Tipping w/phone cards or other items besides money

[pyro]

Has anyone ever tipped with anything besides money? When you ask princess to take off the auto-tip so that you can tip them personally, I've heard that the tips get put in a pool. How would this work if it was something like phone cards?

[rob_ n_tam]

I'm not sure about the tip pooling. However, we did give our room steward a couple of cards as well as the room service waiters that served our ultimate balcony dinner. They seemed to appreciate them. We tipped as well though.

[Northender]

We left the automatic tips in the pool. We gave our cabin steward a $10 up front and another $20 after the cruise. I do believe this can go right in his pocket. We also tipped our waiter that we absolutely loved.
Had room service one night and tipped him $3

You can also fill out envelopes and specify who gets the money. I just hope our steward and waiter did not have to pool anything.



Grand Princess 4/4/04

[Jacqueline]

There is no problem with tips going into a pool. Your staff will be penalized if they are not tipped in cash. There are many long threads that go into this in depth. Perhaps if the search function is working you can read all about it. The best thing you can do or you steward, waiter, etc is to leave the autotip in place. If you want to give them a present above and beyond that I am sure it would be appreciated.

Jacqueline
Constellation 3/20/04
HAL Westerdam 7/30/04
Tahitian Princess August 2003
Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003
Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002
Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001
Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001
Grand Princess Med 2000

[Cyt4SoreEyes]

Hi there we always liked to do the personal tipping and not thru the ships auto tipping. We also like to give the phone cards and bathroom supplies as well that they really need like shampoos, soap, etc. Now on our last cruise we did run into problem with giving one of our phone cards out..the young lady could not use it because it did not go to where she was calling something like that so we just gave her extra money and gave the card to one of the other fav crew members to use. I know on the other board last year lots of folks were talkin about putting care packages to gether as extra tipping for room stewards etc. And to be honest I have never heard of tipping pools is that only on Princess cruiselines??

Cyt

Atlantic
Oceanic
Norway
Enchantment of the Seas
Destiny
Voyager of the Seas
Conquest March 30th 2003
Glory May 29th 2004

[srphnx]

The idea is sound but not the turning off auto tip part. That is a problem, and I doubt the cabin steward would be as happy with NO cash in lieu of calling cards. We leave it on, buy cards we know will work for that cruise and add to it as deserved.

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[CruiseFever]

We just give extra cash as warranted...they always seem to know what to do with it

Happy Cruising

Chris

[url="http://www.LifeIsCruising.com"]www.LifeIsCruising.com[/url]

Next up:
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[cruzincurt]

I'm confused, why on earth would someone on a floating hotel need soap or shampoo????

If you give them money, they can buy what they want. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

13 cruises so far - RCCL, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, NCL, HAL (we were on the last cruise of the wonderful Norway, still have my room key)

Caribbean Princess 5/15/04 next

Be brave...live free!

[Coral]

I give them extra cash - if they want to buy phone cards with the extra cash, they can.

[MaryPoppinz]

When I'm on a floating hotel (or anywhere else, actually), I use soap for cleaning everything about myself except my hair, and that's where the shampoo comes in. I suspect that's what the crew does, too, but I can't say for sure. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I believe the poster is suggesting that she gives some crew members a gift basket. It's very thoughtful -- their toiletries aren't free.
I think most people happen to give cash as an 'extra' but thoughtfulness goes a long way, whatever form it happens to take.

[B]"I'm gonna book myself on that Princess Cruise." [/B]
-- [I]Fox Mulder, X-Files 'Three Words'[/I]

[Cyt4SoreEyes]

Yeah thats what I meant and also by what I meant about turning off auto tip was so we could hand the cash directly into their hands more personable to us that way. We always give more and the gifts are extra as well..we have had so many conversations with crew members about how they run out and they only get off ship at certain ports if any chance at all to restock their stuff and they always pay more than what we do back at home.

Cyt

Atlantic
Oceanic
Norway
Enchantment of the Seas
Destiny
Voyager of the Seas
Conquest March 30th 2003
Glory May 29th 2004
Caribbean Princess Oct 23 2004

[wolfsnare]

We asked our waiter this question concerning the tip pool vs. just tipping yourself. This is the story I got. If you give a cash tip to a waiter, steward, etc. they must report or turn in the tip. If you have contributed to the auto tip , then it is considered "extra" and they are allowed to keep the "extra". If you have not contributed to the auto tip the the tip is put into the tip pool. So the best thing to do, IMHO, is to do the $10/day auto tip and then cash tip anyone else you feel has gone the extra mile to serve you.
Also, Princess gives out "extra mile" cards for you to fill out to commend someone for a job well done. Our waiter told us that these are very important to them! So don't neglect filling one out if someone is deserving!!

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[Marmarjudy]

We also have verified, with more than one crew member, that the most appreciated way of tipping is to leave the auto in place and give cash for over and above service. Although the phone cards seem like a good idea, the crew has access to heavily discounted phone cards via the cruise line and can actually get more phone time by buying the cards themselves. So, to do the best for them, leave the auto tip in place and give cash.
This is what we've been told when we asked.
Judy

[regnig]

Wolfsnare and Marmarjudy both have it correct. If you really want to reward the service do as they have outlined. ALSO - use the envelopes that are available at the Pursers desk and make certain you put at least your room number (name would also be helpful) on the front. In that way there is no question about them being able to keep the contents - provided you have left your auto-tip in place.

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[Northender]

OK, we have said the same thing six ways to Sunday. Leave to autotip, give cash direct to steward or waiter and/or fill out envelope at pursers desk.

MaryP - I packed my own shampoo but ended up using the nice shampoo and conditioner in the toiletries basket. It was just as good or better than my own.



Grand Princess 4/4/04

[Nitemare]

So I guess giving your waiter some nice ornamental shrubbery wouldn't be appreciated?

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[NancyA]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nitemare:
So I guess giving your waiter some nice ornamental shrubbery wouldn't be appreciated?

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for giving me a laugh to start off my day!
Nancy

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June 6-Golden

[Northender]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nitemare:
So I guess giving your waiter some nice ornamental shrubbery wouldn't be appreciated?

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, there is none funnier than a person from Boston with a sense of humor. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]



Grand Princess 4/4/04

[srphnx]

Damn, guess I will have to unpack the dwarf-ficus.

[B] Life is at it's best when your address floats [/B]
[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 12/04
Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

[Princess Di]

Srphnx,

I took it to mean some POT-ted plants, with, perhaps, a new Bong. :eek:

Seriously, Currency, foreign or domestic, is really the MOST appropriate. They won't think much of anything else and will probably sell it or throw it away. :rolleyes:

Please, Write the C.R.U.I.S.E. cards, in addition to Cash. They are as good as Gold. Their reviews, promotions, and raises in pay are contingent on these commendation cards. :D

[seattlekckckc]

One thing we like to do get some of the really nice pens they sell at my husbands work - they are not to expensive (he is at Microsoft and they have a store). These quality pens are the same kind you can get for $3.00 or so at any stationary store. We gave one to our room steward in addition to an exta tip. He was so excited! When i saw him again a few months laer, the ink had just been used up - ironically enough that same day!0 - so we gave him a new one! It worked out perfectly!!! Both the stweads and the waiters use pens contantly, and the Princess pens suck big time!!! (1 out of 10 seem to work!)

Casey

[zurmoly]

We also give a bottle of wine..they do have their parties also!

[westwind6371]

This has been beat to death! DO NOT GIVE STRANGERS GIFTS THAT THEY MAY OR MAY NOT WANT!!!!! A polite person will always SEEM to really appreciate them, but what they really want is CASH!!!! That is why they work. DO NOT give pens, soap, calling cards, you do not know what they need. Perhaps they have no family and never make calls or there family does not have access to a phone, you do not know these things.

Sorry for the shouting, but this really frustrates me, that we assume what personal needs a relative stranger has. Sometimes I think it is just another way to stiff some really hard working folks. GIVE CASH FOR TIPS!!!

Fair winds
Dave

[HahvadYaad]

What westwind said. Leave the autotip in place unless your steward/waiters were serious a-holes.

We gave our wonderful steward an addtional $50 and adorable waiters each the same amount per person at our dinner table. Our whole table of 8 agreed upon it.

Considering you can go out to dinner at a restaurant and have a gratuity of the same amount for 2-3 hours of work, the autotip and an addtional $50 is nothing for seven to fourteen days of consecutive service.

[Princess Di]

SPOT ON, DAVE. :cool:
Gifts may be cute; however, what Every Crewmember needs is CASH MONEY. :D
Don't put extra Stuff in your luggage for gifts. :eek:
Just Bring lots of Money $$$$$.