stateroom steward and anytime dining tipping

[Lady Arwen]

11 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

You may for self gratification but they appreciate cash over any trinkets.

You are so right!  How many times does it need to be said??  Why do people insist on thinking "stuff" is more appropriate??  SMH!!!!

 

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Sure cash is the preferred way but if you have a Walmart card that was gifted to you & wanted to re-gift it there's probably not a country around that doesn't have a Walmart - Philippines, UK,  Ukraine. 

And if they don't have a Walmart in their country they can always sell it to one of their coworkers who does.

We prefer tips of other nature besides/addition to cash which are always appreciated.

There are no Walmart's in the UK they own ASDA which is a supermarket but they will not accept Walmart gift cards.

[MissP22]

8 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

There are no Walmart's in the UK they own ASDA which is a supermarket but they will not accept Walmart gift cards.

I'll bet they still don't turn them down. 

They exchange it for cash from other crew members who can utilize them. 

[MissP22]

26 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

You may for self gratification but they appreciate cash over any trinkets.

It's more than self gratification especially when you meet the same crew members on subsequent cruisers & they remember you. We've even had 

crew members follow us on some trips to just say hello & thank us again for our gifts from previous trips. 

[neverbeenhere]

When we know specific staff members will be on a particular ship, we take them something that we know that they will enjoy.  

[weedpindle]

On 9/3/2019 at 11:22 AM, jmadams said:

OK you guys are really clearing things up for me and yes it is my first cruise. I probably should have just asked how much cash to bring.  I really don’t know what standard tipping protocol is on cruising.   At a hotel I plan on tipping daily.   I will let my Stewart know that family members are in the cabin next door. I’m going to ask them to open up the balcony.

 

When do you guys use cash on the ship? 

 

I read some people bring gifts to leave their Stewart’s. I am doing a mid October Cabo cruise, so Halloween/Day of the Dead is coming up. 

No cash except in the casino and even there you can charge your room. Do not bring gifts for crew, they live in VERY cramped cabins and have no room for stuff.

[weedpindle]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

When we know specific staff members will be on a particular ship, we take them something that we know that they will enjoy.  

And where do they put stuff in their very cramped cabins?

[neverbeenhere]

6 minutes ago, weedpindle said:

And where do they put stuff in their very cramped cabins?

 

Autographed photos and items, religious artifacts of their liking, specific consumables, rather small green tinged portraits of Presidents, etc. 

 

bottles of particular wines for white shirts that we know. 

 

(BTW the autographs are not ours) 

 

 

[CZEE]

We don't bribe in advance for good service.  If we get good service, we tip extra at the end and commend the steward, or other person at the end of the cruise. Once, we had a room steward put his hand  out for a tip on the first day of the cruise and seemed surprised that we didn't put money in it. We're not difficult cruisers and never make special requests, except for an extra bath towel.  After some deliberation between us, we decided to talk with the hotel manager about the situation.  We got a new steward. Tipping has gotten out of hand if new cruisers are concerned about how much and when to tip.  

[Grandma Cruising]

As a ‘brit’ I find this whole discussion about tipping perplexing. We don’t have a culture of tipping for everything as our workers get pretty well paid by law. You are already charged quite a large amount per day by the cruise company (which annoys me - why can’t they just increase the cruise price by that amount and pay staff better) so why tip more. Those who tip on top create an expectation from crew and so it becomes normalised.  Please don’t do it!

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

As a ‘brit’ I find this whole discussion about tipping perplexing. We don’t have a culture of tipping for everything as our workers get pretty well paid by law. You are already charged quite a large amount per day by the cruise company (which annoys me - why can’t they just increase the cruise price by that amount and pay staff better) so why tip more. Those who tip on top create an expectation from crew and so it becomes normalised.  Please don’t do it!

That's what P&O have done and they are a carnival company.

We have just got off P&O Ventura and noticed a high proportion of Filipino crew when previously it was predominantly Indian crew so I wonder if this is their solution to going tips included.

Years ago on Sea Princess we had an Eastern European cabin steward who let us know his share of autogratuities was derisory!!

[Aus Traveller]

30 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

That's what P&O have done and they are a carnival company.

We have just got off P&O Ventura and noticed a high proportion of Filipino crew when previously it was predominantly Indian crew so I wonder if this is their solution to going tips included.

Years ago on Sea Princess we had an Eastern European cabin steward who let us know his share of autogratuities was derisory!!

P&O Aust and Princess (on Australian-based cruises) eliminated the auto-gratuity years ago (2010 for P&O and 2011 for Princess). Passengers love it and so do the crew. 🙂

[majortom10]

15 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I'll bet they still don't turn them down. 

They exchange it for cash from other crew members who can utilize them. 

They will not be accepted in ASDA in the UK.

[majortom10]

9 hours ago, CZEE said:

We don't bribe in advance for good service.  If we get good service, we tip extra at the end and commend the steward, or other person at the end of the cruise. Once, we had a room steward put his hand  out for a tip on the first day of the cruise and seemed surprised that we didn't put money in it. We're not difficult cruisers and never make special requests, except for an extra bath towel.  After some deliberation between us, we decided to talk with the hotel manager about the situation.  We got a new steward. Tipping has gotten out of hand if new cruisers are concerned about how much and when to tip.  

Tipping has always been a reward for good service received and you are correct that to tip in advance is nothing more than a bribe and I wouldnt be impressed if anyone asked for a tip in advance.

Tipping certainly has got out of control and on our cruise last week on Crown people obviously paid their daily service charge and were also tipping for every drink purchased and were tipping in Crown Grill. I know the exchange rate is poor in the UK for US$ at the moment but just with the daily service charge we were paying nearly £300 and think it has now got out of control and also with recent increase of service charge on drinks from 15% to 18%. People have been brainwashed to pay tips because of the poor pay staff receive from cruise companies so making you feel guilty if you dont pay them and have fellow cruisers saying if you dont pay them you are "stiffing the staff". It suits cruise companies for cruisers to keep on encouraging them to pay tips so they can carry on paying poor wages but continue to make vast profits as Carnival Corporation are doing year by year and think it this day and age it is about time staff received a decent guaranteed wage by cruise companies even if it means increased fares.

[Aus Traveller]

16 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I'll bet they still don't turn them down. 

They exchange it for cash from other crew members who can utilize them. 

But the other crew of their ship go to the same ports they do. If the original crew member given the gift card can't use it, it's likely the others can't either. Even if they find someone who can use the gift card, who would give them full dollar value for the it?

 

Save the bother. Just give cash if you feel you have to give more than the auto gratuity.

[bemis12]

On 9/3/2019 at 3:08 PM, Mike45LC said:

Great idea! 

 

We usually bring Filipino telephone cards with us on the cruises as gifts, because we almost always have a Filipino cabin steward (and often other service people); my wife was the one who thought of this, because she always asks the steward (and a lot of the other service personnel) in Tagalog how long since they've been back home, etc.  We buy the cards in a local Filipino grocery store here in Vegas (which has a huge Filipino population).  They are good worldwide, but they are packaged for the Philippines.  

 

 

If you worked on the ship, would you prefer a US calling card or cash?

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

As a ‘brit’ I find this whole discussion about tipping perplexing. We don’t have a culture of tipping for everything as our workers get pretty well paid by law. You are already charged quite a large amount per day by the cruise company (which annoys me - why can’t they just increase the cruise price by that amount and pay staff better) so why tip more. Those who tip on top create an expectation from crew and so it becomes normalised.  Please don’t do it!

Because most of the world doesn't do things like you do in the UK.

[Grandma Cruising]

14 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Because most of the world doesn't do things like you do in the UK.

There are many countries where tipping is not normal or expected ( for example all the Scandinavian countries) and there are some, such as Japan, where tipping is seen as insulting. 

One of the current problems is that Americans, with their tipping culture, are spreading the expectation of tips to countries where it has never been the norm.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[MissP22]

1 minute ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

There are many countries where tipping is not normal or expected ( for example all the Scandinavian countries) and there are some, such as Japan, where tipping is seen as insulting. 

 

I'll be sure to remember that if/when we cruise to those countries. 

 

Our trips mostly are to US mainland, Alaska, Hawaii & throughout the Caribbean & Mexico with Filipino & Mexican crew so they do expect tips and appreciate tips since their livelihood depends on it. 

[Colo Cruiser]

6 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

As a ‘brit’ I find this whole discussion about tipping perplexing. We don’t have a culture of tipping for everything as our workers get pretty well paid by law. You are already charged quite a large amount per day by the cruise company (which annoys me - why can’t they just increase the cruise price by that amount and pay staff better) so why tip more. Those who tip on top create an expectation from crew and so it becomes normalised.  Please don’t do it!

 

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Tipping has always been a reward for good service received and you are correct that to tip in advance is nothing more than a bribe and I wouldnt be impressed if anyone asked for a tip in advance.

Tipping certainly has got out of control and on our cruise last week on Crown people obviously paid their daily service charge and were also tipping for every drink purchased and were tipping in Crown Grill. I know the exchange rate is poor in the UK for US$ at the moment but just with the daily service charge we were paying nearly £300 and think it has now got out of control and also with recent increase of service charge on drinks from 15% to 18%. People have been brainwashed to pay tips because of the poor pay staff receive from cruise companies so making you feel guilty if you dont pay them and have fellow cruisers saying if you dont pay them you are "stiffing the staff". It suits cruise companies for cruisers to keep on encouraging them to pay tips so they can carry on paying poor wages but continue to make vast profits as Carnival Corporation are doing year by year and think it this day and age it is about time staff received a decent guaranteed wage by cruise companies even if it means increased fares.

 

19 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

There are many countries where tipping is not normal or expected ( for example all the Scandinavian countries) and there are some, such as Japan, where tipping is seen as insulting. 

One of the current problems is that Americans, with their tipping culture, are spreading the expectation of tips to countries where it has never been the norm.

 

It is very simple. If you dislike tipping so much just continue to remove the auto gratuities every time you cruise. 👍

[weedpindle]

13 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

Autographed photos and items, religious artifacts of their liking, specific consumables, rather small green tinged portraits of Presidents, etc. 

 

bottles of particular wines for white shirts that we know. 

 

(BTW the autographs are not ours) 

 

 

Cash. Then they can buy what THEY want.

[steevee]

I tip in cash. Particularly for the room stewards and my MDR waiter, especially if we have the same one all week and they do an outstanding job. Working 7 days a weeks away from your home (or home country) is a difficult job and I sympathize.  The daily tip charge is shared among all of the crew on the ship - from your stateroom stewards to the people greeting you at the Lido buffet asking you to wash your hands. But for the ones I interact with daily, and those who go above and beyond, I tip around $2-5 per day, the amount I wouldn’t even think twice about on a Starbucks coffee. That may seem generous to some, or unnecessary to others, but it could mean a Lot to the 2-3 people on the cruise who made my vacation all that much better, or have a personal touch. And I usually do it on the second last day of the cruise. Just get an envelope from guest services. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by steevee

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

 

 

It is very simple. If you dislike tipping so much just continue to remove the auto gratuities every time you cruise. 👍

I cruise with Azamara so gratuities are included in the cruise price. When I sailed with HAL I was happy to pay the gratuity daily charge, but unhappy that other cruisers routinely tipped on top. This leads to the expectation that every cruiser will tip extra on top of the daily gratuity charge.

[tailspintom]

2 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I cruise with Azamara so gratuities are included in the cruise price. When I sailed with HAL I was happy to pay the gratuity daily charge, but unhappy that other cruisers routinely tipped on top. This leads to the expectation that every cruiser will tip extra on top of the daily gratuity charge.

I am somewhat puzzled as to why what other people choose to do would be of concern to you. To be "unhappy that other cruisers routinely tipped on top" is foreign to me. If you have left the auto gratuity on your folio, you have generously paid the crew for their work and met their expectations as outlined in their contract with their employer.  Likewise, when you cruise with another carrier who front loads the employee compensation in the fare, you have taken care of that moral obligation. My suggestion is, if you can, don't give a thought to whether someone is paying a bit more than others for the crew. They are more than likely adding a bit more to make themselves feel good as well as showing some appreciation for superior service (a philosophical discussion that is best done over a glass of wine). Enjoy all of your sails.

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I cruise with Azamara so gratuities are included in the cruise price. When I sailed with HAL I was happy to pay the gratuity daily charge, but unhappy that other cruisers routinely tipped on top. This leads to the expectation that every cruiser will tip extra on top of the daily gratuity charge.

Does Azamara reduce the price on their cruises when sailing in locations where tipping isn't part of the culture?