Drink tip question

[nasa1974]

Our very first cruise was Alaska. Mind you we had no idea how things worked. The first night out of Whitter we went to dinner, and it was a table for 6 and there was only 4 of us. The second day out we met a nice couple, and it was her birthday, so we said join us at our table for dinner. They had not specified a dinner time. When we got to our table it was a table for 4. A little embarrassed I went to the head waiter, and I gave him a fifty-dollar bill and asked if he could help us out. We got treated like royalty the rest of the cruise.

[SantaFeFan]

26 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Princess is incorporated in Bermuda, which is a British territory, so not US owned at all.

 

Incorporated in Bermuda, but US owned. Carnival Corporation owns Princess, and the Princess headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California. As an American-based company, executive control of Princess Cruises was transferred to Carnival's American operations when it merged with Carnival Corporation on April 17, 2003. 

[Hammoandnads]

We’re still confused, as Aussies we are only used to tipping in fancy restaurants. We want to tip in bars on board, if it’s the norm on top of the standard gratuity, is it $1 per drink left on bar when the drinks are handed to us? Does the type of drink matter? 

[JimmyVWine]

Interesting thread. My thoughts. If you order “Scotch” without naming a brand, then do you really enjoy Scotch?  The difference between Laphroiag and Macallan is like the difference between Guinness and Budweiser. Without suggesting that one is “better” than the other, it cannot be denied that the difference is readily apparent to even the most casual observer. Would you order “beer” without knowing which one you would be getting?  Why would you do that with a $12-$18 glass of Scotch?  And if your taste bends toward a smoky, peaty Scotch, getting “upgraded” to a higher priced caramel/vanilla Scotch does you no good. Sorry. Not buying the idea that bartenders are going to risk their jobs pouring passengers $18 glasses of Scotch when the order was for a $9 glass. 

 

And if you have a drink package, who cares if your $1 tip gets you a heavy pour?  You get 15 drinks and odds are you aren’t coming close to that number.  Sort of like people who go to a place that serves unlimited refills on soft drinks and order/pay for the extra large. 
 

I think that the best servers on a cruise ship are the ones who make you think that they are giving you “special treatment” when in fact you are getting exactly what you paid for. It’s sleight of hand and based on this thread, it works. Bottles are monitored and with the current medallion ordering system, upgrading, overpours and freebies are not nearly as likely to occur as one might think. The art is in making the customer think they are getting those. 

Edited November 5, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[Thrak]

39 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I think that the best servers on a cruise ship are the ones who make you think that they are giving you “special treatment” when in fact you are getting exactly what you paid for.

 

I have had several servers who made me feel "special" while simply doing their jobs. One, however, really did treat us "better" than she treated most folks. Most folks were treated with courtesy and efficient service. We took the time to talk with her and ask about her home, etc. She was great. I always order my 24K Gold Margarita in a Rocks glass with no salt. She is the one who first told me it was a better way to get the drink and she was absolutely correct. We loved talking with her about her job, her travels, and her home. We ran into her a couple of years later on another cruise and she remembered us (well, she mostly remembered my wife...) and it was great to see her again.

 

There have been a number of crew who really stood out from the rest. I have tipped them but they were much more appreciative of the glowing reports I sent to customerrelations@princesscruises.com. I've had call backs from those emails thanking me profusely for submitting my feedback and assuring me that my comments would be forwarded to the supervisors of the crew members in question. Various crew members have told me that comments of that sort that are submitted to supervisors and to the folks at the main office are worth more to them than any tip one could possible give them. I make sure to praise the folks who truly deserve it and send my praise in writing to "the powers that be".

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

I have tipped them but they were much more appreciative of the glowing reports I sent to customerrelations@princesscruises.com. I've had call backs from those emails thanking me profusely for submitting my feedback and assuring me that my comments would be forwarded to the supervisors of the crew members in question. Various crew members have told me that comments of that sort that are submitted to supervisors and to the folks at the main office are worth more to them than any tip one could possible give them. 

BINGO!  Tips are earned through human interaction and not through an extra half ounce of hooch. And glowing comments directed to the proper recipients are worth way more than a buck, or a pound or a loonie. 

[antsp]

5 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Yep, when in Rome indeed. A policy certain foreigners ignore. For their own benefit, obviously. 

 

When I travel in foreign countries, I don't force my American cultural ways on the locals. I do my best to be a respectful guest in their country and follow their cultural norms. I am disappointed how many of those people don't reciprocate when they visit the US or cruise on a US owned ship. 

Does this mean I should remove my tips whist docked in Civitavecchia 

[Kay S]

10 minutes ago, antsp said:

Does this mean I should remove my tips whist docked in Civitavecchia 

🤣  Ask wowzz.

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, Hammoandnads said:

We’re still confused, as Aussies we are only used to tipping in fancy restaurants. We want to tip in bars on board, if it’s the norm on top of the standard gratuity, is it $1 per drink left on bar when the drinks are handed to us? Does the type of drink matter? 

Which is pretty similar to what Brits do.

So, on a cruise I do not tip everytime I have a drink, and you will find that the vast majority of passengers don't either. It is certainly not the norm,  despite what some posters on here might say. 

[Nelsj099]

Maybe I am just confused.  But if I have already paid 10.79$ per day in gratuities doesn't that cover my 1$ per drink for the first 10 drinks?  I have not lived in America in 10 years.  And I have not cruised in America in maybe 11 years.  Tipping culture in the US is crazy to me.  I am essentially the same as cruise staff economic migration, leaving your home country to live in another for better pay or working conditions.  I am sure that the staff is not waiting on my 1$ tip on top of the 18%  I have already paid.  They looked at the base salary offer that they were given when they signed their contracts. And, moved to a floating city.  That being said on the last night of a cruise I go around and give extra tips to staff who have made a large impact on my trip.  But, I am expecting some top tier service for that, to me similar to the service you would get in a sit down restaurant in Sydney where you might drop them a few dollar coins for their service. 

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, Nelsj099 said:

But if I have already paid 10.79$ per day in gratuities doesn't that cover my 1$ per drink for the first 10 drinks

As I mentioned above,  most passengers do not tip everytime they have a drink. I certainly don't,  and am in the majority. 

I do the same as you - just tip certain individuals at the end of the cruise. 

[odyssyus]

9 hours ago, Hammoandnads said:

We’re still confused, as Aussies we are only used to tipping in fancy restaurants. We want to tip in bars on board, if it’s the norm on top of the standard gratuity, is it $1 per drink left on bar when the drinks are handed to us? Does the type of drink matter? 

Its not the norm.  You will have those that virtue signal, and otherwise try to guilt you into giving more.  The corporations love this because you will subsidize salaries for them.  Tipping culture is out of control.

[justafem]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

Which is pretty similar to what Brits do.

So, on a cruise I do not tip everytime I have a drink, and you will find that the vast majority of passengers don't either. It is certainly not the norm,  despite what some posters on here might say. 

Absolutely.  There was a ever expanding, ever decreasing group of about 15 of us.  2 in the group gave a cash tip every time.  Bottle of water, cup of coffee, cocktail or order of chicken nuggets, if it was brought, they got a tip.  We all ordered at about the same time, staff knew where we were and stopped in frequently, especially if there weren't orders from us.  I don't know how frequently others are checked on, but we never suffered for lack.  And that is with only 7% tipping extra.  

 

I really don't know if we received better service, or the same service.  And I truly don't care.  I was happy with my vacation. That's what counts and why I go back. 

 

Ultimately making the crew happy isn't the goal, it's making the customers happy.  More crew can be found, they have hundreds of applicants for every position. It's the customers who pay the bills. 

[SargassoPirate]

41 minutes ago, odyssyus said:

Its not the norm.  You will have those that virtue signal, and otherwise try to guilt you into giving more.  The corporations love this because you will subsidize salaries for them.  Tipping culture is out of control.

I see tip jars just about anywhere anymore.  I ignore them.  The person behind the counter is making at least minimum wage.  At bars and restaurants - in the US at least wowzz - I tip.  In other countries, I try to follow local customs.  In Japan, for example, it is considered rude and insulting to tip.

[memoak]

You are already paying a tip on the drinks. We pay out extra on the last night of the cruise to bartenders and servers who we frequented throughout the cruise and have given us great service

[SantaFeFan]

6 hours ago, Nelsj099 said:

Maybe I am just confused.  But if I have already paid 10.79$ per day in gratuities doesn't that cover my 1$ per drink for the first 10 drinks?  I have not lived in America in 10 years.  And I have not cruised in America in maybe 11 years.  Tipping culture in the US is crazy to me.  I am essentially the same as cruise staff economic migration, leaving your home country to live in another for better pay or working conditions.  I am sure that the staff is not waiting on my 1$ tip on top of the 18%  I have already paid.  They looked at the base salary offer that they were given when they signed their contracts. And, moved to a floating city.  That being said on the last night of a cruise I go around and give extra tips to staff who have made a large impact on my trip.  But, I am expecting some top tier service for that, to me similar to the service you would get in a sit down restaurant in Sydney where you might drop them a few dollar coins for their service. 

 

Life long American here. Since I already paid the tips either as pre-pay or included in a package, I rarely tip additionally. While I believe pre-paying tips is the correct thing to do on ships where tipping is the norm, I only tip additional if a specific person has given me better than expected service. I do the same in land based US restaurants if the tip is automatically added to the bill as is sometimes done for larger groups. In those circumstances, I have already paid the normal tip in the total of the bill and I only tip a little extra if the waiter was especially attentive.

 

Tipping once is enough in most cases. 

 

AND, I also wish we would get away from the tipping culture we now have. BUT, as long as it is still in place, I will NOT penalize the people serving me because I would prefer it not to be in place. It is not their fault that tipping is the norm.

Edited November 5, 2022 by SantaFeFan

[tk2fast]

Tipping "out of control" is going to a fast casual restaurant where the person taking your order gives you a choice via touch screen for an 18%-20% tip, just for taking your order...  nothing else. You pick up the order when ready and seat yourself. I have run into two places like this lately and it seems to be the trend. That's BS as the employers need to pay the employees what they work for rather than having the customers subsidize their pay.

Has anyone else experienced this and what do you think of it.

[john watson]

16 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

I think that the best servers on a cruise ship are the ones who make you think that they are giving you “special treatment” when in fact you are getting exactly what you paid for. 

 

This is very true, I remember going on a cruise with my daughter when she was ten years old.  The waiter served her drinks as she asked for them and he kept calling her "Princess", every time.  She felt like royalty until we got a table in earshot of other children. My daughter exclaimed "He's calling her! Princess", good grief I said and gave him a filthy look.

 

Regards John

[john watson]

When I started cruising things were a bit different and money changed hands and you got extra stuff misappropriated.  Staff made money on the side a bit like Bilko.  In an attempt to stop this the cashless system of payments via the cruise account/card was introduced.  It stopped a lot of the fiddles.

 

Regards John

[Kay S]

33 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

My daughter exclaimed "He's calling her! Princess", good grief I said and gave him a filthy look

Why?  

[john watson]

22 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Why?  

 

We were both shocked. The man was a disgrace.

 

Regards John

Edited November 5, 2022 by john watson

[john watson]

18 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Incorporated in Bermuda, but US owned. Carnival Corporation owns Princess, and the Princess headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California. As an American-based company, executive control of Princess Cruises was transferred to Carnival's American operations when it merged with Carnival Corporation on April 17, 2003. 

 

Carnival Corporation and PLC is dual listed and therefore British-American owned.

 

Regards John

[SantaFeFan]

3 hours ago, john watson said:

 

Carnival Corporation and PLC is dual listed and therefore British-American owned.

 

Regards John

 

Then you would agree that the Carnival Corporation owned cruise lines that have their headquarters in the US (Princess - Santa Clarita, CA; Carnival - Miami, FL; Holland America - Seattle, WA) are allowed to follow US cultural norms and the lines that are headquartered in the UK (P&O - Southampton; Cunard - Southampton) are allowed to follow British cultural norms, correct? Then as an American, I should follow the cultural norms on those "US" lines when cruising on them and follow the cultural norms on those "British" lines when cruising on them, and you as British should do the same, with neither one of us complaining or trying to avoid or ignore the cultural on any of them? Does that seem reasonable? 

Edited November 5, 2022 by SantaFeFan

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, john watson said:

 

We were both shocked. The man was a disgrace.

 

I'm sorry your daughter's feelings were hurt.  However, this is standard operating procedure for servers and children.  I have taken lots of cruises with kids in tow, and the servers ALWAYS make a giant fuss over them and call them pet names.  On one cruise my granddaughter was "Fruit Salad" because that's all she ate.  On another cruise, she was "LIttle Darling" and the waiter carried her all over the dining room.  (She was a toddler, and I don't know that practice would fly today.)  Don't go to any Disney venue because it's Princess this and Princess that to every little girl everywhere.  I guess I don't see how that waiter was a disgrace since he was doing what he always does with every child.  (BTW, this never has anything to do with tipping.)

 

Edited to add:  I guess it's possible you thought your daughter was the only child the waiter was "treating like royalty," but that seems an unlikely level of naivety for a seasoned adult cruiser.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Kay S

[Tedferg]

5 hours ago, tk2fast said:

Tipping "out of control" is going to a fast casual restaurant where the person taking your order gives you a choice via touch screen for an 18%-20% tip, just for taking your order...  nothing else. You pick up the order when ready and seat yourself. I have run into two places like this lately and it seems to be the trend. That's BS as the employers need to pay the employees what they work for rather than having the customers subsidize their pay.

Has anyone else experienced this and what do you think of it.

Agree this is out of control, I did not see a way to avoid the tip either.