Tipping at the port? How much?

[caribill]

12 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

I had a porter in Fort Lauderdale try to get me to believe that he was personally taking our bags to our cabin door. Sadly, I'm pretty sure that every day some folks believe him and tip accordingly.

 

If I remember correctly, there is a sign on the building at Terminal 2 (and maybe other terminals?) saying that tipping is not required.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, lucksak said:

I will never understand when people pay $$$$ to cruise why they worry about tipping a porter a few $. We are in our seventies . We are happy when we don’t have to touch our luggage till we get to the cabin. We tip the taxi driver at the airport , again when we catch another taxi and then the porter.

 

Yet you are not tipping the people who actually do most of the work getting the suitcases to your cabin when you reach the pier:

o The person who puts your luggage onto the ship

o The person who sorts your luggage once on the ship

o The person who brings your luggage to your deck

o The person who delivers your luggage to your cabin.

 

You are only tipping the person who does the least amount of work, putting your luggage on a wheeled cart and pushing the cart (with also having other people's luggage) 100 feet or less.

 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

In wine service, servers are never going to stop someone from tipping 20% on an expensive bottle, but it certainly isn’t expected. Good wine service is adequately tipped out at $5 per diner per bottle. So at a table for four, that comes to $20 for one bottle and $40 for two bottles which is the equivalent of a 20% tip on a $100 bottle. The service provided if the diners order a $500 bottle is no different except under extraordinary circumstances. Servers don’t (or shouldn’t) expect the windfall of serving diners who break the bank on wine.
 

 

 

On a Princess ship none of this matters. Princess has made the decision for you. A required gratuity of 18% is added to the purchase of a bottle of wine.

[Fjord4Fun]

In my experience it's an American 'thing' to tip anything that moves. I much prefer the Japanese who would get offended by tips as they are simply doing their job. If people are not paid to do their job that's the employer's fault not mine.

[alpha whiskey]

14 hours ago, ruimin said:

Do you tip them at Southampton port?

 Thanks 

Not expected, but nice if you want to offer.

They may or may not accept your tip.

From the car drop off point you leave your luggage at the kerbside designated area and watch your cases disappear on the conveyor belt, next to be seen outside your cabin a few hours later. Very slick, very simple. 

[donaldsc]

14 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

On a Princess ship none of this matters. Princess has made the decision for you. A required gratuity of 18% is added to the purchase of a bottle of wine.

 

This is one reason to bring your own wine on board and pay the corkage fee instead of buying the wine on board.

 

Lets say that you are drinking a wine that will cost you $30 in your local wine store.  That wine will cost you at least twice as much on the ship so lets assume the ship price for the $30 bottle of wine is is $70.

 

Now if you bring it on board the total cost of the bottle will be $30 plus $15 corkage plus $3 sales tax for a total of $48.

 

If you buy it on the ship that same wine will be $70 plus ~ $13 gratuity for a total of $83.

 

You come out $35 ahead by bringing your own wine on board.  This also ignores the fact that you have the wine that you want instead of whatever wine that they happen to have.  The only negative is that you can not bring the bottle into the dining room with you.  You can however pour the wine in your stateroom and bring the filled glass into the dining room.  Think about it.

 

DON

Edited August 7, 2022 by donaldsc

[caribill]

32 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

You come out $35 ahead by bringing your own wine on board.  This also ignores the fact that you have the wine that you want instead of whatever wine that they happen to have.  The only negative is that you can not bring the bottle into the dining room with you.  You can however pour the wine in your stateroom and bring the filled glass into the dining room.  Think about it.

 

 

 

Having paid the corkage fee (now $20) in your calculations, you can bring the bottle to the dining room with you.

[Dthomas1]

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

My biggest suitcase is 23" with wheels & my smallest is 17". I take one or the other. But I've been known for carrying a bottle of wine too. Plus my purse. Will look like this in 3+ weeks. I prepacked everything to see if I could walk a mile with it (Moxy Southampton  -> pier). Not glamorous but it has to do. 

Mine is very similar but smaller. I may just board with it.

[rbtan]

9 hours ago, WatchHill said:

When my nice dropped us at Mayflower Terminal, my husbad attempted to tip the person who removed the luggage from the boot of her vehicle and was told by the neatly dressed gentleman that tipping was "very American" and he refused to take the tip!  When we left from the new terminal at Southampton [probably about 3-4 cruises], the luggage drop process didn't involve direct contact with anyone. We were told to leave the cases  is a specific area and to proceed into the building and up the stairs to check in. Quite a cotract from the "hands out" and threats to put luggage onto another ship that we've encountered in SF, BOS, NY, NJ, Miami and Ft Lauderdale. 

 

Darcy

We've NEVER encountered what you've claimed. A handler who would put your luggage on another ship would be fired. Union or no union. They are specifically assigned to each line. They would be caught.

[SargassoPirate]

15 hours ago, MissP22 said:

You must travel with fairly large bags.

My suitcase is 19 inches wide & I haven't had any problems boarding in the US port scanners.

Of course they'll tell you that they won't fit but I've found out years ago it's all bull. 

 

I was pulled out of line in Fort L one time because the short, port cop tried to tell me my pullman bag wouldn't fit through the scanner.  I asked if they had changed scanners because it fit through on a cruise just a couple of months prior.  He really copped an attitude then, and I asked to see a supervisor.

 

The supervisor responded and escorted me back through security and I placed my bag on the scanner.  After I was through the security I looked back and the supervisor was having a discussion with the cop.  I waited and as the supervisor came by I engaged him in conversation and asked what the problem was so that I could avoid problems in the future.

 

He said they try to discourage people from carrying larger bags through themselves since people will get to the conveyor and can't lift their bags themselves. 

 

I can only imagine.

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

5 hours ago, donaldsc said:

This is one reason to bring your own wine on board and pay the corkage fee instead of buying the wine on board.

The recent leap in Princess’ wine pricing coinciding with the rollout of Plus/Premier pricing may have a significant impact on how much wine is brought on board and how many people opt for the packages. The wines included within the Plus program offer little to people who consider savoring good wine to be an integral part of their vacation. Instead those wines are geared more toward the: “I don’t care. I’ll have whatever you have open” crowd. My fear is that when Princess sees the number of corkage fees collected increase, it will step in and limit the number of bottles per cruise. One daily corkage fee plus daily gratuity plus daily internet is still less than the cost of upgrading to Plus. And your wine quality will improve dramatically. 

[Princessfan20]

5 hours ago, Fjord4Fun said:

In my experience it's an American 'thing' to tip anything that moves. I much prefer the Japanese who would get offended by tips as they are simply doing their job. If people are not paid to do their job that's the employer's fault not mine.

 

A tip is for someone going the extra mile when it comes to some type of service and not just doing their job.  

 

It is easy to see why America broke from the British because we would rather tip for effort than have all of our tax monies go to prop up a phony monarchy that does NO work.  Strictly a values thing mate.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Princessfan20

[voljeep]

31 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Instead those wines are geared more toward the: “I don’t care. I’ll have whatever you have open” crowd.

I'm in the "I have the Plus package ... I'll have a Cab ... you can select for me, thanks" ... in Vines

[JimmyVWine]

21 minutes ago, voljeep said:

I'm in the "I have the Plus package ... I'll have a Cab ... you can select for me, thanks" ... in Vines

Can you get a glass of Cab in Vines that fits within the Plus Package?  And if you can, I don't think the server can "select for you" as I think there would only be one option.  So per force, you will "have whatever is open."

Edited August 7, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

Can you get a glass of Cab in Vines that fits within the Plus Package?

guess I'll find out in November🤑 ... got a little OBC, so if I have to pay a little extra, no problem.

 

wouldn't be 'cost effective' to upgrade to Premier, but still considering it, since it's a short cruise and the 2 each specialty dining would soften the blow somewhat ... and the PRIZES !

[CineGraphic]

58 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

The recent leap in Princess’ wine pricing coinciding with the rollout of Plus/Premier pricing may have a significant impact on how much wine is brought on board and how many people opt for the packages. The wines included within the Plus program offer little to people who consider savoring good wine to be an integral part of their vacation. Instead those wines are geared more toward the: “I don’t care. I’ll have whatever you have open” crowd. My fear is that when Princess sees the number of corkage fees collected increase, it will step in and limit the number of bottles per cruise. One daily corkage fee plus daily gratuity plus daily internet is still less than the cost of upgrading to Plus. And your wine quality will improve dramatically. 

 

The new wine lists are a downgrade from previous ones, so If we sail with Princess anymore, we will bring more wine than usual.

[JimmyVWine]

7 minutes ago, voljeep said:

guess I'll find out in November🤑 ... got a little OBC, so if I have to pay a little extra, no problem.

 

wouldn't be 'cost effective' to upgrade to Premier, but still considering it, since it's a short cruise and the 2 each specialty dining would soften the blow somewhat ... and the PRIZES !

Ditto.  I have Plus in October and banked $250 of OBC to account for the overage of the three of us. Still not worth the cost to pay for Premier.  $250 for 3 people for 7 days comes out to roughly $12 per day per person, way less than the upgrade.  That allows each of us to exceed the $12 limit 3 times a day at $4 per glass or 4 times a day at $3 per glass.  Seems about right.   

Edited August 7, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The new wine lists are a downgrade from previous ones, so If we sail with Princess anymore, we will bring more wine than usual.

For our sailings out of the U.S., we will be doing the same.  Not sure that I have found a great solution for when we sail out of Southampton or around the Med.  Need to build in sufficient time and budget to hit up nice wine shops in an unfamiliar places.  

[CineGraphic]

Just now, JimmyVWine said:

For our sailings out of the U.S., we will be doing the same.  Not sure that I have found a great solution for when we sail out of Southampton or around the Med.  Need to build in sufficient time and budget to hit up nice wine shops in an unfamiliar places.  

 

We were supposed to sail out of Quebec for 2 weeks in October.

So glad we cancelled!

I can't imagine what a 2006 Gran Reserva Vina Tondonia would set me back with alcohol so heavily taxed in Canada.

[JimmyVWine]

10 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

We were supposed to sail out of Quebec for 2 weeks in October.

So glad we cancelled!

I can't imagine what a 2006 Gran Reserva Vina Tondonia would set me back with alcohol so heavily taxed in Canada.

Just checked.  I found one shop in Edmonton that has the 2011.  No shops anywhere in CN that have the 2006.  Price is $65 (Canadian).  

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

I was pulled out of line in Fort L one time because the short, port cop tried to tell me my pullman bag wouldn't fit through the scanner.  I asked if they had changed scanners because it fit through on a cruise just a couple of months prior.  He really copped an attitude then, and I asked to see a supervisor.

 

The supervisor responded and escorted me back through security and I placed my bag on the scanner.  After I was through the security I looked back and the supervisor was having a discussion with the cop.  I waited and as the supervisor came by I engaged him in conversation and asked what the problem was so that I could avoid problems in the future.

 

He said they try to discourage people from carrying larger bags through themselves since people will get to the conveyor and can't lift their bags themselves. 

 

I can only imagine.

 

 

 

The same thing happened only once to us about 10 or 12 years ago in Ft Lauderdale and hasn't happened since. They didn't give us an explanation like they did for you but in those days not that many people were carrying their own bags with them like they do today. 

 

Most times we've been told from the people outside the terminal (giving directions) that the bags can be checked and you don't have to take them with you but if you tell them you prefer to carry them yourself, there's no problem. 

[rheathslc]

7 hours ago, Fjord4Fun said:

In my experience it's an American 'thing' to tip anything that moves. I much prefer the Japanese who would get offended by tips as they are simply doing their job. If people are not paid to do their job that's the employer's fault not mine.

It's also the fault of the system that allows the employers to get away with paying such a low amount. In some U.S. states it's legal and typical to pay servers a "server wage" of only $2.13 an hour which is SPECIFICALLY meant to cover their taxes because their tips are accounted for and taxed on the payroll. So their actual paycheck may be close to or even less than $0 for any given two week period. Technically anyone whose tips amount to less than Federal Minimum Wage for the hours they've worked is supposed to have their pay supplemented by their employee but I've heard about employers getting around even that. And even though I agree it's their fault, not tipping does not punish the employer, it punishes the employee. I get that people disagree with tipping but people in those positions depend on tips. Not because they are selfish or greedy. But because it's customary for that job in that place and without tips they don't get paid for their work. 
And in terms of the "anything that moves" part. You're absolutely right that more and more places seem to have made it possible to tip employees in positions that haven't customarily been tipped in the past. When I tip those people, it's by choice because I WANT to give more. Not because I feel like it's expected. For example, at the car wash, the staff dry your car windows as you exit the tunnel. They get paid a full wage and tipping is for sure not EXPECTED but some people tip and I do especially if they do a really great job.

For me it boils down to what is customary in the place you're visiting. But I know lots of people disagree. 

[rheathslc]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Yet you are not tipping the people who actually do most of the work getting the suitcases to your cabin when you reach the pier:

o The person who puts your luggage onto the ship

o The person who sorts your luggage once on the ship

o The person who brings your luggage to your deck

o The person who delivers your luggage to your cabin.

 

You are only tipping the person who does the least amount of work, putting your luggage on a wheeled cart and pushing the cart (with also having other people's luggage) 100 feet or less.

 

I'm not familiar enough with the baggage handling to know the answer to this: Are the people handling the luggage after the porters drop it off cruise line employees? If so do they get some of the pooled daily gratuity? 

[memoak]

If you can afford a cruise you can afford a few dollars for tips. As for carting your own bags I can remember multiple people struggling with large bags on the escalators 

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you can afford a cruise you can afford a few dollars for tips. As for carting your own bags I can remember multiple people struggling with large bags on the escalators 

must have "one free hand" to use the escalators... is that still a thing? I have some balance issues so we just wait for an elevator