Tip suggestions?

[Alaskabound77]

Would anyone care to post what they tip for room service, luggage carrying, etc while on a cruise? Any any and all tips? Also, how much would you bring in $1s and $5s for tips during a week long cruise?

[twinkletoes4445]

You don't really need to bring a lot of small bills, because you can get change from larger bills at the Purser's desk. On our first cruise, I carried a bunch of 1's and 5's for tipping, only to find out that I could have cashed in larger bills for smaller ones while on the ship.

 

This varies person to person...but here's what we did.

 

We usually have 3 or 4 bags and we give the porter $10-$15. It depends on if they demand money or not. We had one that basically told us if we didn't tip, we could collect our bags in the ocean somewhere around Cuba. He got $10. The nice guy got $15.

 

We left the auto-tip in place and in addition to that, we left the following...

 

For room service we generally tipped around $2-$3 for dessert or something like that. If we both ordered food (say breakfast), then we tipped $6 or so. I also left a couple of bucks on the tray once were done (for the person that takes it away).

 

We had a fabulous room steward on our HAL cruise, so we tipped him $25 or so in the middle of the week, and left him a "thank you" note and another $25 when we left. He did all sorts of things for us and our room was always tidy.

 

We always gave the bar guy an extra buck or two when we ordered drinks, but you don't need to do this, since your drink includes a tip. We usually had our drinks at the same place, and it seemed we had the same bartender. He was friendly, and knew what we wanted prior to us being seated.

 

I believe I gave each of the concierge's in the NL $50, but they did all sorts of things for us.

 

The last night at dinner, we gave the Wine Steward $40 on the last night. He was exceptionally nice, and very helpful.

 

On the last evening at dinner, we gave the Maitre D’, Head Waiter, and Asst. Waiter each $40. We had wonderful servers who knew exactly what we wanted to drink prior to us arriving. The Maitre D' moved us from one table to another and was always checking on us to see how things were going. Our dining experience was out of this world. They couldn't have done anything more to make it better.

 

We didn't use the spa, so I can't comment on how much I'd tip there.

 

Other than that, I think the only other time we tipped was when we were on HMC. We had a butler and we tipped him (there were two).

 

Tipping is such a personal thing and it depends on the service you receive...so I'd tip what you feel works for you. It will be appreciated. :)

[Alaskabound77]

These are great guidelines. Yes, we will leave the standard tip in place. Wow - how many concierges were there in the NL? At $50/piece, that could get pricey. And I need to add in the HAL Club folks too.

[twinkletoes4445]

These are great guidelines. Yes, we will leave the standard tip in place. Wow - how many concierges were there in the NL? At $50/piece, that could get pricey. And I need to add in the HAL Club folks too.

 

There are two concierge's in the NL, but we used them a lot, so that's why we left them $50 each. They really stepped up to the plate and helped us with many things, so we felt they deserved what we gave them. I believe they are saleried workers, but they were just so gracious and helpful that we felt we wanted to write them a note and tell them how much we appreciated what they did for us (in addition to the money).

 

On our first cruise, we didn't even see the Maitre D' until the last night when he came around with his hand out. We didn't leave him anything. And we had dining issues, some were the fault of the wait staff, some of the things weren't, so we left a tip according to the service.

 

But this is what we did. It's not carved in stone. Leave what you feel works for you. Everyone we left an extra tip to went above and beyond what you would expect from them. :)

[Alaskabound77]

Can you tell me some of the things that you had the NL people help you with? We are booked in a SB room and I'm sort of unclear as to what I can ask for help with - and what would be inappropriate or annoying.

[twinkletoes4445]

Can you tell me some of the things that you had the NL people help you with? We are booked in a SB room and I'm sort of unclear as to what I can ask for help with - and what would be inappropriate or annoying.

 

They booked all of our excursions, except for the cabana, which I booked prior to the cruise.

 

They cashed our travelers checks.

 

They made small change for me for tips.

 

They handled all the paperwork for us. There were several things that we had to fill out and return to the front desk. We didn't do that...we turned everything in to the guys at the NL.

 

When we arrived, we found a bottle of champagne in our room. We took it to them and told them what night we wanted it delivered to our dining table and it appeared that night. The champagne was not very good, in fact, next time I'm going to see if we can't trade it for a bottle of wine.

 

We had Hor'dourves delivered to our cabin a couple of times. They arranged for this.

 

We checked out a couple of DVD's. They handled this.

 

I know there were other things, but they are escaping me at this moment. One thing I do remember is always being greeted with a smile and both asking how everything was. Trust me, you won't annoy them. They were both so very helpful to us. We've only been on one HAL cruise, so maybe someone who has a little more experience with HAL will come along and give you some more ideas of what the concierge's do for their passengers. :)

 

 

We didn't try the Pinnacle Grill last time, but we are going to have dinner there on the next cruise, and the concierge will handle this for us.

 

The concierge will also send out invitations to other ship guests should you decide to host a party in your suite.

[CowPrincess]

For our cabin steward, waiter, asst waiter, and wine steward we tipped an extra bit (we didn't have a concierge in our class of cabin). For the cabin steward and waiter, we gave them a cash amount equivalent more-or-less to what they got through our auto-tipping (which we left in place). For room service, a small amount of food on the tray was $2 or $3, for meals it was $5 or $6.

 

On our first cruise, we didn't even see the Maitre D' until the last night when he came around with his hand out.

 

That's happened to me, too, and we didn't tip. Everyone at our large table was aghast at the behaviour, and I think he actually lost tips for that behaviour. That was a few years ago, not the most recent cruise.

[Moriah]

Good to know they keep small bills at the desk - I've never thought of asking to break larger bills, and it's a good idea - thanks!

 

We always tip the concierge girls in the Neptune 50 dollars each at the end of the cruise too, and sometimes 10 dollars on the spot if they do something really special for us during the cruise. We usually give the cabin steward 100 at the end of the cruise. Once, and this was not in a deluxe, we did not tip the steward that much because, amazingly, we rarely saw him to the point that we had trouble remembering his name! Room service - we give 2 dollars for bringing coffee, 5 for a meal. I've never thought about the person who fetches the tray later, but that's a good point - will leave them something next time.

We're leaving this week for Med. on Noordam, and I'm wondering if we should get some Euros to give as tips rather than dollars...

[Cruise To Relax]

We have a cabana booked at HMC - has anyone had that experience and did you tip the butler? Thanks.

[jtl513]

Our tipping is similar to twinkletoes'. We give the porter $3 per bag (usually 2) and in addition to the auto-service-charge we give the room and dining room stewards about $4/day extra ... rounded up to a $5 multiple. Our assistant waiter gets about $3/day ... sometimes more or less depending on service.

 

Sometimes we give the headwaiter about $2/day, but on our last cruise we had no headwaiter for our dining room section - only an Assistant Maitre d' who came around and chatted a little almost every night. He got $40 for a 14-day cruise. On another cruise we had a headwaiter who stopped by once in 10 days, for about 30 seconds. He got nothing from us!

 

So far (at least when I started typing this) no one has mentioned tips for the excursion guides and bus drivers. For a 3 > 4 hour tour we will give the guide $6 to $10 and the bus driver $4 or $5 depending on how difficult his drive was. If there is an assistant guide we will give him/her $3 to $5, depending on much s/he did.

 

We're leaving this week for Med. on Noordam, and I'm wondering if we should get some Euros to give as tips rather than dollars...

They're just as happy to get dollars IF you increase your normal tip by about 50% because of the current dollar weakness. On our European cruises and land trips I give away all of my left over Euros (never a huge amount) in tips at the end rather than bring them home and pay another exchange penalty to get back to dollars.

[dancermom]

Help... still confused. I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise. Did not realize that some people would be leaving after 7 and new people joining the ship. Do you think the room steward, waiters etc see it as 2 - 7 day cruises or one 14 day cruise? Should I give the thank you notes and something extra at the end of the first 7 days? And then again when we leave?

Also, I am feeling rather badly now because I missed the maitred on the Maasdam. He visited our table every night and chatted. We had no special requests but he was lovely. A thank you note and something extra for him as well?

Deb

[twinkletoes4445]

That's happened to me, too, and we didn't tip. Everyone at our large table was aghast at the behaviour, and I think he actually lost tips for that behaviour. That was a few years ago, not the most recent cruise.

 

I am sure the same thing happened to the guy on our first cruise on Carnival. Our whole dining experience was pretty much a disaster anyway, so him wanting money just added to the problem.

 

Your tipping you described sounds along the line what we do. It's so hard to say, and lots of people don't like to talk about it, but I also asked when we were getting ready for our first HAL cruise and posters responded. I just wanted some guidelines and then I adjusted them according to our experiences. :)

[twinkletoes4445]

Good to know they keep small bills at the desk - I've never thought of asking to break larger bills, and it's a good idea - thanks!

 

The only reason I knew this in advance was I asked here (about 5 years ago) prior to our first cruise.

 

We're leaving this week for Med. on Noordam, and I'm wondering if we should get some Euros to give as tips rather than dollars...

 

I don't have a clue about this question, but I'd like to know the answer. I keep a file in my computer with answers to questions like this for future cruises. :)

 

Edited to add: I see jtl513 answered this question. Thanks!

[twinkletoes4445]

We have a cabana booked at HMC - has anyone had that experience and did you tip the butler? Thanks.

 

We had two butlers. They take turns doing things. One will come to your cabin and stay all day with you and take you back to your cabin. The other (ours was a guy from the Pinnacle Grill) will bring the food to the cabana and then after lunch, he left.

 

I think I tipped the one who left early $40, and the other guy $80 or so. Looking back, now that I know how this works (with one leaving a lot earlier and one spending the entire day with us), I'd have tipped less. Probably $20 or less to the one who leaves early and $40 or less to the other guy. But tip whatever you want. I've read where people tip $10 to each or a little more. Both we're very attentive, so that's part of the reason we gave them a little extra. Whatever we wanted, they did for us. It was a very pleasant day of pampering.

[twinkletoes4445]

So far (at least when I started typing this) no one has mentioned tips for the excursion guides and bus drivers. For a 3 > 4 hour tour we will give the guide $6 to $10 and the bus driver $4 or $5 depending on how difficult his drive was. If there is an assistant guide we will give him/her $3 to $5, depending on much s/he did.

 

I'd forgotten about tipping on excursions. Our tipping for guides is similar to this (in fact we pretty much do the exact thing). The only exception to this is if we have a really exceptional guide, and then we give that person a little more.

 

We had a wonderful guide in Tortola. His name is "Santa." He was our guide on our HAL tour and he was just awesome. I think we ended up giving him $20. He really was that good and he was a lot of fun.

 

We also cruised over New Year's one year and ended up on Grand Cayman on New Year's Day. We tipped all the excursion guides double on that day because it was a holiday and we were happy that they were open for business. Not every business is open on holidays there, so we really appreciated these people for working on a holiday so we could see the island and the stingrays.

[jms2362]

Your cruise line has that information on line per the individual cruise. It goes on your bill with the suggested amount, usually. If not they have the guidelines for you to use. Then you decide per you service received.

[twinkletoes4445]

Help... still confused. I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise. Did not realize that some people would be leaving after 7 and new people joining the ship. Do you think the room steward, waiters etc see it as 2 - 7 day cruises or one 14 day cruise? Should I give the thank you notes and something extra at the end of the first 7 days? And then again when we leave?

 

Hmmmm...these are good questions. Maybe someone who's done a B2B will come along with the answer for you on what they did. This is just a guess, but I'd think you'd tip people at the end of the 7day cruise and then again when your cruise ends. It's possible you might not have the same wait staff, wine steward or room steward on the second leg of your cruise.

 

 

Also, I am feeling rather badly now because I missed the maitred on the Maasdam. He visited our table every night and chatted. We had no special requests but he was lovely. A thank you note and something extra for him as well?

Deb

 

I think this is up to you. A note and something extra would be nice, but certainly not necessary. At least, IMO. We pretty much only tip extra for service, but I am sure a note and a tip in this situation would have been appreciated, but I wouldn't feel bad at all for not leaving him an extra tip.

[RuthC]

Help... still confused. I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise. Did not realize that some people would be leaving after 7 and new people joining the ship. Do you think the room steward, waiters etc see it as 2 - 7 day cruises or one 14 day cruise? Should I give the thank you notes and something extra at the end of the first 7 days? And then again when we leave?

The easiest way to handle this (IMO) is to ask your cabin and table stewards, and your lounge stewards itoo, f you'll have the pleasure of seeing them on the second half of your b-2-b (assuming you have the same cabin and table).

If they say yes, then you can put off the notes/extra tip. If they're leaving at the end of your first cruise then go ahead and tip then.

[sail7seas]

It's our habit when we do b-to-b's to tip at the end of each segment.