Tipping on Viking

[Saba2009]

If you want to tip individuals of the crew make sure you pay them directly in cash. The Viking tip system where you pay to the system go directly to Viking and does not go to the crew. You probably want it to go to the crew! Then pay directly! Unless you want to sponsor Viking of course.

[porrah]

If you want to tip individuals of the crew make sure you pay them directly in cash. The Viking tip system where you pay to the system go directly to Viking and does not go to the crew. You probably want it to go to the crew! Then pay directly! Unless you want to sponsor Viking of course.

 

Do you mean take off the auto tips and pay directly, or are you talking extra tips on top of the auto charge?

[NeilP57]

Saba2009

 

I read your post with interest, what is the source of your information? It would be helpful to understand the source (and its accuracy) so I can assess how it impacts on what I do on my upcoming cruise.

 

Neil

[rjscott]

Tips are pooled, as there are many dining venues and the servers, bus staff, etc, are not tipped at the time of service. So, whether auto- tip or a cash envelope, the tip will be pooled unless it is an extra gratuity given in recognition of exemplary service. This was explained to me by a Program Manager.

 

Becki

[roothy123]

I’m glad others have clarified the tipping procedure. I would be really upset if lots of people read the original post and assumed that tips went to "Viking" and didn't get distributed to the people who deserve them. Those people work so hard, with little time off, and deserve all they can get in my book. Besides, I don't want to have to carry money with me and tip every single person who serves me bread or an entree, or asks me what I'd like to drink, or cleans my room or assists my room attendant in cleaning my room! With a new server at each meal, and many behind the scenes I don’t even see, I would be spending more time handing out tips or worrying about who I missed than I would be enjoying the ports of call or the amenities on the ship. The auto tip amount may be initially charged to Viking, but I doubt very seriously that Viking management keeps that money for themselves. I don't think they could keep the caliber of people they apparently have if they didn't pass on the tips just like other cruise lines do. Who starts these awful rumors, anyway? I read that rumor about a month ago and couldn't believe it. I just don’t get it.

[shipnc]

We are on our final day of our 8/8 cruise and are thinking about tips. We have found a waiter we like and have requested his table multiple times. We intend to give him a tip in addition to the ships obligatory amount . In chatting with him, he said that this was his third cruise company and by far the best. They pay him a salary (from the obligatory pool I assume) which he liked, and based on the attitudes of the other staff, I think is it fair to say that our designated tip money makes its way to the designated recipients. We also intend to give a tip to our room steward. We have leftover currencies from several countries that we will not use again, but the crew can, so we intend to give that in the form of tips. Win win. Service on Star has been just outstanding.

[BC Eddie]

We are on our final day of our 8/8 cruise and are thinking about tips. We have found a waiter we like and have requested his table multiple times. We intend to give him a tip in addition to the ships obligatory amount . In chatting with him, he said that this was his third cruise company and by far the best. They pay him a salary (from the obligatory pool I assume) which he liked, and based on the attitudes of the other staff, I think is it fair to say that our designated tip money makes its way to the designated recipients. We also intend to give a tip to our room steward. We have leftover currencies from several countries that we will not use again, but the crew can, so we intend to give that in the form of tips. Win win. Service on Star has been just outstanding.

 

Good info and suggestion re. leftover currency - thanks for sharing

[Shoalwater]

If it works here as it does on Princess, any cash given to an employee must be turned in by the recipient to be pooled if the passenger has opted out of the automatic tipping. If the passenger is in the automatic tip category, the employee can keep the cash. The crew knows who is and isn't on the auto tip sheet, and watch out for crew who violate this practice. I'm told that on Princess a violation is cause for immediate dismissal.

[Mammacat]

Curious, if you are on automatic tipping and wanted to give extra, what amount in cash would you deem fair?

[Lennylover]

We will do automatic tipping but we will be deciding on the amount, not Viking

[id4elizabeth]

Lenny lover - I tried that and Viking would not let me do that on the Maiden cruise. I wanted to do half the suggested amount or 3/4 the suggested amount, but they wouldn't let me do that. I even talked to the Purser, but they had no means to do that in their system. They may have this figured out by now though. Let us know if that works for you.

[Shoalwater]

We will do automatic tipping but we will be deciding on the amount, not Viking

 

Viking. As OP has said there is probably no mechanism for less than the programmed daily tip. Sure, you can opt out but your cash tip to select crew members will in all likelihood be put into the pooled tip "jar" to be dispensed however they spread the peanut butter.

[roothy123]

If someone has a problem with the way tips are handled on a cruise line, or the amount charged, I would suggest looking for a travel agent who offers pre-paid gratuities. I don't know if Viking Oceans has operated long enough to have established a process to handle those in their booking/onboard systems (probably not), but if not, perhaps they will choose to implement that later on. Until then, there are other similar cruise lines that can do it, with travel agents who are willing to pay the gratuities to get you to book with them. If you aren't willing to spend at least a few hundred dollars on top of your few thousand dollar cruise, you might want to look for such a cruise line and agent.

 

Star has a high ratio of crew members to passengers compared to many cruise ships. Many people on the ship need to make a living, many from tips. Service has been reported to be quite good. Do I mind paying a few hundred dollars for tips at the end of the cruise? No. After all, some people spend more than that on alcohol.

 

Mammacat, we haven't been on Star, only Oceania and to a much lesser extent, Celebrity. I don't know how much "extra" tipping people have been doing on Star - especially the people on here, many of whom seem to be quite different from me! However, on Oceania we usually generally give our room steward $20-25. (That's in an inside cabin; might give more if we ever book a suite. We also generally only do cruises in the 11 - 14 day range. We'd probably give more for a substantially longer cruise.) The room attendant normally has a somewhat behind the scenes helper and we give that person $15-20. (They are much less visible, but do stuff like vacuuming.)

 

My husband often develops a few favorite restaurant people. If this happens, he usually gives each person maybe $10 or so. However, I seldom develop favorites. With open seating, many, many people are involved over the course of the cruise. I suppose if you asked for the same waiter every night, you might develop favorites and tip that waiter. But what about his/her helpers, or the wait staff in the specialty restaurants?

 

I have no idea if what we tip "extra" is typical or not, and I don't have a clue as to whether the extra or non-extra tips on Viking are handled the same way as on Princess. I would just go with auto tipping and then once on Star, do what you feel is best. I would keep in mind, though, that it's rare for anyone to be able to exchange coins into the currency of their choice, so bills are best. Also, while foreign European money sounds like a nice idea, I would use this in addition to any other extra tip you might feel like giving. Crew members, especially room stewards, don't get much time ashore, so they may not be able to use Polish zloty, Swedish krone (kroner?), etc. Also, their contract may be up and they'll be heading home soon. You just never know.

Edited August 24, 2015 by roothy123

[Mammacat]

Thank you roothy123. That's exactly what we have done on previous cruises. We usually have an inside cabin. Just wanted to be sure that I was not short changing anyone. We are going with the prepaid option when we get onboard, then take care of others as appropriate.

 

Thanks for you candor.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Mammacat

[NeilP57]

It will be interesting to see whether the Viking onboard accounting system will recognise that Viking marketed the cruise to its UK customers as including gratuities. I will of course give some extra gratuities to our cabin steward and waiting staff if we develop a favourite but it would be unfortunate if I have to queue up to have the auto-gratituity removed. Viking has chosen to market the UK and US market differently so hopefully the staff on board do not miss out.

 

Neil

[Mammacat]

Would love to compare notes.... UK vs US prices for same cruise?? Nothing surprises me..

[parkie]

We were on the early June Viking Homeland tour; we were told that the tip was automatically added to your tab. I was not disposed to cooperate and thought that I would tip a lesser amount. After all, why does someone else (IE, a corporation) decide how much I should tip? However, once on board, we found the service to be so spectacular that I quickly decided to go ahead and pay the "suggested" amount. I did, however, tip our cabin steward extra due to his level of help. Still not wild about being told what to tip...

 

(BTW, I did not inquire as to whether or not I could opt for a lesser amount.)

[NeilP57]

Would love to compare notes.... UK vs US prices for same cruise?? Nothing surprises me..

 

I see that you are on the Sept 3 2015 Mediterranean Odyssey cruise. I have in front of me the brochure I obtained when I booked by Empires of the Mediterranean leaving Venice on September 27th. When looking at prices you have to recognise that in the UK, the quoted fares include air fare and gratuities. They also include a £500 promotional discount per person has ben a constant over the past two years. So depending on which cabin you are in, if you had booked your holiday from the UK you would have paid the following per person:

 

Veranda £2499 or £2599 (V2 - V1)

Deluxe Veranda £2,899 to £3,499 (DV6 - DV1)

Penthouse Veranda £3,799 to £3,999 (PV3 - PV1)

 

Let me know if you wish me to quote the suite prices as well.

 

Also the above prices is the price you would have paid direct to Viking, there was no Travel Agents discounts available and no 2 for 1 offers either, which I understand are prevalent in the US.

 

As I am on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise departing Venice on September the UK prices for this cruise on the same basis as above are as follows:

 

Veranda £2499 or £2549 (V2 - V1)

Deluxe Veranda £2,749 to £3,249 (DV6 - DV1)

Penthouse Veranda £3,449 to £3,649 (PV3 - PV1)

 

So if anybody has the US prices for these cabins then it would certainly be an interesting comparison as we can all adjust for the airfare and gratuities. For my Canadian friends, I assume US and Canada pricing policies are more closely aligned.

 

It is also interesting to note that the prices between the two cruises are not as big as I would have expected as the Odyssey cruise is for 12 nights and the Empires cruise is only for 9 nights, each with only one sea day.

Edited August 25, 2015 by NeilP57
Additional Information

[Mammacat]

NeilP57

 

Two years ago for DV6 we paid equivalent of 3300 GBP including taxes and fees. This is excluding insurance, gratuities, and airfare. Part of reason we were enticed was a discount of 50% airfare. Again this was 2 years ago. Viking having two years to book our flight we did not get direct flights.

[Port Hope]

Well this thread intrigued me! I have the brochure that I got in the spring of 2013 and these are the comparable prices in U.S. Dollars:

 

Sept. 3

Veranda $4499 and $4674

Deluxe Veranda $5174 to $6124

Penthouse Veranda $6624 to $6974

 

Sept. 27

Veranda $3699 and $3849

Deluxe Veranda $4249 to $5049

Penthouse Veranda $5449 to $5749

[Mammacat]

Yes Port Hope, U.S. Prices did not include airfare, gratuities or a monetary promotional discount ....

[roothy123]

. Again this was 2 years ago. Viking having two years to book our flight we did not get direct flights.

 

Just like Oceania. You can book the cruise a year or more in advance but you won't get your air arrangements until much, much closer to the cruise date (3 months pre-cruise maybe, or 6-9 months if you pay for an air deviation? I forget), and it's unlikely you'll get nonstop flights. That's because Oceania negotiates contracts with certain airlines, and the contracts don't cover every airline, flight flown by that airline, or market pair. They won't ticket you until their contracts have been finalized and you've paid in full. With Oceania, assuming a non-stop is available, you can pay a deviation fee and then the difference between the contracted air price and the non-stop price, but the price is often steep, at least for U.S. pax flying to Europe.

[roothy123]

Well this thread intrigued me! I have the brochure that I got in the spring of 2013 and these are the comparable prices in U.S. Dollars:

 

Sept. 3

Veranda $4499 and $4674

Deluxe Veranda $5174 to $6124

Penthouse Veranda $6624 to $6974

 

Sept. 27

Veranda $3699 and $3849

Deluxe Veranda $4249 to $5049

Penthouse Veranda $5449 to $5749

 

Port Hope: Just looked at my invoice from July 1, 2013. We booked a DV 6 on the September 27 cruise for $3,999 per person (without air, transfers, gratuities). To get the $4249-$5049 range above for DVs, did you convert GBP to USD, or was that from the U.S. brochure? After two years, I'm now wondering if our travel agent gave us a small discount! I didn't keep the original brochure with prices.

[roothy123]

Related to tipping, I have a question: I'm not used to having 2 - 4 hour shore excursions included in the price of a cruise. On Star, is it customary to give each local tour guide a small tip? Assuming it is, about how much is appropriate, either in euros or dollars?

[sitraveler]

We tipped $1-2 on the included excursions, not everyone did. Maybe $5. for 2 on the paid optionals, if we felt the guide earned it. No tips were required, but we felt they deserved it.