How important is embarkation day to you — once you’re on the ship? We need a little help with this one, because getting into your room quickly is either very important or not a big deal. As in…very important not to have to sit around the ship waiting for the staterooms to be available…or not a big deal because, besides staying attached to carry-on luggage, all you do is hang around the ship waiting for departure. Like, where else are you going to go?
So, we’d like some input.
At Holland America, passengers must have made it a big deal. Starting now, staterooms on Holland America ships could be ready as early as 11:30. Wow, we’ve had embarkation days when we’ve still been packing at 11:30.
Usually, boarding starts around the middle of the day, right? Usually, departure is around 5 p.m., which means the cruise line wants you on board by no later than 3:00 or 3:30. Usually, staterooms aren’t available until 2:30 or 3:00. Usually, in the middle of the day is when line-ups are longest, for security people to make sure you don’t have a candle (lighters are okay), and for medical people to make sure your nose isn’t running.
We’re told the most expedient time to board a ship is with the earlybirds (be waiting in line when they roll out the gangplank) or with the latebirds (just before they roll up the gangplank). We’re habitually latebirds.
So how is Holland America changing the sheets so quickly? First by changing housekeeping schedules. Also…
“Staterooms could be stripped and cleaned very quickly if we had all supplies on hand and ready,” says Hotel Manager Rene Tuinman on the ms Volendam. “Every staff member needed to be aware of our goal, and waste no time looking for or gathering supplies. Simply by doing that, we greatly streamlined our housekeeping functions.”
Holland America calls it Stateroom Direct Service. We’re still okay with Stateroom In-direct Service. We didn’t know having three hours without carry-on bags was that important.
How about you?