Cash for tips

[schlimazel_traveler]

My family and I (four people) are cruising for the first time tomorrow.

We will pre-pay the required gratuities but would like to know what cash to bring for on-the-spot tips, like luggage porters, room service waiter, concierge assistance, and drinks in the Concierge Lounge (we're in a suite), spa services should we use them (or is that included in the price or the service?), etc.

 

Is a dollar or two an appropriate tip on each occasion, or should we have $5s or $10s for some of these folks?

 

Do we tip the concierge each time he helps us or just at the end of the cruise? Or both?

 

I know some people like to be very generous--we would like to do what is expected of courteous and thoughtful passengers, but don't necessarily feel the need to make ourselves out to be rolling in dough. (We're not.)

[cb at sea]

Tips for the porters are commonly $1-2 per bag. Room service is $1-5 per order, depending on how much they have to carry to you!

 

All other tips (aside from those you've pre-paid) are done on the last evening, so there's no need to carry cash around the ship with you.

 

The spa sometimes adds the tip to the bill....check the bill before you add additional. All drink orders will have 15% added to the cost. In the CL, you can tip anything you wish on the last evening. No need to tip as you go.

 

Unless someone goes above and beyond your expectations, there's no need to tip additionally to your attendant, waiter, ass't. waiter and head waiter. That's who your "pre-paid" tips will cover.

[yogimax]

Of all the folks you mentioned, it would be the drink waiters in the Concierge Lounge who would probably be the most deserving of tips. We typically wait until the last night and then give them a nice tip that covers the entire week.

 

A dollar or two is appropriate for porters and room service.

 

We have at times tipped the concierge and at times not tipped depending on their level of involvment.

 

I haven't used the spa services but I think my wife tips about 15%.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[Trekker954]

We tip porters about $2-2.50/per bag. We tip room service about $2or$3 but rarely use this service. We tend to tip the Diamond lounge waiters per night so we don't have to chase them down to get a drink (they seem more attentive if they know we tip nightly). I think most wait until the last night. I tip the concierge the last night (the amount will depend on how helpful they were to us but we always give him/her something.

 

If you are doing excursions, you may want to bring extra cash to tip the guides as well.

[kymbakitty]

We are somewhere in the middle on what people propose to tip on this message board. We are not rolling in the dough, but we do save up all year for our vacations and build in these types of ancillary costs as they are a part of the cruise.

 

We may be a little bit high on some--others may be on the lower end. But here is very typical of what we do. Remember, this is just a guide...you go with your gut and your heart and you will know what to do. Most important is that your basic gratituties have been covered (we do that too..one less thing to take care of on cruise ship).

 

Our last cruise was a 14 day TA on the LOS in Oct/Nov 2012, so this is still pretty fresh in my brain--ha!

 

We were in an OS, so we had access to the CL. However, because there were SOOOO many people on this shp that had access, the 5:00 - 8:30 nightly reception was held in Olive or Twist. Because of this, we actually only ended up going there 3 times out of 14 days. Just too much of a bar scene for us and it was PACKED to the GILLS. I am sure that if we really wanted to go more often, we would have found a better time to visit...but my DH does not drink alcohol, so his tolerance level for that type of environment is pretty low. I am sure he would have joined me much more often if it was actually held in the dedicated CL.

 

Olive or Twist (CL Lounge):

 

As far as tips, in this case, these guys made $$! I could pretty much order anything I wanted...and I often left $5.00 for two drinks. I saw people leave more and I saw people order a huge round of drinks for their table and leave a $20. We both said that those guys probably made more $$ than their counterparts--but they were excellent bartenders. I figured any one of those drinks I ordered would have cost me $7-$9...so a couple bucks for each was a deal. Plus, they were EXCELLENT bartenders.

 

Room Service:

 

We got a LOT of room service on this cruise. More than any other cruise to date. Mostly because we actually had a dining room table (never ate in MDR for breakfast or dinner one time in 14 days). We had $5's in the small drawer in the cabinet next to bathroom. We never gave less than $5.00 per order (always lunch or dinner though...never just drinks). We had a bunch of ones too. There were periodic deliveries of petit fours and fruit plates from room service (in the suites). We typically just gave these guys $2. We would give them more if they took plates away from our suite (from previous room service deliveries). They were always happy to do it and always had the room on their carts.

 

Conceirge:

 

We left her $30. We actually didn't see her often. Mostly because when I did go in the designated CL, they were LINED up to see her like a deli counter. And, she was in the Olive or Twist in the evenings, so this was kind of a bummer (for us). But she did help us figure out our status conversion with RCI, helped my DH with a spa issue, and was very gracious about giving us DVDs for our DVD player in the suite. She always left personal messages for us in our suites about different things that we NEEDED to know (and she did this without having to actually ring the phone, which was appreciated). Most importantly, was embarkation. Wow...that was worth the price of a suite alone! She walked us basically out to the front through these various staff elevators...awesome! I don't even know how much time we saved in line, but it had to be at least an hour! We never had her make any reservations for us though...really no need. We had the preferred seating so I'm not sure why people have them do that.

 

Room Steward:

 

We gave her an extra $50 (DH said we left her $70...can't be sure...but this was for a 14 day cruise). She was AWESOME! We don't get room service 2 x day. We never have...that is kind of silly to us. And a couple of days, we told her we were fine and she didn't have to come in at all. She always kept our ice full, always made sure we had new daily dining menus and was always near by if we needed anything. Out of a dozen or so cruises, most being two weeks in length, she is probably a stand out. I think the stewards that take care of the suite passengers are chosen because they are very good. Not to say that other stewards assigned to inside cabins aren't awesome as well.

 

Portofino/Chops Restaurant:

 

We went to the speciality restaurant twice. We left an additional $10 cash one time and $15 the other. Yes, there is a place on the receipt to add tip, but everyone prefers CASH.

 

Spa Service:

 

They add 15% automatically on your bill. There is an extra space for additional tip if you are so inclined. DH had one of the worst massages ever on this cruise. He has a standing massage appointment at home, twice a month, so this is not a foreign matter to him. He did not tip extra...that was how I KNEW he did not have a good experience.

 

Porters:

 

This is where we may be a little on the high end. But the thought of giving someone $1.00 a bag is just ridiculous (to us). It is nearly 2013 and people were giving porters $1.00 a bag 30 years ago. So for us, we typically give $5 for porters taking our luggage to/from our hotel room and $10 for porters that are responsible for schlepping our luggage to/from cruise ship. We certainly don't want to do this and really appreciate the service. And I can see that we are not atypical. It seems as people age, they tend to be more generous in this area because we simply don't want to or can't schlepp six pieces of luggage like we did or could when we were 30! Again, we take longer cruises, so you will never see us with just a carry on luggage going on vacation! More power to those folks--just not us.

 

Alcohol:

 

15% is automatically added to anything purchased from any of the bar servers. If you want to tip additional, you can, but not necessary. There are some passengers that spend a great deal of time in bars and get to know certain bartenders on cruise ships. If that is the case, there is probably a reason to tip one or more of these folks that provide exceptional service for your entire cruise. That's just not us. We rarely see a bartender twice. Only exception was our experience with Renaldo in Olive or Twist. And even though we only saw him 3 times, we did tip his very well. I can't even tell you why I thought he was so good...but he really was and just made me feel very special and pampered in just the few short visits we had with him. He is in the right job!

 

Tours:

 

If you do any tours, bring some extra cash for tips (bus drivers/tour guides). Typically, tour operators usually get 10% - 15% tips (from cost of tour). We have always done this and in our small circle of friends that cruise, this is what they do too. If your tour operator is a real stand out, then more. If your tour operator was not so great, then less. But you will often see a separate little "kitty" for the bus driver. They always deserve a tip in my book for getting us to/from ship in a safe and TIMELY manner. Also, a lot of the little hole in the wall locations that you may find yourself (during these tours) do not all take credit cards. This is for food too. Always take some cash with you in case credit cards are not accepted.

 

Enjoy!

 

Dawn

[matj2000]

I usually bring $200 in one dollars bills for tipping the entire trip.

Nothing is set in stone and I tip as I feel appropriate.

Mainly on bar drinks, cocktail servers, Windjammer servers who do things for us, ect. It helps get better service throughout the trip.

 

I only tip the luggage porters because if I don't I might never see my stuff again.

We also use this money ashore at the ports..