What have you done for your room steward?

[Havin'fun]

Every room steward we have had has always been so friendly and always willing to do what they can to make our cruise special. We prepay our tips but we always give them "extra" in an envelope at the end of the cruise.

 

In addition to tips, we always try to do a little something special. On the last cruise we won a bottle of champagne at the Meet and Mingle. We are not champagne drinkers so we offered it to the room steward. He said he had a crew party that night and would put it to good use ;)

 

The cruise before that, I made an elephant towel animal for the room steward (learned to do this on a previous cruise). When I walked down the hall to give it to him he was speechless and gave me a hug. He said that no-one had ever made him a towel animal before. When I saw him in the hall the next night he still had it on top of his cart!

 

So what have you done for your room steward?

[buzzandjulie]

We also tip extra usually at beginning and end however we have also often times bring small crystal figure from international company. We have also left wine at end of cruise that we received cc party

[petel]

We also tip extra usually at beginning and end however we have also often times bring small crystal figure from international company. We have also left wine at end of cruise that we received cc party

 

We keep all of our stuff put away all of the time. Never leave anything on the floor, counters, or furniture. They never need to clean around anything of ours. :D

 

We also treat them the way we want to be treated, with respect and patience. :cool:

[Langley Cruisers]

The cruise before that' date=' I made an elephant towel animal for the room steward (learned to do this on a previous cruise)....[/quote']

 

We did that once too and our steward chuckled. :D

 

We keep all of our stuff put away all of the time. Never leave anything on the floor, counters, or furniture. They never need to clean around anything of ours. :D ..We also treat them the way we want to be treated, with respect and patience. :cool:

 

Absolutely, sounds like us too. We are very neat and keep our cabin tidy at all times. It makes us feel better, and I'm sure it helps the steward out. We have passed rooms when the door was open and marveled at the mess some people leave. Seriously. Woah. :eek:

[matj2000]

Just tip them what we are supposed to at the end of the trip.

Sometimes extra if they do the request we ask.

We never have felt like we need to be best friends for life because they cleaned our cabin for a week..

[Langley Cruisers]

Matt, no one said anything remotely like that. This thread is about doing something nice and unexpected for the steward outside of tips. We all fully realize that they work for money just like all of us do. Have you never done something nice for anyone out of the goodness of your heart? :p

[Merion_Mom]

Matt, no one said anything remotely like that. This thread is about doing something nice and unexpected for the steward outside of tips. We all fully realize that they work for money just like all of us do. Have you never done something nice for anyone out of the goodness of your heart? :p

 

Was that a RHETORICAL QUESTION, Karen? ;)

[gfd_2]

we tip the attendant as soon as possible after we embark and we've never been disappointed.

[jamesr3939]

We try to tease with them over the course of the trip. Hide a rubber snake or fake plastic hand in the toilet. Best was using dental floss to make the snake pop out from the shower.

 

Then after all is said and done we tip extra and give them alcohol that they don't have in the crew bar. Ask around and they will let you know what is there. The stuff they have in the crew bar is usually pretty cheap, like 50 cents for a beer. But some stuff they don't have access to.

 

I recall buying some Labats Black label in Vancouver that our waiter went crazy over. Of course that was the days when you could take alcohol onboard.

[Havin'fun]

We try to tease with them over the course of the trip. Hide a rubber snake or fake plastic hand in the toilet. Best was using dental floss to make the snake pop out from the shower.

.

Love it! :D

[OCruisers]

We are University of South Carolina fans ... Gamecocks. Our mascot is Cocky.

DH had a visor that said "Go Cocks". Our room steward loved it and told us several times he would love to know where he could get one. DH left his for him with the normal cash.

 

Normally, CA$H is all we do and what is most appreciated.

 

LuLu

~~~~~

[publicpersona]

Everyone likes to be appreciated, and these folks are no exception.

 

Having said that, remember that their crew quarters are cramped, and gifts of trinkets and such almost certainly end up in the trash can. Yes, they will fawn over it and make you feel like you did the nicest thing for them in the whole world, but no.

 

Want to make their day? Be low maintenance. Respect their time. Give them money.

[Snobe]

We are University of South Carolina fans ... Gamecocks. Our mascot is Cocky.

DH had a visor that said "Go Cocks". Our room steward loved it and told us several times he would love to know where he could get one. DH left his for him with the normal cash.

 

Normally, CA$H is all we do and what is most appreciated.

 

LuLu

~~~~~

 

If he had known about Tigers, he wouldn't have wanted it. :):D:)

[ozbrian]

we tip the attendant as soon as possible after we embark and we've never been disappointed.

 

We tip the attendant at the end of the cruise and we've never been disappointed either.

[Tucker in Texas]

I take a sack of snack size candy and leave a piece every day with a note thanking him/her for something along with $2. It could be for responding to a special request or just "thanks for keeping our cabin so neat and clean." I can always find something.

 

At the end of the cruise, we leave a final note and $10 or $20. This is in addition to the auto tips. Only once have I not left money at the end. I think it was the last week before his contract expired and he didn't care. When you have to beg for three days to get a bar of soap, you know you are in trouble (lol). Taking up the uneaten chocolates didn't help his cause either.

 

If going into port to explore on our own, we ask him/her if there is anything they would like us to pick up for them. Sometimes it is a toiletry like toothpaste other times a snack or drink they can't get on the ship. They've never said a new suit/dress would be nice (lol). Always something inexpensive.

 

One thing they appreciate almost as much as cash is to be recognized by name in the exit survey. This gets them promotions, extra days off, etc.

 

Tucker in Texas

[orville99]

Matt, no one said anything remotely like that. This thread is about doing something nice and unexpected for the steward outside of tips. We all fully realize that they work for money just like all of us do. Have you never done something nice for anyone out of the goodness of your heart? :p

 

I'm with Matt on this one :)

[Ashland]

We did that once too and our steward chuckled. :D

 

 

 

Absolutely, sounds like us too. We are very neat and keep our cabin tidy at all times. It makes us feel better, and I'm sure it helps the steward out. We have passed rooms when the door was open and marveled at the mess some people leave. Seriously. Woah. :eek:

Us too..I even kinda straighten out the bed in the mornings...We've passed many of "those" cabins too...:eek:

[justluv2cruisewithhubby]

We keep our cabin clean and neat where they hardly have to do any work, but we always appreciate their hard work and always give additional money at the end of the cruise in addition to the auto tipping. On our two week cruise in Hawaii our room steward was "Mary" very nice woman, worked 14-16 hours per day it was her last cruise before she went home for two months to be with her daughter in the Philippines.

 

We purchased chocolate covered macadamia nuts to bring home as well as Hawaiian T-shirts for her and her daughter.

[Blue Line]

We try to keep our room neat, we pre-pay gratuities and leave him/her cash every night.

[Langley Cruisers]

I'm with Matt on this one :)

 

That's cool, whatever. :)

 

Us too..I even kinda straighten out the bed in the mornings...We've passed many of "those" cabins too...:eek:

 

Indeed! Interesting, nonetheless. :D

[macruisefan]

we have also often times bring small crystal figure from international company

 

#stuffonthebottomoftheocean

[dwdwnurse]

We had the best stateroom attendant on our last cruise...one night he made a person out of our bathrobe, hoodie, hat and sunglasses (said that they weren't supposed to do this, but he knew we would like it). We placed it on our sofa overnight and the next morning I put him on the toilet. I made 2 legs out of our pool towels and put them into my sneakers. I propped a Cruise Compass in his hands and turned the light off. When we came back from breakfast he was laughing all the way from the end of the hallway! He said he got all of the other stateroom attendants to see it and even called his supervisor. At first she thought he had done it, but he said, "No..they did it!" hahaha He said we really got him :)

 

At the end, we left him a bottle of rum that he liked, some honey mustard pretzel bites that we never opened and a brand new tube of toothpaste...kind of a strange combo, but things he said he would really like :) We also tipped him very well and gave him a big hug good-bye...we were all teary eyed when we left.

[dplusd]

Everyone likes to be appreciated, and these folks are no exception.

 

Having said that, remember that their crew quarters are cramped, and gifts of trinkets and such almost certainly end up in the trash can. Yes, they will fawn over it and make you feel like you did the nicest thing for them in the whole world, but no.

 

Want to make their day? Be low maintenance. Respect their time. Give them money.

 

"Like"

[gaylemh]

I always leave an extra tip at the end of a cruise. I sail solo and prepay my tips. I feel bad that they are only getting tips for one instead of two, so I always leave enough extra to cover the tips for an extra person, plus a little more. I always have left over bottles of water and vitamin water, that I bring on board. I leave all the extras with the tip, along with the bottle of wine my TA sends.

[wwcruisers]

Don't want to presume that I would know my stewards likes/dislikes, so I don't try to think of gifts for them. However, for great service, we always tip extra, give top marks on the comment card, and "talk them up" to their supervisors (Head Housekeeper, etc), whenever we get the chance. :cool: