Tip question

I've already paid the prepay tips for room stewards and MDR but I'm curious how much do you generally tip in addition? Nightly? What about staff in MDR if you get beverages? I've previously done like typical restaurant at least 15%. Thanks in advance for feedback.

You do not have to tip extra if you don't want to do that.

We have never tipped nightly to anyone.

We have never tipped extra in the MDR when being served wine etc.

IF we really like the wait staff we may give an extra $20 during the cruise. The same would go for the cabin steward. We typically don't wait until the last day but give sometime during the week we are on board.

Everyone tips differently!

if the service is/was exceptional then I would tip additional but the pre paid tips should be enough

I tip when i order room service, i tip in the bars but not for every drink i order, i give my room steward something extra at the end of the cruise if they did anything extra like keeping my cooler full with ice etc. I choose anytime dining and i don't eat in there every night so i don't tip extra but i do leave the automatic tip in place. Use your own judgement as for who you think deserves a tip. Enjoy your cruise.

My daughter and I are taking a cruise in May. It will be our third. We went last May and my frugal 😁 hubby thought I was tipping too much lol. Our first criuse was decade ago in our twenties with small kids and we didn't have money to consider more than the prepay. I just wanted get idea of the norm. I didn't want be cheap for the great service we got before or go overboard. I know everyone has different opinions on the subject would love to hear some more. Thanks!

I tip when i order room service, i tip in the bars but not for every drink i order, i give my room steward something extra at the end of the cruise if they did anything extra like keeping my cooler full with ice etc. I choose anytime dining and i don't eat in there every night so i don't tip extra but i do leave the automatic tip in place. Use your own judgement as for who you think deserves a tip. Enjoy your cruise.

This is exactly what we do as well. Although, on the Breeze for ATD, we requested the same table every night and loved our wait staff, so we tipped extra at the end of the cruise.

I've already paid the prepay tips for room stewards and MDR but I'm curious how much do you generally tip in addition? Nightly? What about staff in MDR if you get beverages? I've previously done like typical restaurant at least 15%. Thanks in advance for feedback.

I only tip extra if a staff member goes above and beyond my expectations. On every drink you order a 15% gratuity is added. I do not add an additional tip. I do tip extra for room service and for the porters taking my luggage.

We always pre-pay our gratuities and sometimes will give extra to our room stewards and MDR waitstaff sometimes not. It is just a personal decision based upon the level of service that is received. With that said, I have never removed any tips even if the service was substandard or poor. I just left them on and chalked it up to an over-worked staff or one having a bad day. There are a lot of folks that will go out of their way to knit-pick the service as a justifiable reason to remove tips.

If we do tip extra, we take a small, blank thank-you card and put in some cash along with a short note basically stating..... thank you for making our cruise memorable or something to that nature. We hand them out on the last evening of our cruise.

We also bring a small stack of singles and fives to tip for the following that are NOT covered in the pre-paids:

**** Room service: $2 - $3 dollars per order.... We usually only order morning coffee and a bagel but I would add buck or so additional if we ordered more.

**** Porters @ embark and debark-- $5 for our 2 checked large suitcases.

**** Tips for excursion guides and drivers ---- the amount will depend on the excursion but they do expect tips. Some are rather pushy about it and they don't like to make change so having some ones and fives handy works out well.

**** Tips for taxi, shuttle drivers etc....

I also on occasion will give an extra buck or two to the Lido servers that never let my Diet Coke run empty. It is not necessary to do this but a dollar or two every few drinks does help with getting your pop quickly. Our family usually meets in the Casino bar area for our pre-dinner cocktail so the same goes if we find a great waiter or waitress. It is nice to have a staff member remember your name and your likes and such..... and we usually tip extra for this. JMHO.

Tipping extra is a personal decision for everyone so do what feels right for you and your family. :)

.

I do an additional tip each time I order room service.

I also typically tip each drink in the piano bar, martini bar, lido deck, and comedy club. I know there is an automatic 15% gratuity on there, but I have found that if I tip, I am not looking around for someone to get me a drink or fighting a line at the bar, the people that I have tipped see me and get me a drink. I am on vacation and a couple of extra dollars is totally worth it to me if I don't have to fight crowds at the bar. I treat it like an additional service fee.

I will also tip extra in the steakhouse and to my MDR crew because I have only ever eaten dinner at the buffet one time. Even though I was pleasantly surprised at the buffet, I need my Warm Chocolate Melting Cake :D

My next cruise will be with my nephews. I will ask the room steward to please make 2 animals each night, 1 for each boy. We will only eat in the MDR maybe twice. All the automatic tips are already paid, but at the end, I bring along a cheap Thank You card and make both boys sign it in thanks for the extra towel animals, and for being messy boys. That note is accompanied by a little something from the auntie too. :p I'm sure the steward barely looks at the note, but to me, it reinforces good manners for the boys. I don't drink, so tipping the bartenders for me is moot, and we ALWAYS tip the room service delivery person when we are feeling too lazy to walk somewhere to get food ourselves.

The honest truth is, if you just leave your tips on there, the people who get them will be happy. A little extra never hurts, but there is no absolute need to do it.

We had a great MDR crew. $5/night

We gave $40 for room stewards.

Traditionally, tipping is done on the LAST NIGHT of a cruise. Room service tipping is done at the time of delivery. Tips to bartenders are included in the price, but there's a space to write in more.

We always tip extra on the last day to our MDR staff and our room steward. There is normally 5 couples that cruise together and the MDR staff is so good at remembering our names, what everyone drinks, who will want coffee after dinner, who normally wants more bread, etc. Even though this is their job, I feel they go above and beyond with getting to know all our us. Our room steward last year on the Dream was the most fantastic steward we have ever had. He was the steward for all of us and we really enjoyed when we would leave our cabin in the morning and he would say "so and so just went up to breakfast". Always greeted us by name and took the time to talk with us about our day. We have also found out at the past guest party if you want a special drink if you tip the waiter and ask for it they will keep them coming. We normally just tip the 15% that is added to bar bills. Have never made a connection with just one bartender. Do remember to have $1 and $5 for tips for porters, excursions and cabs.

I've already paid the prepay tips for room stewards and MDR but I'm curious how much do you generally tip in addition? Nightly? What about staff in MDR if you get beverages? I've previously done like typical restaurant at least 15%. Thanks in advance for feedback.

I also do the same by prepaying, and I usually do tip extra to room steward and MDR team, as well as some exceptional bar tenders and servers. I know some people who tip big at the end of the cruise, and I will honestly say, that it is often difficult for me to cruise yearly, and often only do every three or four years. But I prepay gratuities and never would remove them ever. I do tip extra to room steward, MDR staff, and sometimes bar staff/servers who have exceeded my expectations. But sometimes and rarely, get a steward who is only just doing the job, and then just leave gratuities in place, but dont tip extra unless service is excellent.

When I tip extra, it is not often much, just 20.00 to room steward and asst, and 20.00 to MDR team, 5.00 to a great bar tender or server. It is not much, but these extras have always been accepted gratefully, and many times with a big hug.

I dont think it matters how much extra you tip, any little extra is always gratefully and graciously accepted by these hard working employees.

I think it is great that you are asking this, and thinking of them in advance of your cruise. Have a great one:)

edit...bar drinks automatically bill comes with 15pc added, so no need to tip extra per drink but if you have a repeatedly good server, then you can tip extra later in the cruise.

I tip when i order room service, i tip in the bars but not for every drink i order, i give my room steward something extra at the end of the cruise if they did anything extra like keeping my cooler full with ice etc. I choose anytime dining and i don't eat in there every night so i don't tip extra but i do leave the automatic tip in place. Use your own judgement as for who you think deserves a tip. Enjoy your cruise.

Actually you do tip every drink order from the bar since they add a 15% tip to the bill.

We always give extra at the end to our room steward and his assistants, usually $40-50 total, with more going to the head one. We also always give more to the head waiter and less to his assistants.

I was surprised when we handed our envelope to our head waiter and asked him to give one of his assistants his because we didn't see him. He said " We always share these and I give them the biggest part since they get less of the automatic tips than I do." We were so touched by this, they were absolutely the best wait staff we've had in 7 cruises.

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't realize drinks already did 15%😁.

Our first cruise (Carnival) we didn't tip any extra, just the suggested amount. No one really stood out or went above and beyond. On our Disney cruise, we tipped everyone $25 extra ($35 extra to the room steward as our son wet the bed nearly every night :o ), as the entire staff was wonderful and more than earned it.

My advice is to wait and see, if you feel they've gone above and beyond then tip more, otherwise stay with the base amount.

Actually you do tip every drink order from the bar since they add a 15% tip to the bill.

Good point...lol

I've already paid the prepay tips for room stewards and MDR but I'm curious how much do you generally tip in addition? Nightly? What about staff in MDR if you get beverages? I've previously done like typical restaurant at least 15%. Thanks in advance for feedback.

No need to over think something they ate doing for you. Your tips are taken care of. No need to tip more.