Buttering up room steward(s) at the beginning of the cruise

on the first day i give the room steward a $100.00 and his/her helper $50.00.

after that they keep my ice full, my bed is always made up when i leave and come back , even if its two or three times a day. the bath room is clean with fresh paper, folded. towels up and soap full.

the floors are clean and the air is on.

if theirs a ref. in the room they empty it so i can put all my drinks in.

and at nite theirs a mint and a towel animal on my bed .

they call me by my name .

is this not worth it ?

That is their job. They get paid a salary for that.

That's not true. You can make that tip anything you like. You are ALWAYS 100% in charge of your own tips.

I believe the 15% gratuity on drinks is automatic -- you are free to add more, but I don't think you can take it off.

I have never given the subject much thought, I can't imagine why I would feel a need to remove it. If I were served that poorly, I speak to a supervisor.

on the first day i give the room steward a $100.00 and his/her helper $50.00.

after that they keep my ice full, my bed is always made up when i leave and come back , even if its two or three times a day. the bath room is clean with fresh paper, folded. towels up and soap full.

the floors are clean and the air is on.

if theirs a ref. in the room they empty it so i can put all my drinks in.

and at nite theirs a mint and a towel animal on my bed .

they call me by my name .

is this not worth it ?

You do know that we all get that without upfront payment..... don't you?

I believe the 15% gratuity on drinks is automatic -- you are free to add more, but I don't think you can take it off.

 

I have never given the subject much thought, I can't imagine why I would feel a need to remove it. If I were served that poorly, I speak to a supervisor.

You can make it anything you like, including nothing. They don't hold you hostage to your tips.

I believe the 15% gratuity on drinks is automatic -- you are free to add more, but I don't think you can take it off.

 

I have never given the subject much thought, I can't imagine why I would feel a need to remove it. If I were served that poorly, I speak to a supervisor.

You just cross off the gratuity, re-total the bill and sign your name. If I was served that poorly, I would and have set up a meeting with the Food and Beverage Director. Unfortunately, the only gratuity I want to remove (bottomless bubbles) is unable to be removed, according to the F&B Director and Guest Services Manager on my last four Carnival cruises. Thankfully, I don't experience the same consistent annoyance on Princess.

I've given an extra tip up front, extra in the middle, extra at the end, and many times no extra tip at all.

Never noticed a difference in service.

I always hand my cabin attendant $100 when I board the ship. I have never had any complaints, and always get pretty great service.:)

But trust me, nobody ever seemed insulted or offended!!:cool:

FYI I tip at the end too.

On my first Carnival cruise I left a note before the safety drill asking for ice in my cooler, extra pillows, and mentioned the safe was locked and we needed it open for our use signed the note thank you and left a tip. When we returned to the room, the cooler had ice, and the room steward quickly appeared to say he would get the pillows during turn down, and that the supervisor had to come up and open the safe with us present....so he called them up and it was all taken care of...I noticed the tip was still there so I went to hand it to him and he refused to take it. I left another thank you, and additional tip at the end of the cruise. I have not tried to ever tip in advance again, I have always gotten excellent service, actually I find Carnival's room stewards to be the best out of all my cruises, excellent job, quickly get any extras I request...usually ice and pillows, clean the room when I'm gone (they seem to have a better system to or pay attention, never knocking in the morning etc, I have felt pressured to get out of the cabin by a certain time on other lines)...say hello in the hallways, etc.

Why would anyone call when you can Skype?

I often don't have fast or strong enough internet connect to Skype from my home in Ohio, so I would assume the connection on ship or in many ports is not as reliable for skype either.

I often don't have fast or strong enough internet connect to Skype from my home in Ohio, so I would assume the connection on ship or in many ports is not as reliable for skype either.

The ship -- no, Skype the wifi is painfully slow. All of the ports we've been to in the last few years have had very good to excellent connections.

I'm sorry your connection at home isn't very good -- a good internet connection is just a couple of notches behind water and electricity to many of us ;)

on the first day i give the room steward a $100.00 and his/her helper $50.00.

after that they keep my ice full, my bed is always made up when i leave and come back , even if its two or three times a day. the bath room is clean with fresh paper, folded. towels up and soap full.

the floors are clean and the air is on.

if theirs a ref. in the room they empty it so i can put all my drinks in.

and at nite theirs a mint and a towel animal on my bed .

they call me by my name .

is this not worth it ?

I don't bribe them and still get all that.

I usually leave a $20 with a note reading "ICE", and pointing to my bucket!

If I could afford 20 bucks per small bucket of ice I wouldn't be cruisin on an economy cruise line. I give them 20 or 30 extra at the end of the cruise if I think they deserve extra and that's it. And I get the same great service and buckets of ice as those of you who spend an extra 200 bucks during the trip. In fact I probably get better service than the standard bribe provider because I'm platinum. Sometimes I wonder if the room stewards come on to this site on computer and bring up these kinds of ridiculous threads to try to increase their tips. I mean really! 20 bucks for a bucket of ice??? 😱😨

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I don't bribe them and still get all that.

Same here.

I used to tip at the beginning of cruises and always had great service. Then after reading these boards I decided to change things up and not tip at the beginning. The service was just as good when I did tip upfront. The service was so good on those early cruises that I assumed the tip upfront must have had something to do with it, not realizing that the service on cruises are exceptional. It's just the way the cruise lines roll.

Another thing to consider is that the room steward might actually be offended by the offering of money upfront as it kind of implies that he/she won't do as good of a job otherwise. People who take pride in their work don't require the extra 'incentive' to do a great job. It was this thought that made me decide to stop tipping upfront. What might be taken as a compliment by one person, could just as easily be taken as an insult by another.

We usually tip up front with a letter of apology for the week they will be having in our cabin. Messy women + lots of naps = not a lot of time to clean and a potentially frustrated housekeeping team. I've never had a single complaint about any of our room 'Stewarts' and most of them give us a hug when we leave despite all the favors they've done for us. Probably because they're elated we're leaving! LOL

First thing we do when we are in our cabin, is call Our Steward and ask him/her to come to our cabin.

We ask for a Sharps Bottle

We ask that the fridge be cleaned and filled with diet cokes.

I give him/her $20

I do it because One..I need those things and want them done that day. Two..it is a hectic day. The stewards are running around like crazy getting ready to sail. It is an extra thing to ask of them on Day One. So I tip.

We don't have any other requests, but we usually tip at the end too. We pick up our room. We are courteous. And we always get the best stewards on the ship. Odd how that works.

I always say that I appreciate them taking the time to do on that day, but my Husband has diabetes and needs them. And I thank them.

it is always done before we go to bed. And I am grateful. DH does not take shots. He controls it with a strict diet and exercise and a pill a day. the Cokes are a big help, Testing three times a day always helps too.

I've never had a single complaint about any of our room 'Stewarts'

Are you saying you actually had a steward named 'Stewart?' That would be a coincidence!

Kinda shocked by the number of bitter and cynical people on here. To tip or not is a personal choice but to try to talk someone out of tipping seems kindof vindictive towards the person they are tipping...I worked as a server for years including some very high end establishments. I gave everyone excellent service but if someone slipped me a $20 when they were seated I'd make darn sure that once they took two drinks of water, it would be refilled. Can't see how someone would be offended when we all know that everyone LOVES money. They aren't working there for the opportunity to travel. They are working for the money.

Can't see how someone would be offended when we all know that everyone LOVES money.

I think it is cynical of you to think everyone in this life LOVES money. Just sayin'.

If I could afford 20 bucks per small bucket of ice I wouldn't be cruisin on an economy cruise line. I give them 20 or 30 extra at the end of the cruise if I think they deserve extra and that's it. And I get the same great service and buckets of ice as those of you who spend an extra 200 bucks during the trip. In fact I probably get better service than the standard bribe provider because I'm platinum. Sometimes I wonder if the room stewards come on to this site on computer and bring up these kinds of ridiculous threads to try to increase their tips. I mean really! 20 bucks for a bucket of ice??? 😱😨

 

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I don't think the post meant $20 per bucket of ice. He just gave $20 to keep the ice filled for the week. The room stewards know upfront if you're a previous cruiser and you have ever removed tips on a previous cruise. There are lists that float around. You don't want to be on it.

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I don't understand all this need for ice. Are your keeping some nuclear fuel rods cool or something?

We had the standard bucket that gets filled twice a day whether we use it or not. You don't really consume the ice do you? :eek: Who knows what people use those ice buckets for? Ick.

We like a lot of ice for 2 reasons. We mix drinks in our cabin and I always buy buckets of beer and always have 2 or 3 on ice in my cooler.

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I don't think the post meant $20 per bucket of ice. He just gave $20 to keep the ice filled for the week. The room stewards know upfront if you're a previous cruiser and you have ever removed tips on a previous cruise. There are lists that float around. You don't want to be on it.

 

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They have no way of knowing if you have removed them in the past on a previous cruise. We all know that there is a list. Carnival's brand ambassador says it gets posted after the cruise ends. However, it doesn't always work that way. The list may be from your current sailing or the previous sailing. However, there is no way for a steward to know if you have ever removed them in the past unless you have had them as a steward in the past.

They don't store this information on your VIFP profile, nor is there a database that monitors it. They should have no reason to, as you are allowed to modify the gratuities at your discretion, remove them completely and not tip, or tip in cash. The crew gets paid a salary. Automatic gratuities or cash tips are in addition, at your discretion, based on service that meets or exceeds your expectations.

We usually start out with a $20 and a request keep the cooler filled with ice! So far, so good! :D

I think it is cynical of you to think everyone in this life LOVES money. Just sayin'.

Oky doky