Viking River Cruise

I know what I am about to ask is going to open the proverbial can of worms, but ... Id appreciate guidance/advice/your own experiences.

Dad and I are about to embark on a Viking River cruise for 8 days. We have paid close to £6k for this holiday and I am NOT mindful to accept the standard gratuities of €12 per guest per day. To put in context, we do a LOT of ocean cruising, and I always REMOVE the gratuities from our account, preferring to tip individuals approx $30-$50 each, - our room steward, our bar tender, our waiters, etc.

I will do likewise on this cruise, providing the service merits it, so I ask please ... how to Viking 'charge' the gratuities? Is it on the account at the end of the cruise? Do they give us envelopes in our stateroom into which to put cash? And if the former, has anyone ever crossed them out/asked for them to be taken off the account?

Look forward to hearing from you.

We just did a Viking cruise in April, and Viking gives you the option to either add the gratuities to your account when you settle on disembarkation day or to offer the gratuities individuallly. They will give you envelopes if you desire to provide the gratuities on an individual basis.

Have a great cruise!

Have yet to travel on Viking (first cruise with them next year...) but have done 5 other river cruises (Uniworld, AMA and Scenic).

As above, you will have the option of adding gratuities to your account, or placing money in an envelope. However, I do believe that the monies in an envelope are distributed among all crew members - except for the cruise manager. That is a separate amount (at least on all of my previous cruises...)

No one will know if you tip (or not) - or how much (or not) if you choose not to add to your on-board account.

But - river cruising is very different than big ship cruising in that the crew is much smaller. The staff in the bar also help out in the dining room. It is not set seating, so you will have a different waiter at dinner - unless you sit in the same area each night.

And, although it is just dinner that is "served" - you will have wait staff present at other meals, and they move around. So, sitting at the same table for all meals still gets you different staff.

You may have someone regular who cleans your room - but they will all pitch in to help out as required. And - you can ask any of them for assistance.... not just "your" cleaning staff.

The staff at the front desk can be an amazing resource - and you may not see all of them if you aren't a "night owl"... They usually don't rotate.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that tipping individually on a river boat (rather than the "group" tip) may result in you not recognizing an amazing staff member that really did make an impact on your cruise - and you were not aware of it.

What we have done in the past is to do the gratuities as suggested, with a little extra if someone went out of their way to make our trip even more memorable.

Fran

We were on Viking in June and they gave us one envelope. I'm sure you could ask for more. We could either give cash or have it added to our account. Keep in mind that when the tip is added to your account it is also divided among many people behind the scenes. If you gave cash directly to the people who serve you, the others would miss out and they work hard too. We had the tips added to our account and then gave out extra cash to a few people that we thought went above and beyond to make our trip special.

Phoebecat, as Fran has said, most gratuities are pooled among staff, even on ocean cruises. I did discuss this with the hotel manager on a cruise ship recently and he told me that amounts given as an "extra" gratuity are allowed to be kept by that crew member, otherwise, the tips are pooled. This is because there are many behind the scenes people who you may not be aware of servicing you, but who indeed do, and so then they do receive a portion of the gratuities. You may want to inquire of Viking as to their policy on this if it is of concern to you.

 

But - river cruising is very different than big ship cruising in that the crew is much smaller. The staff in the bar also help out in the dining room. It is not set seating, so you will have a different waiter at dinner - unless you sit in the same area each night.

 

And, although it is just dinner that is "served" - you will have wait staff present at other meals, and they move around. So, sitting at the same table for all meals still gets you different staff.

 

You may have someone regular who cleans your room - but they will all pitch in to help out as required. And - you can ask any of them for assistance.... not just "your" cleaning staff.

 

The staff at the front desk can be an amazing resource - and you may not see all of them if you aren't a "night owl"... They usually don't rotate.

 

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that tipping individually on a river boat (rather than the "group" tip) may result in you not recognizing an amazing staff member that really did make an impact on your cruise - and you were not aware of it.

 

What we have done in the past is to do the gratuities as suggested, with a little extra if someone went out of their way to make our trip even more memorable.

 

Fran

I completely agree!

Last year on Avalon a nice gentleman delivered our bags to our cabin and we noticed later that he was the Captain! Everyone wears multiple hats.

We tip as recommended and also recognize that go above and beyond for us with cash.

On our Scenic tours cruise the gratuities were included ...we did tip extra at the end of the cruise

They have a crew fund box at reception that you can add as much as you wish all the tips are pooled

The crew wear many hats & work very hard ;)

We paid our gratuities in advance with Avalon and then gave out additional tips to both the CD and staff.

The crews do work hard. When we departed the ship, it was raining so every member of the crew (including the captain) was taking luggage to the bus. Everyone regardless of rank worked together!

I was just on Viking in May/June. I put a group tip in the envelope and then gave an individual tip directly to my cabin attendant who was so wonderful. I did think they played games with the 'suggested amount' though. They said $12 per day/per person recommended and then changed at the end of the presentation to show a calculation of 12 euros per day per person and a total in euros. Some people don't even think about $12 and 12 euro not being the same and I felt they were a little sneaky.

Phoebecat - I will agree with most of the other posters on this thread and respectfully suggest that your idea of tipping only those few people with whom you have frequent and regular interaction will have the result of seriously shafting the majority of staff members who contribute to your river cruise.

After reading Viking's tipping recommendation, I think I understand what Phoebecat is asking and saying.

The recommended tipping amount for the Russian Cruise is "Onboard staff - $15 per person per day, the Tour Escort $10 per person per day, and then plus tipping local city guides at $2 per person per day and coach drivers $1 per person per day".

I roughly calculated how much I need to just carry US cash for tipping, according to the Viking's guideline - two people for a thirteen-day Russian cruise would add up to almost US$700 in tipping, that is, per cabin, and there are 98 cabins.

Are you guys saying that this is a common and acceptable practice and that you all paid the recommended amount plus, in some cases, extra cash to some staff as well?

Phoebecat - I will agree with most of the other posters on this thread and respectfully suggest that your idea of tipping only those few people with whom you have frequent and regular interaction will have the result of seriously shafting the majority of staff members who contribute to your river cruise.

I think i need to clarify my point. Dad and I have spent close to £6k for seven days on board a ship. That's approx £700 per day! Taking out flights. I'm now being asked for an extra 168€ in tips.

Isn't the £700 per day I'm paying enough to cover the staff wages?

This a European cruise sailing in European waters. Not a us cruise or us registered ship where tipping is the norm. I understand and respect that on ocean cruises, of which we have done many. But there, I'm paying approximately £1000 for a ten day cruise. Here I'm paying treble that!

As for suggesting that i will be shafting the majority of staff members, that is a pejorative and unnecessary slur. Kindly learn some manners.

I think i need to clarify my point. Dad and I have spent close to £6k for seven days on board a ship. That's approx £700 per day! Taking out flights. I'm now being asked for an extra 168€ in tips.

 

Isn't the £700 per day I'm paying enough to cover the staff wages?

 

This a European cruise sailing in European waters. Not a us cruise or us registered ship where tipping is the norm. I understand and respect that on ocean cruises, of which we have done many. But there, I'm paying approximately £1000 for a ten day cruise. Here I'm paying treble that!

 

As for suggesting that i will be shafting the majority of staff members, that is a pejorative and unnecessary slur. Kindly learn some manners.

With all due respect, you are missing the point that there are different economies of scale between an ocean going vessel and a river boat. Comparing your cost per day between an ocean going vessel and a river boat would be like comparing the cost per seat between a cross town bus and a taxi. You will be two out of 198 passengers on your upcoming Viking Sun cruise whereas on your upcoming cruise on the Celebrity Constellation you will be two out of 2034 yet if you compare the recommended daily tips for both of those cruises I think you will find that they properly reflect those differences.

The "can of worms" is now open, lol.

In our experience, even when we cruised the larger ships, we do like to tip our servers, when we receive good consistent service from crew. Viking policy is to ask each passenger to pay $12 euros daily. Envelopes are set out in the cabin in the last 48 hours.

We tipped the nice staff we wanted to show appreciation to individually - we just tucked it into their hand - some servers are definitely better than others so why should I tip the waiter who bad waiters. One eastern Euro waiter spilled water all over me at lunch one day and he was not concerned with my dilemmna but that he might get fired or reamed out by his supervisor. He was not nice to most people from the start of the trip and by the last two days it was amazing how polite & different he acted closer to the tipping time that was coming up.

Viking splits all the tip money between all their staff - there are usually in the range of 45-55 staff on a small Viking boat. We don't agree with this system (why the heck does the Program Director need a tip) so we tipped our favorites and well, frankly, I did not agree With the Viking Policy so I did it my own way.

Tipping is a choice - no matter what venue you are in - if Viking pays so small a wage to their staff to work their daily shifts - then the paying customers are fools to believe we need to HELP Viking complete their pay weekly payroll for employees.

In our experience, even when we cruised the larger ships, we do like to tip our servers, when we receive good consistent service from crew. Viking policy is to ask each passenger to pay $12 euros daily. Envelopes are set out in the cabin in the last 48 hours.

 

We tipped the nice staff we wanted to show appreciation to individually - we just tucked it into their hand - some servers are definitely better than others so why should I tip the waiter who bad waiters. One eastern Euro waiter spilled water all over me at lunch one day and he was not concerned with my dilemmna but that he might get fired or reamed out by his supervisor. He was not nice to most people from the start of the trip and by the last two days it was amazing how polite & different he acted closer to the tipping time that was coming up.

 

Viking splits all the tip money between all their staff - there are usually in the range of 45-55 staff on a small Viking boat. We don't agree with this system (why the heck does the Program Director need a tip) so we tipped our favorites and well, frankly, I did not agree With the Viking Policy so I did it my own way.

 

Tipping is a choice - no matter what venue you are in - if Viking pays so small a wage to their staff to work their daily shifts - then the paying customers are fools to believe we need to HELP Viking complete their pay weekly payroll for employees.

I can understand your wanting to personally tuck the tip into the hand of the crew members who had provided you with good service but tell me how you managed to tuck a tip into the hand of the kitchen staff who prepared your meals or the laundry staff who provided you with your clean linen?

I think i need to clarify my point. Dad and I have spent close to £6k for seven days on board a ship. That's approx £700 per day! Taking out flights. I'm now being asked for an extra 168€ in tips.

Ocean or river cruise, tips are always extra. If you are so worried about the extra $168 in tips breaking the bank, maybe you should not travel and stiff those poor working souls. The tips they earn are probably the majority of their earnings. To even complain about such a trivial sum when you are spending thousands, is in really poor taste.

I can understand your wanting to personally tuck the tip into the hand of the crew members who had provided you with good service but tell me how you managed to tuck a tip into the hand of the kitchen staff who prepared your meals or the laundry staff who provided you with your clean linen?

Exactly!!!

Karen

I resented that on ocean trip that it was automatically added on, even if you felt the service was sub par. I think that most of the posters wanted to convey how hard your staff will work with you. The housekeepers are so good that I wanted to take them home with me. I found it nice that in the end tipping was up to you.

I am not sure if you all read my previous post on Viking's recommended tipping.... for a thirteen-day Russian river cruise ... almost US$700 in tips! I agree with Friendlycruiser59 that I simply can't see why the Program Director is getting a tip as well, especially in a management position.

I can see why we tip for extra and over and beyond services provided, but why should we tip in a sense that we are paying for their salaries. Aren't we all employed to provide good standard service to all our customers...even when it is in the hospitality industry? Or are we saying that if we don't tip, we would get lousy or no service at all? It seems that we are now being dictated and directed by some of these cruise companies as to what and how we should comply with their thinking?

I think I now favour more towards the "all inclusive" river/ocean cruise companies without having to worry about these hidden agendas.

I am not sure if you all read my previous post on Viking's recommended tipping.... for a thirteen-day Russian river cruise ... almost US$700 in tips! I agree with Friendlycruiser59 that I simply can't see why the Program Director is getting a tip as well, especially in a management position.

 

I can see why we tip for extra and over and beyond services provided, but why should we tip in a sense that we are paying for their salaries. Aren't we all employed to provide good standard service to all our customers...even when it is in the hospitality industry? Or are we saying that if we don't tip, we would get lousy or no service at all? It seems that we are now being dictated and directed by some of these cruise companies as to what and how we should comply with their thinking?

 

I think I now favour more towards the "all inclusive" river/ocean cruise companies without having to worry about these hidden agendas.

12 x 13 = 156... Were there 4 of you?

12 x 13 = 156... Were there 4 of you?

Viking's recommended tipping for Russia/Ukraine, China, Egypt and Southeast Asia is "Onboard Staff US$15 per person per day, Tour Escort US$10 per person per day, Local City Guides US$2 per person per day, and Coach Drivers US$1 per person per day. So for a 13-DAY cruise ($15x13)+($10x13)+(local guides and coach drivers) x 2-person cabin = approx. US$700!

I find it interesting that the Russian based cruise lines recommend around $7-$8 per person per day for cruising and make a point of emphasizing you should tip according to your feelings about your levels of service. Why do the higher end, non Russian based lines want you to double that? Your ship is fancier, no doubt, but the work provided by staff and crew is exactly the same. (I just returned from a 13 day Russian River Cruise thru Travel All Russia/Vodohod).

When I spoke to our young Russian guide on the ship, he said they see very little of the recommended tip money by the time it is divided among the crew. It's the individual tips that made direct impact. But as several mentioned before, you will never see most of those staff whose work directly impact your cruise- laundry staff, dishwashers, etc. They don't even see you to receive your smiles or your "Spacibas", your personal words of thanks. These people work for months at a time without a day off, without seeing their families or friends, often without being able to connect thru computers or phones- depending on ships location and capabilities. They work 10-16 hour days. They WORK.

I also make a point of saying that tipping is a new thing in Russia, period. Restaurant waiters and waitresses often make more than doctors and teachers and Russians themselves rarely if ever tip. This is probably starting to change now as Western influence creeps more and more into their culture. So I doubt our tips are paying anybody's wages- they really are a "Thank you" gesture.

My only experience is my Russian River Cruise, so I can only speak to that.

After reading all this about tipping I am very glad ours is included in the price of our cruise. In Australia we tip for exceptional service but it is not expected. Most people will at least round restaurants and taxis up. I really don't understand a system where employees are not paid a proper wage without tips. It's like making everyone responsible for their wages. A service industry person in Australia can give great service and add to their wage but not dependent on it to live.

We have been to countries where tipping is the way and have received good and bad service- just like Australia. Keeping your job should be incentive enough to give good service.

Anyway not up to me to change the way other countries do things and it is the way they are used to just like us. We always research customs and go with the flow. We will still give a bit extra to the service people we come into contact with if we feel it is deserved.

Happy travels. :)

River cruising is very different from big ship cruising in that the crew is much smaller. The staff in the bar also help out in the dining room. It is not set seating, so you will have a different waiter at dinner.