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tipping questions


claudelily
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LOL, Elaine 5715, neither my husband nor I are high maintenance or naturally offensive to others!!! That is hilarious, but no we really will not even require much from our steward unless I start craving something at bedtime and do not want to put makeup on to go out and get it! ha Honestly I was worried because I haven't been on anything but a very short cruise years ago and my husband never has been on one. He is a fairly big tipper if he likes the service, but when he mentioned handing the Steward $50 at the beginning, I was a little scared of that and thought I would find out what the norm was!

They will love him.

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We have never tipped a steward at the beginning of a cruise and have had mostly stellar service. We do usually leave $40--more for longer cruises--at the end, and of of course always leave the pre paid gratuities on.

 

I guess if we had really bad or mediocre service we wouldn't tip extra. We don't require much except hangers and a blanket and top sheet at the beginning of the cruise, and keep our cabin neat, so hopefully we are not a pain.

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Hi All,

 

It's our first cruise and to be honest, we didn't really fully understand the tipping "procedure", and reading your posts here made me even more confuse.

We are about to cruise on the NCL EPIC and they ask for $13.5 per person per day for tipping.

For a 7 day cruise it's almost $100 and as we are 3 (with 5 yrs old girl) so it will be almost $300.

I thought that it goes to all the ones that will serve us but as you wrote, you are tipping them separately so for what is the pre-tipping?

 

Really, just trying to understand.

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Neone, the gratuities are divided by the cruise ilne among your stateroom attendant and dining wait staff and is a significant portion of their compensation for their services provided. "Pre-tipping" means that you are prepaying your gratuities through the cruise line or travel agent in advance. Otherwise they are typically charged daily to your on board account. If you wish to tip additional that is your option and can be done individually as you see fit, but this is not required as the daily gratuity amount is all that is required. Room service would typically also be separate if you use this. Also separate but included with each purchase is a gratuity for bar service.

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Hi All,

 

It's our first cruise and to be honest, we didn't really fully understand the tipping "procedure", and reading your posts here made me even more confuse.

We are about to cruise on the NCL EPIC and they ask for $13.5 per person per day for tipping.

For a 7 day cruise it's almost $100 and as we are 3 (with 5 yrs old girl) so it will be almost $300.

I thought that it goes to all the ones that will serve us but as you wrote, you are tipping them separately so for what is the pre-tipping?

 

Really, just trying to understand.

 

The $13.50 per day is all you need to do for your wait staff and steward. You do not need to pre tip or give extra at the end unless you want to. It's not necessary though. We have never pre-tipped.

 

You should tip a dollar or two for room service and I think a gratuity is added to bar orders already, but not sure as we don't drink. Other tips might be to excursion guides or drivers; again, we don't use cruise line tours, so I don't know about them. For private tours we do tip. Some people tip the kid's club counselors.

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leaveitallbehind and Nebr.cruiser, thanks for your answer, it is much clear now.

 

Like for us, it was a little "weird" that the cruise company decide how much tip we need to give.

Like if we want to give more? :) or less?

Did someone told them once, I don't want to pay $13.5 per day. I want to pay $10, or maybe $20?

 

I understand the logic behind it in one hand but on the other, tip should be something you give as appreciation.

 

We do believe in tips and we are tipping all the time, and most of it even more than we "need" to.

Just wanted to understand it.

 

Thanks.

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leaveitallbehind and Nebr.cruiser, thanks for your answer, it is much clear now.

 

Like for us, it was a little "weird" that the cruise company decide how much tip we need to give.

Like if we want to give more? :) or less?

Did someone told them once, I don't want to pay $13.5 per day. I want to pay $10, or maybe $20?

 

I understand the logic behind it in one hand but on the other, tip should be something you give as appreciation.

 

We do believe in tips and we are tipping all the time, and most of it even more than we "need" to.

Just wanted to understand it.

 

Thanks.

 

Think of your $13.50 pp/d as a "resort fee" and don't think of it as a tip. Many hotels add just such a daily charge on the bill. Actually on NCL its called a Daily Service Charge.

 

Think of a tip as a true tip ... given to service personnel for stellar service. Consider how much work the steward has to do in your cabin, if you leave it messy and he needs to straighten out and declutter before he starts cleaning an extra tip would probably applied. I generally tip $20 at the end of the cruise per person in the cabin to the steward. That's it.

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Think of your $13.50 pp/d as a "resort fee" and don't think of it as a tip. Many hotels add just such a daily charge on the bill. Actually on NCL its called a Daily Service Charge.

 

Think of a tip as a true tip ... given to service personnel for stellar service. Consider how much work the steward has to do in your cabin, if you leave it messy and he needs to straighten out and declutter before he starts cleaning an extra tip would probably applied. I generally tip $20 at the end of the cruise per person in the cabin to the steward. That's it.

 

Make sense, in a way ;)

 

By the way, do you all find it better (or should I say easier) to pre-pay the gratuities before the cruise or pay it on the ship?

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Make sense, in a way ;)

 

By the way, do you all find it better (or should I say easier) to pre-pay the gratuities before the cruise or pay it on the ship?

I always just pay on board, I have budgeted that and put the money aside (so to speak). Others find they would rather pay everything they can prior to the cruise, so that their final bill will be next to nothing (depending on what they purchase on board). With the drink package available as a booking incentive many people have a zero end balance.

 

 

So, basically its up to you what you feel more comfortable with, paying now and having the cruise line have the money, or put it in some kind of savings account where you might get a little interest on it. Then pay the credit card off in full when you get home.

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Make sense, in a way ;)

 

By the way, do you all find it better (or should I say easier) to pre-pay the gratuities before the cruise or pay it on the ship?

I , like many, prefer to pay before my cruise (the crew does not receive it until after the cruise) just so I walk on board with everything all paid.

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I , like many, prefer to pay before my cruise (the crew does not receive it until after the cruise) just so I walk on board with everything all paid.

Why would the cruise line not use the money you pay now to pay the bills it is receiving now?

 

The resort fee / service charge is not held in trust for the crew and is just another revenue stream which goes into the pot, and that pot is used to fund crew performance payments (aka 'tips').

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On Holland America line, the daily service charge is divided amongst the crew.

 

Tipping is a vexed issue. Americans expect to tip. You can see that right through this thread. The aim of the daily service charge is to save you the trouble of tipping for every service. Conversely some other countries, Australia for example, expect all services to be included in the fare price and will only tip for exceptional service. In Australian waters many passengers cancel the daily service charge. Some cruise lines have abolished the daily service charge in these waters and built it into the fare, (and I believe upped the crew remuneration slightly to compensate) which seems a reasonable approach. The cruise company dilemma is if this was done in US waters passengers might start tipping for every individual service.

 

There is no simple answer. Tip as you consider appropriate, but as already said the daily service charge does find its way to the crew on HAL at least, and some of it goes to behind the scenes staff who you never see and do not benefit from personal tipping.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited by Bentleg
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