Guests land in ninety minutes. Your team says the cabins are ready. You walk into the VIP, kneel down, look up along the skirting and see a scuff. You open the wardrobe and there is a bent hanger. You sit on the bed and the reading light points at the wall. Everything was cleaned. Nothing was inspected.
The guest eye
Cleaning is done at working height, moving fast. Guests experience a cabin from the door, from the bed, from the shower and from a chair — usually slowly and often at odd angles.
- Walk in through the door and stop. First impression: smell, temperature, light, order.
- Sit and lie down. Look up at the deckhead, the vent, the reading lights, the underside of shelves.
- Kneel. Skirtings, bed base, dust under furniture, sock fluff in the corner.
- Open everything a guest will open: wardrobe, drawers, safe, minibar, bedside, shower, WC.
- Use raking light. Turn the main light off and the side light on — this is when smears and swirls on gloss appear.
Cabin inspection sequence
| Zone | Check |
|---|---|
| Entry | Smell, temperature (typically 21-22C), lighting scene, door and lock |
| Bed | Linen crisp, seams straight, pillows even, no hair, mattress protector clean, bed made to the standard photo |
| Surfaces | Gloss free of swirls and prints, stone dry and unetched, no dust on tops of frames |
| Wardrobe | Correct hangers, correct count, shelves lined, safe open and working, torch and lifejacket in place |
| Bathroom | Amenities to standard and unopened, glass streak-free, no water spots, drains clear and odour free, towels folded to the standard |
| Systems | Reading lights, blinds, AC, TV, phone, hairdryer, USB and sockets all tested |
| Personalisation | Guest preference sheet applied — pillow type, water, flowers, allergens, no-go items |
Sign-off and snagging
- The person who cleaned the cabin is not the person who signs it off. A second pair of eyes is the whole point.
- Sign-off is a name, a time and a signature on the sheet. It creates accountability and it protects your team when a guest complains.
- What you cannot fix in the window goes on the snag list with a photo, a location and a priority — not into your memory.
- Run the pre-arrival walkthrough as a team, on the whole boat, in guest sequence: passerelle, lobby, saloon, dining, cabins, decks. Walk it as a guest would arrive.
Onboard Notes
- Fresh flowers, fruit and water go in last. Early flowers wilt, early water goes warm.
- Do not let the walkthrough become a fault-finding exercise aimed at a person. Name the defect, not the crew member, then coach privately.
- If a defect is safety-related — a loose fitting, a hot surface, a blocked exit, a failed lock — it stops the sign-off. Presentation never outranks safety.
- Build in a fifteen-minute buffer before guests board. A team sprinting past guests on the passerelle is the first thing they will remember.