That "something special" for your cabin steward

[Mr&MrsBee]

On the last night of our cruise Karen brought a small decorated Christmas tree and place in on the table surrounded by gag gifts for our tablemates as well as the head waiter and his asst. Volcan the asst waiter expressed that he never had a Christmas tree. We gave him the small tree after dinner. He was beaming with joy. That helped make our trip. Needless to say all at our table gave envelopes.

[TeaBag]

When we are in foreign ports we like to give extra tips in the local currency so they don't have to lose on exchange. When we were in NZ once, we passed a foreign exchange place where the crew were lining up to exchange USD for local currency. We were shocked at what they were paying to change their money, so we decided it would just be a little extra thing to do for them in giving local currency. Saves them precious break time too, as they can go straight to their favorite shops to buy what they need.

 

I concur with others that a good review where it is warranted is valuable to them too.

[whizkidcat]

Wonderful ideas!! Thanks for sharing! Anyone else have suggestions

[i guide the sky]

You know after reading about poster picking up something in port for their cabin steward, that makes a lot of sense. The one thing my wife and I really took away from reading cruise confidential was that the staff never really sleep. We really saw the staff in a different way after that. Especially looking at it from the perspective of someone who sleeps like ten hours a day.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

On the last night of our cruise Karen brought a small decorated Christmas tree and place in on the table surrounded by gag gifts for our tablemates as well as the head waiter and his asst. Volcan the asst waiter expressed that he never had a Christmas tree. We gave him the small tree after dinner. He was beaming with joy. That helped make our trip. Needless to say all at our table gave envelopes.

 

On our recent cruise just before Christmas, I told the cabin steward he was welcome to keep any of the Christmas decorations we had left in the cabin or he could throw them out if he had no use for them. That way he had a choice.

 

This was in addition to his extra tip.

[Loreto1028]

On our mediterranean cruise, in addition to a generous cash tip, we left behind two pairs of the Canadian red mittens, made famous during our winter olympics. We like to give something very Canadian when we leave.

[Ineke]

I'm in complete agreement: cash and a great write-up and a special mention by name and position.

[whizkidcat]

The compassion and, dare I say love, expressed toward crew members from those on this thread (and those reading this thread) speaks very well for the cruise critic member community.

Thank you all for sharing your insight and advice.