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gift bag ideas, crew appreciation

FrankieJayIII

By FrankieJayIII,
in Princess Cruises

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FrankieJayIII

FrankieJayIII

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i have read a few people on here make up "care packages" little token gift bags for their crew members on board.   the steward, maybe their waiter, a favorite entertainer, bartenders,  etc...  i've heard of nail kits, lip balm, etc. 

 

what are things you would put into these bags?  i would love to do this as well...  

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skynight

skynight

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Agree, cash. If you wish to provide additional tips beyond the auto-tip cash is the way to go. Amount is up to you. We generally figured $2,$3/day to the cabin steward at the end of our stay on board. Since we did not have the same waiters every evening and since we did not dine in the MDR each night we did not think it proper to provide additional tips to waiters. Never used bartenders. Never tipped entertainers. Entertainers are more staff than what I consider crew. 

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DallasGuy75219

DallasGuy75219

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If you want to give them something other than cash, ask them if there's something they need/want that they can't get in the crew store onboard and can't get off in port to buy, that you can buy in port for them.  And don't make that their "tip" instead of cash.

 

Otherwise anything you give them is probably junk that they don't want cluttering up their tiny rooms and/or wasting space in their limited luggage when they go home at the end of their contract.  Even if you get them food/snacks (which should be sealed in original packaging, nothing homemade) there's no guaranteeing it's something they like, and they may just wind up giving it away.

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voljeep

voljeep

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16 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

, and they may just wind up giving it away.

it may go into the crew barter system - I've 'heard' that is quite common and extensive.

 

Have you ever 're-gifted' anything?

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spookyfudge

spookyfudge

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25 minutes ago, FrankieJayIII said:

that's perfect and exactly in line with my expectations 

We just completed our first Virgin Voyages cruise and we gave the room attendant(s) $50 on the first day and instructed them only do the room in the morning (they normally have day and night cleanup turn-down). We also gave them $50 on the day before the last day.  I dont know if they normally get tips becuase it is stressed not to tip and it is included in the price of the cruise.  The cruise price gives every passanger free wifi, crew tips and premium private dinning at all times in the cost of the cruise.  What they did do is have a bar tab for alchoal and specialty coffee. (This was perfect you could buy drinks for you or anyone you wanted to from your bar tab and the drinks were $1-$3 less than on Princess).  We even got comped a free bottle of wine from the restraunt manager (never had on Princess) and we got free specialty coffee on the ship and free drinks at the casino by the casino manager! We loved our trip on Virgin and no kids to boot and crew and passengers were the most happy I have ever encountered! We will be doing more cruising with Virgin in the future.

 

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voljeep

voljeep

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6 minutes ago, spookyfudge said:

We just completed our first Virgin Voyages cruise and we gave the room attendant(s) $50 on the first day and instructed them only do the room in the morning (they normally have day and night cleanup turn-down). We also gave them $50 on the day before the last day.  I dont know if they normally get tips becuase it is stressed not to tip and it is included in the price of the cruise.  The cruise price gives every passanger free wifi, crew tips and premium private dinning at all times in the cost of the cruise.  What they did do is have a bar tab for alchoal and specialty coffee. (This was perfect you could buy drinks for you or anyone you wanted to from your bar tab and the drinks were $1-$3 less than on Princess).  We even got comped a free bottle of wine from the restraunt manager (never had on Princess) and we got free specialty coffee on the ship and free drinks at the casino by the casino manager! We loved our trip on Virgin and no kids to boot and crew and passengers were the most happy I have ever encountered! We will be doing more cruising with Virgin in the future.

 

anything 'special'😉 in your cabin?

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spookyfudge

spookyfudge

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1 minute ago, voljeep said:

anything 'special'😉 in your cabin?

Yes on the balcony was a hammock, it was great.  Also it has an ipad that controls lights, sound, temperature, curtains, ordering food, movie selections, alarm features and that is what we used on it.  I think there were more stuff it could do but did not try all the features.  The room was what I call like Ikea set up, different.

 

What was nice, was power outlets all over the place with multiple USB ports next to the power outlets and on the lamps.  It was a great room we had the mid ship Balcony and it was much lower cost then what we would spend on Princess.

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wowzz

wowzz

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52 minutes ago, spookyfudge said:

becuase it is stressed not to tip

The cruise line told you ( indeed stressed)not to tip, and you still did so.

I know it is built into the American psyche to tip at the slightest opportunity, but why break the rules !

Branson is trying to break some of the old fashioned traditions of cruising,  and doing away with tipping is one of them. 

Hopefully others will abide by the rules. 

 

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FrankieJayIII

FrankieJayIII

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43 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

If you want to get them something they love snacks, potato chips, nuts, cookies & candy. Also the instant soup cups. These are all things that have been requested when I ask them what they would like.

this is the kind of answer i was looking for 

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SeaHunt

SeaHunt

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4 minutes ago, FrankieJayIII said:

this is the kind of answer i was looking for 

 

But remember they do have their own crew store onboard and can use any $ you would give to buy exactly what they want, like this one on RCI's Wonder of the Seas 😉

 

image.png.aebc10ca46b40bfff758fa29dad1a0cb.png

 

 

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