What exactly does a Stateroom Hostess do?

[Terry S]

I leave on my first cruise in a month and I feel so unprepared I am starting to panic!

I was just reading a thread on tipping and I have no problem tipping, you wouldn't believe how many people I tip for touching my luggage, I am just curious as to what exactly these people do?

What does a Stateroom Hostess do?

How many Servers do we need and what do they all do? i.e. Server, Assistant Server and Head Server?

Thanks again!

 

[kajohn]

Stateroom hosts are the people who clean your room. They come in twice a day, first in the morning, they will clean the bathrooms, change towels all the usual stuff. Then while you are at dinner, they will pick up again, change towels if needed, turn the bed down, leave the next days navigator, and usually leave a cute towel animal some where.

They also will get you anything you need, re: ice, etc. When my son got something on his pants, I gave them to him and he had them cleaned, and then he brought them back the next day. (there was a charge for this, but he handled it all)

Service on a ship is much different than in hotels and resorts. They basically cater to you 24/7 all week! To me, it's is the best part about cruising!

Also, the waiter gets the meal's and is basically in charge, the assistant waiter, brings drinks, and caters to anything else you need. The head waiter is in charge of all the waiters in his section, brings cakes for special occasions, and checks to make sure everything is going ok.

Have a great cruise!!!

 

[BeanoC]

A stateroom hostess in essentially a maid... they make up your room, make the beds, clean the bathrooms, replentish the towels and soaps, etc. They work their butts off and earn every cent of their tips, IMO.

You have 3 servers, just as you worded it - Server, assistant server, head server.

From our experiences, your server does most of the work; calls the kids by name, remembers your favorite drinks, etc. We have always tipped them a bit higher than the suggested rate, except for one particular cruise, when our wait staff was absolutely horrible. When that happens, I do not hesitate to tip much less.
The assistant server is mostly handling drinks - he refills your water, takes any cocktail orders, and brings coffee after the meal.

The head server oversees groups of servers, makes sure everyone is happy, and otherwise just goes around the dining room smiling and waving at people! We have only had one head server whom we felt did much for us, and he was tipped accordingly. He made it very clear that if there was ANYTHING we wanted, tell him and he would make it happen. We did in fact make a couple of special requests of him, and he came through wonderfully both times!

Feel free to use your own judgement based on their performance; otherwise just go by Disney's suggested rates.
These people survive on tips, so most of them try very hard to make sure you're happy.


'Beano'

 

[Terry S]

Thank you both. Like I said, I have no problem tipping, and I usually tip very well, I was just curious as to what they did. Thanks for the explanations. Just one las question. When do you tip? And do you hand it right to the person or leave it somewhere?

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

Hi Terry.

When do you tip?

The night before the last day.

do you hand it right to the person or leave it somewhere?

I believe practically everyone hands it to the person. If you intend to leave the tip somewhere, your best bet would be to leave it in their hand...

 

[TnRobin]

the night before you last night on board, your Stateroom host will leave envelopes in your room to place your tips in. You can then put in your tip (or if you like you can charge them to your room and guest service will supply a tip slip to put in the envelope). I usually try to catch the stateroom host between dinner and the show on the last night. I usually tip the dining room staff at dinner the last night.

 

[Terry S]

Thanks Robin, I was a bit confused because I had read on another post about going to guest services to charge your tips. That is why I asked the question about when to tip and if we give it to them. Now I understand that if you want to charge the tips, they will give you a slip to put in the envelope. And since they give you envelopes, now I know I don't have to bring envelopes like I normally do for mousekeeping! Thanks again!