Royal Caribbean gives passengers in standard the cabin of what time of day to have their room cleaned, and I always pick the evening option.
You used to get twice a day cabin attendant service up until a few years ago, and then it was cut to just once per day.
I thought I'd hate the change more than I actually did, but I made my peace with it and I've adjusted to it. While I might have liked the old way, the new once a day service didn't impact my enjoyment of the cruise nearly as much as I thought it would.
Since the change was implemented, I've tried both morning and evening stateroom service and I think I greatly prefer evening service.
It's not perfect, but I find it meshes better with my cruising style.
Choice of morning or evening
If you book a balcony or lower category cabin, your stateroom attendant will service your room once per day. Guests in a suite still get it twice a day.
The choice is in the morning hours or in the evening, around dinner time.
In either case, the cabin attendant will be available for a few hours, so it's not a specific time.
Regardless of which time you pick, if you need extra towels or something else replenished in your cabin, the cabin attendant (or housekeeping) is happy to step in and assist.
If you're still in the room for the duration of their service, they'll just skip that day and return to clean it the next day.
I prefer evening service because I'm probably out of the room
In choosing which time I want to my room cleaned, I always choose the evening because it lines up better with my schedule.
Ideally, I want a time that's the most convenient for me. I'm on vacation, so I'm looking for something that doesn't put me out of my own way.
I like evening service because I'm rarely in my cabin after 5pm. I'm either at dinner, at a show, at a bar, or out with friends.
Room stewards usually begin working the evening shift around 4pm, and they're out and about until 7pm. That gives me plenty of time to get ready for dinner and be out of their way.
Most of the time, I'm gone before they even start up.
I also really like coming back to my room at night when my nighttime fun is complete and having a freshly made bed.
I'm a fan of taking afternoon naps on cruise ships, so it's nice that I can take a nap and then my bed is made for me before it's time to go to sleep that night. It's part of the je ne sais quoi that makes a cruise vacation so much better than a land vacation.
Another advantage of evening service is if you're at the beach and come back to the room to shower, there's inevitably going to be sand coming back with you.
It's nicer to have the bathroom cleaned after a day in the ocean.
Morning service means I feel rushed to get up and going
My problem with morning service is it hinders sleeping in.
Cabin attendants get working right around 8am or so, and they'll wrap up just before lunch. On a sea day, I might want to sleep in and lounge in my bed for a bit.
Or I'm at my desk doing work, and the morning is the busiest time for keeping up with my work routine.
And then there's my kids, who think waking up before 10:30am on vacation is a criminal act. So getting them up and out of the room for the room attendant requires an act of God to accomplish.
Essentially, morning service feels like I'm going out of my way so they can get in and clean.
"So what! Sleep in and skip that day" is I'm sure what someone reading this is thinking. While that's true, my family goes through clean towels like Pringles potato chips.
And if I'm being honest, I really like my bed made up and sheets changed.
The problem with choosing evening service is apparent in the first two days
While I always pick evening service, there's a notable problem with it that is magnified on short cruises.
Your room isn't serviced again on the first day. The cabin attendant prepared it for you prior to your arrival, so that counts as the daily cleaning for that day.
The issue is if you pick evening service, you won't have your room service until the evening of day two. That means you'll go about 36 hours or so before your first cleaning.
If you take a shower on the first day and want to shower again on day two, towels go quickly. Obviously you can re-use towels or even call and get more towels later from housekeeping. But it always feels like my cabin gets extra messy leading up to that.
This is more of a problem on a short 3-night cruise, where the end of day two is essentially more than halfway through your cruise.
This is the very definition of a first world problem, but it's probably the main downside to my strategy in choosing when my room is cleaned.
I always choose evening service because it's the least bothersome
Ultimately, I go with evening turndown because it's the most convenient option.
I don't think most people want to go out of their way while on vacation, and I find evening service affords me the most flexibility because I'm very likely out of the room anyway.
At the same time, I don't think picking morning service is problematic or a mistake to avoid. Rather, I think evening service just works better given the reality of what's happening on the ship. If I'm not going to be in the cabin, that's always the perfect time for someone to clean it.
