Gratuities

[captfred]

We are sailing on AMA Amalegro, Budapest to Amsterdam on 5/16/09. My question is can the gratuities be paid by credit card or are they normally cash? This is our first river cruise and we've always used a credit card for our previous ocean cruises. What is the standard amount for tipping?

 

Anyone out there on our cruise? We're really enjoying the wealth of information on these boards.

 

CaptFred

[tiggypooo]

Gratuities on river cruises are to be paid in cash in Euros.

[retiredslug]

When we traveled on the Amalegro we had the option of adding the gratuities to our final bill, all charged to our credit card. Please keep in mind that gratuities are generally higher on river cruises. The recommendation from the cruise company was 15 euros per person per day, substantially higher than any ocean cruise we've been on. At today's exchange rate that would equate to about $38 per couple per day. The tour director usually gets about 3 euros of the 15 because they work their tails off. This topic has been discussed at length on these boards but just factor in the tips as part of the wonderful experience of riverboat cruising and enjoy yourselves.

 

Bill

[webfoot]

On Avalon, there is an option to pay by credit card or by Euros ... and I think even some in US dollars ... we used Euros but I think this year we may opt for the credit card as our form of gratuities.

 

As Retiredslug states, the gratuities are higher than on ocean cruises. The documentation that came from Avalon gave suggested amounts and I'm sure that the other cuise lines do the same.

[MSEm]

We pay the tips in Euro cash. I withdraw the Euros from an ATM. My ATM card reinburses both the ATM fee and the converion fee.

 

If you pay by Credit Card, the Euro's will be converted at some time to US dollars or the currency of your credit card.

 

In June 2008 the Avalon suggested tips for the crew was 12 Euro's per day per person. 3 to 5 Euros per day per person was the suggested tips for the cruise director.

 

MSEm

[boards]

Just so I got this straight regarding the number of days of the trip (cruise). It is advertised as nine days, however we are only on the ship for seven days, so the tipping is only for the days on the ship. We will be in Prague three days pre-cruise and will be getting the ship on our own, so that shouldn't count as days of the trip (cruise).

[jacksonnh]

Hi Cap - Our cruise was for a total of 12 days of which 2 were in hotels in Berlin and Prague. The cruise director was with us at the hotels as well as onboard. We had to spend an additional night in Berlin due to low water which gave us one less day on the ship. It was not the fault of the crew so I paid tipped them as if it were for the advertised length of time and not minus the one day. The few people onboard I spoke with said they did the same. Also the cruise director shares in the tips but because he was with us at the hotels, most people tipped him additionally as well. Some paid in euros, some in dollars, pounds and cc.

Dave

[boards]

Okay that is explains it, the CD will not be with us, because we booked our hotel on are own, so we should be okay with seven days.

[Ship's Wake]

If you have leftover Forints from your time in Hungary, use them for part of your gratuity amount. The ship is able to change them back into Euros when the crew tips are distributed.

 

We did this on our last Uniworld cruise, as we were running low on Euros and did not have enough cash to tip totally in Euros. Of course they prefer your gratuity to be solely in Euros.

 

Or, if you want to add a little extra to your Euro tip amount, you can add whatever Forints you have left over as an extra thank you.

 

Joe

[CincyAL]

We always provide a little bonus to special members of the crew in any left over local currency (especially true in Eastern Europe). As was noted earlier, the crew is like a floating bank, exchanging local currency amongest themselves.

[boards]

Sounds like a good way of getting rid of the money you cannot use at home.

[CincyAL]

We only return to the US with EUROS.