Do we need to tip the people we give the luggage to?

[billyelliot]

Originally Posted by sailin'sam

The people who think tips are highway robbery change their view when their son, daughter, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, mother, father.....get a job that depends on the kindness of strangers.

I am not standing up for every rude person in the hospitality/service business, but don't let a few bad apples leave you unwavering in your opinions.

My next cruise is paid for largely by tips and you best believe I earn every dime!

One if my sons waited on tables while at collage. He was very pleased to make a few extra pounds a week....
But yr last statement about paying for yr cruise on tips just shows that it's not such a Poor job to be in.... We are all led to believe jobs that pay that pay tips are so poor that we have to subsidise them.

[seashells]

Yeah,
All that luggage gets to each deck by the SHIP personal....Sure.

All those flowers, champaign in cabins, goodies for certain premier guests, get on the ship for cabins and around the ship by the ship workers....Sure.

The ships crew is BUSY working the bars, the cafeteria, preparing the dining rooms, the shops.

Certain porters handle the luggage on the ship, just like certain luggage handlers put it in the plane belly.

Instead of getting a drink and going topside, go to the back of the ship and watch the luggage come to each deck.

Anyone who has done a back to back should have seen what happens on a ship on turaround days, unless they are sunning themselves somewhere.

At a certain point, ALL people who are called 'visitors' are to be OFF the ship, and only then does it go to the lowly crew member who has to find your luggage and deliver it.

Better yet...Go find your OWN at the rear on your deck, that is the elevator for the crew.

We had ours within 10 minutes being in our cabin BY the baggage handler at the NON-UNION port.

NO, you don't have to tip them, but then you can always carry on ALL your OWN luggage.

It might help save you the price of buying ONE drink!

[we like it hot]

I heard an interesting thought to ponder on the radio...

Just imagine if everyone tipped a little more than they usually do. The service person would be happier and the economy would get a boost.

[Charles4515]

Originally Posted by billyelliot

On our 1st cruise (10yrs ago) we went into one of the touristy bars. We had 4 expensive drinks which came to $40. When the bill came the young server had wrote his own tip of $8 which I thought was over the top. We gave a him $5. He actually came back and told me we had left the wrong amount! I was shocked and thought it very rude. He certainly wasn't on $2.13 an hour with the amount of people in there.

Same trip when we arrived to the port we had a couple of bags. We saw where they were being loaded and took them over. The man put them on the trolley. We got out a couple of dollars, gave them to the man, as we knew people expected to be 'tipped' He said No 5! I was scared. So dam rude... That's not tipping its a demand!

They may have been trying to help you by advising you about the tip amounts because they recognized from your accent you were British. For some reason British tourists visiting the US have a reputation for not tipping.

By the way if I had a bill for $40 I would likely tip $8. A tip of $5 would certainly be considerd cheap.

[billyelliot]

Originally Posted by Charles4515

They may have been trying to help you by advising you about the tip amounts because they recognized from your accent you were British. For some reason British tourists visiting the US have a reputation for not tipping.

By the way if I had a bill for $40 I would likely tip $8. A tip of $5 would certainly be considerd cheap.

For 4 drinks?..... Thank god we didn't stay to have another or worse still eat there!
That's what I can't stand about the % part. You get penalised for having a more expensive drink or cut of meat? No extra
work involved...
If we had had 4 cokes he would have had $1.50.

[brillohead]

Originally Posted by seashells

Yeah,
All that luggage gets to each deck by the SHIP personal....Sure.

All those flowers, champaign in cabins, goodies for certain premier guests, get on the ship for cabins and around the ship by the ship workers....Sure.

The ships crew is BUSY working the bars, the cafeteria, preparing the dining rooms, the shops.

Certain porters handle the luggage on the ship, just like certain luggage handlers put it in the plane belly.

Instead of getting a drink and going topside, go to the back of the ship and watch the luggage come to each deck.

Anyone who has done a back to back should have seen what happens on a ship on turaround days, unless they are sunning themselves somewhere.

At a certain point, ALL people who are called 'visitors' are to be OFF the ship, and only then does it go to the lowly crew member who has to find your luggage and deliver it.

Better yet...Go find your OWN at the rear on your deck, that is the elevator for the crew.

We had ours within 10 minutes being in our cabin BY the baggage handler at the NON-UNION port.

NO, you don't have to tip them, but then you can always carry on ALL your OWN luggage.

It might help save you the price of buying ONE drink!

Whatever -- keep drinking your kool-aid. We know the truth.

[CruisinGerman]

At the United States ports, we do not tip because the porters are usually unionized longshoremen who earn about $80,000 per year.

We do tip at foreign embarkation ports, such as Barcelona, whose porters tend to be students who work at the port under temporary, insecure, part-time contracts earning minimum wage (which for half-time in Spain would amount to about 400 euros per month).

The funny thing about the above difference and about the difference in the tipping culture in general is that the $80,000 employee will tend to get grumpy and stick his hand out if he doesn't receive a tip, while the nearly-impoverished half-time employee in Barcelona will smile and go on with his work, with no tip expected.

Kind regards,

Gunther and Uta

[Aquahound]

Nevermind. Sometimes I think some of you just make stuff up.