Your cruise ship cabin will be cleaned and tidied up every day, but I changed when I asked to have my room done.
Royal Caribbean made a change a few years ago to go from twice a day cleaning to just once for standard rooms. When you meet your stateroom attendant on the first day, they'll ask when you want your room serviced.
I cruise at least once a month, so I've tried both morning and evening cleaning times. I can see the benefits of both, but I've decided that evening cleaning just works better.
While there is one major issue with taking evening service on short cruises, nonetheless, I think it's still the better choice because it aligns better with the cruise schedule.
Before you choose your time, here's why I recommend telling your room attendant to come back at night.
Passengers can choose to have their room cleaned in the morning or evening
If you're in an inside, oceanview, or balcony room, your cabin will be cleaned once a day.
This means your cabin steward will come into your room to make your bed, sanitize the bathroom, empty the trash, replace towels, and vacuum.
Before you think having daily cabin cleanings isn't important, I can tell you it makes a nice difference to have your room tidied up because of how small the space is. Plus, having towels replenished and the bed made daily is wonderful.
You can always change your mind later in the cruise by asking the stateroom attendant to switch it up.
It's been my experience if you don't run into your cabin attendant on the first day, they generally assume they'll clean your cabin in the morning. But that's not an official policy, just my observation.
I think evening cleanings are more convenient
I've had my stateroom cleaned in both morning and evenings, and I really think evening is the way to go.
In order for your room to be cleaned, you need to be out of the way and out of the room. You can still get fresh towels if you're in the room, but you need to be elsewhere for the proper cleaning to occur.
I find mornings on a cruise can be when you'd want to sleep in, especially on sea days. Having to get out of the room so they can clean can sometimes diminish the "we're taking it easy today" mood.
Stateroom attendants will usually start making up rooms around 9am, and work until about noon or so. Then, they return at about 4pm to start the evening service.
I think it's more likely you'll want to be in your room in the late morning than in the evening.
Dinner and shows are a major focus of cruising, and when you get to about 5pm, there is a lot happening around the ship. Moreover, I don't think the evening hours are when a lot of people look to nap.
Plus, your cabin attendant has your dinner rotation in their schedule so they can work around it.
Essentially, I find I'm far more likely to be out of my room in the evening anyway than in the morning.
There's one problem with evening service
I'll always ask to have my cabin cleaned in the evening, but I've noticed there's an immediate downside that is made worse on short cruises.
Since your room is prepared before you board the ship on embarkation day, the next opportunity stateroom attendants will come to clean a cabin is the next day.
With an evening cleaning schedule, you won't get your room serviced for a day and a half. It was last cleaned the day before during turnaround day, and that means it's 24 hours when you get to the morning of day 2. Add another 8 hours or so for the start of the evening service.
It's not problematic, but might be an issue if your family is taking showers after going to the pool, water slides, or simply wanting to prepare for dinner.
Not to worry, your attendant can always bring extra bath towels and you can call to request more at any time.
Once you get past day two, everything evens out between morning and evening.
I recommend picking evening so it's more likely you won't need to go out of your way
Ultimately, I think most people will be out of their stateroom in the evening than in the morning. That's why evening room cleanings just make more sense to me.
If the cabin attendant comes to your room and sees you're still there, they will usually try to come back later. Plus, you can use your "Do Not Disturb" magnet and leave it on the door to avoid even a knock.
Nonetheless, I don't want to be a hindrance to their schedule, especially if I'm going to be doing something else anyway in the evening.
Avoiding morning cleanings has also been a family cruise tip, because my kids like to sleep in on sea days. Even when they're not sleeping in, they enjoy lounging in bed until we coax them to go out.
Everyone's cruise habit and schedule will vary, but I'm willing to bet most people are likely to be out of their room anyway in the evening hours than morning hours. So why not align that with your cabin cleaning time?
