Gift box for room steward?

[Elzacruiser]

17 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Tip at the end also

I tip the room steward the first time he come to greet us, also if he’s good, I’ll tip more at the end of the cruise. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Elzacruiser

[Turtles06]

31 minutes ago, Elzacruiser said:

I tip the room steward the first time he come to greet us, also if he’s good, I’ll tip more at the end of the cruise. 

 

We don't tip in advance.  Could be insulting to the recipients, as though you feel you need to bribe them to do their jobs.  

[WYB!]

5 hours ago, Clambake77 said:

With he front of house workers being from  several Muslim countries I’m sure the “PORK RINDS” will be a hit…

On a recent B2B voyage I asked my cabin steward from Indonesia if he wanted anything and he asked specifically for pork rinds. So I got him a bag and also some bags of chips.
 

Have you ever ask you cabin stewards if they would like anything from the outside? If you haven’t give it a try. 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, WYB! said:

On a recent B2B voyage I asked my cabin steward from Indonesia if he wanted anything and he asked specifically for pork rinds. So I got him a bag and also some bags of chips.
 

Have you ever ask you cabin stewards if they would like anything from the outside? If you haven’t give it a try. 

Please tell me this is a joke and you are being facetious...

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

We don't tip in advance.  Could be insulting to the recipients, as though you feel you need to bribe them to do their jobs.  

Good grief…

[cooncat_mom]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Please tell me this is a joke and you are being facetious...

Actually, we’ve run into this more than once on cruises. As we’ve been leaving to go ashore we chatted a few moments and then asked if there was anything we could bring back for them since they weren’t able to get off. In one instance it was a few travel things from the drugstore and in another it a was couple of muffins from a specific cafe. On one cruise, my DD and I had been chatting with a room steward and she was having to put inserts into the daily cruise paper (forget what ship) so we helped. Had a lovely talk! (And of course we still left a tip! ☺️)

Edited July 31, 2022 by cooncat_mom
Added a thought….

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, WYB! said:

On a recent B2B voyage I asked my cabin steward from Indonesia if he wanted anything and he asked specifically for pork rinds. So I got him a bag and also some bags of chips.

If they were not single serving sized bags, this can get him into trouble, as crew are not allowed to have open food in their cabins.

[Dave994]

Why specifically the Steward? Why not little grab bags for the casino dealers? Toiletries for The waitress or waiter at dinner? Perhaps a bag of chocolate for The lovely lady at guest services? The Engineer could probably use socks too and I am sure  The First officer and the Captain would love bags of pork (whatever the heck that is)  Aren’t they all kinda just doing their job? And I say if someone (whoever that is) does something extra ordinary to make your cruise that much more special, give them cash. 

[julig22]

3 hours ago, WYB! said:

Have you ever ask you cabin stewards if they would like anything from the outside? If you haven’t give it a try. 

I have asked on a few occasions, although never had one take me up on it -one steward said thanks but was sooo excited to tell me that the crew had busses waiting for them to make a Walmart run (Canaveral).   Another wanted a donkey from Santorini (kidding of course) so I bought a magnet with a donkey.

But I will ask if I have the opportunity, some stewards are more sociable than others.  

I was as planning on leaving chocolate (plus a tip) on my last cruise and spoke to my steward the last night and said something about I hoped he liked chocolate - he said no, he doesn't eat it BUT his wife was coming on the next cruise and she would love it!  So you just never know.  But I do assume that they will trade if any goodies aren't to their liking.

[oasisorbust]

4 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Please tell me this is a joke and you are being facetious...

Not everyone in Indonesia is Muslim….

[graphicguy]

15 hours ago, Clambake77 said:

These workers earn a living to be on that ship. Its a personal choice.  Tipping is a ridiculous American tradition to make AMERICANS feel superior to all others.  They should move on to higher paying jobs if they don’t earn enough.  

It’s just like fast food workers DEMANDING over $16 an hour to microwave hamburgers.  ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE PRIMARY BREAD WINNER.  Its an entry level non skilled job. The incentive is to move onto something better.  STOP WITH YOUR AMERICAN HOLY ROLLING ATTITUDES…  

I had no idea.  How did I not know any of this.  Thanks for telling me!!!!!!!

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Dave994 said:

The Engineer could probably use socks too and I am sure

I can tell you that if my plumbers responded to a call for a diamond ring dropped down the sink, and were rewarded with a "goody bag" instead of a Jackson, they wouldn't be quite so quick to respond the next time.

[njhorseman]

20 minutes ago, oasisorbust said:

Not everyone in Indonesia is Muslim….

But the overwhelming majority are. Per this report about 88% of Indonesians are Muslim and the nation is home to 13% of the world's Muslim population:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2010/11/04/muslim-population-of-indonesia/

[CWMixer]

5 things I’ve put in a “gift box” (ie envelope), in ascending order are:

$1’s

$5’s

$10’s

$20’s

$50’s

Quantity of each based on services received.

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, oasisorbust said:

Not everyone in Indonesia is Muslim….

context??

[phillygwm]

7 hours ago, hernando52 said:

We give the steward some cash on the first day.   We shall give out more cash at the end if the service was good.   No gifts....I never have enough room in my suitcases for extra stuff!!

Exactly.  $50 on Day 1.  Another $50, if service is good (and it almost always is,) on the last day.  

[BirdTravels]

17 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

context??

pork rinds 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

pork rinds 

So I guess to be on the safe side we should stick with Cheetos and Doritos, I don't think fake cheese flavor is offensive

[phillygwm]

6 hours ago, cassie55 said:

We're currently on the Star. There's a high proportion of Indonesian crew onboard. I don't think pork rinds would be appreciated at all.  

Actually, the Indonesians I've encountered (and a friend travelling with me is Indonesian so he speaks to them in the same language) are Balinese...so Hindu or Christian.  Though I'm sure there are plenty of Muslims on board.

 

6 hours ago, debenson0723 said:

Most would tell me they didn't want anything but a few would tell me what they would like. The most requested item was toothpaste. So I would pick up a few tubes and also chips and candy.  One of my room stewards stated he liked those to eat while watching TV in his down time.  It's just a few dollars out of my pocket and if it makes them happy, I don't need or expect anything in return. 

Sure, I'd be happy to do this if I knew a crew member couldn't disembark and needed something.  Candidly, I don't usually engage my steward that extensively -- they're pretty busy and I don't want to get in their way -- but if I knew they couldn't get off the ship I would probably ask.  If they COULD disembark, I'd think they could more easily buy exactly what they wanted with the money I gave them than rely on me to do their shopping.

[Dannirose]

We always leave extra cash, but we usually bring some extra snacks, candies and small trinkets which we leave on the last day with a note asking the stateroom attendant to share with the rest of the crew. Our last cruise was our wedding and we had a large group with us so we had a lot of "extras" and I had asked the cabin steward if it was okay to leave those as well and was told they pool the items and whomever needs something takes it, so it was appreciated. That trip we even left behind some lottery scratch-offs that our group had not not used.

 

I think the bottom line is cash is always best, but a little extra never hurts.

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

Actually, the Indonesians I've encountered (and a friend travelling with me is Indonesian so he speaks to them in the same language) are Balinese...so Hindu or Christian.  Though I'm sure there are plenty of Muslims on board.

 

Sure, I'd be happy to do this if I knew a crew member couldn't disembark and needed something.  Candidly, I don't usually engage my steward that extensively -- they're pretty busy and I don't want to get in their way -- but if I knew they couldn't get off the ship I would probably ask.  If they COULD disembark, I'd think they could more easily buy exactly what they wanted with the money I gave them than rely on me to do their shopping.

Typically, those who can't get ashore (and more back of house types are in this category than front of house), arrange with friends who can, to pick up things.  There is also a very busy "flea market" on crew decks, at least twice a week, where those who went ashore sell items to those who couldn't, or barter services (laundry, tailoring, haircuts) for items.  There are also ethnic "Mafias" that tend to take care of their compatriots.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

I can tell you that if my plumbers responded to a call for a diamond ring dropped down the sink, and were rewarded with a "goody bag" instead of a Jackson, they wouldn't be quite so quick to respond the next time.

What if it was a toilet drain? 💩🤣

[The Shrike]

2 hours ago, oasisorbust said:

Not everyone in Indonesia is Muslim….

Yep, and not every Muslim is devout.  I've gone drinking with some and known ones that loved Jimmy Dean sausage.

[YVRteacher]

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

If they were not single serving sized bags, this can get him into trouble, as crew are not allowed to have open food in their cabins.

I’m just curious.  Is this for sanitation reasons?  I remember about 5 years ago NCL started printing a message in the Freestyle Daily that people were not supposed to take food from the buffet to their cabins.  This didn’t last too long!

Edited August 1, 2022 by YVRteacher

[margretha]

I am always amazed at the variety of tones and lectures a simple question from someone trying to do a kindness provokes from people who prefer shouting to discussing. I thought the person was doing was giving a kindness to people who work so hard and so long. The snotty tone of some previous respondents remind me of a couple in a suite next to ours on one cruise. We were seated at dinner with them once and they spoke so highly of all the staff, especially the room stewards and the concierges who were just wonderful. They shared that because they had such good experiences on their last cruise on the ship, this time they brought onboard special gifts for some of the staff members. Frankly, when I saw the lovely wrapped gifts I felt like Scrooge since we were just putting cash in an envelope. Turns out the gifts were framed autographed color photos of the couple. Our steward and one of the concierges shared the "gift" with us as we were packing that last night. It was both hysterically funny (no one knew who they were and frankly the photo was not all that flattering) and unbelievably dim since the glass and frames were large and unwieldy.