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What are your examples of crew members going "above and beyond"?


Matt

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My best example, unfortunately, is on Celebrity (not Royal Caribbean) and it was a while ago. 

My daughter was 4 years old and only wanted pasta with red sauce on that trip.  At the time, pasta wasn't on the kids menu.  There was a rotating pasta on the adult menu, but the sauce varied.  But our wait staff said this was no problem, they were always able to find her some red sauce for her pasta, no matter what was on the menu.

The odd thing was, on the "off menu" nights, the pasta would come with the rest of our dinner, and then the red sauce would come a minute or two later.

Eventually towards the end of the cruise, the wait staff confessed.  On days where my daughters preferred pasta sauce was not available in the MDR, the assistant waiter would drop everything and run up to the buffet restaurant and grab some red sauce from the pasta station up at the oceanview cafe!

 

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On the Harmony in August debarkation day CK was packed and breakfast coming out delayed. By the time we finished the concierges were done with their 3rd and final escort downstairs. I asked if there were any more and was told no, they were done. No worries, we gathered our things and made our way to wait for elevator. The concierges came out and said they would make an exception and do one more! We were wisked off in lightening speed. Very very kind, in no way did they have to do that. 

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On Liberty a week ago, we went to Johnny Rocket’s for our autistic son’s 31st birthday.   Our waiter figured it out, discreetly checked with us, and came out with a piece of cake with a candle in it.  He and another waiter sang happy birthday.  
 

I’m not sure where he got the piece of cake, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there at Johnny Rocket’s. 

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My wife loves chocolate croissants. At some point during our 7 nights on Indy in July, I think she mentioned it to the server who puts out the DL breakfast pastries b/c we hadn't seen any all trip in any of the locations we would normally find them.

I went up to get coffee from the machine on one of the last mornings and there was a covered plate sitting on the concierge's desk. The server finally came across some chocolate croissants, remembered, and set aside about 5 of them for my wife.

Small gesture but definitely above & beyond to me given that we had barely spoken to him. It's not like he was our stateroom attendant and we had gotten to know him over the course of a week.

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I think for me it's any crew member that makes me feel special. I've experienced this with a Head Waiter on Jewel, Waiter team on Freedom and a Bartender on Oasis. They took the time to get to know me/spend time with me, to spoil me with extras and of course make my experience even better.  Maybe that's my love language. I appreciate that more. 

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A slot machine mechanic in the Casino gave us a detailed explanation of why my wife didn't receive all of her "winnings" on a slot machine.  It turned out she was playing with the Casino's money, not her own, and she hadn't won enough yet to receive all of the promotion.  Along the way he explained how he got all the information from the slot machine.

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I'm not sure if the entertainment is considered "crew" but Darla Fox  went above and beyond as a pub singer.  She was engaging and entertaining and understood what her job was.  She made it a point to learn requested songs for our group and would come back later in the cruise and play them for us.  She made an effort to get to know her audience and interacted with them more than I've seen any other entertainer on a cruise ship ever do.  

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A concierge (Dudley), currently on Mariner, who went way out of his way to ensure there were gluten free appetizers for my wife in the suite lounge.

 

A suite lounge bartender, ( @Matt remembers him on Serenade) who went all over the ship looking for PowerAde for my son.

 

An MDR assistant waiter who we saw a lot in the Windjammer, too, who bought my son a toy when she found out it was his birthday (he turned 3 on a cruise). It's been a long time so I don't remember her name.

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Quoting myself from my post-Oasis review here:

Every night for dessert, my youngest wanted chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  I don’t know what it was about those cookies (I mean, they WERE tasty!), but he was OBSESSED with them.  So dinner comes and goes, and right near the end of our entree, a table of 12 comes in without reservations.  It was fairly slow, so of course they were seated, but our server Amilia and another server (Alma, who we also had several times throughout the week) were assigned to cover the unexpected large party.  Amilia came over to take our dessert order, and of course my youngest orders cookies.  A few minutes later, she comes back to tell us that they’re out of cookies in CK, but not to worry, she called down the MDR galley and they’re going to send up some fresh ones. About ten minutes pass, and no desserts, and Amilia and Alma are really hustling to cover the large party plus their other tables.  Fifteen minutes now, and Amilia comes flying out of the back, all of our desserts in hand.  She then proceeds to APOLOGIZE to us for the wait, no one from the MDR ever showed up, so she had Alma cover the large party on her own for a few minutes and ran down there herself to get ONE ORDER OF COOKIES FOR A SEVEN YEAR OLD.  We apologized to her and told her she didn’t have to do that, we could have just run to the Windjammer or the MDR or even ordered them to the cabin from room service!  Without batting an eye, she just matter of factly stated, “There’s no way I was going to let him leave on his last night without his cookies.”  And THAT ladies in gentlemen is why two chocolate chip cookies perfectly encapsulate why this cruise impressed me so much.  Disappointing him even in a minor way simply was not an option for them.

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Last September on the Symphony I had quite a few things happen.  First we were at Izumi's and we asked if they had Yummy Yummy sauce to the waitress, most places have it at their Hibachi.  She went in the back and came back with sauce that one of the cooks made by looking the recipe on his phone, made the meal so much better.  Next we had Jamie's booked before we board, but till it was coming up on the night realized that was the 2nd formal night in the dinning room, which means that was lobster night and would miss it.  Was a little bummed, the waiter always asked if he would see us the next night, but told him we would be going to Jamie's and bummed we were missing lobster night.  We are sitting there our apps come that we ordered and then our main dish comes out.  A few minutes later our waiter comes back with 4 lobster tails and said the head waiter sent these up for us.  I cut it up and put some in my pasta dish, so awesome.  Just like Matt has said in his video's if you watch, just ask crew for whatever you see fit that might not be too out of bounds and they try to do what they can for you.  With that being said we threw some extra cash to the people that went above and beyond for us

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Too many to mention-

 

In 2010 the first year Bud Light Lime was available towards the end of the cruise the pub ran out. Our server disappeared after taking our order and he came back maybe 10 minutes later( an unusually long time) walking down the promenade. He appeared a bit sweaty and then apologized.  He had gone to 5 different bars looking for the beer.

 

2. My ex-wife ordered a malibu and coke on the Rising Tide bar on the Allure in 2012. The bar tender apologized as he only had Parrot Bay. He offered a free shot for her to sample. She didn't like it.   He then delayed the departure of the bar ( that sounds funny to say..) and ran to another bar to get the correct shot. He didn't charge us due to the inconvenience. 

 

3. On the Harmony in 2017- my ex was a no-show for dinner. Our server in the MDR doted on our entire family. We were a big group, and loved the fact that even though we were Star Class we opted to eat with our big family 5 nights out of 7... Anyway, our server wondered where my ex was. I said she had a bout of seasickness. Just towards the end of our meal, our server returned with a cut up plate of green apples. She told me to take them back to our room. She then informed me that green apples are a natural seasickness remedy. I said to her " there's no apples on the menu- where did you get these??" ( knowing full well her slightly extended absence was due to her running up to the WJ to grab an apple.... She then said " Oh Mr Taylor ( Folks from the Caribbean can't pronounce my name more often than not..) don't you worry about it. You take care of your wife and these will help."

 

I'm on the Liberty in 8 days. I'm sure I'll have more examples then..

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On Oasis and I requested a memory foam topper to go on top of the hard bed.  I was told they had no such thing.  The stateroom attendant did his best to make the bed more comfortable  but I found no real comfort snd didn’t have the heart to ask again. Just prior to the second week of our B2B I went to find the location of my new cabin and ran into our soon to be new stateroom attendant.  He inquired of any special requests.  I mentioned having had a memory foam mattress on Oasis in May and how I could not sleep comfortably on the regular mattress.  When we moved into our new cabin my side of the bed was quite comfy, great for my back.   The attendant inquired if all was well and he showed me how he doctored my side of the bed with mattress pads and blankets.  He was one of the nicest attendants I ever met.  I really enjoyed chatting with him.

August on Oasis my stateroom attendant was able to find me one of the “nonexistent” /hard to find memory foam toppers.  She was more than thrilled when after I had made a discreet inquiry about CoCocay chicken sandwiches snd her favorite canned drink that she received a bag of snack shack chicken sandwiches and cokes.  She too was a super nice attendant and chatty

Both attendants received more than my normal extra tip.  I know not all attendants can have the time to chat, but it sure was my pleasure that they took their time to do so. 

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when we have been fortunate/able to eat in coastal kitchen on our sailings, there is a black truffle butter pasta that i weep over. it's not even the pasta itself as much as it is the sauce.

i said something (probably several somethings, i'll be honest) to our server the first night we were dining there and then, of course, on the night of the pasta itself, i nearly wept with joy. the chefs came out at one point and made their way over to our table and i let them know how much i enjoyed it, that it is my favorite dish in all of CK and that i could now die happy, having been reunited with my favorite dish on the seas. (i wish i could tell you i was joking, but in something that will come as a shock to literally no one -- i am in fact, this dramatic/honest in real life.)

for the remaining nights of the cruise, i had black truffle butter pasta for dinner. it was dealer's choice on the kind of pasta itself, but that sauce is the ULTIMATE. 😍

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This was on our last cruise.

After getting the first towel animal, I left a cute note saying I wanted to keep it, success in used to royal breaking them down the next morning. For the rest of the 8-night cruise we had towel animals every night. This is our fifth cruise and we've *never* had animals every night. It's a small thing but coming back every night to see an adorable animal on the bed waiting for me had me smiling every night.

I know it's not as big as waiters running all over the ship (though once on our first cruise we didn't know the mdr didn't have freestyle machines hiding in the back so we asked for soda unique to them in our cups and the waiter did run to the machine up two decks to fill them) but it still was really nice.

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Daughter, 7 at the time, decided to try the climbing wall.  She did ok but just could not get past one point and was frustrated.  Next time she came to try again, one of the (female) sports staff put on the harness and climbed alongside her, pointing out where to put the foot or where to grab, and eventually literally pushing dd's bottom up to help through the challenging spot (there were no other people waiting).

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Way too many to remember. Going ‘above and beyond’ seems to be their normal starting point…and then they go from there! 
I have experienced virtually everything mentioned above; 

Servers going out of their way to provide me with something not available in their restaurant.

Bartenders who always remember my name…my drink preference…even making perfect recommendations to try something new based on my taste.

Concierges who never fail getting me a last minute reservation….’I’ll make it happen!’

Loyalty Ambassadors who always seem to find the time to take care of an issue and then personally follow up.

Cabin attendants who are always trying to do more. Little extras without even being asked. Everything from bath items and extra hangers, pillows, ice…and always smiling!

*** Quick example: I happened to see a chef walking towards Jaime’s on the Anthem right before opening time. I quickly mentioned to her (Chef Sharon) how much I loved the food. She then brought me into the closed restaurant and had her entire kitchen staff come out to meet me. That was an amazing experience to see the smiles and appreciation from those who work ‘back of house’.

I have cruised many times. The one constant that I have learned is…be polite, respectful and appreciative to the crew. Try to spend a moment or two with as many as possible…learn their ‘real’ names (not the easy-to-pronounce nickname). Show empathy and interest in their work and whatever personal story they wish to share. Many spend eight months, or more with extensions, at sea…working seven days a week. They are there to serve us…but I like to think maybe giving a little back is the right thing to do.

**I wonder if they have stories of guests who go ‘above and beyond’.

Enjoy your cruise!

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8 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

This was on our last cruise.

After getting the first towel animal, I left a cute note saying I wanted to keep it, success in used to royal breaking them down the next morning. For the rest of the 8-night cruise we had towel animals every night. This is our fifth cruise and we've *never* had animals every night. It's a small thing but coming back every night to see an adorable animal on the bed waiting for me had me smiling every night.

i LIVE for the towel animals!!!!

once, we had a small little mouse (?) like towel animal that i perched on my shoulder and took a picture of -- had never seen such a small/compact animal before!

1.thumb.jpg.4de46fb92bb64a973321dc6cb36d4bc0.jpg

coming back to the cabin to see them at night is ALWAYS a perk, 100 percent agree!! also, a few times, i think they have put googly eyes on them, which always made me laugh 😍

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1 hour ago, asquared17 said:

i LIVE for the towel animals!!!!

once, we had a small little mouse (?) like towel animal that i perched on my shoulder and took a picture of -- had never seen such a small/compact animal before!

1.thumb.jpg.4de46fb92bb64a973321dc6cb36d4bc0.jpg

coming back to the cabin to see them at night is ALWAYS a perk, 100 percent agree!! also, a few times, i think they have put googly eyes on them, which always made me laugh 😍

I love coming back to my cabin and finding a towel animal sitting on my bed, looking very comfortable with towel feet crossed…wearing my sunglasses…either reading the next day’s Cruise Compass, or watching TV.😎

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Too many to mention, but one that stands out is this last year. I did two cruises on Navigator in fairly quick succession this last year.  A 7-day in November, and a 3-day in January.  I apparently spent far too much time in the Schooner Bar because not only did the bartenders remember me, and called me by name, but they remembered how to make the 'Kat-tini' that I had showed them how to make in November.  Wow!

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1 hour ago, BeachGal said:

Too many to mention, but one that stands out is this last year. I did two cruises on Navigator in fairly quick succession this last year.  A 7-day in November, and a 3-day in January.  I apparently spent far too much time in the Schooner Bar because not only did the bartenders remember me, and called me by name, but they remembered how to make the 'Kat-tini' that I had showed them how to make in November.  Wow!

what's in the kat-tini?? 😊

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19 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

This was on our last cruise.

After getting the first towel animal, I left a cute note saying I wanted to keep it, success in used to royal breaking them down the next morning. For the rest of the 8-night cruise we had towel animals every night. This is our fifth cruise and we've *never* had animals every night. It's a small thing but coming back every night to see an adorable animal on the bed waiting for me had me smiling every night.

I love the towel animals! And love that Royal committed to continuing delivering them when NCL decided to stop a while back. In an article I read about Royal continuing them they said they deliver them every other night, but the stateroom attendants have discretion to provide them more frequently based on request or "guest enjoyment", so your thank you note likely played into getting them every night.

Sadly, my last cruise was a 3 night, so I only got one towel animal, but it was a super cute elephant - and was the highlight of my album when sharing with friends and family. I was already thinking about bringing along things to leave notes for some of the amazing staff (including appreciation for the towel animals that may be left), probably will be a sure thing after hearing of your enjoyment from it.

IMG_0789.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

My attendant has done them every night after the first, so 3 in a row. She didn't break then down once I moved to the chair.

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That's awesome! I'm sure moving them to an area to be enjoyed like that helps show that you like them and don't want them broken down. Looks like that chair has plenty of room to add to the menagerie.

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So many examples, but the most recent was that my husband had taken his tux to be altered before we left and somehow his tux shirt did not get back into the suit bag. So there we were recently onboard with cummerbund, bowtie, shiny shoes and jewelry, but NO  white tux shirt. 😿 Out of desperation I asked the concierges if they still have shirts onboard from when they rented them out while knowing that my chance was about .00032343% of that happening.  It turns out that she knew the tailor on the ship and called him. Within 15 minutes he met us in our cabin, measured my husband for a shirt and left.  Within 15 additional minutes he returned with a tux shirt that fit my husband freshly pressed and ready to wear.

 

There are often many who go above and beyond  - the other concierge made sure to leave her phone with me whenever she could so I could use her hot spot when we were on the ship while in port because the wifi was completely dead and we really needed to reach family and the pet sitter on occasion. There’s some unfriendly staff around on ships at times. but there are tons of super kind and helpful staff on the ships in my experience. We try to remember them in extra ways as best we can.

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Lets face it...Most the meals in the Main dinning room are just about the same thing...Ship to ship and cruise to cruise.  We have mention to our waiter's and our head waiter on our last two cruises, that we love Indian curry dishes.  They have brought us a fantastic dish every night with dinner...Most of the time from the crew mess.

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23 hours ago, asquared17 said:

coming back to the cabin to see them at night is ALWAYS a perk, 100 percent agree!! also, a few times, i think they have put googly eyes on them, which always made me laugh 😍

We had googly eyes on every one but the swans 🤩

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12 hours ago, Jack805 said:

 I was already thinking about bringing along things to leave notes for some of the amazing staff (including appreciation for the towel animals that may be left), probably will be a sure thing after hearing of your enjoyment from it.

We use a dry erase board on the inside of the cabin door to communicate with our stateroom attendant - has worked great 2 out of 2 cruises so far.

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On our last cruse to Alaska on the Radiance of the Seas...You could not find a cup of coffee anywhere on the ship before 0600 except from room service.  We are early risers and enjoy drinking coffee and watching the sunrise.  We ordered coffee the first day from room service after we couldn't find any.  The guy who delivered it asked if we would like our coffee at the same time everyday...We said yes we would love that.  He delivered it every mourning at 0500 and we didn't have to request it.  We tipped him very well every morning!

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6 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

We had googly eyes on every one but the swans 🤩

20220826_211933.thumb.jpg.8f3059faaa089f9187c9654a4b215631.jpg

 

We use a dry erase board on the inside of the cabin door to communicate with our stateroom attendant - has worked great 2 out of 2 cruises so far.

i am DYING over this farm of animals!!!!! this is so fun 🤩

good idea about the dry erase board! i am going to order one now - thank you so much for sharing this tip!!

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