to

open the door for us; so I don’t believe the management could tell the difference between opening the door for a guest, and opening the door to straighten the bed and put in clean towels, which is all my “friend” would want doing. 
Others have said they can open the door in the evening to put ice in the cabin. What’s the difference ?

Edited June 24, 2023 by little britain

[pilot]

14 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Do people clean their bedroom and bathroom at home twice a day?

Not the point!  You are not at home!

[smokeybandit]

14 minutes ago, pilot said:

Not the point!  You are not at home!

OK, does your hotel room get cleaned twice a day when you're on vacation somewhere other than a cruise?

[pilot]

Just got off Quantum this last Monday, June 19. These are my thoughts on the once a day cabin servicing and how it worked on our cruise.

 

Our steward met us as we entered our room at 1:30 and introduced himself.  He asked if we wanted early or late servicing.  I told him we would like early and I requested he leave 4 towels, ice bucket, 2 bath robes, and open the balcony dividers to our 3 rooms.

 

Other than having wet towels on the floor over night, it wasn't a big problem.

 

On the after cruise survey, I commented on the good job that our steward did, but "dinged" them on the cutback to once a day service, after raising the daily fee.

 

I never take off the auto grats, but for the first time ever did not give any extra.

 

It looked to me that the housekeeping staff has been greatly reduced.  All other sections had plenty of staff...bar, Windjammer, and dining room.

 

Overall a very good cruise with grandkids and family.

[pilot]

4 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

OK, does your hotel room get cleaned twice a day when you're on vacation somewhere other than a cruise?

Again, not the point!  It's not a hotel, it's a cruise that has previously provided this service and no longer does.

 

[smokeybandit]

Just now, pilot said:

Again, not the point!  It's not a hotel, it's a cruise that has previously provided this service and no longer does.

 

If you got mad at any entity that has cut back on service as time has gone on, you'd be mad at everyone.

[poocher]

My brother, first time cruiser, was shocked at having twice a day service (JS) “why do I need them to clean my room twice?  Who needs that?”    I think we are spoiled.

[pilot]

2 minutes ago, poocher said:

My brother, first time cruiser, was shocked at having twice a day service (JS) “why do I need them to clean my room twice?  Who needs that?”    I think we are spoiled.

Did he request that his room only be serviced once a day?

[S.A.M.J.R.]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The Royal Caribbean published policy on pullmans and sofa beds states that the steward will, in addition to once daily service, setup and take down convertible bedding as requested.  

Can you provide a link to that published statement?  I'm not doubting you, but it might help someone to have (for peace of mind if nothing else).

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

Do people clean their bedroom and bathroom at home twice a day?

Stop using logic.  Cruise ships are apparently some magical place where people expect things to never change. 

[Reina del Mar]

I don’t really understand ……Please can anyone explain ???

 

if we have paid tips for twice daily cabin service, which has sincebeen reduced to once a day, and stewards have now been allocated double the cabins, surely that would mean double the tips ???

 

Thanks for your help.

[shipgeeks]

I recently read a couple of complaints from people who did not get towel animals every day.  (We always ask our cabin steward NOT to give us any; they were cute years ago, but just get in the way now.)  It occurred to me that if stewards have gone from servicing 12 cabins to servicing 20 cabins (I'm guesstimating), they are expected to provide 20 towel animals.  One thing that is still extra work for them, regardless of when cabin is serviced.

[firefly333]

24 minutes ago, Reina del Mar said:

I don’t really understand ……Please can anyone explain ???

 

if we have paid tips for twice daily cabin service, which has sincebeen reduced to once a day, and stewards have now been allocated double the cabins, surely that would mean double the tips ???

 

Thanks for your help.

They are not doing double cabins. Big exaggeration.  Rather than keep raising your tips which was last year, this year cut service.

 

Hardly new  news. I agree people are spoiled. 

[cruisegirl1]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

I’ve had stewards use their card to

open the door for us; so I don’t believe the management could tell the difference between opening the door for a guest, and opening the door to straighten the bed and put in clean towels, which is all my “friend” would want doing. 
Others have said they can open the door in the evening to put ice in the cabin. What’s the difference ?

Suggest to your friend that they ask for extra towels at the daily cleaning.  That was they won't need clean towels later. The ice seems to last  till the next day, so that is not an issue.  

 

They do enter the cabin more than once a day. We've had the room serviced in the morning, but clean laundry delivered in the evening. 

 

The once a day cleaning was not/is not a problem.  Easy to adjust.

M

 

 

 

[2MellowCruisers]

We were on the Navigator a couple week ago.  The cabin steward asked us if we wanted morning or evening.  Since we usually end our days in the casino and are up late, we chose the evening service.  We figured that now we won’t have to worry about being out of the cabin so the room steward can get their job done without us holding them up.  As it turned out we really didn’t like the evening service.  It was nice to come back from lunch and have the bed made up.  We always straighten up our cabin and the bed before leaving in the morning but for some reason, it was just better after they have been in.  We also realized that we were always out of our cabin during their morning cleaning time anyway and we only thought we were rushing before.  I was chatting with our cabin steward in the hall one evening and he asked how everything was going and I just mentioned that we thought we would prefer evening but next time would choose morning.  He offered to change to the mornings for the rest of the cruise so we took him up on that.  I cannot answer your questions about the sofa bed or twice a day service but will let you know that changing from one time to another may be a choice if it doesn’t quite work out as you thought.