Cabins not ready until 4:30- is this a thing now?!

[UKstages]

6 hours ago, omahabob said:

Yes, they're short staffed. That's why they made those changes. I never said they aren't overworked. Being overworked goes hand in hand with being short staffed. My point was that they didn't CUT staff, as was suggested, and they don't try to do the same job with less people after supposedly cutting staff. The staffing was already 'cut' by shortages in the job marketplace. NCL had no choice in that. They simply reduced the workload as best they could under the circumstances, to compensate for those market shortages.

sadly, you’ve fallen prey to a myth… that somehow a magical shortage of labor has developed in the “job marketplace.” there is no shortage of labor… there is a shortage of companies willing to fairly compensate employees. if you pay them fairly and provide good working conditions, people will apply for jobs. it really is as simple as that.

 

NCL did indeed make a conscious decision to cut staff. they did indeed have a choice and they exercised that choice. they decided to reduce housekeeping services and terminate employees or not renew contracts and to not rehire people for those employees that naturally attritted. 
 

the notion that NCL is responding to some sort of imaginary employee market condition is absurd.

[CruisingWalter]

20 hours ago, www3traveler said:

MSC is not a good example of anything right now.  Failed CDC inspection (Seaside) and now a brand new cruise that will not be able to sail on time because Fire Supression Panels that have FAILED INSPECTION. 

 

MSC corrected the CDC issues almost immediately after the inspection. We sailed on Seaside a few weeks ago and had an awesome time onboard. It was our 9th cruise line in nearly 20 years of cruising and we would gladly sail MSC again. It wasn't perfect by any means and when you pay less for a cruise, you have to set expectations properly. 

 

MSC has absolutely nothing to do with the fire suppression panels failing inspection, that's the 3rd party manufacturer who has those panels installed in over 40 cruise ships currently operating. On the fire panels, you're completely off base unless you're going to criticize every cruise line that has them installed for not trusting their 3rd party supplier. 

[dallasdan]

Here I thought the Carnival boards were bad.  I am really surprised by the amount of comments saying it is acceptable for the rooms to be ready at 4:30 and a little hair and toenail clippings is nothing to worry about.  I have been on 19 Carnival cruises and the rooms are ready by 1:30 for all.  The issue to me with the rooms not being ready until 4:30 is the congestion on the ship in all of the public areas.  Lots of people sitting with luggage.  If this is the new norm, than embarkation should start at 2 pm.  

[Sinbadssailors]

 

This year:

 

Full MSC Grandiosa in January and we were in the cabin before 1

 

Full NCL Bliss in May and cabins available at 3:30 (although we were all instructed to be on board by 3). Hotels don't require you to CHECK-IN BEFORE YOUR ROOM IS READY!!!!

 

Full Enchanted Princess in June and in cabin at 1:30

 

 

NCL needs to hire more staff. Period. 

 

Other lines manage while charging lower DSC and NCL fares are on par with the others. It's not like NCL is a bargain in comparison.

 

Branch out, try other lines, and stop making excuses for poor service and bad company policies. 3:30, 4:30, 5:00 is ridiculous. But they'll do it as long as we let them. And as long as people blame the passengers for not being "understanding"/giving staff a break.

 

This is how we ended up with DSC in the first place, and gratuties on the "free" beverage package --- "What? You're going to deny staff their tips?!!"  And here we are.

 

 

 

 

[abw052978]

It appears that several people on here who will defend NCL to a fault have either not cruised with another line in 10+ years if ever, or are exclusively Haven and Suite guests that aren't affected by things like cabins being ready late, buffet hours etc. 

 

Other lines have somehow figured out how to still have cabins ready on time even with the crew shortage/short staffing.  When you add in NCL having some of the most price hikes and service cutbacks of the mass market lines, why do they get a pass?

[PegNRay]

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Like a land-based hotel. You are paying for a room when it is ready and not before. 

But when told it is ready I expect it to be clean!

[JeanKC]

3 minutes ago, PegNRay said:

But when told it is ready I expect it to be clean!

Yes to this. While I have no real objection to waiting until 4.30 for a room to be ready beyond it being a pain in the arse, if I am going to be waiting until 4.30, I do expect a 100% clean room with everything fully ready. No bins with any rubbish, no errant hairs belonging to former occupants, no toe nail clippings, etc. And to say anything less than that is acceptable is well.......unacceptable. 

[Hogladyrider]

WOWZA!

[vacation44]

3 minutes ago, JeanKC said:

Yes to this. While I have no real objection to waiting until 4.30 for a room to be ready beyond it being a pain in the arse, if I am going to be waiting until 4.30, I do expect a 100% clean room with everything fully ready. No bins with any rubbish, no errant hairs belonging to former occupants, no toe nail clippings, etc. And to say anything less than that is acceptable is well.......unacceptable. 

Agree.   

[UKstages]

as mentioned upthread, the comparison to a land-based hotel is not apt, unless check out time at that land-based hotel is 9:30 am. most hotels have checkout times of 11 am or noon. also, at any given time, there are a certain percentage of elite members of the hotel’s  loyalty program who actually enjoy the privilege of late checkout, often as late as 2 or 3 pm. in addition, it would be rare for all the guests in a hotel to check out en masse on one day. many of the rooms assigned to one housekeeping person on a given day are simply refreshed and not prepared for a new guest. also, not for nuthin’, but most of the largest land-based hotels do not have three or four thousand rooms. most do not have even two thousand rooms. 

 

NCL’s checkout time is usually around 9:30 at the latest, many guests are out of their rooms by 8 am, NCL offers no late checkout option for elite latitudes members… and most importantly, all NCL guests check out at virtually the same time on the same day.

 

so, to point out that hotels don’t guarantee rooms will be ready until 3 or 4 pm doesn’t mean much when you remember that they had two fewer hours to make those rooms ready, since checkout time is generally 11am and they have some people staying till midafternoon. 

 

if we want to make an apples to apples comparison to a land-based hotel (and I don’t see why we would), the only metrics that matter are number of hours available for turnaround, current occupancy levels, number of rooms in the hotel, and, most importantly, the number of rooms each attendant is expected to clean, and how many of those will be prepared for new guests, as opposed to the current occupant.

 

of course, none of this matters much if the hotel or cruise line has hired the correct number of employees and given them a proper workload based on historical occupancy and performance data, as well as the tools necessary to get the job done.

Edited July 11, 2023 by UKstages

[insidecabin]

Last few NCL vacate cabins by 8am.

[omahabob]

6 hours ago, UKstages said:

sadly, you’ve fallen prey to a myth… that somehow a magical shortage of labor has developed in the “job marketplace.” there is no shortage of labor… there is a shortage of companies willing to fairly compensate employees. if you pay them fairly and provide good working conditions, people will apply for jobs. it really is as simple as that.

You've fallen for a myth as well. It's true that there is no shortage of people. The problem is there's a shortage of people willing to work. I've seen numerous employers across different industries raise offered wages repeatedly, but they still can't find people. Our society has evolved to the point that it's a simple matter to get along without having a job, so people just don't. But that's not a topic for this forum.
 

As I said before, feel free to correct me about what NCL has done. I am by no means infallible. But I haven't yet seen anything to back up your claims. I can provide links to what I said earlier, but I thought you were already aware of it.

[omahabob]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

...if we want to make an apples to apples comparison to a land-based hotel (and I don’t see why we would), the only metrics that matter are number of hours available for turnaround, current occupancy levels, number of rooms in the hotel, and, most importantly, the number of rooms each attendant is expected to clean, and how many of those will be prepared for new guests, as opposed to the current occupant.....

Toenails. You forgot to factor in the number of toenails.

[The Traveling Man]

I only have read through the first couple of pages of this thread, so please forgive me if this already has been addressed by others.  My wife and I have reduced our annual average number of cruises significantly since the post-COVID resumption of sailing.  Many of the few cruises which we have taken recently have featured some of the same minor irritants which have been mentioned by others on this forum.  That includes rooms not thoroughly cleaned or not made up until late in the afternoon, slow service at restaurants and bars, reduced entertainment options or a general decline in the quality of the entertainment, less bang for the buck, etc.  It seems to us that cruising simply is not as much fun as it was a few years ago.  That's just our perception, YMMV.

 

We used to always try to arrive early for check-in, hoping our Latitudes status would help us be among the first on board.  That way we could make any last minute reservations before the majority of other passengers got on board.  It also let us be among the first to be seated for lunch on embarkation day.  We try to minimize the size of our carry-on luggage, but we still preferred to drop off our backpacks in our room before heading to lunch.

 

We likely will amend our standard practice in light of the recent changes.  In future we probably will not worry about getting on board in time for lunch.  Instead, we will wait until about noon to check out of our pre-cruise hotel, then have lunch near our hotel before catching a ride to the port.  Arriving at the terminal later in the afternoon should mean we will avoid the long lines at check-in.  We'll need to be sure to book our specialty dining reservations well in advance, of course, and we may miss out on preferred reservation times for some entertainment options, but at least our rooms will be more likely to be ready when we arrive on board.  Yes, we'll have to pay extra for lunch on that first day, and we won't be able to start using our beverage package quite as early as we otherwise could, but avoiding the hassle may be worth it.  We will try to maintain an even keel while setting our expectations a bit lower than we would prefer.  If these changes in our usual plans still leave us feeling that NCL has come up short in the area of service, we still have the option of asking that our DSC be reduced in proportion to the level of disappointment we encounter.  Anyway, that's our plan for our B2B cruise on the Dawn this October.  I'll let you know how it works out.

[The Traveling Man]

23 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

NCL needs to have extra local staff to help out getting the rooms ready on Embarkation day.

That sounds like an intriguing idea.  I wonder if there actually is a way for them to do something like that.  Airlines do it already.  They have a service crew that comes on board the plane after it lands, sometimes even before the last passenger has exited.  They pick up the trash, clean the seating areas (or at least make an attempt), replenish any needed supplies, then exit, usually before the cabin attendants for the next flight have even made it on board.  Of course, the airlines have dozens or even hundreds of flights each day arriving at most of the airports they serve.  Cruise lines might have only one or two ships making a turnaround at any given port, and then perhaps only one or two days a week.  Still, it's an interesting suggestion.

[dbrown84]

6 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

That sounds like an intriguing idea.  I wonder if there actually is a way for them to do something like that.  Airlines do it already.  They have a service crew that comes on board the plane after it lands, sometimes even before the last passenger has exited.  They pick up the trash, clean the seating areas (or at least make an attempt), replenish any needed supplies, then exit, usually before the cabin attendants for the next flight have even made it on board.  Of course, the airlines have dozens or even hundreds of flights each day arriving at most of the airports they serve.  Cruise lines might have only one or two ships making a turnaround at any given port, and then perhaps only one or two days a week.  Still, it's an interesting suggestion.

honestly, I thought they used to do this.  I think it's a wonderful idea 

[insidecabin]

35 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

That sounds like an intriguing idea.  I wonder if there actually is a way for them to do something like that.  Airlines do it already.  They have a service crew that comes on board the plane after it lands, sometimes even before the last passenger has exited.  They pick up the trash, clean the seating areas (or at least make an attempt), replenish any needed supplies, then exit, usually before the cabin attendants for the next flight have even made it on board.  Of course, the airlines have dozens or even hundreds of flights each day arriving at most of the airports they serve.  Cruise lines might have only one or two ships making a turnaround at any given port, and then perhaps only one or two days a week.  Still, it's an interesting suggestion.

If all cruise lines were having the issues then there could be a market for turnaround help when it's just NCL.

 

You then have local min wages  to deal with

 

I would prefer the option to do my own room for a discount(1st day free) let me  board early say 9am(cabins vacated by 8am) would have it ready before 10am.

 

Only needs a couple of cabins for  each steward  to sign up for 2hrs work to help out doing  their own cabin and help with a few  others.

 

What about end of cruise we are never in a hurry to get off often spend an hour waiting for the mob to clear could easily strip a few cabins down and empty a few bins

[ChiefMateJRK]

8 hours ago, dallasdan said:

If this is the new norm, than embarkation should start at 2 pm.  

Can't people who this bothers just wait and board at 2 PM?  Why spoil the early drinking and eating and drinking and drinking for the rest of us?

[Greenpea2]

I love NCL. I proudly refer to myself as a Norweenie (a name a friend came up with). But seriously, folks. Rooms not ready until 4:30 AND (even if ONLY) hair and nail pieces in my cabin? Not acceptable. EW. Jinxy you have every right to be upset! Ignore the trolls and nasties. I would be upset too and I am a very easy-going person when it comes to cruising. NCL Joy fail. 

[LatinaInTexas]

9 hours ago, UKstages said:

sadly, you’ve fallen prey to a myth… that somehow a magical shortage of labor has developed in the “job marketplace.” there is no shortage of labor… there is a shortage of companies willing to fairly compensate employees. if you pay them fairly and provide good working conditions, people will apply for jobs. it really is as simple as that.

 

NCL did indeed make a conscious decision to cut staff. they did indeed have a choice and they exercised that choice. they decided to reduce housekeeping services and terminate employees or not renew contracts and to not rehire people for those employees that naturally attritted. 
 

the notion that NCL is responding to some sort of imaginary employee market condition is absurd.

This rings true tho me because I see something similar in my workplace. I work retail, have been with the same company 35 years. On any given day you can come to my store and see one register open and a few self checkouts. Add to that very few employees on the floor to take care of customers.

 

From complaints, feedback, and surveys must people think it's because of a post Covid labor shortage. It is not! We have enough people on our payroll to fully staff the store and then some.

 

But instead the store will hire people for certain job positions and tell them they can always pick up more hours in other departments if they want more hours. Then these new hires are scheduled 6-10 hours a week. Then when they ask about more hours in other departments they find out the other departments already have people scheduled with very limited hours also so there are never any so called extra hours to be had for anyone.

 

The store is filled with people wanting and willing to work but not scheduled. There is no worker shortage. What is happening is corporate is making these decisions to make budget cuts, to save money and both customers and workers are affected. Way before Covid it was decided and put into place at my workplace that the expectation was that workers were expected to take on the workload of two people with half the hours.

 

Something has to give, companies cannot keep budget cutting and keeping up the illusion that they aren't. So many people on here still buying into the illusion that's it's about labor shortage is sad. Workers arent to blame because they can't meet impossible expectations and passengers/customers arent to blame for continuing to get an inferior experience. 

 

 

[RB9643]

26 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

I love NCL. I proudly refer to myself as a Norweenie (a name a friend came up with). But seriously, folks. Rooms not ready until 4:30 AND (even if ONLY) hair and nail pieces in my cabin? Not acceptable. EW. Jinxy you have every right to be upset!

 

 

I think some here are questioning the veracity (or at least the dramatic magnitude) of the whole toenail and hair thing.  It doesn't take a NCL cheerleader to wonder...

 

 

[mugtech]

6 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

I think some here are questioning the veracity (or at least the dramatic magnitude) of the whole toenail and hair thing.  It doesn't take a NCL cheerleader to wonder...

 

 

People believe what they want to believe.

[insidecabin]

21 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

I think some here are questioning the veracity (or at least the dramatic magnitude) of the whole toenail and hair thing.  It doesn't take a NCL cheerleader to wonder...

Its happening 2 cruises in a month different ships  both with cabin turnover deficiencies.

 

One required steward rectification before we moved in properly.

The other sloppy turnover we rectified.

[ChiefMateJRK]

45 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

I think some here are questioning the veracity (or at least the dramatic magnitude) of the whole toenail and hair thing.  It doesn't take a NCL cheerleader to wonder...

 

 

Right.  Who clips their toenails on a cruise?  Do they actually pack clippers?  I clip 'em beforehand and just chill. 😎

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, RB9643 said:

 

I think some here are questioning the veracity (or at least the dramatic magnitude) of the whole toenail and hair thing.  It doesn't take a NCL cheerleader to wonder...

 

 

Why would anyone question the veracity! As for the dramatic magnitude--I heard no drama. I heard upset and a bit disgusted. Just as I would have been. The drama seems to be coming from some other folks, IMO.