Tipping on Avalon?

[yogimax]

We will be taking our first river cruise in September on Avalon. It's a short trip, seven nights in all with 4 on the boat.

 

I see tips are not included and I also know this is a touchy subject on many boards.

 

BUT... can someone give me a rundown of the basics... who gets the tips and a rough idea of what is appropriate.

 

Thanks,

Yogi

[TravelingLadyOhio]

We just ret'd from an Avalon cruise in July. On the 2nd last night, we were given 2 envelopes. One is for the cruise director. The other one is for ALL the crew and it is split among them.

The guidelines (and I think this goes for most lines) is 12E per day per person for the crew, and 3E per person per day for the cruise director. While that might seem high, think of how many people take care of you during this time.

We left a little extra on our bed for our housekeeper, as he did an excellent job keeping our room clean. Hope this helps.

[rudeman]

We just did the prepay and added some to each envelope.

 

 

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[Got2Cruise]

We put it on our room charge toward the end of the cruise. Then we didn't have to worry about the cash.

[nana541]

I have to say after reading Avalon's website it was very unclear...

 

 

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[Hoyaheel]

I have to say after reading Avalon's website it was very unclear...

 

It is VERY clear in the Know Before You Go document you receive when you book.

 

P 9, pdf attached. The document is also posted on their website and comes up quickly when you search "gratuities". http://www.avalonwaterways.com/user/know-before-you-go/europe/know-before-you-go-avalon-europe.pdf

Avalon know before you go.pdf

[nana541]

Actually if you really read it .... And I did word for word it only clearly discusses tips for CD & Drivers and gives an amount in Euros.... Then it talks about tip to others but but gives no guidance of amounts at all.

 

Sorry this was extremely unhelpful!

(On Avalon's part not you)

 

 

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[nana541]

It is VERY clear in the Know Before You Go document you receive when you book.

 

 

 

P 9, pdf attached. The document is also posted on their website and comes up quickly when you search "gratuities". http://www.avalonwaterways.com/user/know-before-you-go/europe/know-before-you-go-avalon-europe.pdf

 

 

 

Just read it you'll see what I mean, I was surprised that it actually seems to beat around the bush. :(

 

 

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[Hoyaheel]

I have read it and I don't find it unclear. It gives me all these numbers: 4E per day cruise directors. 1-2E drivers. Local guides 2E. Taxis 10-15%. Ships crew 12E.

 

Doesn't give an amount for hotel services, but says "small". Small to me is 1-2E in this context.

 

And they do say that more country specific info is available 2-3 weeks prior to departure - I'm not close enough to departure to have my Important Travel Documents.

 

What other recommendations are you looking for from a River Cruise company website?

[rudeman]

I don't know how to be more clear, unless they just gave you a table:

CD. - 4e

Crew - 12e

Etc.

But it's certainly all there on pages 9&10.

 

 

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[nana541]

I read it and sure did not see the 12£ a day.... But then I can't find my glasses either ;)

 

 

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[tassietravellers]

We prepaid ours last month, we only had to put our prepaid vouchers into the envelopes, but we did give extra in cash to a few of the crew for excellent service.

 

I had read all the info that Avalon had supplied and it seemed fairly clear to me how much they were suggesting. I was thankful that we had prepaid though as wanted to keep our cash for the extra days after the cruise.

 

I did see people paying their tip to the CD by credit card, he had a separate machine and account to the one the ship uses.

 

On a previous Avalon cruise it was explained to everyone at the final port talk about the tipping suggestions, but I cant remember it happening this time. We were just told that the envelopes would be left in our cabins on that night during dinner along with the survey and where they could be returned to. It seems like its an honesty system, no one checks to see who pays or doesn't pay, its all about suggestion not compulsory. We had such fantastic service by everyone I couldn't imagine not tipping for that! :-)

[caviargal]

We generally prepay but also always end up tipping extra to those that make our trip special. For us, that is generally housekeeping, a favorite bartender, favorite waitstaff.

 

This is not specific to Avalon but to any line we cruise with.

Edited August 14, 2014 by caviargal

[YoungDubFan]

We also prepaid our tips before we left on our 2012 cruise with Avalon. We were provided with vouchers that said we had prepaid our tips. We obviously tipped the local guides / drivers separately at the time of the local tours. We gave a little bit extra to our cabin stewardess directly. It was nice not to have to worry about the tips at the end of the cruise.

[perfection]

I have to say after reading Avalon's website it was very unclear...

 

 

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Back from Avalon Expression river cruise. I can understand your confusion. Book is vague, we compared books with other passengers from other countries and ours from Ontario Canada were different. Some people prepaid when trip was booked and had a slip of paper in their booklet to insert in the envelopes saying they had prepaid...not our book. We paid our cabin steward weekly in cash, and our favourite waiters as well in cash. If you listened to Avalon the $ paid would be more than an ocean cruise. Pay the cruise director...no way. Insert what you want and no more in whatever envelope you want. The price of the cruise is outlandish as it is.....someone's getting those bucks....who?

[joanne2]

Back from Avalon Expression river cruise. I can understand your confusion. Book is vague, we compared books with other passengers from other countries and ours from Ontario Canada were different. Some people prepaid when trip was booked and had a slip of paper in their booklet to insert in the envelopes saying they had prepaid...not our book. We paid our cabin steward weekly in cash, and our favourite waiters as well in cash. If you listened to Avalon the $ paid would be more than an ocean cruise. Pay the cruise director...no way. Insert what you want and no more in whatever envelope you want. The price of the cruise is outlandish as it is.....someone's getting those bucks....who?

 

I have read on other threads that the cruise directors are not employees of the cruise lines and their "tips" are pretty much what they make. If everyone stiffed them, the good ones wouldn't last long.

[Mark_T]

I have read on other threads that the cruise directors are not employees of the cruise lines and their "tips" are pretty much what they make. If everyone stiffed them, the good ones wouldn't last long.

 

I really wish the cruise companies would be honest about this instead of calling it a 'tip' or a 'gratuity'.

 

Make it clear that there is an onboard charge for the cruise director in addition to your cruise cost, or just include it in the cost which is really where it belongs.

 

You don't have to pay extra for the chef, or cover the captain's salary on top of your cruise cost, so why do they do this for the cruise director?

[Got2Cruise]

Back from Avalon Expression river cruise. I can understand your confusion. Book is vague, we compared books with other passengers from other countries and ours from Ontario Canada were different. Some people prepaid when trip was booked and had a slip of paper in their booklet to insert in the envelopes saying they had prepaid...not our book. We paid our cabin steward weekly in cash, and our favourite waiters as well in cash. If you listened to Avalon the $ paid would be more than an ocean cruise. Pay the cruise director...no way. Insert what you want and no more in whatever envelope you want. The price of the cruise is outlandish as it is.....someone's getting those bucks....who?

 

 

By doing it this way others get stiffed. What about the assistant waiters or bartenders for example. And unless you have the same waiter each and every meal then others who have waited on you receive nothing. You might not agree with the custom but that's how it is. Most ocean cruises call it a service charge and automatically add it to your bill.

[DoggyDaddy]

On our cruise, the Panorama, an announcement was made that everyone, from the Captain to the dishwasher, shared equally in the gratuity pool. That did not seem right to me.

[gentlemancruiser]

On our cruise, the Panorama, an announcement was made that everyone, from the Captain to the dishwasher, shared equally in the gratuity pool. That did not seem right to me.

 

I've learned from many cruises that everything you are told on board is not ALWAYS as it is in reality. The 'reality' especially if you are being told by the CD, is usually somewhat nearly close to the version of what you ACTUALLY heard.

 

A cruise director is a professional. Is tipping a captain is kind of like tipping a taxi driver???

 

I too wish the cruise lines would just factor 'Gratuities' into the cruise fare, but this of course would not be beneficial to cruise lines, otherwise they'd be doing it already.

Edited August 16, 2014 by gentlemancruiser

[DoggyDaddy]

A clarification to my earlier post. The tips to the cruise director are separate from the tip pool for the ship's staff. I consider the ships officer staff to be professionals with a commensurate salary, but this was not the case via the announcement.

FWIW, the envelopes left in the cabins for the CD and staff tips had no space for your name or cabin number. You could put as much or as little as you felt was appropriate with nobody but yourself knowing.

 

DD

[rudeman]

Whether we agree with the practice or not, clearly the cruise director is not well-compensated by the cruise line (ANY cruise line) and is counting on gratuities.

 

If one elects to go to a high-priced restaurant for a special meal, does one stiff the waiter because, in one's opinion, the restaurant charges too much? I hope not. It certainly won't harm the restaurant, just the poor waiter.

 

A river cruise is a high-priced cruise for, one assumes, a special occasion. Please don't blame the cruise director or the crew for the high prices. Stiffing them sends a message to them, alone, and does NOT hurt the cruise line one bit.

 

On our cruise, our CD was worth his weight in gold. We gave him the recommended amount - and more.

 

I DO agree with Mark_T that it would be nice to have the CD compensation part of the price but until (if?) that happens, please compensate the CD and the crew for the good work they do.

[pbnjrockette]

I have read on other threads that the cruise directors are not employees of the cruise lines and their "tips" are pretty much what they make. If everyone stiffed them, the good ones wouldn't last long.

 

 

We were told that our Cruise Director was "free-lance" and that they were employed by the Tour company separate from the Cruiseline.

 

My only objection to the "tips/gratuity" was how it was handled. We were told it was "optional" for the CD and Concierge and also "optional" for the ships crew. BUT the CD/Concierge "optional" tip/gratuity was automatically CHARGED on your credit card at 5 euros pp/day. ("THEY" decided the 5) and NOTHING was charged for the crew. (Suggested amounts were 3-6 Euros pp/per day for CD/Concierge and 9-11 for crew.) You had the optional to change the CD/Concierge amount but you had to indicated the crew amount (OR THEY GOT NOTHING). Envelopes were provided for individual tipping and also general crew tipping. It was all rather confusing and several people were still trying to straighten things out on the last day.

[gentlemancruiser]

We were told that our Cruise Director was "free-lance" and that they were employed by the Tour company separate from the Cruiseline.

 

 

For river cruises, yes the CD's work freelance. They are hired on contract by the cruise lines. However these are still professionals and why the cruise lines do not compensate them appropriately is crazy. Entertainers are work on contact's but you do not tip them.

[gentlemancruiser]

We were told that our Cruise Director was "free-lance" and that they were employed by the Tour company separate from the Cruiseline.

 

 

For river cruises, yes the CD's work freelance. They are hired on contract by the cruise lines and move from ship to ship. However these are still professionals and the fact cruise lines do not compensate them appropriately is crazy, it is probably to keep them 'at their best' so they must rely on passenger gratuities.

 

BTW Entertainers are work on contact's but you do not tip them.