Waiters & Stewards auto tips

[luvthis]

It's been 10 years since our last Princess Cruise, but this will be our 8th cruise with Princess. Many things have changed since 1997 and we are looking forward to experiencing Princess again. I am a bit concerned about Carnival taking ownership of the Princess Line, but will keep an open mind and have a great time no matter what.

 

I've have read the Princess posts $10 p/person per day to shipboard accounts to cover tipping, unless the passengers specifically ask to have it removed from their account. We are planning to let the tipping be posted to our shipboard account. We are confirmed for late sitting, traditional dining.

 

Question? Do the waiters & cabin stewards still "look" for a tip on the last night at sea, even though they know that tips are automatically charged to passenger's accounts? Since we will have the same wait staff every night, I will feel uncomfortable if they hover around waiting for an envelope. Also, I wouldn't like it if I saw the cabin steward just outside our door the last night. If tipping is automatic, then I would hope the crew honors that policy.

 

How do you "seasoned" Princess cruisers handle tipping? I would have no problem putting a little extra in an envelope, if necessary, especially if the service was outstanding. However, we are average income people and budget to be able to travel.

 

Any pointers?

 

--Jean & Bob

[Toto2Kansas]

We have never seen staff 'hovering' the final night looking for extra tips since the auto tip has been placed. Never once had a problem with that.

 

We do tip over and above if we have had exceptional service onboard, but it is not expected by the staff. Of coarse they are thrilled if you decide to add to the auto tip, but we have never seen staff members expecting it.

[WarEagle76]

Jean and Bob, we’ve always used the auto-tip and added something extra for our cabin steward at the end of the cruise. There are still envelopes available at the Purser’s desk to use for this purpose. When we give the tip to our cabin steward the morning we depart, we thank him/her and advise that the tip is something extra for their efforts (fortunately haven’t had a bad one yet). On the dining side, we’re big advocates of Personal Choice dining, so generally we don’t have the same waiters throughout the cruise. However, on our Grand cruise in February, we ended up in the same area each night with the same waiter/assistant waiter who were outstanding and did the same for them on the last night of the cruise.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

 

Steve

[Pam in CA]

Since the advent of auto-tipping, I have rarely seen waitstaff "hanging around" and have never seen stewards visibly looking for you. Every now and then, I've had a less-than-stellar assistant waiter hanging around but never a waiter. Sometimes, I've had to wait for or look for the waiter to give him an extra tip!

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the auto-tip is the same amount as the recommended tip 10 years ago. If I've received excellent service, or the waitstaff or cabin steward has done something extra for me, I get envelopes from the Pursar's Desk and give them an extra tip.

[custompcsys]

I agree with the other posters' comments - never had a waiter or anyone else do the "tip hover". We gave our cabin steward on the Star a bit extra in an envelope plus we told her to keep the coffeemaker we had bought specifically for the cruise because we didn't want to carry it back from Copenhagen. She seemed to appreciate that more than the money! :)

[jlp20]

...Question? Do the waiters & cabin stewards still "look" for a tip ..... How do you "seasoned" Princess cruisers handle tipping....

 

As with any industry, there are people who give that little above and beyond what is expected. But in the same sentence, there are those who do just the minimum. Above and beyond gets something more than the minimum tip.

 

At first, we gave telephone calling cards thinking it was easier to do. We now feel the individual room stewards know what he needs.

 

Since employees are supposed to turn in all cash tips into a “pool” that everyone gets an equal share, we tip by the third or fourth day. If the employee spends, hides or sends the money before the tips are pooled, that’s up to them.

[luvthis]

Thanks for all your input. Many years ago, Bob smuggled some Korbel Brandy on board on one of our week long cruises. There was no way he'd drink the whole thing so he gave it to the cabin steward. It was such fun to see the smile on the stewards face. He said he'd be sure to share it with his friends. Korbel is premium brandy in Wisconsin and we have found that it is not something you find on cruise ships.

 

Like I said, if we get excellent service, I will hand an added bonus of some sort to the staffer that went the extra mile. It relieves me to know that they won't be expecting it, though. The concept of just putting it on the shipboard account is a good one. No need to carry lots of cash in various denominations on board, ya know?

 

Thanks again!

--Jean & Bob

[stoneharborlady]

Since employees are supposed to turn in all cash tips into a “pool” that everyone gets an equal share, we tip by the third or fourth day. If the employee spends, hides or sends the money before the tips are pooled, that’s up to them.

 

 

This seems unfair to me. The extra I gave my cabin steward had to be pooled? I didnt know that.

Karen

[LARGIN]

 

 

This seems unfair to me. The extra I gave my cabin steward had to be pooled? I didnt know that.

Karen

 

As long as you do not remove your autotip, your room steward will get to keep any extra money you give.

[tenpin]

As a ‘Brit’ tipping does not come naturally to me, I cannot see why I should be tipped for just doing what I am paid to do. Do you tip those in the supermarket or other places you shop?

 

With a ratio of one crew member to three passengers does this not means that everyone from the Captain down receives $210 per week from us, (30x7) plus a share in the 15% added to every drink purchased on-board.

 

Surely when booking a cruise or any type of holiday we EXPECT good service and I for one would not return if we did not receive it.

That said I know the cabin and wait staff etc on board get very little pay, and the old way of rewarding them by a tip was our way our showing appreciation of a job well done, but this ‘compulsory’ tipping is just a way of paying the crews wages.

For heaven sake, put it onto the cost of the cruise then say tipping is not permitted, end of argument.

[luvthis]

Those of us that have cruised before the days of "auto tip" or on other ship lines that do not have "auto tip", are used to the envelope in the cabin to be handed out the last night. I will be curious to see how this system actually works. We often stay at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta that says "tips included" in the weekly rate we pay. The people working there make very little salary. They do not ask for any tips, but give excellent service. We always tip anyway. Mind you, we see many people that don't. However, we choose to let the staff know we appreciate their efforts. Since the "auto tip" is added onto our ship board account, and it is the same recommended amount that we used to include in the envelopes left in our cabin to hand out personally, I consider that in addition to the cost of my cruise ticket and therefore IS the tips for the staff. I like the idea of not having a crew member "looking" for me the last night.

 

Jean & Bob

[English Tim]

We would be embarassed by handing out envelopes, so we're happy that the auto-tip is in place. We did tip our room steward £20 at the start of our last cruise, but we have no way of knowing whether this resulted in better service.

[luvthis]

We have never had poor service on a cruise ship. We have actually been fortunate enough to find super bargains 2 times on Celebrity where we stayed in a sky suite and had a butler taking care of us. My goodness...THAT is being spoiled. Anyway...this time we are in an inside cabin with no frills. I'm sure the steward will be efficient and I'm sure the waiter & assistant will be great at our table. Can't wait to get on board.

 

--Jean & Bob

[Pam in CA]

This seems unfair to me. The extra I gave my cabin steward had to be pooled? I didnt know that.

No, if you tip extra and keep the auto-tip in place on your onboard account, the steward or waitstaff gets to keep the extra tip.

[newcruise1]

This is my first cruise ever. I am going on the Crown Princess 9 night cruise on 7/23/07. I am so lucky that I booked my inside room on Thursday because almost all inside rooms are completely booked.

 

I have been doing some research on all websites to get information on the Crown Princess. On the Cruisesonly website it says that the Crown Princess charges $10 a day per person for tips. Do they charge $10 a day for tips per child also?

 

I have noticed that some other cruises lines also mention $10 per person per day for tips, but they mention $5.00 a day per child for tips.

 

Has anyone cruised recently with children and can tell me what they were charged per child for tips? I would like to know this inadvance.

 

Thank you.

[Vibe]

It is always nice to give an extra tip to a member of the crew who went over and above. However it is also very beneficial to the crew member if you write something nice about them in your survey at the end of the cruise. I also fill out the card that is on the dining room table and write somthing nice about the Waiter and/or the Ass't waiter when I receive great service. The cruise lines use the comments made by passengers when they consider promotions.

[LARGIN]

newcruise1.. On Princess the $10 per person per day is for all passengers regardless of age.

[5kitty]

Question within a question about tipping...

 

DH and I usually do not ever eat in the main dining rooms (we do choose anytime dining) as we prefer the specialty restaurants as well as Horizon Court and Cafe Carib. That being said, are the auto tips that are taken each day for waiters (and etc.) in main dining rooms and room stewards also given to the staff in the Horizon Court and Cafe Carib? I know we pay extra to eat in the specialty restaurants, and I assume that covers tips. We usually do give our room steward extra money above and beyond the auto tip. However, if we never eat in the main dining rooms, and the auto tips are not given to staff in the Horizon Court and Cafe Carib, I do not feel it necessary to tip dining staff. Am I correct? Thanks.

[LARGIN]

5kitty.. The autotips are shared by all stewards and waitstaff regardless where they are located.

[BigBlue120]

We felt obligated to tip the waitstaff on the last night on dining... due to the other couples and the over-the-top thanks given. If we had been seated with folks who didn't tip extra, we wouldn't have tipped extra either.

 

 

We'll be doing anytime, so I think the peer pressure won't be an issue. Maybe we'll take the tops off, and just plan to tip ourselves.

[Cruisin' Chick]

This is my first cruise ever. I am going on the Crown Princess 9 night cruise on 7/23/07. I am so lucky that I booked my inside room on Thursday because almost all inside rooms are completely booked.

 

I have been doing some research on all websites to get information on the Crown Princess. On the Cruisesonly website it says that the Crown Princess charges $10 a day per person for tips. Do they charge $10 a day for tips per child also?

 

I have noticed that some other cruises lines also mention $10 per person per day for tips, but they mention $5.00 a day per child for tips.

 

Has anyone cruised recently with children and can tell me what they were charged per child for tips? I would like to know this inadvance.

 

Thank you.

 

The tips are the same for the kids too. If your kids are taking part in the kids program, you may want to hand over a tip envelope to the counselors on the final night as they are not included in any of the tipping pools.

[sandancer]

We are about to take our first Princess cruise and are used to the "old" way of tipping. Asked some friends who did a 31 night Diamond cruise last year what they did and they said they had the autotips removed as they felt that as the staff knew they would get the tips anyway, they did not put themselves out to be helpful. I am sure I will now hear from lots of people with the exact opposite view. Be interested to hear from anyone else who removed the autotip. We always tip the recommended gratuity plus extra for outstanding service i.e. usually speciality restaurants.

[drinkahoy]

My last cruise was three years ago and there wasn't any auto-tipping. Can anyone with a longer memory than mine tell me what the general amounts were back then.

 

I am currious how others feel about their service since this has gone into effect. Splitting tips seems to be a terrible way to get good service. I have heard that casino's in Nevada now split all tips between shifts. As a result you see a lot less friendly dealers. Are people that cheap that the cruise lines had to do this to make sure the staff gets paid fairly? There has to be more to it than that.

 

I have always tipped my cabin steward on the first day. Then I also tip an additional amount at the end of the trip. I have always seemed to get great service tipping in this manner. It seems that with auto-tipping there is now no way to do this. Any ideas from those that might still tip this way.

 

thanks

 

rick

[spongerob]

Rick, I haven't noticed any difference in service before and after automatic tipping options were introduced. I never "pre-tip" either, and still get great service.