tipping with families!!!!

[superstarvic]

I am new to cruiseing and was wondering how families would tip??? myself, my husband and 2 boys 3yrs and 4yrs old. When I called rccl i was told that $3.50 for room attendent and $6.25 for the wait staff sorry forgot the break down amounts anyway $9.75 per day times 7days times 4 people that's $273 for the week. like i said this is our first cruise we have done land vacations and generally tip I thought very well $5.00 for the person that cleans your room. When we eat at the restaurants we would ussually spend about $30 for breakfast $30 for lunch and $100 for dinner per night totaling $160 per day times 7 = $1120 X 15% = $168 roughly so I am thinking that if I tip $35 for stateroom attendent and $170 for should be ok. Now crusing with little ones I don't know where we might end up eating so I am ok with carrying cash and tipping as I use the service if I receive above and beyond then i will use my judgement!!!! Deos that mean I still have to leave a tip at the end!!!! tipping a stateroom attendent $14.00 a day is a bit too much don't you think, please advise on what I should do!!!!!!

[cb at sea]

Sorry, but you really should tip the recommended amount. It's "per person", so you will be tipping for the kids, too! After all, they make messes and benefit from the cabin attendant's hard work!
Since the price of the food is INCLUDED in your fare, there's really no way to do a "percentage" for the tips.
Even if you don't use the dining room for every meal (and most don't) the tips to the waiter, ass't waiter and head waiter cover EVERYONE who serves you, even in the buffet.
Tips are handed out on the last night, if you decide to go the cash route. Figure $9.75 per person, per night.
Or, you can charge the tips to your account, either during the cruise, or in advance. By doing this, you will take all the "guesswork" out of the whole process. Everyone who should be tipped, will be tipped!

[Kerry's Girls]

Tips are just part of the cost of cruising and it's best to just budget the full amount per person - including the littlest passenger. It sounds like a lot when it's all added up, but when you break it down per day (or per hour) and see how hard the staff works, I know you'll see that it's more than fair. There is NO way to pay as you go - there are so many people in front and behind the scenes working extremely hard to make sure you have a wonderful cruise, you wouldn't be able to tip each individual so it wouldn't be fair - and I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave anyone out. Clearly, you are very mindful of this, which is wonderful. So many people come here and want to get out of tipping altogether. Even if we have to give up more expensive excursions or souvenirs, we make sure to put aside the full amount. The workers depend on these tips and work very hard to deserve them (and also need them much more than we do - wait until you see how many of them have left their families to provde a better life for their children).

Before my first cruise with my twins, I thought the full amount would be too much for children, and then when I got on board I saw how my kids were treated like royalty and how much work they required, I've always tipped the full amount. Plus tips for the kids staff and room service, which are not included in the tip pool.

Have a great cruise!

All the best,
Mia

[Ithocles]

I agree with the previous person who posted. When traveling with my nephew at 5, he made quite a bit more mess than the adults. I thought the people cleaning up after us deserved the extra money. Also, they made sure to pay extra attention to him and made sure he had a wonderful trip.

From what I've seen, staff make a lot more effort for the little ones. I see quite a few threads where people want to discount tips for children, and the opposite should be the case. Children result in more work and should be tipped more. I consider it one of the responsibilities of parenting, or uncle-ing in my case.

[uppitycats]

Kids make every bit as much a mess as adults...sometimes more. Room stewards still have to clean up after them, supply bed linens for them, tidy up the room after them.

Kids in the dining room often make MORE mess, even if they're not eating meals but whatever momma brings them...look underneath their high chair once!

The waiters serve you 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. And if you don't eat in the main dining room, there are still staff members--covered by your tips -- that work all the other dining venues, including the 24 hour buffet. The tips cover more than the actual person who carries your food from the kitchen to your table...there are the folks who set up, clean up, do some food prep, and so on.

Tipping is part of cruising, and you need to factor in the "suggested tipping" as part of the cost of cruising..even for your kids.

Tipping, by the way, is generally 20% of the bill these days, at least for dinners.

So no, it's not too much. Cruise crews get paid very little salary (and land-based servers also get paid very little salary!) so the tips make up a large part of their income.

[jp2001]

Unfortunately, cruise ship don't go by US law and what you give in ''tips'' actually is the bigger part of the crew salary. If you don't give at least the recommended amount, then you are cheating the crew and the families they support back home.

[chipmaster]

Originally Posted by superstarvic

I am new to cruiseing and was wondering how families would tip??? myself, my husband and 2 boys 3yrs and 4yrs old. When I called rccl i was told that $3.50 for room attendent and $6.25 for the wait staff sorry forgot the break down amounts anyway $9.75 per day times 7days times 4 people that's $273 for the week. like i said this is our first cruise we have done land vacations and generally tip I thought very well $5.00 for the person that cleans your room. When we eat at the restaurants we would ussually spend about $30 for breakfast $30 for lunch and $100 for dinner per night totaling $160 per day times 7 = $1120 X 15% = $168 roughly so I am thinking that if I tip $35 for stateroom attendent and $170 for should be ok. Now crusing with little ones I don't know where we might end up eating so I am ok with carrying cash and tipping as I use the service if I receive above and beyond then i will use my judgement!!!! Deos that mean I still have to leave a tip at the end!!!! tipping a stateroom attendent $14.00 a day is a bit too much don't you think, please advise on what I should do!!!!!!

We've always tipped the recommend and actually more then the recommended especially when our children were younger. They as the other poster mentioned were more high maintenance; messy, special requests, more icecream . If you are luckly enough to get good cabin steward, waiter you will find they work very hard for you and will work hard to make your meals more enjoable even with the little ones.

As others said tipping is part of the deal. If you think the price is too good to be true, it is! Much of the crew work for next to nothing and count for a large part from the tips for their income, and to shortchange is really to be cheating them.

Enjoy your cruise

[sbhdmh]

I was surprised that MSC charged half the amount for children on their standard tip than for adults. Since they have a kids sail free program I thought this would apply only to those kids who were travelling as 3rd or 4th passengers. We paid full price for my daughter as the second person in my mother's cabin but her gratuity charge indeed came through at half the adult charge. We gave additional cash tips to those staff members who were especially attentive to us (i.e waiters). Not sure what they do in the Carribbean but this was their policy in Europe.

[bplazo]

I always tip more when I travel with my daughter. You should at least tip the recomended amount even for your children.

[sas80]

I'm the oddball here. I don't tip full amount for my infant. And I'm not going to discuss it or defend it. Been there, done that. Dirty diapers, a pack n play, cheerios on the floor, etc, etc, etc. Not many people and I agree about it on these boards but it is my prerogative.

We sailed on the Freedom a few weeks ago and I did tip the full amount for DS who turns 3 next month but not DD who was 8 months old. The room steward had to turn DS's bed down every night and DS definitely made an impact in the room with dirty dishes, spilled food, messes requiring the use of towels, etc.

My infant is not the same story, so I don't tip fully for her, only half. Flame me all you want, I'm not interested in defending it, I feel perfectly fine about it.

That's my input.

[beachchick]

Originally Posted by superstarvic

I am new to cruiseing and was wondering how families would tip??? myself, my husband and 2 boys 3yrs and 4yrs old. When I called rccl i was told that $3.50 for room attendent and $6.25 for the wait staff sorry forgot the break down amounts anyway $9.75 per day times 7days times 4 people that's $273 for the week. like i said this is our first cruise we have done land vacations and generally tip I thought very well $5.00 for the person that cleans your room. When we eat at the restaurants we would ussually spend about $30 for breakfast $30 for lunch and $100 for dinner per night totaling $160 per day times 7 = $1120 X 15% = $168 roughly so I am thinking that if I tip $35 for stateroom attendent and $170 for should be ok. Now crusing with little ones I don't know where we might end up eating so I am ok with carrying cash and tipping as I use the service if I receive above and beyond then i will use my judgement!!!! Deos that mean I still have to leave a tip at the end!!!! tipping a stateroom attendent $14.00 a day is a bit too much don't you think, please advise on what I should do!!!!!!

A few things to consider besides what others have mentioned (e.g., "kids make as much work, sometimes more"). You should know that I'm not unsympathetic to what you may think of as "sticker shock," but cruises are not like any other service area.

In a hotel, your housekeeping staff is going to come in once a day and clean the room. We tip $5/day at hotels for the two of us. On a cruise, your cabin steward is going to come in once in the morning to clean the cabin, leave fresh ice and towels and what have youl; later, he or she will usually check to see what else you need; and then he or she will come again in the early evening to get the cabin ready for night by cleaning as needed, getting more fresh ice, leaving extra towels if needed, making towel animals, arranging your nightly "pillow chocolate" and the next day's ship schedule and excursion tickets or any other information you need to have. He or she will also be taking care of any special requests you have: One of the kids spilled something sticky--the steward will take care of it; need extra ice--the steward will be happy to bring it; want to see the next day's menu--the steward will provide it; and so on. It is so very much more than hotel housekeeping that the stewards deserve every penny of the daily suggested tip.

Yes, you will eat three meals a day, but you may also stop in for a snack at the buffet or grill. There are many more eating/dining opportunities than our regular "three squares a day." As well, you will find that the waitstaff goes out of their way to make dining time special for the children. There are also differences in how dining works. Let's say, for example, that you order a chicken entree at dinner. When it arrives, you decide you don't care for it. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not to your taste. At a restaurant, you'd be expected to pay for a second choice if your only reason for not eating the chicken was that you changed your mind. On a cruise, your waitstaff will be more than happy to bring you something else. Dinner is a multi-course deal with many options. It is simply not the same as dining at most restaurants on land. You really can't put a "we spend $X on land, so we'll tip $Y like we do there" because it's not a quantifiable amount when cruising. If your husband decides that three of the appetizers, two of the entrees, and two of the desserts sound good, he can order them all. Now how much would you tip on land if you had to pay for those items separately? It's a different experience and requires (IMO) a different approach to tipping.

Of course you are not forced to tip the full recommended amount, but most of us believe that the crew who serve us deserve at least the minimum and often more. Some parents feel that they shouldn't be expected to tip for their children, regardless of how hard the crew works to take care of them, because it's too much money. We always looked at it a different way: It was our choice to have a child and her "costs" were our responsbility. That's how we feel.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

beachchick

[bplazo]

Beachchick, you said that very well.

[sas80]

Originally Posted by beachchick

A few things to consider besides what others have mentioned (e.g., "kids make as much work, sometimes more"). You should know that I'm not unsympathetic to what you may think of as "sticker shock," but cruises are not like any other service area.

In a hotel, your housekeeping staff is going to come in once a day and clean the room. We tip $5/day at hotels for the two of us. On a cruise, your cabin steward is going to come in once in the morning to clean the cabin, leave fresh ice and towels and what have youl; later, he or she will usually check to see what else you need; and then he or she will come again in the early evening to get the cabin ready for night by cleaning as needed, getting more fresh ice, leaving extra towels if needed, making towel animals, arranging your nightly "pillow chocolate" and the next day's ship schedule and excursion tickets or any other information you need to have. He or she will also be taking care of any special requests you have: One of the kids spilled something sticky--the steward will take care of it; need extra ice--the steward will be happy to bring it; want to see the next day's menu--the steward will provide it; and so on. It is so very much more than hotel housekeeping that the stewards deserve every penny of the daily suggested tip.

Yes, you will eat three meals a day, but you may also stop in for a snack at the buffet or grill. There are many more eating/dining opportunities than our regular "three squares a day." As well, you will find that the waitstaff goes out of their way to make dining time special for the children. There are also differences in how dining works. Let's say, for example, that you order a chicken entree at dinner. When it arrives, you decide you don't care for it. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not to your taste. At a restaurant, you'd be expected to pay for a second choice if your only reason for not eating the chicken was that you changed your mind. On a cruise, your waitstaff will be more than happy to bring you something else. Dinner is a multi-course deal with many options. It is simply not the same as dining at most restaurants on land. You really can't put a "we spend $X on land, so we'll tip $Y like we do there" because it's not a quantifiable amount when cruising. If your husband decides that three of the appetizers, two of the entrees, and two of the desserts sound good, he can order them all. Now how much would you tip on land if you had to pay for those items separately? It's a different experience and requires (IMO) a different approach to tipping.

Of course you are not forced to tip the full recommended amount, but most of us believe that the crew who serve us deserve at least the minimum and often more. Some parents feel that they shouldn't be expected to tip for their children, regardless of how hard the crew works to take care of them, because it's too much money. We always looked at it a different way: It was our choice to have a child and her "costs" were our responsbility. That's how we feel.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

beachchick

Very valid points here. Everyone should read the post because it exposes some aspects that many people may not have even considered. I do feel, however, that the points made in the post are being made from the personal POV of the specific cruiser, and their personal experiences. Let's not forget that not everyone fits into a specific box. There is no norm.

There are plenty of things in your post that do not apply to my family. While I don't feel the need to pick your post apart point by point, a few things I would mention would be is that we typically don't snack in a venue during the day, specifically to keep the additional lbs to a minimum, and we don't bring our children into the MDR, so your personal dining experience commentary does not apply to us. We do tip the full amount in the MDR for the two of us and we do tip in the WJ for the kids if we feel that we have received something other than ordinary service.

I'm not trying to invalidate your post, quite the contrary, I feel it raises some important points. I just feel like there are so many people on these boards who assume that the impact that their family creates on a cruise is equivalent to the impact that any family is going to create on a cruise. And that is just never the case.

Like so many situations where you have different personalities, it just isnt the case, there just isn't a "one size fits all".

This has nothing to do with beachchicks specific post but I am just tired of everyone assuming that their situation/impact applies across the board.

I have posted before that we tip what we feel is appropriate and explained my view (and got entirely jumped all over for it). I feel like I am a reasonable and fair person and a good judge of service, but apparently that wasn't good enough for some people because I needed to be tipping within the exact same discretion that they used or I was flat out wrong.

Hopefully you wont be stingy about it. Hopefully you will be reasonable and able to determine the real impact of your family on the cruise staff and hopefully you will be responsible enough to tip appropriately.

[CruisingCatherine]

Originally Posted by sas80

My infant is not the same story, so I don't tip fully for her, only half. Flame me all you want, I'm not interested in defending it, I feel perfectly fine about it.

I feel the same way you do. I will be bringing my own pack and play, making the bed with my own linens, cleaning up after the baby, ect.. We have a Promenade room (actually 2 rooms) so the baby will not be taking away an opportunity for the steward to be making tips as the baby is the 3rd in a room which allows 2. As a result, I plan on tipping what I feel is appropriate based on the service that the room steward and dining room staff provide specifically to the baby.

As for the other gratuities, I do pay the suggested amount and based on service add extra for outstanding service. I have only given less to one staff member in all the cruises we have done. It was a room steward who was horrible. Didn't even touch the room half of the time.

[sas80]

Originally Posted by CruisingCatherine

I feel the same way you do. I will be bringing my own pack and play, making the bed with my own linens, cleaning up after the baby, ect.. We have a Promenade room (actually 2 rooms) so the baby will not be taking away an opportunity for the steward to be making tips as the baby is the 3rd in a room which allows 2. As a result, I plan on tipping what I feel is appropriate based on the service that the room steward and dining room staff provide specifically to the baby.

As for the other gratuities, I do pay the suggested amount and based on service add extra for outstanding service. I have only given less to one staff member in all the cruises we have done. It was a room steward who was horrible. Didn't even touch the room half of the time.

Thanks for the support.

Honestly, if I didn't pick up after my own kids I would feel really bad. I'm not the kind of person who ever feels entitled to anything. Just because I have a room steward does not mean that I get to let my kids make a huge mess and then ignore it knowing that the room steward will pick up after us. I just cant do that, it's not in me. I do as much as I can so that the room steward will feel as little impact from my family as possible.

After all, they have a certain amount of rooms to clean in a certain time frame every day. Who am I to leave them an ultra messy room that might throw them off schedule? It would feel abusive to me.

[notentirelynormal]

When we took our 6 MO granddaughter, Princess actually only charged us 50% of the tip. Probably for the same rationale that you are using SAS80. Except for the diapers, she wasn't making much mess or using many facilities. The 3 YO, of course, was full tips.

[tropiclvrs]

Originally Posted by sas80

I'm the oddball here. I don't tip full amount for my infant. And I'm not going to discuss it or defend it. Been there, done that. Dirty diapers, a pack n play, cheerios on the floor, etc, etc, etc. Not many people and I agree about it on these boards but it is my prerogative.

We sailed on the Freedom a few weeks ago and I did tip the full amount for DS who turns 3 next month but not DD who was 8 months old. The room steward had to turn DS's bed down every night and DS definitely made an impact in the room with dirty dishes, spilled food, messes requiring the use of towels, etc.

My infant is not the same story, so I don't tip fully for her, only half. Flame me all you want, I'm not interested in defending it, I feel perfectly fine about it.

That's my input.

No flame from me here either! I completely agree about the lower tips for an infant. Good for you for standing your ground

[Snowbuddy]

DH doesn't want to tip the full amount for DD (18 months) next week when we go on our cruise. I am undecided...I will most likely wait to see how things go and decide from there. I am leaning towards just doing the full amount, but we will see...I can see the argument from both sides and have no flames for anyone. It amazes me how passionate ppl can get about issues on chat sites, and it gets mentally exhausting to read some of the posts, so I can only imagine how it can wear on those who are directly receiving the tirades.

[cacruiserjen]

In July 2009 we cruised to Alaska with then 10 mo old baby girl. We brought our own pack n play and made it up ourselves. We cleaned up our cabin several times a day to minimize any extra work on our room steward's part. Then we got our final statement and our Princess invoice showed ZERO tips for the baby!!! So dh put some tips in envelopes and we made the rounds - tipping the room steward and the few waiters, etc. who had specifically "made a difference" on our trip. While we did a lot of the work, they often found a highchair for us, swept up under her seat, entertained her, etc. And she was a passenger - paid full price for her!

[Julienatul]

Originally Posted by sas80

I'm the oddball here. I don't tip full amount for my infant. And I'm not going to discuss it or defend it. Been there, done that. Dirty diapers, a pack n play, cheerios on the floor, etc, etc, etc. Not many people and I agree about it on these boards but it is my prerogative.

We sailed on the Freedom a few weeks ago and I did tip the full amount for DS who turns 3 next month but not DD who was 8 months old. The room steward had to turn DS's bed down every night and DS definitely made an impact in the room with dirty dishes, spilled food, messes requiring the use of towels, etc.

My infant is not the same story, so I don't tip fully for her, only half. Flame me all you want, I'm not interested in defending it, I feel perfectly fine about it.

That's my input.

well stated! Fortunately Carnival does not apply the automatic tips for anyone under age 2 so we were able to choose what we felt was appropriate for our 8 mo old. There is no one size fits all so tip what you feel is best.