Suite tipping?

[gehrandt]

This will be my first time on Princess - previously sailed on NCL. On their suites you have a butler and tip them extra above your daily service charge as they are not included in the "pool". Is Princess set up the same way? We will be in a suite and I think I've heard that you don't have a butler - just your room stewart - but do have extra perks so I would assume you tip extra. Any suggestions appreciated and thanks ahead of time.

[turquoisesea]

From the Princess website:

A discretionary Hotel and Dining charge of $11 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $10.50 per passenger in all other staterooms per day (including children) will be added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. This charge will be shared amongst those staff who help provide and support your cruise experience, including the waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, galley staff, laundry staff and others.

[Toto2Kansas]

The actual suite and mini suite auto tip is $11 per person per day, up only 50 cents for any other category stateroom. Although Princess does not supply butlers anymore, we always tip our room steward extra (and many times quite a bit extra), we tip for room service delivery (as you will be able to order any meal off the dining room menu to be delivered to your suite) and any other special services that we receive. We even tip at Sabatinis for the special suite only breakfast. What I normally do is tip our servers at Sabatinis every couple of days, as sometimes I forget to bring it with me. But the servers we have had haven't changed during the voyage, so there was always time to play 'catch up'. :) But all the extra tips are totally at your discresion of course. ;)

[Lynda90]

This will be my first time on Princess - previously sailed on NCL. On their suites you have a butler and tip them extra above your daily service charge as they are not included in the "pool". Is Princess set up the same way? We will be in a suite and I think I've heard that you don't have a butler - just your room stewart - but do have extra perks so I would assume you tip extra. Any suggestions appreciated and thanks ahead of time.

It depends on the service you get. If we get just adequate service, we leave the auto tip on and don't give anything extra. If the service is superior, we tip our cabin "steward" extra at the end of the cruise.

[jnc411]

It depends on the service you get. If we get just adequate service, we leave the auto tip on and don't give anything extra. If the service is superior, we tip our cabin "steward" extra at the end of the cruise.

 

We do the same.

Cori

[Toto2Kansas]

It depends on the service you get. If we get just adequate service, we leave the auto tip on and don't give anything extra. If the service is superior, we tip our cabin "steward" extra at the end of the cruise.

 

In a full suite you only leave the auto tip charge and don't tip extra?

[freddie1974]

You are correct, there is no butler just your room steward. Tipping is therefore no different in a suite to any other category, autotip is such a minimal difference (especially compared to the price difference from mini to full suite) that good service should (IMHO) be rewarded with additional tips.

 

We do this on the last day (except Lotus Spa staff) and usually consists of: room steward, sabatinis waiters at breakfast, waiters in MDR plus any other staff who have gone above and beyond (2 waiters in Crooners on last cruise).

[JPRLHR]

This will be my first time on Princess - previously sailed on NCL. On their suites you have a butler and tip them extra above your daily service charge as they are not included in the "pool". Is Princess set up the same way? We will be in a suite and I think I've heard that you don't have a butler - just your room stewart - but do have extra perks so I would assume you tip extra. Any suggestions appreciated and thanks ahead of time.

 

If you're happy with the service you've got from your room steward then yes of course tip extra at the end of the cruise but you wouldn't tip more than any other category of stateroom just because you're in a suite. We pay heavily in the cruise fare for those little extras in suites.

[MGAfhc]

If you're happy with the service you've got from your room steward then yes of course tip extra at the end of the cruise but you wouldn't tip more than any other category of stateroom just because you're in a suite. We pay heavily in the cruise fare for those little extras in suites.

But the staff who provide all the extra services in suites are paid, for the most part, from the Hotel Charge and Tips, not from the cruise charge.

As a matter of interest, the Hotel Charge (or Tip if you will) amounts to 13.3% for Insides and reduces to 2.9% for Suites, as a percentage of the cruise charge. In the category we travel I always bring it up to at least 20% with additional. Surely Suite passengers, with all the additional services, can do better than 2.9%

[Toto2Kansas]

But the staff who provide all the extra services in suites are paid, for the most part, from the Hotel Charge and Tips, not from the cruise charge.

As a matter of interest, the Hotel Charge (or Tip if you will) amounts to 13.3% for Insides and reduces to 2.9% for Suites, as a percentage of the cruise charge. In the category we travel I always bring it up to at least 20% with additional. Surely Suite passengers, with all the additional services, can do better than 2.9%

 

I totally agree with your reasoning here. The room steward has so much more to do in full suites, a much larger area to clean, Laundry to deliver no matter how many times you send it out, etc. I was shocked that the cruise line only raised the gratuity for full suites/minis 50 cents higher than other stateroom categories. And we have always (did I say ALWAYS) had a dedicated suite steward that went above and beyond the normal duties of a room steward. ;) No real need for a butler, our stewards have taken time to do almost anything a butler would have done.

Therefore, we tip well above the recommended amount taken out automatically.

[JPRLHR]

But the staff who provide all the extra services in suites are paid, for the most part, from the Hotel Charge and Tips, not from the cruise charge.

As a matter of interest, the Hotel Charge (or Tip if you will) amounts to 13.3% for Insides and reduces to 2.9% for Suites, as a percentage of the cruise charge. In the category we travel I always bring it up to at least 20% with additional. Surely Suite passengers, with all the additional services, can do better than 2.9%

 

I think you've mis-understood my meaning. On a one week cruise I usually tip the steward $50 cash whilst leaving the auto-tip on so what I'm saying is that if you would normally reward the steward in addition to the auto-tip, there is no reason to make that $50 into $100 just because you're in a suite.

[jackdiamond]

We usually tip the steward extra due to the demands of my wife for extra goodies etc.