Dan & Penny

Never tip for room service. This why HAL has the auto gratuities each day added to the bill. If you want to tip extra go ahead but I cannot be bothered scrounging for dollar bills when I am on vacation. HAL has elected auto gratuity charges which is preferable and fine with me but they can't have it both ways.

Someone goes above and beyond to provide you service and your answer implies the poor guy or gal delivering to you deserves nothing extra and you imply HAL is trying to pull a fast one over on you. You are a sad, sad person and it must be tough going through life with such anger. :cool:

You should be aware that HAL will charge $10 per day per person to your account for "hotel charges". This includes tipping. Here is the policy:

 

Hotel Service Charge

Our crew works very hard to make sure that every aspect of your cruise meets the highest standards. This includes those crewmembers who serve you directly, such as dining room wait staff and the stewards who service your stateroom each day. There are also many others who support their efforts whom you may never meet, such as galley and laundry staff. To ensure that the efforts of all of our crewmembers are recognized and rewarded, a Hotel Service Charge of $10 per passenger is automatically added to each guest's shipboard account on a daily basis. If our service exceeds or fails to meet your expectations, you are free to adjust this amount at the end of the cruise. The Hotel Service Charge is paid entirely to Holland America Line crewmembers, and represents an important part of their compensation. A 15% service charge is automatically added to bar charges and dining room wine purchases.

 

The cruise director told us in a briefing that they put this policy in so that people didn't have to carry cash with them and so that other employees who you don't see get their fair reward. All of the hotel charges go directly to employees and none of it goes to Holland America. You can tip if you feel that the employee has gone above and beyond providing service for you.

 

In reading this policy, is seems that you would not have to tip for room service.

No, room service is over and oabove the tip fee withheld. The person bringing the food or drink should be given an appropriate tip. A couple of singles for something small and more for a full meal etc.;)