How much extra to tip

[CA_Cruzing]

After about 40 or so cruises we know what we expect and pretty much always get it.

 

Do not think it is necessary to bribe servers to get the service we have come to expect.

 

bribe, that's funny. the big cruise macher who doesn't tip. :kisses:

 

having my table ready with what we want on it, without having to order it, and the pace of our dinner is our choice. we pay for the service level.

[hrwi]

Given the provision, "don't ask them for anything extra," I would not give any extra gratuity. I would give an extra gratuity for extra services I need, that the steward/servers provided graciously.

 

This. I felt like I received exactly what I expected, so I only left the auto tips in place. They were still very nice and friendly. I didn't need ice or extra towels or anything.

[angiegal]

Our last two cruises we brought a toddler so we tipped more. Our room steward got $20 on the first day and we requested twice a day service. He got another $20 on the last day of a 4 day cruise because we received excellent service. He used my son's pirate toys (eye patch, sword, etc) to spruce up the towel animals. We always had small bags for diapers and extra towels. He even specifically asked about our son's bedtime to make sure turn down service was done early enough to not interfere with his routine. As far as other staff, my guideline is typically $1 for any bag and $2 for any suitcase that's handled, $1 for every 2 plates served, and $1 a drink. It's not perfect, but it's a good way to estimate how many singles I need to bring and a good guideline for my older children to learn.

[CA_Cruzing]

Like CA_Cruzing, we are believers in tipping early and well to "get what we want." What other people want or get is none of our concern. We are only concerned with making sure our and our family's wants/needs are taken care of promptly. (We always leave the auto-gratuities in place.)

 

We usually give the steward $20 on the first day and let him/her know that we expect twice daily cabin freshening, a full ice bucket, and extra towels. Another $20 comes at the end if all of that is taken care of.

 

In the MDR, we always do early dining, so we tip the waiters in cash on the first night. By the second night, we have our preferred dinner drinks either waiting on the table or on their way from the bar when we sit down. Extra appetizers and entrees and desserts are never a problem. Extra money comes nightly as dinner is finished.

 

For bar service, we have Cheers! and we tip an extra $1 or $2 with each drink. Servers tend to remember our order and we rarely have an empty glass.

 

Call it a tip. Call it a bribe. It works for us. For less than $200 for the week, it makes a good vacation an excellent vacation.

 

BOOM! my kind of cruising crowd!

 

same goes for when we're at home. we dine with friends at big tables, get the best wait staff, eat off-menu, and usually dine with the restaurant owner or GM joining us.

 

it's about having a great time, not a good time.

[sparks1093]

bribe, that's funny. the big cruise macher who doesn't tip. :kisses:

 

having my table ready with what we want on it, without having to order it, and the pace of our dinner is our choice. we pay for the service level.

 

Same level of service which we get without paying extra upfront.

[RS77471]

On our last cruise we brought our cabin steward a surprise from an excursion....the next day there was a $50.00 spa coupon in our cabin from the cabin steward I went back and got one of the products I wanted. So you never know!!!!

[LMaxwell]

TIPS = to insure proper service

 

It's not a bribe. You get the service you pay for. Want more service? Pay extra for it.

No, you can't insure service, you can try to ensure it but I've never heard of Teps. This has been debunked thoroughly many times.

 

Tip whatever you feel the service you have gotten is worth, everyone has different values. That simple

[LMaxwell]

On our last cruise we brought our cabin steward a surprise from an excursion....the next day there was a $50.00 spa coupon in our cabin from the cabin steward I went back and got one of the products I wanted. So you never know!!!!

 

My wife got a 50 spa card slipped under the door on night 1 and we didn't meet steward until day 3

[LMaxwell]

I get very good service and have never given an upfront tip anywhere to anyone for anything in my life. I tip at the conclusion of service. The service many people in this thread describe as the type of great service they get for greasing palms early is the same exact service I have enjoyed on cruises for the past 25plus years as part of the vacation package advertised to me. There is no way to know if paying up front results in better or worse service than you would have gotten anyway, so I reserve discretionary extra amounts until the conclusion of service

[Micahs Grandad]

bribe, that's funny. the big cruise macher who doesn't tip. :kisses:

 

having my table ready with what we want on it, without having to order it, and the pace of our dinner is our choice. we pay for the service level.

 

Why in the world would you think we didnt tip?

 

Funny though that we leave the auto tips on and lemon for my ice tea is waiting for us. Honey mustard for wife is waiting as well.

 

DW has unusual food allergies and they take good care of her without paying in advance for service.

 

It is your money and do with it as you wish but please dont decide what other people do when you havent a clue.

[Micahs Grandad]

I get very good service and have never given an upfront tip anywhere to anyone for anything in my life. I tip at the conclusion of service. The service many people in this thread describe as the type of great service they get for greasing palms early is the same exact service I have enjoyed on cruises for the past 25plus years as part of the vacation package advertised to me. There is no way to know if paying up front results in better or worse service than you would have gotten anyway, so I reserve discretionary extra amounts until the conclusion of service

 

Exactly:)

[sanmarcosman]

No, you can't insure service, you can try to ensure it but I've never heard of Teps. This has been debunked thoroughly many times.

You mean if I purchase Carnival's insurance or buy an insurance policy through Insure My Trip I won't have coverage for TEPS !?! Outrageous ;)

[Doggielover68]

We just leave the auto gratuities in place and don't usually leave extra, but we do mention them by name in the survey. We try to make things as easy as possible for the stewards by keeping our stuff out of the way, putting trash in the trash can before the last day, putting used towels in a pile in the bathroom, etc. By doing this they are in and out very quickly.

 

 

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[CA_Cruzing]

Why in the world would you think we didnt tip?

 

Funny though that we leave the auto tips on and lemon for my ice tea is waiting for us. Honey mustard for wife is waiting as well.

 

DW has unusual food allergies and they take good care of her without paying in advance for service.

 

It is your money and do with it as you wish but please dont decide what other people do when you havent a clue.

 

the OP was:

"We always leave our auto tips intact' date=' with that being said, we were wondering how much extra should we tip our room steward who we will only have clean our cabin once per day and we normally don't ask them for anything extra, our dinning room staff which we use every night and we plan on getting the cheers card and we always tip 1 or 2$ per round. We will be on a 7 day cruise. Thanks for the help!"

 

 

they are asking what to do regarding extra tips.

i never told anyone "but please dont decide what other people do." those are your words.

i shared what i do and why i do it. everyone can and will do as they please.

feel free to not comment on my posts if you get upset that i seek to have a great cruise, not just a good one. that's on you, not me.

and i'll drop coin whenever i receive exceptional service. i am in the service industry and know the value of delivering excellent service because it makes happy people and money.

[RjayB]

 

..... always pour a side glass of wine for our head waiter ......

 

I have never heard of this, wouldn't Carnival frown on their staff drinking on the job? If everyone did it, the waiters would all be too tipsy to serve the guests!

[cb at sea]

If you request nothing from your cabin attendant, and they do their job properly, then the tips charged daily should be quite sufficient!

[Tank's Mom]

I prepay trips.

 

On my last cruise we left $20 for our steward. We also tipped per drink/round with Cheers.

 

For dinners we left between 5-10 per meal. We didn't want to leave it to the end because we weren't sure which nights we would eat in the MDR, and didn't want to not tip due to not seeing them.

 

It was a 5 night. I have a short cruise coming up without Cheers (the child is coming). I'm not sure what we will tip. It we will leave extra.

 

 

 

 

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[tanzania2015]

Giving extra for service is very subjective. My philosophy is have I been fortunate to have what I have and do I want to share it. I tip generously depending on good service . Every one is in different circumstances so tipping will be different. Do what is comfortable for you. Don't worry what is expected or normal. Be comfortable with no tip or a generous tip. It all balances out.

 

 

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[CA_Cruzing]

Giving extra for service is very subjective. My philosophy is have I been fortunate to have what I have and do I want to share it. I tip generously depending on good service . Every one is in different circumstances so tipping will be different. Do what is comfortable for you. Don't worry what is expected or normal. Be comfortable with no tip or a generous tip. It all balances out.

 

 

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i fully agree. do what works best for you and your fam.

 

we all have different economic circumstances and budgets. i have been dirt poor and i have been better off. i still prefer better off. and like you, we share the extra. it's a great feeling to help make someone else's day brighter.

[Moviela]

I agree with Maxwell, supra. A reward is most appreciated after the work is done. I tip after the service is finished. The person receiving the propina is more satisfied. In my own work clients have a 20% service charge added to their bill. This can amount to several thousand dollars for a few days work, but I know the exact amount ahead of the job. Now if the client slips me a fifty on their way to the airport that is so much more satisfying. I am sure a behavioral psychologist can explain it, but I am more likely to remember that client than one that spent much more but walked out with his hands in his pocket.

[CA_Cruzing]

I have never heard of this, wouldn't Carnival frown on their staff drinking on the job? If everyone did it, the waiters would all be too tipsy to serve the guests!

 

i'm sure there's rules. our waiter will usually enjoy a toast with us and then take the drink to the back of house to finish it off.

 

we live in CA (i'm sure you've already figure this out from my name) and we buy and drink nice wines.

 

we asked our last head waiter what was the best bottle he ever had (best doesn't equal price). his exposure was limited. we poured a $150 Cab Sauv from Napa, 2007 library reserve label, and he was blown away by the wine. to be able to share that experience with someone else is a great feeling. knowing that he'd likely not buy that bottle for himself, he now has a reference mark to taste other wines against.

 

i gave him my business card and told him he has a place to stay if he ever comes to CA and that he should bring his wife too. we'd be honored to host them.

 

my mom died just a few years ago. what pains me most is her not being present to share in my family's success. it's the worst feeling in the world. on our last cruise, we took my dad along as our guest. it was a great honor to take him on vacation with us knowing how hard he worked to provide for his family when we were kids.

 

life is so much better when you make another's day brighter. if you can afford to do it, then do.

[watermelonqueen99]

We do prepaid gratuities and also get Cheers, don't eat in the MDR. We tip our room steward $5 on the first night and ask that we have ice every evening, then tip an additional $20 on the last night, providing the service was good. For our drinks, we tip an extra dollar per drink and always get excellent service and very strong drinks. Lol We love tipping the staff!

[Pellaz]

What a load of BS!

 

Ummm....yeah. Whatever. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

On our just-ended cruise we tipped $1 extra on our Cheers drink receipts and I tipped 50 cents extra on any soda receipts. We asked for twice-daily service from our stateroom steward and tipped him $20 up front, and an additional $10 at the end of the cruise since he'd been a good steward. Regarding MDR staff, we lucked into a really good YTD wait-crew on Day 3 and asked for them each night afterward. They took care of us well -- "oh, look, another three bottles of water and one Pellegrino to take back to the room!" -- and we tipped them $20 on the last night. (It was all the cash we had with us....oops.) We each tipped the guitar soloist at the Red Frog Pub because he had joined our FB roll-call before the cruise and he was pretty cool (and very talented).

 

Sure, we didn't have to do ANY of this, but I've worked for tips in the past, I've seen how hard these people work, and frankly if you can't part with a few bucks here and there to show some appreciation, you probably shouldn't be cruising in the first place.

 

And sometimes tipping really pays off. We had just gotten drinks at the Serenity bar and tipped $1 each, as usual. We were fast approaching yet another rainstorm and people were running around frantically grabbing their towels, etc. We ended up by the bar and the bartender said "No need to get wet, c'mon inside," and opened the gate for us to stand behind the bar...and under the roof. No-one else got that courtesy. :cool:

[milford7355]

Like CA_Cruzing, we are believers in tipping early and well to "get what we want." What other people want or get is none of our concern. We are only concerned with making sure our and our family's wants/needs are taken care of promptly.

 

Precisely the problem wrong with the United States. Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

[RogueMonk]

I'm old-school. I always remove auto-tips and tip in person. I keep a bunch of 5s in my pocket at all time and tip when I receive good service throughout the ship. I give my cabin steward tips throughout the cruise, $20 on night one....and $10 each night onward (for good service). That's how we do it.

 

Now....troll away.