Tipping??

[Placerville]

When using a prepaid voucher to transport from airport to ship; ship to hotel; hotel to airport; etc. what is customary for tipping?? We are ending our cruise in Rome where, I understand it's a long ride to the center of town. A bigger tip for a longer drive?
Secondly, a previous cruiser said she ordered a 11:00 PM ice cream from room service and said "don't forget to tip the delivery person, they look like they just woke up". How about breakfast, or other food deliveries??
Thanks
Dave
:confused:

[Jancruz]

Stu always tips $5.00 for any transfers..for the 2 of us..and I always tip $2.00 when any room service is delivered to our cabin..
Jan
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[joan24]

Jan,
Do you tip if the room service order is delivered by your butler or room steward?
Joan

[digby]

Isn't there a daily service charge or automatic tipping program on Oceania? If so, why would you need to tip anyone like a room service waiter if they are already covered?

[Jancruz]

Joan, no I dont tip him extra as I always give the butler the extra tip at the end of the trip..if it is someone from room service I have not seen before and might not see again, I do..
Jan
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[kcruisin]

Do you tip in American dollars or Euros? We have brought rolls of $1 gold coins in the past as well as $2 bills - but our cruises have all been on this side of the ocean. What would be preferred on a Med Cruise?

[Jancruz]

I always tip in USD no matter where in the world we are..
Jan
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[Rickey 88]

Digby,
There is an automatic addition to your room account to cover normal tipping requirements. You may add or deduct from this charge as you see fit. However, for extra special service, such as from the Butlers, room attendants or special wait persons, one may want to tip extra, either as an addition to the room account, or by a special envelope directly to that person. Either dollars or euros or anything else for that matter is greatly appreciated.

Dick

[sfbear]

Digby,
There is an automatic addition to your room account to cover normal tipping requirements. You may add or deduct from this charge as you see fit. However, for extra special service, such as from the Butlers, room attendants or special wait persons, one may want to tip extra, either as an addition to the room account, or by a special envelope directly to that person. Either dollars or euros or anything else for that matter is greatly appreciated.

Dick

On "another cruise line" it is stated fairly clearly that the automatic tipping covers room attendants, waiters & waitresses and bus-persons, and matre 'd. That being said, we tipped room-service wait-staff individually as used. In those cases where the room-service was handled by the butler, the tipping happened via the envelope process at the end of the trip. With Oceania we see that the butler is covered by an addition to the automatic tipping. Usually, we still hand out envelopes in addition to the automatic tipping. So, with Oceania, is the room-service staff covered by our automatic tipping ?? I really appreciate the automatic tipping idea. With the on-going discussions about automatic tipping, both pro- and con- we'll probably never really know who gets what. When giving out an additional tip to the room attendants, for example, I always tell them that it is in addition to the automatic tipping.

[digby]

I recently sailed on HAL Westerdam in a "S" class suite. We did not have a butler. HAL has just recently begun their automatic tipping policy. It was announced that all extra tips given were to be turned in and pooled. The room service waiters were covered by the program, so I did not tip. On past NCL cruises in suites with butlers, they were not part of the program and were tipped separately. Now, if the a crew member is part of such a program and we tip him extra for doing what they are supposed to do (not something extra), what's the point of having an automatic tipping program in the first place? I am very willing to do what is right under either program, but combining them makes no sense to me. This will be my first cruise on Oceania, and I hope I find out before going what their program is and who is covered.

[Jancruz]

I know the staff is covered by the automatic tipping..but that does not stop me from handing the room service people a couple of dollars each time..and needless to say the service I get is exemplary. I enjoy tipping as I know the money these people make and they are so wonderful, it makes me feel good!!!
Jan
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[Jane110]

We ordered our breakfast from room service every morning and our cabin steward brought it daily from a little mini-kitchen just a few doors from our cabin. (smart move to have it there!)

Though I didn't tip her daily, I tipped both her and her assistant $10.00 each on the first day, and of course, kept the automatic tip on as well.

We didn't order any othr room service, however, I would have tipped the person who brought it.