How many?

As an extra special thank you I would like to bring some of our locally made chocolate meltaways for those who give us extra special treatment or help, any idea how many of them I should bring (they are very reasonable at about $5 for a 5oz box) I was thinking around 5 of them?? :rolleyes: I prepaid gratuaties but wanted to have some extra thank yous for the staff of the ship.

if you want to give these-- use them for special services.

Not a lot of people do choc- some may have allergies.

Some prefer the choc of their home country. (cadbury for england)

(of course they will take them- they will not seem ungrateful.

But save your money and tip extra in cash

I never thought about them being allergic to it, my mind was going to "oh they would get something special....." That is a good point!

a lot of first timers have the same thoughts.

remember- they do not have the same accomadations as we do. most all are from different countries. different religions, beliefs.

cash is their best friend.

One cruise I took a disposable camera- took their photos and had them developed onboard- gave them their photos in a thank you card- they can send their photo home to their family.

OP - I see you are a fairly new poster. The subject of gifts for the crew comes up frequently. You can do a search if you want to read literally hundreds and hundreds of posts about this subject.

The crew members have very small cabins. While your thought is nice, they do not want chocolate, hats from your home town, pencils with your sport team logos, phone cards, etc. If you want to thank them, give them cash. Universally accepted and appreciated, and easy to carry.

I am with the others. Give cash.

I agree ... if you want to give something extra , give cash:)

In addition to cash, they also appreciate if you mention them favorably on the review cards - this counts a lot toward advancement.

As an extra special thank you I would like to bring some of our locally made chocolate meltaways for those who give us extra special treatment or help, any idea how many of them I should bring (they are very reasonable at about $5 for a 5oz box) I was thinking around 5 of them?? :rolleyes: I prepaid gratuaties but wanted to have some extra thank yous for the staff of the ship.

Most of the crew are not from the US, and a large number are not Christian. So in addition to allergy problems, you'll face crew how cannot eat certain things for religious reasons. You will also deal with personal likes and dislikes. So while your idea is thoughtful, its really impractical. Cash is what the crew works for and what they need the most.

OP - I see you are a fairly new poster. The subject of gifts for the crew comes up frequently. You can do a search if you want to read literally hundreds and hundreds of posts about this subject.

 

The crew members have very small cabins.

This is an understatement. Their cabins are much smaller than ours and they are two people in bunk beds, one over the other. I've seen pictures. You maybe able to find some online if you g**gle them.

While your thought is nice, they do not want chocolate, hats from your home town, pencils with your sport team logos, phone cards, etc. If you want to thank them, give them cash. Universally accepted and appreciated, and easy to carry.

SO VERY TRUE.

In addition to cash, they also appreciate if you mention them favorably on the review cards - this counts a lot toward advancement.

You can ask at the pursers' desk (or passengers services desk) about "made a difference" cards or something similar. On Princess, these will go into the employee's personnel file and could help get them a promotion, so I imagine other lines have this too. Often all you need to know is the first name, country of origin (check out their name tag) and work station (the buffet, a certain bar, etc.).

I agree that cash works best. You can also give them a nice thank you note card and a little cash.

Keith

When we filled out the 'special crew member' card for our steward Ana, we were told it was really Ana-Lisa, so OH called her this later in the day. She guessed why he knew her full name, and came looking for me to thank us for nominating her. Another crew member told us how very important these nominations are, with extra perks from the cruise line.

As for chocolates- it's a lovely thought, but there's so much more that they can do with a little extra money.

Jo.