Additional tips (butler, etc.) - can we charge to account or is cash preferred?

[vinotinto]

Hi all, if we wanted to leave a tip for our Haven butler or concierge at the end of the cruise (they are not part of the regular pool of tips), do you give this in cash, or do you charge to your room? I think I had read somewhere in here that you can give their name and charge to your room and get a printout that you can present instead. Is this a good way to get a tip to them or is cash preferred? I would prefer to bring a minimal amount of cash (I often have $0 in my wallet, just not used to using cash) and charge, but don't want to rely on that option if it makes it more difficult for the employees or if NCL takes a cut of it (beyond taxes). And what about any additional tips for the bartenders? Do you add them to the slip to sign or do you leave in cash? Thank you for any advice!

[Fire Chief 2481]

Cash is the way to go, period.

[FlGoodShips]

Agree cash. For sure!!

For bartenders, I keep lots of singles with me. A couple of $$ for each drink.

Butlers/concierge - I give cash at beginning of cruise and also at end of cruise.

Cash is soooo appreciated by all crew members.

[suometar]

I get a lot of OBC from my TA so I use that to tip butler, concierge and our steward. 

[MSUjohn]

cash. i give my room steward/stewardess a cash tip at the end of the cruise. 

[pcakes122]

For those who are saying "cash", is there actually a difference between the voucher and cash?

 

I get alot of OBC (especially the last evening from the casino) and I frequently use it to buy vouchers for the butler, etc.  What is the actual difference for the employee?

[2inTul]

Absolutely you can charge the Butler & Concierge tips to your onboard account.  Additional tips for the Cabin Steward can be tipped this way too.  Just go to Guest Services and tell them you would like to add tips to your account and to whom and how much.  We usually do this the day before disembarkation day.  The tips are added to the accounts of the staff as soon as the voucher is processed.  We have been thanked sometimes for tips that same evening.  

[lgdesign]

We have done both and they were each much appreciated.

[janice2348]

We tipped cash at the end of the cruise.  Good to know you can put those tips on your account.  

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, vinotinto said:

Hi all, if we wanted to leave a tip for our Haven butler or concierge at the end of the cruise (they are not part of the regular pool of tips), do you give this in cash, or do you charge to your room? I think I had read somewhere in here that you can give their name and charge to your room and get a printout that you can present instead. Is this a good way to get a tip to them or is cash preferred? I would prefer to bring a minimal amount of cash (I often have $0 in my wallet, just not used to using cash) and charge, but don't want to rely on that option if it makes it more difficult for the employees or if NCL takes a cut of it (beyond taxes). And what about any additional tips for the bartenders? Do you add them to the slip to sign or do you leave in cash? Thank you for any advice!

Cash. nothing traceable by the cruise line. 

[RaftingJeremy]

cash

[cruiserbear55]

I asked this question of our last steward ( two and a half years ago). He stated if you tip on a voucher, slip, tip-line , etc., it goes into a pool. If you hand him/her cash, it stays in their pocket.

[Silver Sweethearts]

55 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Cash. nothing traceable by the cruise line. 

The amount you tip a staff member should be a personal matter strictly between you and the staff member, and nobody else's business.  Cash works best here. 

[kby1216]

For those saying cash, if you are on a European cruise, do you tip with US $ or Euros?

[ChrisNY2]

8 minutes ago, kby1216 said:

For those saying cash, if you are on a European cruise, do you tip with US $ or Euros?

 

I've done both - they will have tips in dollars and in euros and will be able to easily keep or exchange those currencies.

[LGW59]

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Cash. nothing traceable by the cruise line. 

Very good point!

[CILCIANRQTS]

Please do not tip the bartender on the slip.

Then he/she has to make an additional entry into the system, which takes additional time. Think 50-100 people a day adding tips to their slips. 

Plus all the other good reasons mentioned above. 💵💶🥃

[vinotinto]

I was under the impression that you could add extra tips for butler, steward, and concierge through onboard account (these would be in addition to the prepaid gratuities). Guest Services just told me they won’t individually get it. That’s a bummer and figured I would post here as we would have brought a lot more cash if I would have known we could not add to our room account. It’s been 6 years since our last cruise, but this was possible in the past but seems like it’s not possible anymore. 

[pcakes122]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:15 PM, CILCIANRQTS said:

Please do not tip the bartender on the slip.

Then he/she has to make an additional entry into the system, which takes additional time. Think 50-100 people a day adding tips to their slips. 

Plus all the other good reasons mentioned above. 💵💶🥃

Please explain this process in more detail.  In my experience, I had to tell the Concierge (or Guest Services) the full name of the person I wanted to purchase additional gratuities for and I was given a receipt with their name on it. (I have put the receipt in an envelope with whatever cash I was giving to let them know that the money had already been placed on their employee account.)

 

What is the slip entry process?

[vinotinto]

2 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

Please explain this process in more detail.  In my experience, I had to tell the Concierge (or Guest Services) the full name of the person I wanted to purchase additional gratuities for and I was given a receipt with their name on it. (I have put the receipt in an envelope with whatever cash I was giving to let them know that the money had already been placed on their employee account.)

 

What is the slip entry process?

I just tried to do this and they said they could not. Tried at Guest Services. Did I get someone who was uninformed?

[pcakes122]

4 minutes ago, vinotinto said:

I just tried to do this and they said they could not. Tried at Guest Services. Did I get someone who was uninformed?

I haven't done this since pre-pandemic (to use up the rest of my OBC), so maybe it has changed since then?  I used to do that every cruise!  I hope they didn't discontinue that process! 😞  I would try again (or ask a supervisor?)

[tampadee]

We were able to get forms from the Concierge to fill out.  One for each person we are tipping.  

 

Could it be that the person you asked just didn't want to help?

[vinotinto]

36 minutes ago, tampadee said:

We were able to get forms from the Concierge to fill out.  One for each person we are tipping.  

 

Could it be that the person you asked just didn't want to help?

Just did that and it was easy peasy. I think the Guest Services people don’t see a lot of people wanting to add tips to account. Haven Concierge handled it.

[CILCIANRQTS]

4 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

Please explain this process in more detail.  In my experience, I had to tell the Concierge (or Guest Services) the full name of the person I wanted to purchase additional gratuities for and I was given a receipt with their name on it. (I have put the receipt in an envelope with whatever cash I was giving to let them know that the money had already been placed on their employee account.)

 

What is the slip entry process?

 I was describing per drink tipping each visit to a bar,  not end of cruise tipping.

[MoCruiseFan]

On 4/1/2022 at 10:25 AM, vinotinto said:

Hi all, if we wanted to leave a tip for our Haven butler or concierge at the end of the cruise (they are not part of the regular pool of tips), do you give this in cash, or do you charge to your room? I think I had read somewhere in here that you can give their name and charge to your room and get a printout that you can present instead. Is this a good way to get a tip to them or is cash preferred? I would prefer to bring a minimal amount of cash (I often have $0 in my wallet, just not used to using cash) and charge, but don't want to rely on that option if it makes it more difficult for the employees or if NCL takes a cut of it (beyond taxes). And what about any additional tips for the bartenders? Do you add them to the slip to sign or do you leave in cash? Thank you for any advice!

 

There is no "regular pool of tips".