Extra tips

I was reading the thread about tipping and the per day charge put on your cabin account daily. I haven't sailed Holland, only Princess so far.

I am perfectly happy paying that fee - no concerns there. My personal opinion (for what it's worth) is that 99.99% of any of the crew that DH and I have come into contact with work very hard and also contend with the public. I always try to be kind (I am on vacation!) but I've seen many passengers be nasty to the staff - for things out of their control.

My question is...On Princess, we always gave our steward extra money. I confirmed with Passenger Services that he/she gets to keep it as theirs. Is this because I also paid the per day charge? Or did I misunderstand and they had to pool that money with others.

I would like to do the same on Holland. And honestly, if they have to pool it, they are still getting more than if I didn't give extra. But I truly think any "extra" tips I give out should go to the specific person.

Not trying to stir up a debate - just wondered if anyone truly knew the answer. I'm sure we'll still give our steward extra - they are making our vacation even better!:)

Kim

Holland America works pretty much the same as Princess about this.

I was reading the thread about tipping and the per day charge put on your cabin account daily. I haven't sailed Holland, only Princess so far.

 

I am perfectly happy paying that fee - no concerns there. My personal opinion (for what it's worth) is that 99.99% of any of the crew that DH and I have come into contact with work very hard and also contend with the public. I always try to be kind (I am on vacation!) but I've seen many passengers be nasty to the staff - for things out of their control.

 

My question is...On Princess, we always gave our steward extra money. I confirmed with Passenger Services that he/she gets to keep it as theirs. Is this because I also paid the per day charge? Or did I misunderstand and they had to pool that money with others.

 

 

 

I would like to do the same on Holland. And honestly, if they have to pool it, they are still getting more than if I didn't give extra. But I truly think any "extra" tips I give out should go to the specific person.

 

Not trying to stir up a debate - just wondered if anyone truly knew the answer. I'm sure we'll still give our steward extra - they are making our vacation even better!:)

 

Kim

Please yourself, I too am in a quandary, so decided to take a each way bet and take off half of gratuities and tip for great service,probably get shot down in flames by other posters but it is my choice and everyone else can please themselves

Cheers

On Princess, we always gave our steward extra money. I confirmed with Passenger Services that he/she gets to keep it as theirs. Is this because I also paid the per day charge?

Yes, as far as we know - that is correct.

Yes, as long as you leave the hotel service charge in place, the employees to whom you give extra tips can keep them.

Yes, as long as you leave the hotel service charge in place, the employees to whom you give extra tips can keep them.

If that is a 100% sure, I will go with that then

Cheers

We also leave the Hotel Service Charge in place.

This way we know that the extra tips we give to our cabin stewards and dining room staff and others we wish to give tips to, they can keep it and it will not go into a pool.

If that is a 100% sure, I will go with that then

Cheers

Deleted

I was reading the thread about tipping and the per day charge put on your cabin account daily. I haven't sailed Holland, only Princess so far.

 

I am perfectly happy paying that fee - no concerns there. My personal opinion (for what it's worth) is that 99.99% of any of the crew that DH and I have come into contact with work very hard and also contend with the public. I always try to be kind (I am on vacation!) but I've seen many passengers be nasty to the staff - for things out of their control.

 

My question is...On Princess, we always gave our steward extra money. I confirmed with Passenger Services that he/she gets to keep it as theirs. Is this because I also paid the per day charge? Or did I misunderstand and they had to pool that money with others.

 

I would like to do the same on Holland. And honestly, if they have to pool it, they are still getting more than if I didn't give extra. But I truly think any "extra" tips I give out should go to the specific person.

 

Not trying to stir up a debate - just wondered if anyone truly knew the answer. I'm sure we'll still give our steward extra - they are making our vacation even better!:)

 

Kim

Please yourself, I too am in a quandary, so decided to take a each way bet and take off half of gratuities and tip for great service,probably get shot down in flames by other posters but it is my choice and everyone else can please themselves

Cheers

According to the HAL house rules booklet given to all employees, if you leave 100% of the Hotel Service Charge in place, any extra you give to the employees who have made your cruise so wonderful they are able to keep..If you remove or reduce the Hotel Service charge they are required to give any extra you give them to their Supervisor..

This is the Quote from the Employee House rules Booklet:

Quote http://www.welcome2hal.com/publications/house_rules.pdf

Quote TIPPING NOT REQUIRED POLICY

All ships have the Rewards for Excellence (RfE) Plan which

consists of Hotel Service Charges and Beverage Service

Charges. If a guest chooses to adjust out of the RfE Plan

and instead provide cash tips to an employee, the employee

is required to turn in this cash to their Department Head

so the money can be added to the RfE plan. Any “tips”

received above and beyond the guests standard amount

may be kept by the crewmember. Unquote

we also leave the hotel service charge in place.

this way we know that the extra tips we give to our cabin stewards and dining room staff and others we wish to give tips to, they can keep it and it will not go into a pool.

ditto kk ... :-) :-)

If that is a 100% sure, I will go with that then

Cheers

I see that people have already filled you in. The HAL employee information site is here:

http://welcome2hal.com/

From the main navigation, you can click on:

Know Before You Go, then House Rules

You will see a hyperlink on the page with the anchor text of "Crew Services Directories." That links to a PDF. The information that was quoted above can be found on page 22 of the document.

(Full disclosure: I found the site and the page, but missed the relevant information when I scanned the PDF. Larsen gets the thanks for that. I did an automated scan and missed it.)

Please yourself, I too am in a quandary, so decided to take a each way bet and take off half of gratuities and tip for great service,probably get shot down in flames by other posters but it is my choice and everyone else can please themselves

Cheers

I doubt that you are accomplishing what you intend. If you eliminate (and I ASSUME reduce the daily service fee), then you are put on a list that all the crew get. If they receive any tips from you, they must be turned into HAL and HAL will redistribute to the entire crew.

Based on this, IMO you might as well just pay the daily service charge and not bother.

Tights - I agree 100% with DaveOKC on this issue.

Rod

Tights - I agree 100% with DaveOKC on this issue.

 

Rod

I agree with DaveOKC and KY Colonel, I pay the minimum requested HSC and tip extra to those who fulfill our personal requests and give us direct service - stewards, waitresses, bartenders etc. The HSC makes sure that the people who work behind the scenes get a little bit of compensation as well. I don't mind that because I enjoy clean public areas and pleasant service in the Lido, for example. To us this just seems fair. Happy cruising! :D

Lorie

I agree with DaveOKC and KY Colonel, I pay the minimum requested HSC and tip extra to those who fulfill our personal requests and give us direct service - stewards, waitresses, bartenders etc. To us this seems fair. Happy cruising! :D

 

Lorie

Ditto.

I agree with DaveOKC and KY Colonel, I pay the minimum requested HSC and tip extra to those who fulfill our personal requests and give us direct service - stewards, waitresses, bartenders etc. The HSC makes sure that the people who work behind the scenes get a little bit of compensation as well. I don't mind that because I enjoy clean public areas and pleasant service in the Lido, for example. To us this just seems fair. Happy cruising! :D

 

Lorie

Ditto the Ditto :D

Thank you all for your comments

Cheers

Please yourself, I too am in a quandary, so decided to take a each way bet and take off half of gratuities and tip for great service,probably get shot down in flames by other posters but it is my choice and everyone else can please themselves

Cheers

Although I am not sure, I would bet that since you are tipping at less than the recommend amount, your ploy will not work. The people who get your "extra" tip may have to turn it in up to the level of the recommend tip. Not sure about this however. Anyone know?

DON

I agree with DaveOKC and KY Colonel, I pay the minimum requested HSC and tip extra to those who fulfill our personal requests and give us direct service - stewards, waitresses, bartenders etc. The HSC makes sure that the people who work behind the scenes get a little bit of compensation as well. I don't mind that because I enjoy clean public areas and pleasant service in the Lido, for example. To us this just seems fair. Happy cruising! :D

 

Lorie

We always leave the Hotel Service Charge in place and tip those who made our cruise wonderful 'over and above'. My DH used to love putting cash into envelopes the last day and roaming around giving them to crew we wished to 'extra' thank. :)

It is 100% sure. See http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46356516&postcount=69

Thank you for posting that information. I've seen a lot of discussion whether that was true or not. That pretty much establishes that it is. For the record, we have never considered reducing gratuities and always give more to waiters, bar tenders, and our stewards.

Our country club adds a 15% gratuity. We always add another 10% in cash. Wonder why we always can get a table, always get great service, and the bar tenders always give us a 'heavy pour'.

Yes, as long as you leave the hotel service charge in place, the employees to whom you give extra tips can keep them.

What we do is -YES; leave the daily in place [ It will be used also by people who DO wait on you but normally unseen/kitchen/laundry etc] but there still are extra envelopes you can ask for - I normally leave a small thank you note as well and extra $$$ -maybe with a SHARED joke] for diningroom help plus room stewards. Those are "Just" for the ones you've earmarked!

Thank you for posting that information. I've seen a lot of discussion whether that was true or not. That pretty much establishes that it is. For the record, we have never considered reducing gratuities and always give more to waiters, bar tenders, and our stewards.

 

Our country club adds a 15% gratuity. We always add another 10% in cash. Wonder why we always can get a table, always get great service, and the bar tenders always give us a 'heavy pour'.

What you tip can make a difference. I remember a LONG time ago when I was a caddie at the local country club. We all knew who the good tippers were and the caddies all fought to get assigned to them. Some things never change.

We also leave the hotel charge in place - only way we can tip the person who makes the breakfast rolls and washes the sheets. We then, as many do, tip those who provide wonderful service. Nice to see in writing that they can keep their own tips as we have been told that by some stewards, but one always wonders...

In recent years I have cruised on lines such as Silversea and Regent where all service and tips except spas and shore excursions is officially "included" in the cruise price, though not quantified. But some people choose to tip their stewards or waiters even more at the end of the cruise, a practice which inspires controversy ( and some pax, even more controversially, pre-tip at the beginning, to assure some special access)

In the near future, however, I will be on HAL for a cruise with a big group. I will be in a Neptune Suite. I understand there is a daily HSC and have no intention of trying to remove it even if service is bad. My Qs are :

1. Should I be tipping extra in cash each time someone brings breakfast room service, or in the Neptune Lounge, or at bars, i.e., should I carry a bunch of small bill cash around? I know I am not required to do so, but should I, or would that be awkward? This would be on top of the service fee there is for beverages.

2. Do stewards and waiters on HAL have a base cash salary, or are their cash

earnings they can send home limited to what is automatically added on as the daily HSC? If they have a cash base, anyone have a rough idea what they earn?

3. Anything else important for me to know RE HAL tipping, e.g especially from someone who can compare the luxury line practice ( which is officially no tips required) to HAL and who has cruised both?

Thx in advance. I cruised HAL many years ago to Alaska, tiny inside cabin, one dining venue, and from my reading I can see a lot has changed for the better.