Yes, another thread on tipping...

[SusieV]

Just curious as to people's thoughts. Many people have posted, and I agree, that exceptional service merits a better than recommended tip.

 

If you receive poor service, would you give a lower than recommended tip? On our last cruise, our steward actually caused us hassles several times and actually threw away personal items, as opposed to making our stay more comfortable. We simply did not feel she had earned her gratuity and we tipped 75% of the recommended amount. We had spoken to Guest Services to attempt to remedy the situation but no improvement had occurred by the end of the cruise.

 

We also left comments about our negative experience (facts only) on the comment card.

 

Thoughts?

[flagger]

We don't tip at all, but we did leave negative comments on the comment card about our horrible steward on our Alaskan cruise last September.

[dakrewser]

Just curious as to people's thoughts. Many people have posted, and I agree, that exceptional service merits a better than recommended tip.

 

If you receive poor service, would you give a lower than recommended tip?

 

What you was, to me, exactly appropriate. You might even have over-tipped! The "recommended tip" should be the base amount for an adequate job. If the person does better, tip more (I do), and if the person does worse, tip less (I do).

 

Where the work is poor and the attitude is worse, I often leave a note suggesting the person find another line of work...

[newtocc]

I’m with Flagger, I never tip, these people are raking in hundreds of dollars a month, that’s a few thousand dollars a year, what more do they want, our first born?

[Gimpster]

I'm a generous tipper.

In the situation which you described, I think zero would be appropriate.

Life's lessons can be unpleasant.

[tlmlb]

We don't tip at all, but we did leave negative comments on the comment card about our horrible steward on our Alaskan cruise last September.

 

So you sponge off everyone else's tips? Your failure only makes others responsible. Why add insult to injury by trashing the steward, you got exactly what you paid for. Explanations that its not required etc. is just rationalizing selfishness. Tipping is part of cruising culture and not to tip is shirking your responsibility as a guest.

 

Jeez, everyone needs to make theirs. I dare say you would not work for free. To me, marginal service deserves the minimum recommendation of $70 per week per person for three meals and steward service.

 

I think that I would institute comment cards for the staff about rude passengers. Would give them a chance to vent and get peer instruction and feedback on how to turn that passenger into a happy guest. As management, I would recognize team members who do this. Could you imagine how fun some of those teambuilding meetings could be??

[cruising with marti]

We don't tip at all, but we did leave negative comments on the comment card about our horrible steward on our Alaskan cruise last September.

 

 

I happen to know that Mr. Flagger is a very big tipper, he also likes to pull everyones leg:D

 

 

 

Phil

[gkm]

Phil, you have mail!

 

Garry

[geoherb]

Susie: I always hope to clear up any problems early on in a cruise. We had a bad waiter on one cruise. A gentleman at our table spoke to the maitre d' the first night, and he assigned us a great one for the rest of the week.

 

I suggest speaking to the assistant chief housekeeper if your cabin steward isn't doing an adequate job. We've been fortunate to always have cabin stewards who were better than adequate. Some have been better than others. We've never had one throw away personal items. What did you lose?

[SusieV]

Early in the cruise, it was more that her behaviour gave us the impression that we were bothering her when we called for a room service meal from the galley.

 

Later on, it took three requests at Guest Relations to have her deliver our comment cards. Evidently she knew she hadn't earned a good rating.

 

The night we got our paperwork, we left our completed customs forms and luggage tags on the nightstand while we had dinner. They didn't look like garbage! When we came back, they were gone. We tore the cabin apart and they were nowhere to be found.

 

We had also asked for the contents of our refrigerator to be removed and filled it with our own soda. We knew how many were in the fridge and the steward actually took some of our soda!

 

When we came back home, I spent over a week arguing over charges she had added to our bill the day of, for a bathrobe and the minibar, neither of which we had used. Revenge I suppose for shorting her tip? I do think we gave her more than she deserved.