QE2 Caronia Gratuities

[jp2001]

For me, the automatic tips (10$pp/day on NCL) was for a well-done job for all staff (buffet, main dinning rooms, etc.) but doesn't include any special request we may have. Since our cabin was ALWAYS made up, turn down, promptly and always left spotless, we added a 10$ at the end of the cruise. Please note that we didn't ask for a single extra touch like another blanket, pillow, iced-replenish, nothing like that. If we had had asked for something like that, I would have added a few dollars (but not if I had to ask for something that should be done without asking like changing towels). If we had had asked for something very special like ironing a shirt, I would have had left even more money. In the restaurants, it's the same thing. If the waiter does a good job, I guess my auto tip will suffice. If I ask for a second appetizer or if i request a special item, I will leave a couple of dollars on the table (2-5$ for 2 people, depending on the requests and replies to these).

For drinks, I tend to add about 0.25$-0.50$ to the 15% automatically added to make sure my total tips is more than 1$ per drink, especially if the waiter has to walk a lot to deliver the drink (pool area for example). If I stay in the same bar, served by the same waiter for a longer period of time, I simply give him an extra 2-3$ when I leave. If I have poor/slow service, I won't add a single penny to my bill.

[pnhmrk]

Hope you're making meaningful progress in arranging your winter 2007 cruise

 

I suppose that deciding we'll leave it until after this Christmas is progress - although not good progress:(

[jp2001]

The Purser's office weren't able to tell me how the formula worked, but in essence everyone's tips are pooled shipwide and then divided. To remove autotipping to hurt one person is therefore pointless.

 

Think about it for a moment.

 

We had three butlers during the day, with two bathroom boys. One night steward. Two waiters. One assistant maitre d'.

 

My mother had one steward and (presumably) one bathroom boy. Then the two waiters and one Maitre d' that we had.

 

Both of us were paying $13 dollars a day. If our individual tips went to those who served us, Signal Deck staff would get less in tips per head than Deck 2 staff. Doesn't make sense, does it?

 

I don't think Butlers and Concierge are in the tipping pool. Those people are to be tipped proportionnally of level of service you received from them.

[Kindlychap]

I don't think Butlers and Concierge are in the tipping pool. Those people are to be tipped proportionnally of level of service you received from them.

 

There is no concierge.

 

We didn't have a steward - just three butlers.

 

Are you talking about the barge?

[YankeeClippr]

Wow ... scratch the surface of this subject and watch how everybody's own personal opinions pop up. Which is exactly my point: tipping is a very personal matter and should be.

 

First: we are told what the passenger's "responsibility" is towards tipping ($11 or $13 per day in the case of Cunard) but we are not told how these funds are distributed. Does every employee on the ship share in a per-voyage pool? Do the bar employees have a seperate pool for the "15% service charge" over and above (or instead of?) the larger pool? Does the line charge the employees a percentage of the pool for "administering" the program? If the passenger pays by credit card, do the employees get the "gross" or the "net" of the credit card charge? Where does the money actually go? Don't we have a right to know that?

 

Second: the whole idea of a "gratuity" is offering a monetary "thank-you" for service extended over and above the "baseline" service one has already paid for in one's fare. I have had wonderful cabin stewards and invisible ones; wonderful table service and dreadful; bar servers who remembered my drink and name and ones who still ignored me after two weeks ... why should they all get "the same?"

 

Third: in the best of possible worlds, one extends a gratuity in response to excellent service, and one does so cheerfully, willingly, and generously. I've never had a moment's hesitation about tipping most of the employees with whom I've come into close contact ... in particular, having frequently travelled with a wheel-chair-bound parent, most of the cabin stewards/esses and restaurant staff were absolutely wonderful and went out of their way to help with our special needs.

 

Fourth: my own personal choice is this: at some point during the voyage (not the last day), I inform the purser's office that I do NOT wish to participate in the tipping program. (I have never been questioned; I have never felt defensive. Only once was I asked "Why?" and I responded "Because I prefer to extend my own tips in person." to which the answer was "Very good, sir." or something of the sort.) On the last evening, or last morning (depending on how it goes), I have done the "envelope routine" and always include a personal note with "the cash," thanking the person in question, and often recalling some particular incident that brought pleasure and/or was helpful. Again, I see tipping as a way of saying "thank you" and see "saying thank you" as just as important.

 

Conclusions: I think each person should do what they like to do, and what is comfortable for them. If anybody prefers to participate in the program, so be it. If anybody (like me) doesn't, then (equally) so be it. I continue to believe that "tips" are a way of thanking the staff for enhancing one's vacation. In fact, as it turns out, the usual amount I have distributed in tips has been at least twice the recommended "daily minimum" and at least I know that it has gotten into the hands of those whom I wished to thank.

[mufi]

, we added a 10$ at the end of the cruise. .

 

I once saw a guy tipping his stewardess with jelly babies (no, I've not made it up)

 

$10 at the end of a 14? day cruise. 70c a day? It's not jelly babies but still.

 

David.