Has anyone openly not paid required tips at end of cruise?

[Raven Days]

I tip well and have always paid my tips at end of cruise. I am thinking of pre-paying tips this cruise. Just wondering if anyone has got off by complaining and not paid the required tips? No flaming please.

 

No...I look at it as part of my over-all cost of cruising. I pay them in advance and never think about it again.

[QTPieRye]

No...I look at it as part of my over-all cost of cruising. I pay them in advance and never think about it again.

 

Just curious if you've ever NOT paid in advance and if there was a difference in the service.....

[JChurchill471]

Thanks to travelgran, ladyd11933, dwayneb236 for your insightful answers to my previous questions. I appreciate it.

 

My BF and I discussed this topic this morning and have decided to tip the steward, waiter, asst waiter and the MD on the last night.

 

Since we don't drink there will be no personnel that we will inner act with who do more to make our cruise experience a great one than the people listed above.

[Bugman]

I think that some of the staff have become a little complacent knowing that the tips are automatic unless one takes the effort to remove them. Doing it the"old way" was much more personal, although having to have that much cash on hand to give to staff at the end of the cruise took some planning.

[arush5268d]

Once in 129 cruises. MSC Orchestra, January 2009.

 

Cabin steward missed cleaning room on several occasions.

 

Dining room waiters took 3 hours to serve my dinner, consistenly failed to fill my water glass, became dehydrated big time

 

The cruise from hell!

 

Worldspan

129 cruises strong

 

 

You were deyhydrated because your water glass was not filled? :confused::confused::confused:

[cruisenanny]

You were deyhydrated because your water glass was not filled? :confused::confused::confused:

I noticed that too! I thought they meant it as a joke, they couldn't possibly be serious!:D

[dwayneb236]

I noticed that too! I thought they meant it as a joke, they couldn't possibly be serious!:D

 

Unless he was sitting there for 3 days waiting on the refill. I'm not quite buying this part of it.

[crusinpsychRN]

No.

 

However, once I had the worst creep for a cabin steward who was always hitting on my 16 y/o daughter, told us to page him during certain hours only and then he never responded and was simply a jerk. I went to purser and asked to reduce his tip. He said okay and it wasn't until I got home I saw he had cancelled all stateroom tips for 3 of us.

 

Only tipped the Maitre d' on Glory, Ken.

[misstopgun]

No, We never have openly or otherwise. There is 1 person that we often do not tip & that is the maitre d, just depends. We have talked to many waiters & became very friendly with one, having seen him on several cruises early on. They say it happens ALL the time & even get handed EMPTY tip envelopes. They also say people skip out on the tips by skipping the MDR last night of the cruise. Hopefully some of this nonsense has stopped since the autotips have become pretty standard.. It does take more nerve to go to the pursers desk & REMOVE your tips than to simply not hand out the envelopes..:rolleyes:

I agree with you on tipping the maitre d. That tip is not included in the auto tips added your S&S.

 

It would seem to me if they wanted a tip, and know that it will only be given independently, they would introduce themselves at some point in the dining room.

 

The same goes if they wait and introduce themselves on the last day. No dice. If I have not asked anything of them and they don't introduce themselves and ask if all is well, don't bother holding your palm out.

 

On the same note, if they do introduce themselves and let me know they are available for any issues or request, you bet they get a tip.

 

I have never had any special requests and only one cruise did I have any issues in the dining room. Letting guest know they are available to them is what the maitre d gets paid (or tipped) to do.

[travelgarn]

Thanks to travelgran, ladyd11933, dwayneb236 for your insightful answers to my previous questions. I appreciate it.

 

My BF and I discussed this topic this morning and have decided to tip the steward, waiter, asst waiter and the MD on the last night.

 

Since we don't drink there will be no personnel that we will inner act with who do more to make our cruise experience a great one than the people listed above.

 

 

You're welcome!! :D

[travelgarn]

I think the question was asked earlier about prepaying tips prior to port arrival & not prepaying related to the service you receive. I have cruised by paying tips both ways. I have never seen a difference in the level of service I have received.

 

In all my cruises, we have had ONE subpar room steward. If my DS (11) would go back to the cabin to watch a movie, etc., and he entered to clean the room, he would literally "shoo" him out....once even patting him on the head after his "shoo shoo" and saying "good boy." However, to give him the benefit of the doubt, I never said anything to him...we just had my DS to start putting the DO NOT DISTURB sign out when he went back to the room. And, NO I did not remove my tips. It would take a lot more than that for me to remove tips. However, he did not get anything extra. (In the same note, it would take a VERY poor waitress at a restaurant to not get a tip altogether...however, poor service would not earn her/him anything extra.)

 

DJ

[miketingle]

I think you should tip who you want to tip.You should not feel pressure to tip everyone, at the end of the day not everyone deserves a tip but then that is my opinion. The problem is the Tipping Culture.

[hoop4321]

we have never removed tips....even though we had one cabin steward ruin one of my husbands shirts.....We have tipped extra.....i have stood at guest services on the last night.....the cabin steward took some cokes out of the mini bar and forgot that we did not drink them. They took off the charges with out batting an eye....while there, during the long wait.....i never once heard anyone removing tips....mostly it was closing out the accounts and getting the cash back. I am not saying no one removes the tips.....but i assume far less do than what is reported on cruise critic.....also the guy who always tips at least $100 over.....not buying that.

[brfan]

we have never removed tips....even though we had one cabin steward ruin one of my husbands shirts.....We have tipped extra.....i have stood at guest services on the last night.....the cabin steward took some cokes out of the mini bar and forgot that we did not drink them. They took off the charges with out batting an eye....while there, during the long wait.....i never once heard anyone removing tips....mostly it was closing out the accounts and getting the cash back. I am not saying no one removes the tips.....but i assume far less do than what is reported on cruise critic.....also the guy who always tips at least $100 over.....not buying that.

 

 

I'm curious, how did the cabin steward ruin your husband's shirt. Did he accidently spill cleaning fluid on it?

 

Also, isn't it someone from the beverage department that checks the mini bar and inputs the charges, not the cabin steward?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I think you should tip who you want to tip.You should not feel pressure to tip everyone, at the end of the day not everyone deserves a tip but then that is my opinion. The problem is the Tipping Culture.

 

They make $75.00 a month. In their home lands they can live like kings. At least that's what the anti tip pax say.:rolleyes:

 

Bill

[madibeme]

I tip well and have always paid my tips at end of cruise. I am thinking of pre-paying tips this cruise. Just wondering if anyone has got off by complaining and not paid the required tips? No flaming please.

 

We did prepayed on the Victory and never again. We had a cabin steward who was basically nonexistant. We wanted to modify the tip but were told that we could not since it was prepayed. Before I get flamed this is the only time we wanted to lower anything. Most times we leave well above the recommended.

[blondietink]

Although we have only been on one cruise, so far, we did keep the automatic tips. We had exceptional service all around the ship, and tipped extra to our head waiter and to the assistant maitre d who went above and beyond for us.

[JPH814]

I did think it was odd, however that although we left out auto-tipping in place, we were still expected to "re-tip" our waiters and room steward. We did do this, by the way because they were excellent. I just thought it was a little presumtious to assume that they should be tipped again for good service.

 

.

 

I am not sure that I ever felt that "re-tipping" is expected.

 

I have gone both ways. I often will not tip the MatreD....they usually are invisible. On a Cunard Cruise, however, the MatreD was very friendly, stopped by the table every night to say hello and did do some extras for us so I tipped him well at the the end of the cruise.

As for wait staff and cabin stewards, when you think of what they have done for the week versus the ungodly minimal tip they receive per day (something like $3 or $4 per day), I will almost always tip extra unless thay have done something to piss me off.

[bazarr2]

*NO* tips are "required" other than the 15% beverage service that is added to each bar order. I've not ever seen anyone argue the bar tip, that would *really* be cheap.

 

Carnival offers passengers the convenience of having the minimum "recommended" gratuities added to their S&S accounts. Passengers are free to increase, reduce or remove tham as they choose.

 

From what I hear there was a group on a recent cruise that stood in line and had all there bar receipts and had all the tips removed at the service desk. :confused:

[hoop4321]

I'm curious, how did the cabin steward ruin your husband's shirt. Did he accidently spill cleaning fluid on it?

 

Also, isn't it someone from the beverage department that checks the mini bar and inputs the charges, not the cabin steward?

 

She sprayed bleach in the shower and let it sit.....we came in to change and the whole cabin smelled like bleach....it was overwhelming. He went in to spray it down. We think the water hitting the bleach splashed back on to his shirt and left bleach stains. For a few days the smell of bleach lingered. It was our only (and last) inside cabin.....I just looked at my DH and said.....we should have gotten the balcony....and at least the shower is clean:) No amount of looking on the bright side could have changed his mood. This was an anniversary cruise for us.....we planned on serious alone time....but she was knocking on the door every hour it seemed. He was ready to kill her. We have not been away together since the birth of our son, then 14 years prior. It was not the romantic get a way we were hoping for. Yes the do not disturb thing was in the door lock.

 

I have no clue who checks out the mini bar.....the cabin steward came in midway through the cruise, grabbed sodas from our fridge and walked out the door......i followed him out asking if he would make sure to note that we did not consume the sodas and he smiled and said ok. Checked the folio and there were no charges......on the last night, i checked again....there were the charges. They dropped the ball, i had packing to do, did not have time for standing in line. I viewed it as an over sight.....tipped the norm but none extra.

[cybercon]

Quite possibly a bad choice of words. The tips are not "required". I always leave them on and usually tip extra to those that go above what I think is necessary.

 

You can remove all tips if you so chose.

 

 

Yes, We have. Out of 9 cruises only once. Tips are earned. What we did was have them removed then gave those that did their jobs more than what Carnival thought was sufficient. Like I said only once did we have very bad service in certain areas and could not justify rewarding those individuals. If enough people would do that then the point would be made. :)

[Kato27]

It will be our first time.

So we are actually prepaying our tips ahead of time.As recommended.

 

From what i have read on these boards, when u buy a drink they automaticaly take a tip, so he/she wont be getting another one for sure. ( unless SHE is really HOT;))

Room Service of course.

Cabin steward, and waiters....its all about the service u get, so will see.

Maitre D, i doubt it very much!

But i would NEVER remove Tips allready paid for. I look at it as part of my cruise cost

[pnjkeith]

I'm curious, how did the cabin steward ruin your husband's shirt. Did he accidently spill cleaning fluid on it?

 

Also, isn't it someone from the beverage department that checks the mini bar and inputs the charges, not the cabin steward?

 

 

Nope, cabin steward does it.

[CupKayke]

I removed all of my tips on my first cruise on the Fantasy out of New Orleans in 2007. :o

 

So did everyone in my group of 40+ (42, I think, to be exact). :o We were all first-time cruisers. We had no clue about the cruise industry tipping system. The travel agent that booked the group cruise & our chartered bus was probably trying to get the total cost as low as possible for everyone, for starters. She told us about the auto tips via flyers and emails when we were booking/paying along the way and constantly told us it was something "new" that was being done and we should all remove them and tip in cash. She told us auto tipping probably wouldn't last since so many people were against it. She reiterated this to all of us in a final restaurant meeting where she did a pre-cruise Q&A with the entire group.... she was very much against the auto tips, told us most cruisers were, and told us we should all go remove them and tip on our own. I know now she was in the wrong but I think she was trying to appease some of the cheaper people in our group who were unhappy about them and since she apparently cruised often, I definitely think she was unhappy about them. And... let's face it... to anyone who has never cruised before... paying tips upfront does seem quite presumptuous. We believed her. :( We wanted to be on the side of the public who tipped based on the service, blah blah blah!

 

Having said that... on this same cruise, I gave $20 each to the two wonderful waiters we had and to our room steward, who I only saw one time. I don't remember tipping anyone else. I do know that most of the group removed the tips and we had no shame as our travel agent told us that is what most people did. We also didn't do it on the last night ~ I'm sure we did it in open, in front of whoever was there, on the first or second or third day, with no hesitation. I think I removed mine on the very first day. I did see many of our group tipping in cash. My good friends at our table tipped the waiters each night ~ I saw it.

 

STILL... we didn't know about Cruise Critic, we didn't know about cruise ship tipping standards, and personally, I have always tipped well in restaurants. So, sometimes, don't look at those people removing tips as horrible people... maybe they don't know any better and/or have a horrible travel agent who told them fibs about tipping??

 

Looking back on it... that travel agent was LOUSY! She didn't pay our chartered bus (that we paid her for and she booked for the wrong day) and they sued her directly! :mad:

 

And personally... please don't flame me... I had never cruised before and knew little about cruising... I was single, watched my pennies closer than I do now, and I still tipped in cash. :o Now, of course, my husband would murder me if I even considered removing auto tips... he was a bartender in college and lived on his tips... he is one of the best tippers I've ever known in my life...except for my father-in-law who is more generous due to a thicker wallet. When people take care of us, we take care of them... my husband even insists we leave the minimium, mandatory 20% when the service is horrible.

[H82seaUgo]

I removed all of my tips on my first cruise on the Fantasy out of New Orleans in 2007. :o

 

So did everyone in my group of 40+ (42, I think, to be exact). :o We were all first-time cruisers. We had no clue about the cruise industry tipping system. The travel agent that booked the group cruise & our chartered bus was probably trying to get the total cost as low as possible for everyone, for starters. She told us about the auto tips via flyers and emails when we were booking/paying along the way and constantly told us it was something "new" that was being done and we should all remove them and tip in cash. She told us auto tipping probably wouldn't last since so many people were against it. She reiterated this to all of us in a final restaurant meeting where she did a pre-cruise Q&A with the entire group.... she was very much against the auto tips, told us most cruisers were, and told us we should all go remove them and tip on our own. I know now she was in the wrong but I think she was trying to appease some of the cheaper people in our group who were unhappy about them and since she apparently cruised often, I definitely think she was unhappy about them. And... let's face it... to anyone who has never cruised before... paying tips upfront does seem quite presumptuous. We believed her. :( We wanted to be on the side of the public who tipped based on the service, blah blah blah!

 

Having said that... on this same cruise, I gave $20 each to the two wonderful waiters we had and to our room steward, who I only saw one time. I don't remember tipping anyone else. I do know that most of the group removed the tips and we had no shame as our travel agent told us that is what most people did. We also didn't do it on the last night ~ I'm sure we did it in open, in front of whoever was there, on the first or second or third day, with no hesitation. I think I removed mine on the very first day. I did see many of our group tipping in cash. My good friends at our table tipped the waiters each night ~ I saw it.

 

STILL... we didn't know about Cruise Critic, we didn't know about cruise ship tipping standards, and personally, I have always tipped well in restaurants. So, sometimes, don't look at those people removing tips as horrible people... maybe they don't know any better and/or have a horrible travel agent who told them fibs about tipping??

 

Looking back on it... that travel agent was LOUSY! She didn't pay our chartered bus (that we paid her for and she booked for the wrong day) and they sued her directly! :mad:

 

And personally... please don't flame me... I had never cruised before and knew little about cruising... I was single, watched my pennies closer than I do now, and I still tipped in cash. :o Now, of course, my husband would murder me if I even considered removing auto tips... he was a bartender in college and lived on his tips... he is one of the best tippers I've ever known in my life...except for my father-in-law who is more generous due to a thicker wallet. When people take care of us, we take care of them... my husband even insists we leave the minimium, mandatory 20% when the service is horrible.

 

i was gonna say before you eventually said it, she sounds like she was an idiot ta.

 

glad you dumped her.