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Posted: 7 years ago | 2147 Views

Tipping

I'm going out on a limb here and asking a question that tends to start post wars.

I'm sure that we can keep it civil, though.

I know that I pay the daily surcharge for tips, and I am fine with that.

I also like to give the waiters in the MDR, as well as the room steward staff, a little extra at the end of the cruise (I know that it is not mandatory)

For those that do, and actually wish to answer, what is a fair guide to the amount to tip?

A couple of cruises ago, I tipped the headwaiter $50 and each of the assistants $35 for what I felt was outstanding service. While the assistants seemed ecstatic, the headwaiter seemed a bit perturbed. Did I overtip the assistants, undertip the headwaiter, or just making something out of nothing? (This was an 8 night cruise)

19 Answers

Posted: 7 years ago

When I first meet with my steward, I'll request fresh robes and I'll give them a very nice tip to help break any barrier that be left over by the previous occupants.

Posted: 7 years ago

We had a sweet waitress on the FREEDOM and this was my granddaughters first cruise. She gave her first class treatment. Tipped her good...do a good job we tip extra.

On the BREEZE at 3 a m grand daughter threw up. Steward came in changed sheets and cleaned up room...he got a tip. We always tip extra for a good job
Posted: 7 years ago
If you were fortunate, you got in on one of the late John Maxtone-Graham enrichment lecturers on a cruise. Graham, when a kid traveled frequently with his parents across the North Atlantic on the great liners of the day. Later he wrote a number of books, my favorite is "The Only Way to Cross". His presentations were as entertaining as his books are. He gets into tipping with a lot of old day stories i.e. "Among the worst tippers were film stars, who had a habit of passing out eight-by-ten glossies of themselves eastbound and compounded the insult by autographing them west-bound.----- Some passengers voyaging on the same ship both directions used to tear a bill in two and retain one half until the return voyage." A few simply ran out and left nothing.----- One story involves the practice of leaving a final tip in an envelope at the final dinner the night before disembarkation. One guy, who was lavished over the entire crossing, waited until all the other guests had left the dinner table the final evening, then he ordered hot tea, so the waiter had to go back into the kitchen to get the hot water, minutes later the waiter came out to find the cheat guest had taken that opportunity to disappear. Years later, the waiter was working in a high end NYC restaurant and noticed that very same dude sitting at a table. He went back into the kitchen, got hot tea, and served it to the skin flint with the apology that he was sorry it had taken him so long.
Posted: 7 years ago

For a three week cruise (which is our average voyage) your tipping amounts to $150,00 for the head waiter and $105. each for the assistants. I think that is pretty good, in addition to the autos, my wife would say extravagant. Maybe we are skinflints.

Posted: 7 years ago

If I get service of the level "I'm just doing my job" then I figure their wage is enough (regardless of what the wage is). Only if service exceeds that level will I provide additional tip.

As far as the "daily gratuities", I do not touch that. Seeing as how it is split so many ways, it's really not much.
Posted: 7 years ago

My feelings are mixed on tipping. I'm already paying quite a bit and don't like the idea of having to keep paying out. But at the same time I realize many crew members are getting paid "peanuts" and I do feel for them. Also, I had a bad cabin experience on Crown Princess with my not so attentive cabin attendant. I'd like to avoid that experience happening again. So I see it's a game that must be played and really I am doing some good for the workers that do try to do a good job. So now I've started tipping regularly.
Posted: 7 years ago

This is a tough one. From my very first cruise with Celebrity's Century - I resented being obliged to supplement staff salaries with end-of-cruise tips for everyone from the cabin steward to his boss (who I never saw) to the sommelier to the maître d. All on board purchases from cocktails to coke and even sparkling water included "tip lines." Of course - being so dependent on tipping - service tended to be top notch. Now that generous "gratuities" are built into daily billings - service has suffered - and we are still "obliged" to tip over and above the built in gratuities.

Nowadays? Service has to be PHENOMINAL to squeeze another nickel out of me - I content myself with generous issuance of those little "superior service" commendation cards.
Posted: 7 years ago

We tip the steward an extra $20 at the end. If we ask for something extra, we will tip $5 or $10 at that time as well. Coffee bar baristas get an extra couple of bucks in addition to the gratuity already on the bill, as well as bartender or Lido waiters if we get a soda. Room service gets $5 since there are three of us ordering. We do YTD, so we don't generally tip extra in the MDR. The exception to that is when we have the grands. They are so good to the kids and work so hard to please them and keep them smiling. An extra $20/meal from us is always well earned and deserved. We do the Lido most evenings anyhow so it's not that big of an expense overall.

I won't remove the auto gratuities, but if a particular person or venue doesn't give good or friendly service, they don't get extra from me Big Smile
Posted: 7 years ago

I totally agree!
Posted: 7 years ago

I think that you were mot generous with your tips. No one should feel slighted.

Showing 1 - 10 of 19 Answers

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