Extra Tips - What do YOU consider a good tip?

[travelingtriumphess]

If my room steward is good....friendly, takes care of the room well (I don't ever really ask for anything extra) I tip them $20 and the asst steward $10. Same in the dining room...If they are friendly and fun $20 for waiter, $10 for assistant. That's just me....you'll get many different

opinions...none wrong. :)

Is this per cruise or per day. I've heard people tipping their cabin steward 20 at the get go, is this same true for the waiter and assistant waiter?

[Perfect Stranger]

I've never tipped at the beginning of a cruise and the ice bucket has always been kept full. :confused:

 

However, I've given an extra $20.00 at the end for great service. If it was good, not great, I wouldn't give anything more than the auto tips.

[nbsjcruiser]

I've read lots of posts from folks who talk about giving extra tips to those workers who do fantastic jobs. Not being a frequest cruiser I'd like a general idea of what to tip at the end of the cruise - say to my room steward or dining room servers. I've always been a pretty good tipper - comes from having to wait tables in college - but am kind of clueless here. I'll be on a 7 day cruise. Thanks for your help!

 

Couple things you can do here. You can try and slip your room steward and head waiter an extra 10 bucks early in the cruise. We do that frequently and it has always resulted in a happy employee. We sometimes will also feel out the first couple of days. See how things are going. If they're doing a good job then we'll also slip them $10 (discreetly of course so that they can pocket it and not have to share) a couple of times say on day 2 and 4. Then we let our "regular" tips go through at the end of the cruise.

[Texaslandshark]

$20. for room steward, same for head waiter, $10. for asst. waiter plus auto tips of course.

If you're at a Past Guest Party or Capt's. party (assuming you get free drinks at either or both anymore) be sure to tip the drink waiter right off the bat. Just drop a buck or two on him/her and you'll get drinks you won't believe.

Spend a little, get a lot.;)

[bradm77]

We always pre-pay the auto tips so that money is spent and done before we ever board the ship. Usually an extra $10 on the first day to cabin steward to keep our carry-on small cooler filled alongside the ice bucket.

 

Generally anywhere from $20-$50 for head waiter (we eat in MDR every night) and $10-$20 for assts waiters on last night.

 

We always pick out "our" bartender on the first day and try to stay with them whenever we can throughout the cruise, and that bartender usually gets $10-$20 extra on last day as well.

[jenng1976]

On our last cruise, we:

 

- Left the autotips on

- Tipped $20 each to Waiter, Asst Waiter, Steward, Asst Steward

- $20 Maitre'd - he granted our request for a table for 2

- $10 Hostess MDR - she gave us fabulous tables for 2 for breakfast every day, she really went above in our minds.

 

For the wait team & stewards we also wrote them notes saying how much we appreciated their great service during the week!

[NutsAboutGolf]

Couple things you can do here. You can try and slip your room steward and head waiter an extra 10 bucks early in the cruise. We do that frequently and it has always resulted in a happy employee. We sometimes will also feel out the first couple of days. See how things are going. If they're doing a good job then we'll also slip them $10 (discreetly of course so that they can pocket it and not have to share) a couple of times say on day 2 and 4. Then we let our "regular" tips go through at the end of the cruise.

 

I don't get the discreetly thing. I've found the assistants working harder than the heads...I'd rather have the head and all assist (not the entire ship, just the ones who dealt with me) split the tips... :)

[conchead]

"Get a real day job" ~~!!~~

 

I wonder what that was supposed to mean?:confused:

[mom2tcdx2]

After my last cruise on the Pride we really thought about what the cabin steward is paid in tips. We never saw an assistant with our steward, but I guess he had one somewhere.

 

Tip is $3.50 per day per guest, so figure only 2 per cabin and a 7 day cruise is $49 per cabin, our steward had 24 cabins - that comes to $1176 for the week which didn't count any of them having more occupants. I truly think that is a large amount for them to make. The hours he told us he worked was from 8-1 and 6-9, which was when he said we could call him if needed.

 

While he kept the cabin up nicely we constantly had to reask for a bucket of ice after telling him to keep it full since the refrigerator wasn't keeping things cold.

[Poomah]

Leave extra (depends on the service) when warranted. I do not pre-tip, I expect good service, that is what the job is. However, when we get an exceptional service person, we reward them as handsomely as we can at the time. Early on it was $5.00- then upped to $10 - now it is usually $20 each. On the family cruise we had such super wait staff (grandkids to deal with) that they each (3 of them) got $50 extra. It just all depends

[crusinpsychRN]

 

I wonder what that was supposed to mean?:confused:

 

I wondered too. ??:confused:

[Nunu]

I wondered too. ??:confused:

 

It's the old joke about the "tip" being telling the person to "get a real job":rolleyes:

[eggypann]

 

I wonder what that was supposed to mean?:confused:

 

I don't know either and I'm the OP!

[eggypann]

Oops - missed that last reply. Sorry, but I think serving people and cleaning up after them are real jobs - hard ones at that!

[xitappers2bx]

I've read lots of posts from folks who talk about giving extra tips to those workers who do fantastic jobs. Not being a frequest cruiser I'd like a general idea of what to tip at the end of the cruise - say to my room steward or dining room servers. I've always been a pretty good tipper - comes from having to wait tables in college - but am kind of clueless here. I'll be on a 7 day cruise. Thanks for your help!

 

 

a lot of people have given thier two cents, so now its my turn.

 

depending on the service you get, and any help you require, is how you could tip... for instance, our room steward (who was BEYOND amazing) insisted and then nudged me out of the bathroom when my daughter had an accident (i went to her for extra towels and a trash bag to put them in). I tipped her SIGNIFICANTLY...

 

i tipped the waiter a lot, because he had her food ready and waiting (and it was special made... they don't typically make jelly sandwiches). and i tipped heavy to his assistant, as he was the one who had to clean up the broken glasses and the cracked plate...

 

BUT i had a rude obnoixous bartender who i took her tip off, and left her half of the 15% and she was less than pleased. generally speaking though, if a bartneder or one of the people peddling drinks on the lido by the pool was extra quick or overly good, i would give them an extra dollar or so. no one likes a cold amaretto sour.:)

[WinnieinWA]

It is amazing how many people have responded but didn't even answer the question. Why do you bother? I usually tip an extra 10 to 20 depending on the level of service. In the casino I always tip 1 dollar per drink above the auto tip. It comes in handy when the place is busy. I always get great service.

 

MOST people DID answer!

 

"Get a real day job" ~~!!~~

 

HUH?

 

I tip extra IF I have a great steward or waiter. One cruise I asked for towel animals each night for my DD and gave the steward a 10 on the first night. He delivered and he got another 20 on the last night. It was worth it to me. When sailing solo I never need anything extra so I don't tip extra.

 

Unless I request anything "extra" I do not tip extra. I leave the auto tips on and I love that option!

[comeon530]

Our tipping is pretty much in line with what most of you have posted. We also tip the Camp Carnival counselor at the end of the cruise. They work hard to ensure the kids have a good time.

[yvqchick]

IMO "tipping" at the beginning of a cruise is not a tip at all but a bribe.

 

We have only cruised 3 times previously and have not had occasion to ask our steward for anything extra but have left an extra $20 at the end of the cruise because we have had such nice friendly and efficient stewards.

 

We always leave the auto-gratuity option on.

 

Oh, and I tip a bit extra if I happen to order room service - only did that once.

[jinxnb]

If I could afford $100 per day extra then I'd pay it - but I can't. I will however tip the best I can for those who I feel have gone above and beyond.

 

I totally understand where you're coming from. Also, I agree with the majority of posters who say to tip what's you're comfortable with. Here's what we did in July:

 

When we met our room steward, Harry, I asked him if he would remove the beverages from our fridge and keep the ice bucket refreshed each day. I gave him $20 after I asked him this.

 

Not only did he do this, but our ice bucket was replenished twice each day (whenever he cleaned), and our room was spic-and-span. Also, when he was nearby when we were near him, he always said hi and asked if we needed anything or inquired about our day. I also found out that room stewards only make $1000-$1500 per MONTH. Because of his outstanding service, I tipped him $50 on the last day. I wish I could have given him more.

 

We gave our head waiter $50, the ass't waiter $30 and our dining room bar waitress $20. Also, I slipped $20 for the maitre'd since when I mentioned to him that I was writing a blog about our trip, and I'd love menus, he handed me printed menus for the week in 15 minutes. Also, when Diego and Maynor (our waiters) brought out our celebration cake, the maitre'd came out and sang with us and gave us complimentary glasses of champagne. It WAS our honeymoon, but I'm unsure that everyone got this treatment.

 

Believe me, every person whom we tipped deserved more. However, this was as much as we could give after paying for such a great cruise. I can add that each person whom we tipped seemed VERY glad to receive the extra gratuity. They work their asses off.

[jinxnb]

IMO "tipping" at the beginning of a cruise is not a tip at all but a bribe.

 

You may be right! After all, we DID smuggle on some coca-cola, vodka and bourbon.

 

However, Harry (our room steward) rocked our socks. We did opt for auto-tip, but since ALL of our appointed staff was amazing, we tipped as generously as we could.

 

IMO, the room stewards are the unsung heroes of any cruise ship. :)

[PROCRUISE]

I think it's a good question, since we really had no idea what was appropriate, and it's not like we wanted to ask our neighbours across the hall "say, what are you tipping the steward?"

 

We leave on Auto tips and have tipped $20 for the Steward, $10 for each of the assistant stewards (we usually ask the steward the names of everyone on his team, usually 2 others), $20 head waiter, $10 or $20 team waiter, depending on how often we saw him, and $10 or $20 for drink waiter depending on service. At Christmas we doubled these amounts, with an extra tip card on Christmas day (along with a box of chocolates for each).

 

But, if most people tip more than this, then I would like to know. I don't want my Steward to see $20 and think we were unhappy with him if others tend to give $50!

 

WE ARE RIGHT IN LINE WITH YOU AND THINK THE AMOUNTS ARE FINE. We did have extrordinary service on our cruise last June with HAL and tipped more but otherwise have tipped,above the gratutity than is added on,at exactly the amounts you stated.

[Calker]

We have never removed the auto tips.

 

Room Steward - anywhere from $10.00 to $100.00 extra. (messes from get-togethers - $100.00 - but nothing extra if my daily bottle of water is forgotten or if my c-PAP machine has been touched - once the water chamber was cleaned with soap and water!!!!!!)

 

Waiter/Assistant - $20.00 to $400.00 extra - (the $400.00 was a one time only tip because the staff assisted tremendously with an autistic child / a very disagreeable person in a wheel chair / and 3 in our party who drank their lunch and afternoon snack every day).

[Crusin6]

We are 2 adults and 4 children in 2 connecting cabins and hopefully a table to ourselves.

 

So for the 6 of us....$30 to the steward (never thought about an assistant because we never knew or even saw one) and $30 to head waiter and $15 to asst. waiter (maybe)

 

Forget the MD because we never ask for anything...but if we did need something corrected we would not expect to tip an officer, which he is, for doing his job.

 

We don't ever get to know any bartenders so that is not an issue.

 

of course we leave the auto tips on and don't even consider removing them

[dan40]

I've read lots of posts from folks who talk about giving extra tips to those workers who do fantastic jobs. Not being a frequest cruiser I'd like a general idea of what to tip at the end of the cruise - say to my room steward or dining room servers. I've always been a pretty good tipper - comes from having to wait tables in college - but am kind of clueless here. I'll be on a 7 day cruise. Thanks for your help!

 

 

ANYTHING over and above the auto tip IS a good tip. I do tip the bartenders $1. per drink ordered, in cash, immediately. and if the bartender is good, professional, I will leave $5. to $10. each time I leave his/her bar. Result, I get GOOD drinks quickly!

Wait team in the DR, for exceptional service I do tip a little over, but it is rare. For their normal good service, the auto-tip is their tip.

Room stewards, I sometimes, rarely, have a special request. For that I will tip $5. or $10. at the time of the request. For their normal room cleaning duties, I have never even considered giving an overtip. Properly cleaning the room IS their job and they get the auto-tip for it.

[justjen321]

We leave auto-tips in place (although we have adjusted them down, which is a whole other story) but I would never adjust those up. Simply because they are then reportable as income. :)

 

We leave somewhere between 40-60 for our room steward if superior service was provided.

 

We leave around the same for our wait staff in the MDR, when, again, superior service is provided.

 

I have tipped the Maitre'd exactly ONCE, because he visited our table a great deal and I simply felt like it.

 

We've also tipped the 'Special Services' person (a young lady in our case) who handled a food allergy at our table with a level of service I frankly didn't think there WAS on Carnival.