we leave the CA in place as we have PLUS, then Premier
we are working on a 'bribe bag' to give our steward upon meeting him / her the on embarkation day.
for a little 5 day cruise - so far it contains (and my wife was working on this bag this morning) a thank-you in advance for ... with a $20 inside. It also contains a nice fingernail clipper set, a mini flashlight, some lip balm, some candies and whatever else she may pick up between now and then.
we/she also made up some little bags for certain crew members we come across (Vines, for sure) that include the mini flashlight, lip balm and whatever else she comes across between now and then. Those people I will tip directly as warrants.
Just to be clear, any bags are in addition to cash tips - not in lieu of