Tipping employees with gifts

[postmeome]

why don't we all adopt an employee,say $10 a month,then when you cruise again you could give them sweets,badges,pencils and crayons for there families:rolleyes:or better still why don't cruise companies pay them a decent wage and you would not feel the need to give them such rubbish.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

You know what my kids tell me... "Nothing says I love you like CASH!!!":p

[madelinerose]

....or stick with cash? Sunny

 

Stick with cash. ;)

[sara mom]

When shopping in CVS on our recent stop in San Juan, the kids asked me to get our servers and cabin attendent Hershey Kisses, so they 'could get Kisses from someone, even if it wasn't their own kids'. So, everyone got a bag of Kisses and candy bars from my kids that night. Plus our pre-paid gratuities at the end of our cruise.

[leerobbs]

A friend of mine, who Has cruised frequently, would tip with money but gave phone cards and things from her home town/state. She brought photos of scenic places, hand carved momentos and whatnots. She told me those she tipped loved those special interesting things most of all. I told her they were being nice to her and pretending to seem excited. She did not agree and told me that the assorted gifts taffee and Little Debbie snack cakes were always big hits. She told me several other room stewards asked for the little Debbies. I say cash.

[alexkrn46]

We did the pre-paid gratuities to get my time dining so we are paid up in that respect but what about those that go above and beyond? I read on one thread that cruise employees love being tipped with calling cards. Any other suggestions or stick with cash? If calling cards, which one?

 

 

Best,

Sunny

 

Personally would you want cash as a bonus at work for a job well done, or any of the suggestions made here .... I guess the issue is what would you prefer, cash, or a food item ,or phone card. Personally I would like the cash, but everyone likes something different, most if not all appreciate cash for a job well done.

[iheartbda]

why don't we all adopt an employee,say $10 a month,then when you cruise again you could give them sweets,badges,pencils and crayons for there families:rolleyes:or better still why don't cruise companies pay them a decent wage and you would not feel the need to give them such rubbish.

Because the cruise fare then would be so high that most probably could not afford it. Take a look at some of the fares on premium lines where there is no daily service charge or tipping.

[bluegirlum]

Comment card notes with their name and positive comments goes a long way. Our room attendant on our B2B+ thanked us for the positive written comments, as they get note of them after you leave. I said then you will get 3 more as we were doing 4 B2B.:)

We also will give positive comments to their supervisor, if we see them in the hallway by our Attendant. They work hard and we appreciate it!

 

This is so true. I emailed Adam Goldstein with a complaint about my recent Majesty cruise, but in that email I also included a compliment about my cabin steward. I received a call from RCCL and the woman told me that she appreciated the comments about the cabin steward, and that they take them very seriously. When they hear comments about particular crew members, they contact the ship and the crew members receive certain "incentives" for positive comments from guests. I don't know what they are, but I assume it's money or time off.

 

These folks work hard and most of them send most of their money back home to their families. My cabin steward's family was back home in the Phillipines. What would he have done with chocolate or a hat from Wisconsin? Probably gone back and made fun of me, or maybe dumped my toothbrush in the toilet? ;) Giving the steward or waiter a gift is about them, not us. If you want to thank them, give them the money you would've spent on whatever 'gift' you bought them. They can make those $5 go a long way.

[Ocean Boy]

This is so true. I emailed Adam Goldstein with a complaint about my recent Majesty cruise, but in that email I also included a compliment about my cabin steward. I received a call from RCCL and the woman told me that she appreciated the comments about the cabin steward, and that they take them very seriously. When they hear comments about particular crew members, they contact the ship and the crew members receive certain "incentives" for positive comments from guests. I don't know what they are, but I assume it's money or time off.

 

These folks work hard and most of them send most of their money back home to their families. My cabin steward's family was back home in the Phillipines. What would he have done with chocolate or a hat from Wisconsin? Probably gone back and made fun of me, or maybe dumped my toothbrush in the toilet? ;) Giving the steward or waiter a gift is about them, not us. If you want to thank them, give them the money you would've spent on whatever 'gift' you bought them. They can make those $5 go a long way.

 

Did she mention anything about appreciating you contacting them about your complaint and a resolution????;):D

[bluegirlum]

Did she mention anything about appreciating you contacting them about your complaint and a resolution????;):D

 

Of course! :) Actually, she did. But the complaint was about having a massage on Majesty--and the spa is under Adventure Ocean and I apparently booked my massage during run-around-like-elephants-time! She said that they consider these sorts of things when ships go in to dry dock, and she told me that Mr. Goldstein reads all the emails he gets (I actually posted a separate thread on this--it lead to a lot of, um, discussion about whether he actually does read all the emails that come to him). She was really nice and actually called me twice when I didn't answer and hadn't called back after 2 days. I didn't get any money back or anything, but I appreciated the call and was actually more happy to know that the time I spent writing things about my cabin steward was well spent.

[HesterMofet]

Another tipping question from a first time cruiser:

 

We are planning to do prepaid gratuities and was wondering if someone goes above and beyond, we aren't going to have the little envelopes in the room for prepaid, right?

 

Do they have them at Guest Services?

 

Also, would an extra 10 or 20 (beyond the prepaid) be considered cheap for a great room attendant? My opinion on cash is that anything is always better than nothing, but I don't want to be insulting.

[waterbug123]

My post said I didn't see a problem if it was in addition to the cash tips, not replacing them. There's a difference.

 

So if your boss was giving you a gift.... would you rather have some cash and a calling card, or just more cash?

[ryano]

Another tipping question from a first time cruiser:

 

We are planning to do prepaid gratuities and was wondering if someone goes above and beyond, we aren't going to have the little envelopes in the room for prepaid, right?

 

Do they have them at Guest Services?

 

Also, would an extra 10 or 20 (beyond the prepaid) be considered cheap for a great room attendant? My opinion on cash is that anything is always better than nothing, but I don't want to be insulting.

 

I'm pretty sure you will still get the envelopes along with vouchers so you have something to hand them on the last night.

They will know you have prepaid but some think it's nice to have something to hand them in person even they don't have to have the vouchers to receive their money.

 

I don't think an extra 10 or 20 is being cheap at all.

[Calker]

The only time I've given a "gift" is when we've cruised over a holiday. Then I bring along small gift bags full of individually wrapped candies that represent that holiday. I place any "extra" tip into the bag, but I make sure it sticks out the top.

 

These gift bags have been very well received.

 

The only comment a staff member ever made about another cruisers gift was about a Green Bay Packer Cheesehead. The room steward had no idea what it represented at all. It was quite funny because I'm from Wisconsin.

[HiPlainsCruiser]

You will get envelopes on the last day for yor head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter and assistant waiter. Additionally you will have perforated coupons that represent your prepaid gratuity. You can just put extra cash into each envelope.

 

Another tipping question from a first time cruiser:

 

We are planning to do prepaid gratuities and was wondering if someone goes above and beyond, we aren't going to have the little envelopes in the room for prepaid, right?

 

Do they have them at Guest Services?

 

Also, would an extra 10 or 20 (beyond the prepaid) be considered cheap for a great room attendant? My opinion on cash is that anything is always better than nothing, but I don't want to be insulting.

[Ocean Boy]

Another tipping question from a first time cruiser:

 

We are planning to do prepaid gratuities and was wondering if someone goes above and beyond, we aren't going to have the little envelopes in the room for prepaid, right?

 

Do they have them at Guest Services?

 

Also, would an extra 10 or 20 (beyond the prepaid) be considered cheap for a great room attendant? My opinion on cash is that anything is always better than nothing, but I don't want to be insulting.

 

I don't see how tipping above the standards could possibly be considered as being cheap.

[sail2sea]

cash.

 

if you simply can't contain yourself and must give out gifts out of warm fuzzy love, take a deep breath, estimate how much that gift is worth cash wise and give cash instead and keep the gifts yourself.

[Booking It]

Another thing to consider is the part of the world that the giftee is from. Americans like very sweet desserts and chocolate, but I know many people from various places such as Russia, India, and Germany. They tell me that they can't stand American dessert and chocolate because it is so sweet. Actually, on our Allure cruise, I overheard a couple ask a waiter in the Wndjammer if a certain thing was good and he was honest with them and said that he personally did not care for it because where he did not eat such sweet things growing up, thus did not have the taste for it.

[Driftwoodgal]

Just curious have you ever left the " do not disturb" sign on your room? Your cabin steward can't enter your room if it is on your door. Can you imagine what a steward and their assistants could do with the extra time if half of their rooms had a sign on them each night? You just put out your "Do not disturb" sign turn down your own bed, forgo your towel animal and your clean towel. I think personal gifts are appreciated depending on the gift. Time is money and the crew has really precious time of their own. How many pictures can you take of a towel animal?

 

Just a thought to throw into this discussion. Money is important, but sleep is sometimes more important... IMHO.

[MichaelPasha]

I recommend talking with your Cabin Attendant. MINE really loved Pizza, but almost never gets served Pizza in the employee mess.

I went down to the cafe on board and brought back several slices whiuch he shared with other, equally grateful attendants.

They were SO grateful.

[graceinmelbourne]

In the UK because we are not accustom to the tipping world our cruises come with pre-paid grats anyways. So when it comes to the end of our cruise anyone who has gone above any beyond gets an extra bonus from us. Out of the ones listed who do get tips we only gave extra to our cabin steward (he was fantastic) and our assistant waiter (attentive and funny) other then that we didn't tip anyone else extra who was on the recomended tipping list. Instead we tipped our favorite barman (Dennis, cant wait to see him in a few weeks) and one of the guys on Guest Relations (just brilliant).

 

CK x

 

 

The same with us coming from Australia which is also a non tipping country. We have no choice but to have pre paid gratuities which is fine by us. On our last cruise we tipped the head waiter and our two table waiters extra on top of the pre paid as they looked after us so well. Our daughter needs a gluten free diet and they really spoilt her. One of the waiters from the Philippines had a daughter the same age as our younger one. He hadn't seen her for many months and he obviously worked really hard to send back money to his family. $50.00 to us might not be much but to his family back home it would go a long way. So yes, money would be more valued I would think.

[Ocean Boy]

Just curious have you ever left the " do not disturb" sign on your room? Your cabin steward can't enter your room if it is on your door. Can you imagine what a steward and their assistants could do with the extra time if half of their rooms had a sign on them each night? You just put out your "Do not disturb" sign turn down your own bed, forgo your towel animal and your clean towel. I think personal gifts are appreciated depending on the gift. Time is money and the crew has really precious time of their own. How many pictures can you take of a towel animal?

 

Just a thought to throw into this discussion. Money is important, but sleep is sometimes more important... IMHO.

 

I think it would stress them out big time. They don't know that the room is blocked off for the night. They would probably be waiting around for you to come out so they could get their job done.... and getting more and more stressed as time went by.

[waterbug123]

I think it would stress them out big time. They don't know that the room is blocked off for the night. They would probably be waiting around for you to come out so they could get their job done.... and getting more and more stressed as time went by.

 

My thoughts exactly. If you want to give them the night off, leave a note or tell them in the a.m. that you will be putting the DND sign out and will leave it there all night, as you do not want turn down service. That way they'll know for sure, and won't be waiting around wondering.

[Driftwoodgal]

Sorry, I should have included in my post that my cabin steward knew ahead of time that I didn't want a turn down.

 

They weren't waiting on me, thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't thought about the freaking out part.

[Puffinater]

Just curious have you ever left the " do not disturb" sign on your room? Your cabin steward can't enter your room if it is on your door. Can you imagine what a steward and their assistants could do with the extra time if half of their rooms had a sign on them each night? You just put out your "Do not disturb" sign turn down your own bed, forgo your towel animal and your clean towel. I think personal gifts are appreciated depending on the gift. Time is money and the crew has really precious time of their own. How many pictures can you take of a towel animal?

 

Just a thought to throw into this discussion. Money is important, but sleep is sometimes more important... IMHO.

 

We do this one or two times per cruise but we advise the steward and let them know not to stick around. We usually do it for the morning service on a port day. If you do this leave the DND sign in the door. This will prevent the supervisor from spot checking the room.