Gifts for housekeeping

I have seen numerous times that it is a good idea to bring some small gifts for you housekeeping staff. That it will improve your service. I guess I am unimaginative. For those of you who do this can you give me some ideas please?

We don't bring gifts for the staff. There rooms are quite small and they don't much room for their "stuff". We do leave candy bars out in our room with a note for them to help themselves and they seem to love that for some reason.

Also cash is nice! We tip extra at the end of the cruise if our service has been good and tip along the way whenever we ask our room steward to do something special for us-extra ice or whatever.

Cash, cash, cash is the best for the crew. ;)

NO, no, no! Bribes do NOT enhance service! Do you work for gifts? Or for MONEY???? Of course, you are working to make money...and so are the folks on the ship! They are sharing a cabin smaller than the smallest inside cell....with someone they may not even know. They have no room for do-dads and stuff! Give them money...that's what they are serving you for.....to make money.

Frankly, I've never had "bad" service from my room attendant....some are better than others. The best was an attendant I never, ever saw...but my cabin was freshly made up every time we left and returned....magic, I say!

If you feel the need to give them something, give them cash. They will appreciate it!

Cash, cash, cash is the best for the crew. ;)

:D

Green paper with pictures of dead U. S. Presidents. ;)

$$$$$

I agree..pretty green paper works..

I have also offered to pick stuff up for them in port...once I brought back Chips Ahoy....and other times, pantyhose and even a pair of shoes (the last 2 were for guest relations people when i was on a b2b2b and I went to the Mall in San Juan on turnaround day..)

I will be on an Easter cruise and plan to leave a tip and a bag of candy.

Since I live near Hershey PA..I always bring some candy with me. They can share with roommates and friends. Or keep to themselves...LOL

Janel:p

:D

 

Green paper with pictures of dead U. S. Presidents. ;)

Ah yes -- but their absolute favorite is a picture of a "founding father" who never held our highest elected office (but, famous for flying a kite in a thunderstorm). :cool:

Since I live near Hershey PA..I always bring some candy with me. They can share with roommates and friends. Or keep to themselves...LOL

 

Janel:p

Ok but Id personally let the room steward know I was from Hershey - otherwise - i DON'T think its a good idea to bring gifts - leave an extra $20 instead!

I'm not sure where you heard that, but imagine all the "gifts" they would need to throw out if everyone gave them one. Their stateroom and space is like half the size of ours, and the number of passengers they encounter each cruise is sizable.

So give cash, which they can use to buy stuff that they want or need!

Some people are allergic to chocolate or they just don't like it. How do you know that your room steward is not one of these people? I have also heard that the crew is instructed not to eat food gifts from passengers because it could be tainted. Give them cash. If they want chocolate, they can buy it with the cash that you give them.

Origami made out of money...

http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/money-origami.html

International phone cards are a nice gift since they are away from home.

Cash is even better...they can then decide how they want to utilize their gift!

International phone cards are a nice gift since they are away from home.

Cash is even better...they can then decide how they want to utilize their gift!

Not really since you don't know if they will work from where they are to where they need to call. They can purchase phone cards from the ship at a great discount and many are using skype these days. Best to give them extra cash - they then can buy what they want/need.

Cash, Cash, Cash, why don't people want to give the sole reason for working on a cruise ship.

I agree..pretty green paper works..

 

I have also offered to pick stuff up for them in port...once I brought back Chips Ahoy....and other times, pantyhose and even a pair of shoes (the last 2 were for guest relations people when i was on a b2b2b and I went to the Mall in San Juan on turnaround day..)

One of our bartenders needed a new lighter with a built in flashlight for working in the theater. (the flashlight part, not the lighter part ;))

Since we had nothing in particular to shop for ourselves for...it gave us a reason to go into stores and look around until we found one for him. It was fun! And a very cheap thrill :D

No trinkets and trash. No t shirts, calling cards or candy. No junk with your home town's name on it. No sports crap. Dumb dumb dumb. Everyone has been pretty polite about saying cash only.

The crew doesn't have the space for junk. Many places on earth have a different idea about treats, chocolate isn't one of them. Who the heck wants a crappy bag of candy? Crew members don't need calling cards that they may never use. The one and only thing they want is CASH.

CASH

CASH

I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but, I'm thinking that perhaps cash might be the best gift. ;-)

Cash. I don't understand this feeling that people need to buy "gifts" for the crew. Tip them just like you would anyone else onshore and let them spend it the way they want. Just because you think what you bought is nice doesn't mean they do. If you pay attention when in port, the crew with time off will find the local walmart or something similar and stock up on staples. They can use the cash to buy what THEY want and need, not what you think they might want. They dont' want trinkets, knick knacks, etc. It's different if you volunteer to pick up something and they tell you what they want/need, but to presuppose what YOU think they want isn't helpful.

No trinkets and trash. No t shirts, calling cards or candy. No junk with your home town's name on it. No sports crap. Dumb dumb dumb. Everyone has been pretty polite about saying cash only.

 

The crew doesn't have the space for junk. Many places on earth have a different idea about treats, chocolate isn't one of them. Who the heck wants a crappy bag of candy? Crew members don't need calling cards that they may never use. The one and only thing they want is CASH.

 

CASH

 

CASH

This is a pretty rude response to asking about gifts. I have never thought about leaving a gift, but if we are talking chocolate, than we are also only talking about a couple of dollars not benjamins.

Just another thought by the way... if you do get to know some of the staff and know they would like something then I think they would appreciate it greatly. If I had it to do all over again I would have bought our room steward Nancy on the 8th deck D1 balcony section one of the souveniers we got from Chichen Itza. She really really loved them and tried to figure out if she could get them herself. But they don't have enough time to travel even 1 hour away from ship.

So if anyone is on the Oasis, Western Itenerary and has Nancy as a room Steward on deck 8 and is going to Chichen Itza... she'd really like this set. :)

Just another thought by the way... if you do get to know some of the staff and know they would like something then I think they would appreciate it greatly. If I had it to do all over again I would have bought our room steward Nancy on the 8th deck D1 balcony section one of the souveniers we got from Chichen Itza. She really really loved them and tried to figure out if she could get them herself. But they don't have enough time to travel even 1 hour away from ship.

 

So if anyone is on the Oasis, Western Itenerary and has Nancy as a room Steward on deck 8 and is going to Chichen Itza... she'd really like this set. :)

 

I'm sorry, but I think Nancy was just being polite. Do you really think she would rather have that instead of extra cash?

Tip them the same as you would a hotel housekeeper...cash.