Tipping your room steward on the first day?

[salty dingo]

Would you tip a restaurant waitress when she introduces herself... to ensure good service throughout the meal? Few would, I suspect.

 

So why on earth would you tip the room steward in advance? Makes absolutely no sense to me!

[Aplmac]

If you have a reason to pre-tip, yes go ahead.

 

One cruise we were on, we were assigned a cabin number which I wrote on our luggage tags.

At check-in, we got upgraded :) and I didn't even notice the changed cabin number

until I got on the coach that was to carry us from check-in to the ship!

 

On board now, our bags were going to That Previous Cabin Number :eek:

so I immediately let my steward know about this little screw-up

and off he went to find our bags!

 

That deserved a little tip, right at the start

but otherwise I wouldn't go out of my way to pre-tip more than a 5 or a 10, as a sweetener of sorts.

 

As others have said earlier

it doesn't seem to make much difference if you tip before during or after.

.

[pnjkeith]

I was just wondering what is a good tip amount for the first day for the week. I was thinking like 100.00 dollars?

 

Dumb idea or you are bored.

[mcwebber]

Would you tip a restaurant waitress when she introduces herself... to ensure good service throughout the meal? Few would, I suspect.

 

A lot will do so for the bartender.

[finoky]

I never tip for service yet rendered. Our room steward has always given us top notch service without the pre-cruise bribe.

[mrpayroll]

By all means yes do it. He/she then will turn your bed down in the evening, fill your ice twice a day, make a nice towel animal for you,clean your bathroom and call you by name when they see you in the hall. Of course they will do the same for me for giving them $0.00 on the FIRST day. All of the above is PART of their job.

[ib4cruzn]

I've always tipped $50 at first meeting.

 

You would be surprised at what these fine folks can procure.

[Lovharvey]

I usually give them $10 or $20 the first day. The reason for that is the fact that I ask them to leave the towel animals so I can get a group picture the last night of the cruise and to keep my ice bucket filled. I know the ice bucket should be done without the extra tip, but, leaving the towel animals isn't done unless you ask them.

[turbot72lou]

I have got some many diffrent answers wow. So the best i could figure out is somewhere around 0.00 dollars to 50 on the first day. Thanks for all the help. I should have mentioned that i am staying in the Carnival Liberty Deluxe penthouse suite I.E. (Captins suite) room 9200. Sorry for the bold type but i copied and pasted this title. Once again thank you for everyones help on what i should tip.

[mcwebber]

I have got some many diffrent answers wow. So the best i could figure out is somewhere around 0.00 dollars to 50 on the first day. Thanks for all the help. I should have mentioned that i am staying in the Carnival Liberty Deluxe penthouse suite I.E. (Captins suite) room 9200. Sorry for the bold type but i copied and pasted this title. Once again thank you for everyones help on what i should tip.

 

If you want to slip the guy or gal $100, which I gather is not a significant amount of money to you, go ahead. You won't be hurting anyone else. It could make someone's day/month/year. You never know what he/she might be able to do for you in return. Spotted a cabin steward from a previous cruise and remembered her saying she collected turtles. Pins, carvings anything. Couldn't find a single turtle souvenir in Nassau on that trip. (I was really surprised.) She wasn't our steward on this cruise. But this trip she was on we were in Key West. Surprised her with a turtle from a local jewelry shop. She almost cried. The cabin stewards work very hard for very little money. In the scheme of things, the tips I give them above the $10 a day isn't much to me, but may mean a lot to them and their family.

[Froufie]

Would you tip a restaurant waitress when she introduces herself... to ensure good service throughout the meal? Few would, I suspect.

 

So why on earth would you tip the room steward in advance? Makes absolutely no sense to me!

 

I agree 100% - there is no such thing as a 'pre-tip' (who invented that?). Perhaps you can call it a 'bribe' if anything?

 

A tip is for 'services rendered' and to show your appreciation for a job well done. It it most typically offered at the conclusion of the services provided not in advance cuz how the heck do you know it's going to be good? :p

 

If you use the restaurant analogy above you should be able to understand the logic - I presume those that 'pre-tip' the steward also pretip their waitresses in restaurants before the meal, cab drivers as soon as they get into the taxi, shuttle drivers as soon as they show up, - I'm sure you get the picture - doesn't make any sense to me!:confused:

[H82seaUgo]

I was just wondering what is a good tip amount for the first day for the week. I was thinking like 100.00 dollars?

 

obviously this is a failed attempt at humor even before reading any futher.

 

per diem fares are what? $79 dollars? of course, spend more for tips than you pay for your cruise.

[ib4cruzn]

I agree 100% - there is no such thing as a 'pre-tip' (who invented that?). Perhaps you can call it a 'bribe' if anything?

 

A tip is for 'services rendered' and to show your appreciation for a job well done. It it most typically offered at the conclusion of the services provided not in advance cuz how the heck do you know it's going to be good? :p

 

If you use the restaurant analogy above you should be able to understand the logic - I presume those that 'pre-tip' the steward also pretip their waitresses in restaurants before the meal, cab drivers as soon as they get into the taxi, shuttle drivers as soon as they show up, - I'm sure you get the picture - doesn't make any sense to me!:confused:

 

Perhaps it's more akin to glad-handing the Maitre D a C note for a decent table.

[JaniceB]

I saw one post that said they tipped to keep the cooler filled and an extension cord, another about the towel animals and missing luggage, what would be other reasons to tip extra, just curious?

[H82seaUgo]

I saw one post that said they tipped to keep the cooler filled and an extension cord, another about the towel animals and missing luggage, what would be other reasons to tip extra, just curious?

 

they do that even if you don't tip at all. it's called their job.

[ooomwizard]

At work I don't pay my employees in advance as, well, they won't do as good a job. My take is, cabin stewards may work a little harder to try and please hoping to garner a good tip (and review) at the end.

 

I do tip for an added/requested service, or, if I'm just in the mood.

 

Our best method is to make friends with the staff. Ask about their family, how they like working onboard, etc. That goes a looong way towards getting great service.

[H82seaUgo]

At work I don't pay my employees in advance as, well, they won't do as good a job. My take is, cabin stewards may work a little harder to try and please hoping to garner a good tip (and review) at the end.

 

 

if someone handed me money before i did anything, i would just think "sucker!".

[cdamion]

I have gotten in the habit of tipping $10 or $20 the first day. I leave the tip with a note for them about what I would like for the week, depending on the trip (ice, extension cord, beds together/beds apart, robe, clear out minibar, etc.)

 

I suppose if I didn't request anything up front, maybe I would not be as inclined to tip ahead of time.

[SunshineOnTheBrain]

We usually tip $20 up front with requests for the week as well. Last year was the first year our room steward was not personable the first two cruises they were great. We also bring international phone cards and give them out to staff that provide exceptional service. Quite often this gets a bigger smile then $ does.

[gizfish]

They always have the beds together for my mom and I. Would you leave a tip when asking the steward to separate them?

 

Nope, but I would complain to my TA or the person who took my reservation about not accurately stating the required configuration of my room.

[cdamion]

Nope, but I would complain to my TA or the person who took my reservation about not accurately stating the required configuration of my room.

 

Regardless of the line, they RARELY have the bed configuration right - even though it has always been in the reservation.

[Name Of The Game]

Nope, but I would complain to my TA or the person who took my reservation about not accurately stating the required configuration of my room.

 

Sometimes we book online with Carnival so there's no one to speak with. Apparently they don't look at the dates of birth.

[katiel53]

Do you understand what a tip is?? It is a service provided to you that went above and beyond. Not there normal duties but something they did extra for you. Tipping before they did anything makes no sense. That is a charitable donation not a tip. Please if you feel bad for them then donate to them but that is NOT A TIP!!:mad:

 

I am not for or against pre tipping, but I totally disagree with what a tip is. I don't need someone to go beyond their duty on a cruiseline. We always tip the minimum, and I am guessing from your post you don't, but if I am wrong I misunderstood your post, and if service is beyond their normal duties, then we tip extra.

 

I guess that to us, at least, the servers, cabin stewards etc. don't have to go above and beyond to get a tip. On the other hand, if we had poor service, I think we probably would decrease the tip, but that's not something we have done in the past.

[Hooking4]

if someone handed me money before i did anything, i would just think "sucker!".

 

 

 

 

 

actually "Wee" our cabin steward said thank you very much .................

[Prphan2]

I usually give them $10 or $20 the first day. The reason for that is the fact that I ask them to leave the towel animals so I can get a group picture the last night of the cruise and to keep my ice bucket filled. I know the ice bucket should be done without the extra tip, but, leaving the towel animals isn't done unless you ask them.

 

Hmmm...I wonder why on 2 different lines our animals have never been taken apart even though we haven't asked for them to be left intact. We have group photos of all of them from the cruises we've taken.

 

Tipping ahead is so not needed. We've had stunning service and always leave a very nice "extra" tip at the end, over and above the auto-tips.