Tip for room steward

First time cruiser here :ship::ship: - I have prepaid my gratuities, but would like to provide our room steward with a tip. What is the normal amount, and should I do that at the beginning of the cruise or at the end of the cruise? Thank you

Tips are typically given at the end of your cruise. There is no "normal" amount. It will depend on a variety of things, such as what the person has done to earn an extra tip, length of cruise, and several other things.

Tipping is totally personal, and not defined by any rule. Anything you give will be greatly appreciated by the employee.

First time cruiser here :ship::ship: - I have prepaid my gratuities, but would like to provide our room steward with a tip. What is the normal amount, and should I do that at the beginning of the cruise or at the end of the cruise? Thank you

Why would you have already decided to tip someone extra when you have zero idea whether their service deserves an additional gratuity above the one you're already being charged?

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With the tips being automatically charged to my account, I only provide an extra tip if the Steward does something(s) above and beyond.

You've already paid the tip for the cabin attendant.....that tip covers your room steward, waiters, ass't waiters, and head waiters. Any drink (or package) you buy has the tip added to the cost. The ONLY thing that tip you already paid doesn't cover is room service delivery, if you use it.....otherwise, you're done! You've done your duty. If you feel the need to tip more than what you've paid, that's up to you and what the service you receive is worth to YOU!

On most of my cruises, I will offer an additional gratuity to my Cabin Steward(s).

On a 4 day Carnival Liberty cruise from Port Canaveral last year, I met my Cabin Steward once--while dressing for dinner in my underwear. Never saw him again. Assistants of his seemed to be the ones responsible for maintaining my stateroom. Service was as expected and nothing more. Disembarking, I did leave a small additional gratuity in an envelope on the desk. Now, I ask myself: why did you do this? I had not changed the standard gratuity. I won't do this again unless the Steward's service is really "over the top" on such a short cruise with a Cabin Steward that is basically invisible.

On most of my cruises, I will offer an additional gratuity to my Cabin Steward(s).

 

On a 4 day Carnival Liberty cruise from Port Canaveral last year, I met my Cabin Steward once--while dressing for dinner in my underwear. Never saw him again. Assistants of his seemed to be the ones responsible for maintaining my stateroom. Service was as expected and nothing more. Disembarking, I did leave a small additional gratuity in an envelope on the desk. Now, I ask myself: why did you do this? I had not changed the standard gratuity. I won't do this again unless the Steward's service is really "over the top" on such a short cruise with a Cabin Steward that is basically invisible.

Under these circumstances, I would not give any additional tip.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :D

You have your tip covered so only need to give your cabin steward an extra tip if you wish to do so. :)

As mentioned you can do automatic tipping so that the steward already will get a tip but if you would like you can give an additional tip for service that goes beyond what was expected.

Keith

We only give extra tips at the end of the cruise to those people whom we feel have gone the extra mile to make our cruise an enjoyable one.

Some people give a tip at the beginning, to try to elicit above average service.

I did this last cruise. $20 on embarkation (suite level), and got great service. Did the tip help? No idea. But it felt like a good idea at the time. :)

My husband is a night owl who works really hard all year long. On a cruise he prefers to stay up all night & sleep all day. This annoys the stewards who can't get in our cabin to clean. Upon boarding I always find the steward, tip them $20 & tell them about my husband's preferences. I also offer to speak to the housekeeping manager if the steward is concerned about not being able to keep a schedule. I ask for fresh towels when they do turn down service but otherwise instruct them to let my husband sleep. I could care less if somebody makes my bed, turns it down or leaves me chocolates. I do care that my husband gets to sleep on his schedule undisturbed.

on all of my cruises I give the steward a $20 in the first day and ask them to keep our ice bucket full. They do and they spend the rest of the cruise catering to us which adds to our vacation experience. I asked for help with laundry on the last cruise and he helped me fill out the form which wasn't in the room like it should have been but he was so gracious in getting it fixed. I have him another $20 at the end of the trip.

Do what you prefer. Personally I have worked in the service area and I am grateful for people in those roles. I like to offer some extra. You know...do good and it comes back to you kind of thing......you just never know!

...they spend the rest of the cruise catering to us which adds to our vacation experience. .......I asked for help with laundry on the last cruise and he helped me fill out the form which wasn't in the room....

For $20 up front, you'd think the steward would've made sure the laundry form was there to begin with.

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For me, I find that "bribing" our steward at the beginning works great.

I also have a conversation and ask about where they are from, family, how long they have been on the ship, when they are going home or, wherever the conversation goes. Sometimes you get some very interesting info just from talking with your steward.

Our last cruise we loved the guy we had all week. We left him 100 dollars extra the last day.

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I don't understand this "tipping before" attitude. Besides on a cruise, does anyone in any other service industry tip or expect a tip before the service is performed? If you are at a restaurant, do you tip before the meal is served to ensure that they keep your glass of water full. At the car wash, do you tip beforehand to ensure that they do not scratch your car? etc., etc., etc. Why then is it different on a cruise.

DON

OK, the entiresubject is a personal choice matter. First, the entire process was initiateddue to the number of pax that left ship paying zero in tips. That daily fee isput into a “ship wide pot” that is dived up among those already mentioned. LastI heard, cabin stewards get about $4.00 per pax per day. The way the industryis set up, THIS IS THEIR PAY. They signed a contract and agreed to this payBEFORE they were ever hired. With that said, anyone can tell if a steward isthere to help and assist or just going through the motions. By the second orthird day, we know if any additional gratuity is deserving. Out of view of any other crew, cash is handeddirectly to the steward at that time. Two reasons, first we usually noteadditional attentiveness from that crew member for remainder of cruise. Second,all crew are expected to turn in ANY CASH TIPS to supervision, which is usuallygiven last two days. We leave it up to the steward if he wants this turned overearly in the cruise when supervision is not looking for it.

I only tip after the cruise is over . In 2015 I was on an RCI ship and had a fantastic cabin steward and tipped hip accordingly .The same year I was on an NCL ship and had the worst cabin steward ever and did not tip him.

I was on a cruise 2 years ago .A couple seated at our MDR table for the entire cruise made sure that everyone heard stories about how wealthy they were .This was probably because they said they never tip anyone ,on a ship or on shore.

What can a room steward do that's over and above? I just got back from my first cruise and while our steward was friendly and greeted us with a smile and a wave in the hallway, and called us by name, "Hello Mr. Krozulu, Mrs. Krozulu", I don't think he did anything extra or unexpected though.

As long as the daily service charge has been left in place and the steward cleans the cabin, makes beds, changes towels , brings ice daily and provides toiletries when required, he is doing his job. No need to tip more. When daughter and son in law cruise with small child, there is obviously more mess and times when grand daughter is having a nap which might distupt steward's schedule they tip above service charge. We have given steward extra for what we considered additional service, several times...but at the moment I can't remember what the extra service was. (Old age doesn't come alone!)

What can a room steward do that's over and above? I just got back from my first cruise and while our steward was friendly and greeted us with a smile and a wave in the hallway, and called us by name, "Hello Mr. Krozulu, Mrs. Krozulu", I don't think he did anything extra or unexpected though.

Yes I know they agreed to the contract, but for about $4.00 a day from each pax would you clean main area, vacuum, make beds, straighten furniture (including balcony), clean shower and bathroom vanity, replace towels, restock amenities, restock mini bar, deliver any direct correspondence inside the cabin and turn down beds with or without towel animals. Extra? Daily ice, remove dirty dishes from cabin or hallway, extra towels daily or ANYTHING you need for the entire cruise except room service. And in your case, remembering your name Mr. Krozulu

OK, the entiresubject is a personal choice matter. First, the entire process was initiateddue to the number of pax that left ship paying zero in tips. That daily fee isput into a “ship wide pot” that is dived up among those already mentioned. LastI heard, cabin stewards get about $4.00 per pax per day. The way the industryis set up, THIS IS THEIR PAY. They signed a contract and agreed to this payBEFORE they were ever hired. With that said, anyone can tell if a steward isthere to help and assist or just going through the motions. By the second orthird day, we know if any additional gratuity is deserving. Out of view of any other crew, cash is handeddirectly to the steward at that time. Two reasons, first we usually noteadditional attentiveness from that crew member for remainder of cruise. Second,all crew are expected to turn in ANY CASH TIPS to supervision, which is usuallygiven last two days. We leave it up to the steward if he wants this turned overearly in the cruise when supervision is not looking for it.

Which line is this that requires the steward to turn over ALL cash tips? Last I knew, most of them only require that if a passenger removes the auto tips.

What can a room steward do that's over and above? I just got back from my first cruise and while our steward was friendly and greeted us with a smile and a wave in the hallway, and called us by name, "Hello Mr. Krozulu, Mrs. Krozulu", I don't think he did anything extra or unexpected though.

Many think that ice daily is over and above (I thought that was expected). I think any type of illness (Upper Resp. - tissues, or GI tract - :eek:) would create over and above cleaning issues. If we sailed with young children (diapers) I would likely tip extra regardless of service.

We have had stewards that were competent, but didn't really make or break our cruise. We did not tip extra in those cases. We've never removed gratuities.

Some stewards have gone out of their way to make communication easy despite a large number of rooms. This goes a long way toward improving the cruise experience for me vs. having something else to stress about if there is an issue and we can't track them down. We do tip extra for these type of servers.

.... a Cabin Steward that is basically invisible.

That's exactly what you would want them to be.