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I did my time on a cruise ship, all 6 months of it, no days off, no holiday pay, no christmas bonus, and then the rotten pricks took tipping away and implemented a "service charge" where instead of getting $200-$1500 per week per room in cash and charges, we got $75 every two weeks on our checks from the "tipping pool" and management had the gall to tell us that they weren't taking anything from the charges, but the math just didn't come out that way.
One of my more memorable experiences was a couple who had a cabin in my section; Embarkation day is really hectic, get up an hour early, get your linens and towels, prepare your trash and linen bags, arrange your cart, then hopefully everyone leaves when they're supposed to (rarely ever happens) and the whole ship has 3 hours to unload everything from the past cruise, set everything for the cruise to come, receive new cargo, mail, and all the other odds and ends, and deal with armies of SCs that are mad because they have to wait in line to go through security, got their alcohol confiscated, have to attend the "stupid, pointless, annoying lifeboat drill" (apparently they missed that part in Titanic), their rooms are too small, someone at a shop on the peir was rude to them, security wasn't freindly enough, ect.
Once all the luggage has been delivered it's time to do turndown service and that's when you find out that they want the beds seperated and the icecubes are too big and they stuffed the lifejackets in the back of the wardrobe and put their shoes in the area marked for the lifejackets, etc. To put it bluntly, I always grabbed a fresh pack of smokes before I left my rack on E-day, and that was usually gone before sunset.
two older couples traveling together had balcony cabins in my section right next to eachother, one room was pretty quiet, low maitinence, simple type of guests, they left their towels sittingwhen they wanted new ones, they made an attempt to make their own beds in the morning, and were very greatful when I saw them on their way out every morning. The other couple not so much, embarkation night when I'm just hoping everyone either declines turndown service or isn't in the room, this guy complains about there being no coffee maker in his room, I politely explain that we can't have them in every room because it causes electrical overload, and ad if there's anything I can do to make it up to them
"Well, I really like my coffee in the morning, and our freinds are real proud of theirs, so you can just take $100 a day off of my bill"
average rooms run $900, these were 7-day cruises, and the coffee wasn't that good (I know from experience, room stewards had a few more ameneties in their cabins than the rest of the crew). In a hurry, I ran down to the storeroom on deck to check for one, none available, I talked to my boss who stuttered in a very professional tone for 5 minutes then I went down to ship's stores to beg the supply master for one, and got one. The guy in the cabin didn't make cofee until the last morning, E-day, when I've got enough to do let alone reset the coffee tray and clean out the coffee maker
. and my family wonder why I didn't go back, but they only wanted me to so they got the discount rate on cruises.
One of my more memorable experiences was a couple who had a cabin in my section; Embarkation day is really hectic, get up an hour early, get your linens and towels, prepare your trash and linen bags, arrange your cart, then hopefully everyone leaves when they're supposed to (rarely ever happens) and the whole ship has 3 hours to unload everything from the past cruise, set everything for the cruise to come, receive new cargo, mail, and all the other odds and ends, and deal with armies of SCs that are mad because they have to wait in line to go through security, got their alcohol confiscated, have to attend the "stupid, pointless, annoying lifeboat drill" (apparently they missed that part in Titanic), their rooms are too small, someone at a shop on the peir was rude to them, security wasn't freindly enough, ect.
Once all the luggage has been delivered it's time to do turndown service and that's when you find out that they want the beds seperated and the icecubes are too big and they stuffed the lifejackets in the back of the wardrobe and put their shoes in the area marked for the lifejackets, etc. To put it bluntly, I always grabbed a fresh pack of smokes before I left my rack on E-day, and that was usually gone before sunset.
two older couples traveling together had balcony cabins in my section right next to eachother, one room was pretty quiet, low maitinence, simple type of guests, they left their towels sittingwhen they wanted new ones, they made an attempt to make their own beds in the morning, and were very greatful when I saw them on their way out every morning. The other couple not so much, embarkation night when I'm just hoping everyone either declines turndown service or isn't in the room, this guy complains about there being no coffee maker in his room, I politely explain that we can't have them in every room because it causes electrical overload, and ad if there's anything I can do to make it up to them
"Well, I really like my coffee in the morning, and our freinds are real proud of theirs, so you can just take $100 a day off of my bill"
average rooms run $900, these were 7-day cruises, and the coffee wasn't that good (I know from experience, room stewards had a few more ameneties in their cabins than the rest of the crew). In a hurry, I ran down to the storeroom on deck to check for one, none available, I talked to my boss who stuttered in a very professional tone for 5 minutes then I went down to ship's stores to beg the supply master for one, and got one. The guy in the cabin didn't make cofee until the last morning, E-day, when I've got enough to do let alone reset the coffee tray and clean out the coffee maker . and my family wonder why I didn't go back, but they only wanted me to so they got the discount rate on cruises.
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