Roy Disney Suite- What would you have done

[gardan]

We were on the 4 day Wonder sailing on Oct 6. The suite was
just wonderful as I had expected. There was 1 major problem
during the trip. We DID NOT get turndown service on the second
evening. At 11:30 pm i had to call guest services to come down
and lower a bunk. We traveled with our 3 children. I am not a
picky person, but I certainly would have expected better service
than this. Our stateroom hostess was very sorry that it happened and gave some excuse that she was training someone.
I personally dont think you should be training someone in a cat
1 room. I did not tip the suggested amount because of this, but
i was still fairly generous, considering what happened. What
would you have done?

 

[TootyJane]

Mistakes happen! I would have let it go and I still would have tipped the suggested amount. JMHO.

 

[mcnuss]

I'm with TootyJane.

You do have to train in the Cat. 1's, otherwise how would they learn what the duties of that particular job are?

 

[4cruisin]

Gardan,

I understand your disappointment especially considering you had the Disney suite and paid a premium price for service, but remember, everyone is human and mistakes do happen. I personally would have called for the hostess as you did, but then would have let it go since she was apologetic and I would have tipped her at least the suggested amount as long as the service was good during the rest of the trip.

When we cruised last Dec., we tipped higher than the recommended amounts because our steward and servers were great. These people work very hard, serving long hours for a better way of life for their families and themselves. Most come from countries that do not offer the opportunities that our country does. I almost felt guilty about leaving the bed unmade etc. but that is just me.

I hope you do not judge DCL by that 1 mistake and that you still had a great trip.

Once again, this is just my opinion...no flames please.

 

[disney6]

2 nights out of 7 our upper bunk was not put down but my DH just pulled it down - it is already made up. Now we were in cat. 10's but in my opinion that doesn't matter. These stewards work so hard and we are all human. We still tipped over the suggested amount as his job is hard! I personally would not want it!

We all expect excellent service, but as stated above we are ALL human and they were apologetic. I do not say this trying to make you feel bad - that certainly is not my intent. Just giving you my opinion as that is what you asked for.

Now if it happened every night and there were other issues.......

 

[chucknrita]

I personally wouldn't have even called the steward to come to my room at 11:30 p.m. How hard is it to pull a bunk down? Yes, you paid an ungodly amount of money to stay in the room and get great service, but like everyone else said, people do make mistakes. It's a shame you based her tip on this one mistake, seeing as how she was very apologetic. Just my opinion.

 

[JiminyMac]

I am new to these boards but have been lurking for a bit.

Kinda wondering what the point of your post was? Were you looking for some kind of validation for leaving a low tip? I mean, when I read that you had a MAJOR problem with the suite, I expected something huge, not that you didn't get turn down service.

 

[caseymaureen]

Garden~
In the future try to remember that the suggested tip is supposed to be the minimum amount, with more money added for great service, not taken away for a simple mistake. If you have the money to pay for this suite then you can most likely afford to leave a minimum tip. CMs must be trained on all parts of the ship, not just on the lower class cabins.

 

[gardan]

I need to clarify a few things:
1. I do realize that people make mistakes.

2. although I didnt give the recommended amount I was
certainly not stiffing her.

3. I would have lowered the bunk myself, but it needed a key.

Am I mistaken or isnt part of the room stewards job to turn down
beds and bunks and leave fresh towels? None of this was done.
To me, she did not do her job properly. I certainly am not
holding anything against DCL, but I tip based service, which I thought to be not as great as I feel we should have gotten.

I really didnt make a big deal about it to anyone, but asked to
have someone come and put the bunk down. I got calls from
the Captain and Cruise Director expressing their apology, which
shows that they do take that kind of mistake seriously.

 

[PammyK]

My philosophy is that mistakes can happen anywhere and how it gets resolved is the determining factor for me. If the problem was immediately rectified when you called and the hostess was genuinely apologetic then I probably would not have reduced the stateroom hostess's tip for a single problem that, in all honesty, I would consider relatively minor.

However, I would also prefer just a simple apology "I'm sorry, it was an inadvertant error, I'll be sure that it doesn't happen again" rather than an excuse "Well I'm sorry but you have to understand I'm training someone new blah blah blah."

Of course, the OP was there and we weren't, so maybe there were some other issues with the stateroom hostess that weren't reported here. And remember, a tip/gratuity is discretionary - only the person receiving the service can determine what amount of gratuity is appropriate in their circumstance.

 

[Carol RN]

A "major" mistake....LOL! I don't think so.

 

[Mojomanny]

You were in the middle of the ocean on one of the most beautiful cruise ships. You have wonderful shows, fresh water pools, great food and a hospitable staff. If the most horrible thing that happened during your cruise was that they did not provide turndown service, you should be thankful.

There are cruises where people have to be taken off for medical treatment.

There was cruise with a fire.

There was a cruise while 9/11 was evolving.

And you are concerned that you did not get turndown service.

I am wondering how much below the recommended amount you tipped? 10% - 20% - 30%? for merely forgetting to turndown a bed.

Did you not enjoy the cruise. Were the other services not up to your expectations. Did they make towel animals? Did they make reservations for you. Did they pamper and coddle you like you wanted?

So you beat the hostess up for part of her tip....wondering if you were looking for an excuse??

 

[4crusinransiers]

By Mojomanny

So you beat the hostess up for part of her tip....wondering if you were looking for an excuse??

this was my thought! We tipped over and beyond the tipped amount on our cruise, even though our host forgot ice we had requested, he was very busy and not once did I see these hosts or hostesses standing around talking. I think the least you should have given would be the reccomended amount.
Thats just my opinion and since you asked for others opinions by posting, I assume you will not be offended by it.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Well, this is certainly an interesting thread My humble opinion is that if she only made the one mistake during the whole cruise I wouldn't have taken any money off the tipping amount. If her service was sub-par over the whole trip I would definately bring it to the manager's attention and I wouldn't leave the whole tip. And speaking of TIP....in my book the recommended tipping amount is just that - recommended. Tipping more or less is up to your judgement. It is NOT the minimum amount but the recommended amount. If you never ordered wine during your whole cruise would you tip the wine steward??? On our last Disney Cruise we felt that everyone on the ship went above and beyond our expectations and we tipped above the recommended amount but that was our decision, no one elses. If you truly feel that your cabin person didn't deserve the total amount-that's YOUR decision. But......you must have some guilty feelings about it or you wouldn't have asked???

 

[howardk613]

We stayed in the Roy Disney suite on our 1st cruise and in the Walt Disney suite on our 2nd cruise and in fact we will be in the Walt Disney suite this very saturday for 7 days of heaven. A MAJOR problem to me would be:
- Our flight was late and we missed the ship.
- The ship sank
- One of our kids fell overboard
- My wife fell into the pool and drowned
Not getting the proper turndown service would probably fall into the minor problem category. Hopefully the offending crew member
was made to walk the plank so as to remind the rest of the crew to never let such a MAJOR problem like that ever happen again.
We can only hope and pray that our turndown servive is up to par so that our cruise will not be totally ruined.

 

[caseymaureen]

CindyLuWho~ Not tipping the recommended amount to a wine steward whose services you did not require is different than not tipping the recommended amount to a hostess who worked on your room every day of your trip.

 

[lruggiero]

I have to agree with most...

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So you beat the hostess up for part of her tip....wondering if you were looking for an excuse??
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If you can afford the Roy Disney Suite, you can certainly afford the "minimum" recommended tip.

 

[RellingTwin]

We did not get service one evening and I also was upset because we needed the upper bunk pulled down. It was late and we just put both kids on the couch and went to bed. The next morning I discovered the kids had put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door!!!Well...that explained that!!!

 

[markºoº]

I would not have lowered the tip below the recommended amount. When we stayed in a Cat 3, we got ok service. Nothing to complain about but nothing outstanding either.

I believe it takes much longer to service a Cat 1-2-3 than a Cat 11 yet the recommended tip doesn't change based on which Cat you are in. I thought the recommended tip was woefully low for a suite. These people work very hard and do not make a lot of money. Thus we decided to tip much more than recommended even though our service was not special.

That said, the tip is up to the individual to determine how much they wish to tip. And while it appears most posters disagree with what gardan did, it is up to him/her to decide. Gardan was just looking for input and I think some posters were too harsh in their criticism.

 

[DisnyMik]

QUOTE:
"Garden~
In the future try to remember that the suggested tip is supposed to be the minimum amount, with more money added for great service, not taken away for a simple mistake."

I disagree with this statement. I don't think it is the "minimum" amount but the "recommended" amount. You don't have to add more for "great" service. That is the discretion of the person leaving the tip. Those that leave more should not look down on those that only leave the recommended amount. Some may have saved and scraped to take their cruise and can only tip the recommended amount but it doesn't mean they are not appreciative. Sometimes I think that the veteren cruisers can be a little harsh when it comes to the tipping questions. But don't get me wrong, I definitely agree that not turning down a bed did not mean lowering the person's tip! Has he ever made a minor mistake at work and have his boss dock his pay for it? Probably not. Just MHO.