Discusting

[Guy, Ormskirk]

It's a forum, we can talk about what we like, threads often change direction..Carol

Thought we were talking about bed linen and pillows?

[Happy, Wolverhampton]

Had a wonderful pre-Christmas trip on QE....we slept very well and particularly loved the pillows. I removed the pillow slip to see if I could find the brand label of the pillow,there was no label but the pillow itself was pristine. Just what I expect of Cunard !! :-)

I purchased Cunard pillows a couple of years ago. I phoned Cunard to ask the name of their supplier and then phoned the supplier, they said they did not supply to the public but made an exception to past Cunard passengers.

[andyn, Bucks]

I have always been happy with the pillow case and bed linen cleanliness, I see no reason to pull them apart to check inside.
Not sure how the cruiselines can win here, moans about cleanliness, yet it seems the majority on here want to turn up before their allocated boarding time and get on and in their cabin asap. Most hotels and holiday accomodation will not let you in before 3pm to ensure that the rooms are thoroughly cleaned. Could imagine the uproar if cruiselines did the same.

[Mrs M]

I have always been happy with the pillow case and bed linen cleanliness, I see no reason to pull them apart to check inside.
Not sure how the cruiselines can win here, moans about cleanliness, yet it seems the majority on here want to turn up before their allocated boarding time and get on and in their cabin asap. Most hotels and holiday accomodation will not let you in before 3pm to ensure that the rooms are thoroughly cleaned. Could imagine the uproar if cruiselines did the same.

Works both ways.
Hotel check out is usually 11am although frequent guests can often get a 1pm [or later] late check out.
Ships staff often make a start on the cabin [with occupant's permission] whilst the occupant is at breakfast which can be as early as 6.30am; chucking out time usually being around 8am.
That, to my mind, gives hotel and ship a similar turnaround window, the only difference being, a hotel rarely has a 100% turnaround.

No excuses for unsavoury basics.

So saying, we had cause to ask housekeeping to strip a bed in a well known 4* hotel and a very young man came to do it. In doing so, we found the mattress was absolutely disgusting.

The young man was mortified but had no authority to do anything other than re make the bed so we called for the night manager and asked [told] him to change the mattress or change our room and by the way, we would be looking at the mattress as a matter of course. He realised he had to do something [maybe my camera, which was prominently displayed on the bedside cabinet, might have been an incentive] even at that time of night and at 11.00pm,he had the mattress changed and the room cleaned again [room was fine] whilst we 'enjoyed' the hotel's hospitality in the bar.

Breakfast was also 'on the house'. If we had placed our photos on something like Trip Advisor, it would have done the hotel no good whatsoever and full marks to the Manager for alleviating the situation but, it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I remarked on one of my reviews [Cunard], QV] how diligent the crew were, cleaning everywhere all the time. A young man seemed to spend his days just cleaning the brass stair rails, and he did so with a continually sunny countenance.

[Wilba]

I have always been happy with the pillow case and bed linen cleanliness, I see no reason to pull them apart to check inside.
Not sure how the cruiselines can win here, moans about cleanliness, yet it seems the majority on here want to turn up before their allocated boarding time and get on and in their cabin asap. Most hotels and holiday accomodation will not let you in before 3pm to ensure that the rooms are thoroughly cleaned. Could imagine the uproar if cruiselines did the same.

Andy, the facts are that there always used to be two stewards per cabin on just about any cruiseline you cared to mention, the main man and an assistant.

The cabins were considerably cleaner in those days, you only have to look under the bed to guess at the last time a vacuum cleaner was put to good use on pretty well every ship you board these days..............Wilba

[andyn, Bucks]

Like you say though, not usually a 100% turnroud. Those that I can think of, usually the packaged hotels or something like Butlins, are much stricter on vacating rooms and when you can be allowed the keys. Not been on MSC or Costa but could their rooms be cleaner rooms as they only have a reduced number to thoroughly clean at each port?
A lot of mentions about not seeing public areas being cleaned, you might find that a lot of it is done while you are sleeping. I am often up early and have seen many crew around the ship maintaining and scrubbing the decks. Have also seen passengers complaining when certain areas were roped off for maintenance, again, damned if they do or don't.

[andyn, Bucks]

Andy, the facts are that there always used to be two stewards per cabin on just about any cruiseline you cared to mention, the main man and an assistant.

The cabins were considerably cleaner in those days, you only have to look under the bed to guess at the last time a vacuum cleaner was put to good use on pretty well every ship you board these days..............Wilba

The first time I stepped foot on a cruiseship was 6/7 years ago so have no idea about previous cleanliness and have never had two stewards. So are we saying that declining standards aren't a recent cost cutting exercise but have been going on for 10 years....more?

[Wilba]

The first time I stepped foot on a cruiseship was 6/7 years ago so have no idea about previous cleanliness and have never had two stewards. So are we saying that declining standards aren't a recent cost cutting exercise but have been going on for 10 years....more?

Just done a quick check back through my history and the last time I can recall two stewards was 2005 on a Carnival ship.

P&O always had two per cabin but I had a long break in cruising with them during 2000 - 2010, so I'm not sure when they ceased............Wilba

[andyn, Bucks]

Lots of moans about little tweaks here and there to save money, but that one is massive. Lucky the forum wasn't around then, cutting the number of stewards in half would have sent this forum into meltdown. Over time what should be obvious is a dwindling crew to passenger ratio, which would be a good pointer to declining service/standards

[All at sea, Yorks]

There's less evidence of cost cutting on Celebrity....on our last three cruises we have had two cabin stewards on each trip...and two butlers!

[B&D, Shepton Mallet]

Just done a quick check back through my history and the last time I can recall two stewards was 2005 on a Carnival ship.

P&O always had two per cabin but I had a long break in cruising with them during 2000 - 2010, so I'm not sure when they ceased............Wilba

On our recent cruise we did have 2 stewards. Beryl

[annie, Glasgow]

Like you say though, not usually a 100% turnroud. Those that I can think of, usually the packaged hotels or something like Butlins, are much stricter on vacating rooms and when you can be allowed the keys. Not been on MSC or Costa but could their rooms be cleaner rooms as they only have a reduced number to thoroughly clean at each port?
A lot of mentions about not seeing public areas being cleaned, you might find that a lot of it is done while you are sleeping. I am often up early and have seen many crew around the ship maintaining and scrubbing the decks. Have also seen passengers complaining when certain areas were roped off for maintenance, again, damned if they do or don't.

I have never sailed Costa and only used MSC for long repo cruises - I don't recall any issue re cabin cleanliness.

However for public areas, MSC always have a cleaning crew working 24/7.

I have just returned from a SA land trip which included a safari segment. The staff:guest ratio was 2:1. There is no way a cruise ship with a passenger list of 2000 could afford the payroll bill for 4000 staff

Annie

[andyn, Bucks]

There's less evidence of cost cutting on Celebrity....on our last three cruises we have had two cabin stewards on each trip...and two butlers!

Does it not still count as cost cutting if its not part of the standard service but needs to be paid extra for.....I am assuming extra stewards and butlers don't come free

[Wilba]

Does it not still count as cost cutting if its not part of the standard service but needs to be paid extra for.....I am assuming extra stewards and butlers don't come free

When the cruiselines all had two stewards the expected/advised tipping rate was half price for the assistant...........Wilba

[andyn, Bucks]

So do those that have been on Celebrity, with 2 stewards (and butlers) tip all of them separately. Or would they, using auto grats, be tipping each steward less than those with one steward and no butlers.