Tipping for the Diamond Drinks loaded on your card

[gcelkk]

Ok,

 

Looks like the Canadian dollars are out.  I suppose that also rules out Canadian quarters.  I'm sure not going to carry US quarters around.  Looks like we're back to an over or under average tip.  Who would have thought how hard cruising would be.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, emeraldcity said:

I've been giving the server a dollar for the drinks that are loaded on my card, but is that enough? 

 

Mainly, I'm confused about whether servers receive any compensation for those D and D+ drinks. If they don't and it's a $10 drink, then my dollar is only a 10% tip and I need to up my game.

 

And I'm sure this topic has been covered, but I tried several searches, and apparently my searching skills are deficient.

We carry a roll of 100ish $1 bills on a cruise. We'll tip a couple of bucks a drink (Diamond and otherwise). 

[taglovestocruise]

30 minutes ago, LarryHD2 said:

why not tip with $2 bills?  I've done it for years and I've never head anything bad about it.

 

15 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

You and me both are nitwits and I agree 100%!  I still don’t understand why $2’s are a problem?  That is what we use and will keep doing so.

From a cruise ship hotel manager. This is not me.

 

I have managed Hotels on cruise ships for nearly 30 years; 28 different ships for 18 different cruise lines.

I have had 10s of thousands of tipped crew working for me over the years.

Every few months we get some guest who thinks it’s cute to tip with strange currencies or denominations.

The crew brings the odd bills and coins to me to see if I can change them for something that’s is useful to them. They cannot take the strange currencies home, as they cannot change them there. Many times they cannot find time or a location to change them during the cruise. Generally the crew purser will not accept any unusual coins or bills from the crew. So the crew is usually just stuck with them. 

After smiling at you when you hand them the strange bank note, they only remember the nitwit  who thought he / she was being cute.

 $2 bills are a total challenge for a crew member to use

[Seville2Cabo]

35 minutes ago, LarryHD2 said:

why not tip with $2 bills?  I've done it for years and I've never head anything bad about it.

$2 bills are not accepted everywhere.  In Mexico a lot of my regular bars ask me to exchange $2 bills for pesos or other US currency and the $2 bill are not accepted in Mexico

 

[crzndeb]

34 minutes ago, LarryHD2 said:

why not tip with $2 bills?  I've done it for years and I've never head anything bad about it.

It may be hard for them to use in stores, when they shop for items. I know many of us use debit cards, but how many times have you gotten a $2 in change when using cash? If they go to a bank, then they can exchange them, but they probably don’t normally do that. Maybe the ones that enjoyed them, were able to exchange easily, but I don’t think that’s the norm. But, you do you. 

[celoplyr]

19 minutes ago, gcelkk said:

Ok,

 

Looks like the Canadian dollars are out.  I suppose that also rules out Canadian quarters.  I'm sure not going to carry US quarters around.  Looks like we're back to an over or under average tip.  Who would have thought how hard cruising would be.

I would assume that Canadian dollars would be ok on a cruise that stops in Canada... but if you're in the Caribbean, it would be a bit weird.  Same with Euros on a European cruise.

[soremekun]

I gotta use up some of this Iranian Rial I have hanging around.  I can use it to tip a cruise ship worker!

[smokeybandit]

15 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

$2 bills are not accepted everywhere.  In Mexico a lot of my regular bars ask me to exchange $2 bills for pesos or other US currency and the $2 bill are not accepted in Mexico

 

We've had staff tell us in the past that they don't like $2 bills because their home countries won't accept them when depositing the money.

[loman]

I will go to the bank and get american money when cruising . 

I dont use CAD , as everybody likes USD .

[Tlbecker1]

25 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

 

 

From a cruise ship hotel manager. This is not me.

 

I have managed Hotels on cruise ships for nearly 30 years; 28 different ships for 18 different cruise lines.

I have had 10s of thousands of tipped crew working for me over the years.

Every few months we get some guest who thinks it’s cute to tip with strange currencies or denominations.

The crew brings the odd bills and coins to me to see if I can change them for something that’s is useful to them. They cannot take the strange currencies home, as they cannot change them there. Many times they cannot find time or a location to change them during the cruise. Generally the crew purser will not accept any unusual coins or bills from the crew. So the crew is usually just stuck with them. 

After smiling at you when you hand them the strange bank note, they only remember the nitwit  who thought he / she was being cute.

 $2 bills are a total challenge for a crew member to use

I already posted this on my post #23. 😀  thanks!

[loman]

1 hour ago, LarryHD2 said:

I've been tipping with $2 bills for a while, everyone likes them and takes notice.

 

Another question...  we just turned diamond - with the drinks loaded on the seapass card, do they expire at the end of the day?  Can we have 2 drinks one day and 6 the next?

 

 

Use any left over vouchers and get bottles of water at the end of the day and bring them back to your cabin, as they dont carry over to the next day,

[Tlbecker1]

Just now, Heymarco said:

Tipping $2 bills are just to make the giver feel more special. Think of an old aunt giving out Kennedy dollars at Christmas time.

I am glad that you think so.  Bringing $1’s for all of our tipping(when we don’t cruise less than 14 days at a time) is $140-1’s, that is a large stack to take on a plane.

[John&LaLa]

13 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

Tipping $2 bills are just to make the giver feel more special. Think of an old aunt giving out Kennedy dollars at Christmas time.

 

Half dollars😉

[John&LaLa]

11 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am glad that you think so.  Bringing $1’s for all of our tipping(when we don’t cruise less than 14 days at a time) is $140-1’s, that is a large stack to take on a plane.

 

Seriously, that's a burden. Smaller than a paperback book

[Jarmo]

$5 bills take up less space.

[LMaxwell]

$1 won't buy you a 25 cent cup of coffee anymore.  

If you feel its time to increase, increase. 

[Wineaux007]

We normally bring 100 dollar bills.  If we need more based on the length of the cruise, we go to the casino or guest services to get more.

[topnole]

3 hours ago, katiel53 said:

I tip $1 a drink if it is just a Chivas and soda.  I tip $2 a drink if I have something like a Pina Colada or Lava Flow.  

 

My thinking is that a simple drink isn't much work, so little tip.  A frozen drink takes more time/work so I tip more.

This.  
 

It seems some of the thought process has to involve what you are ordering.  If I order a beer and it involved just popping a top, a dollar seems reasonable.  If I order a more time consuming cocktail,

a dollar doesn’t seem enough.  
 

Popping two beers open takes about 2 seconds longer than one and I I will always tip a dollar per beer.  The bartenders always seem very happy to get a couple bucks for a two beer order.  It is usually one of the faster orders they get.  
 

Making a frozen drink can take them a while on the other hand.  Or a hand crafted cocktail is another example.  Ordering two different types of those can take a bartender 5+ minutes whereas a two beer order might take 20-30 seconds (not counting ringing it up which applies to all orders either way).  They love beer drinkers who tip.  

Edited July 29, 2022 by topnole

[Grandma Dazzles]

Stopped using $2 bills a long time ago.  Considering that a clerk at a local Walmart wouldn’t accept - she had to call a supervisor to confirm there was such a thing - would not try to give to an employee on a foreign flagged cruise ship!  They are not play money - but many people think so!

[John&LaLa]

48 minutes ago, topnole said:

This.  
 

It seems some of the thought process has to involve what you are ordering.  If I order a beer and it involved just popping a top, a dollar seems reasonable.  If I order a more time consuming cocktail,

a dollar doesn’t seem enough.  
 

Popping two beers open takes about 2 seconds longer than one and I I will always tip a dollar per beer.  The bartenders always seem very happy to get a couple bucks for a two beer order.  It is usually one of the faster orders they get.  
 

Making a frozen drink can take them a while on the other hand.  Or a hand crafted cocktail is another example.  Ordering two different types of those can take a bartender 5+ minutes whereas a two beer order might take 20-30 seconds (not counting ringing it up which applies to all orders either way).  They love beer drinkers who tip.  

 

I mix it up, it all balances out in the end

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Tipping $2 bills are just to make the giver feel more special. Think of an old aunt giving out Kennedy dollars at Christmas time.

and they see to think it's cute too...it's not, just give them the $1 bill or a couple if you are a $2/drink tiipper.  On the other hand, grown adults, who I assume have been going out to eat/drink during their adult life, needing to ask strangers, gee what do you tip, so I know what I should do.  Good grief

[tamara01]

4 hours ago, LarryHD2 said:

I've been tipping with $2 bills for a while, everyone likes them and takes notice.

 

Another question...  we just turned diamond - with the drinks loaded on the seapass card, do they expire at the end of the day?  Can we have 2 drinks one day and 6 the next?

 

 

no, the 4 drinks a day expire at midnight.  

[brillohead]

5 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am glad that you think so.  Bringing $1’s for all of our tipping(when we don’t cruise less than 14 days at a time) is $140-1’s, that is a large stack to take on a plane.

News flash:  You can get singles at Guest Services or the Casino Cashier.  A couple $100 bills won't take up hardly any space at all on a plane.  

[ReneeFLL]

7 hours ago, LarryHD2 said:

I've been tipping with $2 bills for a while, everyone likes them and takes notice.

 

Another question...  we just turned diamond - with the drinks loaded on the seapass card, do they expire at the end of the day?  Can we have 2 drinks one day and 6 the next?

 

 

There was someone else on here that always said they always tipped in $2.00 bills or was that you? You lose the vouchers you don’t us per day. You can get water, soda or even bottles of beer to take back to the room if you want. Be sure to tell them not to open them.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, brillohead said:

News flash:  You can get singles at Guest Services or the Casino Cashier.  A couple $100 bills won't take up hardly any space at all on a plane.  

 

But that would take several trips. 

 

They limit how many you can get