Tipping at the Pier in FLL

[Carol_Hill]

Just curious, how much do people tip the porters at the pier in FLL these days? We will probably have one fairly large heavy suitcase and a case of wine to check. (Definitely NOT Lafite Rothschild '51!! :)) Is $10 too little, too much?? Thanks!

[BobT172]

Typically I would do $2 per bag but probably no more than $5 for what you are describing......

[Crown Prince]

Carol:

I would give $10.

It is cheap insurance.

:cool::cool::D;);)

[cruze610]

Carol:

I would give $10.

It is cheap insurance.

:cool::cool::D;);)

 

Couldn't agree more

[LARGIN]

We usually tip around $10

[Loonbeam]

Rule of thumb for any luggage porter, not just at a pier:

 

$1 plus:

 

$1 per item for small or light standard sized (carry-on) suitcases or similar objects

$2 per item for full-size suitcases and similar objects

$3-5 per item for very heavy (+50lbs) or fragile objects or ones that are difficult to carry.

 

Of course, adjust these based on service levels, and for hotel bell staff, $20 per cart is a max no matter how many bags.

 

In the case above, I'd say $7-$10 is fine depending on service.

[Tak8]

I normally have 5-6 bags for my family and tip $10. I'm sure the worker would be very happy wth a ten.

[juggles]

I tipped $2 and they seemed quite happy with that, when you think of 3000 passengers they must make quite a bit!!!

[SailNC]

Just curious, how much do people tip the porters at the pier in FLL these days? We will probably have one fairly large heavy suitcase and a case of wine to check. (Definitely NOT Lafite Rothschild '51!! :)) Is $10 too little, too much?? Thanks!

 

First of all we drive down from North Carolina and leave our car in the garage next to the ship! We have two very large bags (14-day cruise) and about 3 small bags. The porters unload the car and put the bags in one of the larger containers which goes on the ship! $10.00 is our routine tip for this.

 

Disembarkation is much different. We get a porter who loads all our luggage on one cart, stays with us through customs, and then takes the luggage to our car wherever it is in the garage, and then loads it into the car. We tip between $30-$40 for that service and that seems to please all those who have helped us! Hope this helps!

 

-Sandy-

[Carol_Hill]

Carol:

I would give $10.

It is cheap insurance.

:cool::cool::D;);)

 

That's what I was thinking, because of the wine. If it was just regular bags, I wouldn't be as worried..

[compozer]

WOW, you guys are BIG tippers. We had an aft cabin a couple weeks ago and spent all afternoon on the balcony watch them load everything onto the ship. There are different guys loading not the ones you tip when you turn over your bags. I think these guys are worse than the airport people. They were tossing stuff all over and many fell off.

BUT I saw no boxes mixed in with the luggage. Maybe they don't go into the big bins. We always take wine and never have had anything broken. We only tip $1 a bag since they just put it into the container and don't follow it to the ship. Sometimes we do more - depends on the person

 

$30 to $40 WOW - that's a little over the top for me.

[sultan_sfo]

Disembarkation:

 

The whole process described by SailNC takes up quite a lot of the porter's time. IMO, $30 - $40 is appropriate for this service. With 4 large bags, going through customs, and then getting us to a cab (often bypassing the cab line), we give $20. And it is a scramble to even find a porter at FLL when there are 3 or more ships because porters get spread out over different piers.

 

...

Disembarkation is much different. We get a porter who loads all our luggage on one cart, stays with us through customs, and then takes the luggage to our car wherever it is in the garage, and then loads it into the car. We tip between $30-$40 for that service and that seems to please all those who have helped us! Hope this helps!

 

-Sandy-

 

...

$30 to $40 WOW - that's a little over the top for me.

[FLACRUISER99]

WOW, you guys are BIG tippers. We had an aft cabin a couple weeks ago and spent all afternoon on the balcony watch them load everything onto the ship. There are different guys loading not the ones you tip when you turn over your bags. I think these guys are worse than the airport people. They were tossing stuff all over and many fell off.

BUT I saw no boxes mixed in with the luggage. Maybe they don't go into the big bins. We always take wine and never have had anything broken. We only tip $1 a bag since they just put it into the container and don't follow it to the ship. Sometimes we do more - depends on the person

 

$30 to $40 WOW - that's a little over the top for me.

Like I say, some people have more money than brains (that does not mean they are not smart)

[NSWP]

On behalf of the Aussies, thanks for the lesson on tips at the pier. The porter at the pier who takes our two suitcases @20 kg each, should be happy with $10, right? I do not want our cases to land in the briny. LOL

[Ethel5]

WOW, you guys are BIG tippers. We had an aft cabin a couple weeks ago and spent all afternoon on the balcony watch them load everything onto the ship. There are different guys loading not the ones you tip when you turn over your bags.

 

There usually a "Big Boss" who carries around a brown paper bag and all the tips get put into the bag. I don't know how it's divided it up.

[NukeTim]

Just for a different perspective, we took a shuttle van from the hotel to the Ruby. The driver unloaded all the bags about 2 feet from the bins the porter would be putting the suitcases in. All we had to do is point to our suitcases (we had 2). They just said 'O.K'. but didn't load any of them right then. I tried to give one of the porters $3 -primarily as "insurance" -but they were the new U.S. dollar coins. He said 'No'. Either he didn't want them or didn't realize they were real money. When we disenbark we don't use porters as it easy enough to each roll our suitcases to the taxi stand.

[c4ddym4n]

Can you bring on a case of wine or only one per person?

[geoherb]

I generally tip $5 for three bags. I don't think they have time to really think about the amount before they're on the next passenger.

[Ethel5]

I generally tip $5 for three bags. I don't think they have time to really think about the amount before they're on the next passenger.

 

Wanna bet?

 

One time we gave the porter $6 for 3 bags and he looked at it and said "is this it?" Then he opened the bills and said "Oh, OK" He thought we gave him only $2.

My advice is ignore the "no tipping required" signs, pay the ransom and be assured your bags will greet you later.

[MICHIGAN MAMA]

There usually a "Big Boss" who carries around a brown paper bag and all the tips get put into the bag. I don't know how it's divided it up.

 

 

Every time we have given a tip, it went right into the porter's pocket. I have never seen a "Big Boss with a brown paper bag". That sounds like a fairy tale. :eek:

[Cruise Junky]

We tipped $5 for two bags. They showed up just fine so I'm assuming that was ok.

[Ethel5]

Every time we have given a tip, it went right into the porter's pocket. I have never seen a "Big Boss with a brown paper bag". That sounds like a fairy tale. :eek:

 

No fairy tale. I've seen it many times.

 

The porter may put it in his pocket but be assured, it gets turned over to the big boss.

[triple7tahoe]

For the most part the porters are UNION folks who fight for the cruise ship jobs-They are paid very well by contract with which ever ship company. In excess of $35 per hour, I'm told. That being said, I have also been told that they do not get to work every day (some do not need to).

I have worked as part of the shore staff for embarkation/disembarkation and it is interesting to see the porters "size up" the potential customers. They seem to have some inert sense of who is going to tip well and who might not tip at all. They are supposed to give the same service to all but I have seen (and reported) porters who try an take advantage of non-english speaking passengers.

Any mention of tipping on these boards always seems to start a lively discussion. This could be no different.

Their job at enbarkation is to take your bags to where all bags are examined/Xrayed. It ends there. The bags are then transferred into "bins" that are broken down by the area of the ship they going. Notice on the bottom of your boarding pass a couple of letters ie. FS=Forward Starboard, which indicates where the bags need to go aboard the ship.

The bins are unloaded aboard the ship by stewards who then get them to the correct deck. At that level the room stewards take the bags to each room.

How many folks handle your bag from the moment you drop it off until it gets to your room? Definitely more than a couple.

Bottom line-You should get the same service if you tip big, small or not at all. We usually tip around $10 for our three bags

[hansi]

When we fly to Miami, overnight and then transfer to FLL, all our luggage is loaded onto the coach or truck and goes straight to our cabin, so no tips there because you don't know who is handling your bag.

[teripp]

I usually tip about 2-5 bucks on two large bags. My friend always over packs so my bag is usually the heavy one (her overpacking and my stuff) I think that is fine. On the way out. No tip we schlep our bags over to the taxi stan (which seems to be further and further away from the ship on each cruise) but it works fine. We usually have an 11 AM flight home so straight to the airport for us. :)