Carnival Guest Upset When Cabin Attendant Ignores Do Not Disturb

A guest on a recent Carnival cruise has reached out to the cruise line’s brand ambassador, upset because their stateroom attendant ignored the do not disturb sign on the door and entered their cabin all the same.

While this may seem like a violation of guests’ privacy, it is actually part of the cruise line’s policy and the attendant was taking the appropriate steps to ensure the guests’ wellness.

Why would a cruise line ignore a do not disturb sign, and how should a guest react if this happens on their cruise vacation?

Do Not Disturb Sign Ignored

A guest on a recent Carnival cruise had their “Snoozin’” door hanger outside their stateroom, indicating they did not wish to be disturbed. To their dismay, however, their attendant knocked on the door and proceeded to enter the cabin anyway, despite the sign.

The guest – who has not been identified – reached out to John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, to notify him of the incident and express their displeasure at the sign being ignored.

“How would you like it if the cabin cleaner walked in on you John Heald. Our cleaner knocked and walked in on us ignoring the do not disturb sign we had out. This was not acceptable,” the guest wrote. “Is this how Carnival trains their workers?”

Heald, who routinely answers thousands of questions each week on his popular Facebook page, investigated the incident to determine the circumstances, and responded to the guest to explain the situation.

“I have since spoken with the Housekeeping Manager who explained what had happened. The guests had their ‘SNOOZIN’ sign out for more than 24 hours. So it is company policy that we check the safety and well being of the guests and that is what happened here,” Heald explained.

Carnival Cruise Line provides two-sided “Cruisin’” and “Snoozin’” signs for each stateroom so guests can indicate their privacy or service needs. The red “Snoozin’” side also states “Privacy Please” while the blue “Cruisin’” side says “Service Please” so stateroom attendants can adjust their attention to each cabin as desired.

It is Carnival Cruise Line’s policy, however, to ensure there has been direct contact with each guest onboard in every 24-hour period. This is to ensure there have been no medical emergencies, accidents, or injuries that might leave someone unable to summon help. If a “Snoozin’” sign is not removed so the cabin attendant can check the room, they will ask permission to enter despite the sign.

“The state room attendant did knock as they always do before entering and as there was no reply they entered the room with the floor supervisor also there,” Heald confirmed. “The crew member was simply doing her job.”

Stateroom attendants do have a guest checklist to keep track of having seen travelers to confirm they are okay. This does not mean they must always enter a cabin, however – if an attendant sees “their” guests in the corridor, they can mark the checklist for that day as having seen the passenger.

When it is necessary to enter a stateroom despite the presence of a privacy sign, a floor supervisor or security personnel will accompany the stateroom attendant just in case help is needed. This is also to serve as a witness that the wellness check was done in accordance with the cruise line’s policy.

How Can You Guarantee Privacy?

There are several ways that cruise guests can ensure their “Privacy Please” requests are not violated. If the guest is not in the stateroom, remove the sign so the attendant can easily check the room to know that no one is in distress inside.

If a guest passes their attendant in the hallway, a simple “Hello” is sufficient to ensure they have been adequately seen and their privacy in the stateroom will not be violated, as they are indeed well and out and about enjoying their cruise.

If there is an unexpected knock on the door, quickly answering the door to let the attendant know that all is well will avoid any unwanted entries.

Read Also: What a Cruise Ship Cabin Steward Really Does

Some travelers prefer not to have housekeeping services daily in their stateroom, and making contact with their cabin attendant in the corridor is the best way to ensure they will not be disturbed.

What Not to Do

A further wrinkle to this incident is that the impacted guest was upset enough at the situation to remove gratuities from the housekeeping staff.

“We took away the gratuity and gave it to other crew people,” the guest said.

While it is Carnival Cruise Line’s policy that travelers are always welcome to adjust gratuities onboard (though prepaid gratuities cannot be adjusted), the cruise line prefers that if there is something wrong, the matter be addressed through Guest Services before such a drastic step is taken.

This gives the crew an opportunity to either explain the policy or correct the incident without punishing the crew member by impacting their hard-earned paycheck. This is especially important when an incident like this is a misunderstanding of cruise line policy.

It can be difficult, especially for first-time cruisers, to understand the ins-and-outs of how a cruise ship operates and what services to expect onboard. Crew members are always happy to explain and will work hard to accommodate requests, and polite communication would go a long way to ensure everyone understands what service they may encounter during their cruise vacation.