Pre-paid gratuities

[eddmel]

I hear that some people pre-pay gratuities on a cruise. What is the advantage to this?

[MEcruzr]

Well... it's paid for ahead of time if you pre-pay before the cruise, or you can have the tips added to your onboard account once you're on the ship. With either of these you don't have to bring or get cash or make change. And if it makes you uncomfortable to give your tips to someone in person then you can avoid that. For most people, I think it's about convenience. That's why I do it... it goes on my ship account so then it goes on my credit card with all of my other cruise expenses. Another reason I put tips on my account is that I don't go to the dining room on the last night of the cruise. I like to eat in my cabin and take it easy... pack, relax, etc. This is typically the night tips are handed out. By putting them on my account I don't have to go down to the dining room and find my waiter/asst waiter or give tips the night before and get the whole "oh please, please, please come to dinner the last night...". It may not work for everyone, but it works GREAT for me and how I like to do things.

[lola's mom]

Tips are part of the staff salary. The cruiselines don't make it easy for you because they are nice guys, it's because the tips subsidize the salaries. And the cruiseline can regulate who gets what. And I imagine that the staff are under pressure from their superiors to bring in the tips - which are most likely shared by the entire staff - again to subsidize the salaries.

 

Whether you pay for them as tips or as part of the cost of the cruise - it's the same. I wonder how I really COULD tip someone. I imagine that the staff even has to declare and share cash. It's kinda this really sad game that the cruiselines play with their staff - and the guests are the pawns. It must be tough on the staff to do all that begging for tips while working so hard. Those guests who don't tip - well they are reducing the salaries of the staff.

 

I have been told by staff that if you really want to "tip" an extraordinary staffer - write a commendation on the comment cards or send a letter.

[MEcruzr]

When I have given extra (above the rec amt - the tips on my account) I've often asked if they get to keep it all, or if it's added to a "tip pool". Every single time I've been told, on Celebrity, that they get to keep it and they do not have to turn it over or tell anyone about it. The only sharing of tips I've found is when the cabin steward has an assistant. He gives a percentage of his tips to his asst steward. When we are in a suite, and have an assistant steward, I will leave extra for the steward, know that he has to share. If, for some reason, I'm paying tips in cash I will leave THREE envelopes in the cabin... one each for the butler, steward and assistant steward.

 

If you're concerned/curious about tip sharing/pooling on your cruise, ask your cabin attendant. They will tell you what the policy is for the ship you're on.

[kehlx2]

I hear that some people pre-pay gratuities on a cruise. What is the advantage to this?

 

Actually I discussed this with our room steward last Jan & he explained that they are automatically put in their bank accounts from teh ship & that they AND their family can then use the money that way..we added some extra to an envelope that time & last month just added extra on the gratuity form. It just is easier for all concerned I think.

[Casino Player]

I hear that some people pre-pay gratuities on a cruise. What is the advantage to this?

 

Don't pre-pay gratuities. You are pre-paying for a service you haven't yet received. When you do this there is no incentive to give good service. I've been known to give many times more than the recommended amount for good service. Likewise, nothing, or close to it, for bad service.

[Pontius Navigator]

The only sharing of tips I've found is when the cabin steward has an assistant. He gives a percentage of his tips to his asst steward.

 

This confused us totally. We were asked for I think $5.50 pppd for the room steward and 75c for the Assistant Chief Housekeeper.

 

In the dining room we were asked to tip the Assistant Maitre'd so we assumed the Assistant Chief Housekeeper was some annoymous overseer of our cabin stewards. As we had seen no evidence of such a being we resolved not to tip them - only about $21 for the tip.

 

Before doing so however we asked our cabin steward. The Assistant Chief Housekeeper was her assistant! All in a name and it almost meant no tip. Although we then tipped the ACH we were not convinced that the ACH was actually one person. Still, if two of them serviced 20 cabins and each got the tips from 10 cabins they would probably have got near the $210 each.

[MEcruzr]

PN... in a suite/PH the cabin steward has an actual assistant. He comes with the steward to clean the cabin every time. From what I saw, this poor guys gets the bathroom and vacuuming, the steward gets the bed/cabin and the butler gets the people. We are always introduced to the assistant as the steward's assistant, never the Assisant Chief Housekeeper. I really believe that's two different people/jobs. I have met the Chief Housekeeper before. They will stop in to check on your suite to make sure that the cabin is to your liking and that the steward/asst steward are doing a satisfactory job. I would think his assistants would be the "Assistant Chief Housekeeper" and the person on each deck who managaes the cabin stewards and reports back to the ship's Chief Housekeeper.

 

Also, when we have an assistant cabin steward, the steward will write on his little white envelope "...and assistant cabin steward" under his printed title, cabin steward. Their way of letting us know that tips in that envelope are shared.

 

Personally, I don't mind tipping people I never see... like the Asst Ch Housekeeper and Asst M'D. If I didn't see them, it meant they were doing their job well... because I didn't NEED to see them. Get what I mean? You see these people when there's a problem with one of the people they are responsible for. If nothing needs their attention from me, I should reward that. It means they're doing their job.

[tuggers]

I have been told, more than once and on different ships, although I can not vouch for the truth of it, here goes:

If the Asst Chief Housekeeper is not tipped, that tip comes from the Cabin Steward.

The Asst Chief Housekeeper used to go to every door in their area and introduce them selves. Then they just went to Elite. Lately, I've been on b2b2b and never even seen them. Ahhhh, progress!:rolleyes:

BTW, the ACH is the asst to the Chief Housekeeper who oversees a deck or part of a deck and assures that everything runs smoothly with your cabin services.

[Pontius Navigator]

MEcruzr, logical, to a point.

 

If I didn't see them, it meant they were doing their job well... because I didn't NEED to see them. Get what I mean?

 

No. Using this logic I do not need to see the Captain unless . . .

The Captain either has a cocktail party, P&O or Cunard, or appeared on stage (Celebrity) together with all his heads of department.

 

I get visitors to my unit, I greet them. You need to know who you are dealing with and who to complain too (if necessary) at the right level.

 

Tuggers, I agree entirely with the logic (or fact) of what you say.

 

All I can say however is that our steward told us that the ACH was her assistant not her boss!

 

One could then open the question - why do we tip the 'Assistant' and not the Chief? Is it because the Chief is properly paid in the first place?

[Lsimon]

I have been told, more than once and on different ships, although I can not vouch for the truth of it, here goes:

If the Asst Chief Housekeeper is not tipped, that tip comes from the Cabin Steward.

 

I've heard this as well - and because of this I've either given the tip (it's usually pretty small) or given extra to the room steward in case this is true and they do have to cover it. Otherwise I'm not big on directly tipping people I've never even seen.

 

In CC rooms there is also an assistant steward (like in Suites) and the tip envelope usually has both names on it. Occasionally we've been in CC rooms where the assistant steward has been exceptional - from finding our luggage early on embarkation day to always being there to open our door and always visible in the hall doing chores. On those cruises we've given the assistant an additional tip directly.

 

Assistant Maitre'd - I disagree that if unseen this person is doing their job. This is because on some of the cruises we've been on we've had Assistant Maitre'ds that have gone over and beyond to make our dining experience special - with meaningful visits almost every night and a sincere extra effort to find special dinners or deserts for us, among other things. These guys get big tips from us. Others make themselves known, stop by at least occasionally, and make at least ask if we'd like anything special for dinner or dessert - these guys get the standard tip. Others hardly even make themselves known to us and if they do they seem very superficial or even bothered by the effort. These guys get stiffed. On our last cruise we didn't have the tips charged to our account for the sole reason that we didn't want to give the Assistant Maitre'd a full tip - since if you have the tips charged to your account you have to tip a minimum of the guideline amounts (you can add but not subtract from these amounts).