How much of an upfront tip

[earpiemom]

We have always received great service by our room stewards. But, how much do you suggest giving him/her at the very beginning to make sure we get ice to keep our drinks cold in a cooler and wonderful service. Thanks

[moisture]

they should provide the ice automatically.

[justaknucklehead]

I never tip up front unless I'm requesting something extra for the duration of the cruise. You should get good service in anticipation of the tip they will receive from you at the end of the cruise.

[Flossie]

We always give them 20.00 up front, I know that this should not help with good service that they should do that anyway but........ guess what, it does!

Just let them know that more will come at the end of the cruise.

[Michuck]

We don't have any special requests for our steward, but always give him an extra $20 at the beginning....we just tell him it's a little extra so if he can get off the ship in port, he'll have a little extra for something fun. It's more for us than for them - we found that if leaving the entire tip, plus the extra, at the end, it's usually just left in the room, and we don't get to see him to personally thank him, and we get such a good start to our cruise seeing the happy smile that they know their hard work is rewarded. It does our heart good....

 

Michele

[BonnieNYTX]

We never tip in advance. We expect excellent service and we tip at the end of the cruise accordingly. We were never disappointed with our room steward. He always made sure we had plenty of ice, made up our rooms in record time and was always accommodating of our every wish. We made sure we gave him his tip (more than the minimum listed) the next to last day when we saw him to personally thank him for making our cruise so pleasant. These guys really work hard.

[cruiserbarb]

I usually give $20 on the first day when we introduce ourselves. I started this when we needed a little extra help and found that I got even better service than usual. However, I must say I just returned from the Voyager and was not impressed with our steward. She was adequate, but that's all. I think from now on I will wait until mid-week and give extra. I think I will do the same with my waiters because they are always outstanding.

[jaxon41]

Just a little confused. I have read threads which say that ship staff is strictly prohibited from taking tips other than end of cruise -- that they all pool, and can be in big trouble if they accept tips on the "side" and don't "pool" them. Anyone have a definitive answer?

[Merion_Mom]

That's Princess, not Royal Caribbean. :)

[Happy ks]

I have never given a gratuity upfront and have always received excellent service from our room stewards. I would never have even thought of it except for reading about it on these boards. It's really not necessary.

[cruise182]

Where is Flagger......Love to see what he has to say about this!!!

[Lightsluvr]

Everybody to his own...but personally we now write a brief note (on RCI stationery found in the room desk) telling our steward, waiter and assistant waiter how much we appreciate their service and in a sealed envelope we enclose a cash token at on the first day of the cruise - for a 7 day cruise, we usually enclose $20 for the steward, $20 for the waiter and $15 for the assistant waiter. We leave the steward's envelope on the mirror in the stateroom. In the dining room, we wait until the end of the first dinner to make sure we don't need to change tables and that the initial level of service was as expected. Then as we leave, we discretely hand the envelopes to our servers with a quiet thank you...

At the end of the cruise, if service has been excellent, we tip the RCI recommended amount and may even put a little extra cash in the envelope.

Again, this is our personal preference and reflects how we feel about the level and consistency of service we have expereinced on RCI.

[seagarsmoker]

Everybody to his own...but personally we now write a brief note (on RCI stationery found in the room desk) telling our steward, waiter and assistant waiter how much we appreciate their service and in a sealed envelope we enclose a cash token at on the first day of the cruise - for a 7 day cruise, we usually enclose $20 for the steward, $20 for the waiter and $15 for the assistant waiter. We leave the steward's envelope on the mirror in the stateroom. In the dining room, we wait until the end of the first dinner to make sure we don't need to change tables and that the initial level of service was as expected. Then as we leave, we discretely hand the envelopes to our servers with a quiet thank you...

At the end of the cruise, if service has been excellent, we tip the RCI recommended amount and may even put a little extra cash in the envelope.

Again, this is our personal preference and reflects how we feel about the level and consistency of service we have expereinced on RCI.

 

We do almost the exact same thing. When we meet our room steward, I ask for a couple of 'special' or 'extra' items and always recieve our requests without a hesitation. That is when I hand them a thank you envelope.

[98Charlie]

We also have never tipped up front and always receive great service with the exception of one steward on one cruise. I really believe in his case it would have been wasted money.

 

I do like the idea of tipping the steward on the next to last full day or at least the morning of the last full day. They are so busy on the last evening that you do seldom see them.

 

Charlie

[Merion_Mom]

The ONLY time I tipped up front, we had LOUSY service. I think that most of them want to do an excellent job, and don't need a PUSH to deliver it. A steward who DOESN'T care, still won't care with $$ ahead of time.

 

JMO.