How do you tip a porter?

[f1mauro]

Exactly my feelings. I am not interested in his earnings nor he in mine. Here's $20 can you not tamper with my bags?

 

Mike:)

 

Fixed it for you

[bhopal21]

Fixed it for you

 

The porters don't have time to tamper with your bags since all the do is load them onto the cages.

 

MIke:)

[Boytjie]

Just to give another Miami porter experience: we boarded the MSC Divina from a shuttle our travel agent arranged and there was a bag I intended to carry-on (and had no ship luggage tag on) that I left with the other bags. Having lunch onboard I realized my mistake and T really wanted that bag with me. I disembarked, went over to where our bags were loaded and explained my situation to the porter. I described the bag and we both started looking through the cages with luggage. When I spotted the bag he retrieved it for me. I tried to tip him but he would not take it, he said that wasn't necessary.

[CharlesOK]

NEVER allow your passport to get out of your immediate possession until you personally put it into your cabin safe. DO NOT put it in any bag that might end up handed to a porter.

[Kingofcool1947]

Why?

[Kingofcool1947]

Ft Lauderdale, once I did not leave a tip 'to their satisfaction', finally received our last piece of our luggage very late in the day. Why? because our stateroom number was incorrectly written from 12723 to 12237. As was mentioned before in this thread, EXTORTION is the perfect word for their behavior, bullying tourists for large tips. They should be investigated and properly dealt with for this inexcusible behavior IMHO.

 

Didn't you attach the luggage tags provided by Princess?

BTW: what amount of tip did you leave? Number of bags?

Edited December 23, 2014 by Kingofcool1947

[AZbeachboy]

I don't care if the guy taking my luggage is Warren Buffet or Freddie the Freeloader.

 

I just could not resist. Your showing your age.:D

[pablo222]

And I don't care if the guy taking my luggage is Warren Buffet or Freddie the Freeloader.

 

It's is Warren Buffet, it might be time to dump BRK.A

[zaos]

I'd tip the porters as much as skycaps, since they do similar work.

 

In other words, couple bucks per bag. $20 is just overdoing it.

[JimmyVWine]

I just could not resist. Your showing your age.:D

Ahhh. Actually, I used those references to account for everyone else's age! (Though my father-in-law does have a nice collection of Red Skelton paintings).

[knbcruisers]

We tend to tip generously. We have sailed from Miami and FLL. 2 of our 4 cruises we had a lot of stuff as we had the whole family. I brought a case of wine, case of water, bag with snorkel gear, pack n play for GS, lots of luggage. We gave the guy $50 to move a Suburban full of stuff and it was worth every penny. DH likes to remind me not to be cheap about this stuff and that we have spent that for much more pointless reasons than ensuring all of stuff gets to the cabin without any problems.

[PunkiC]

In Seattle I always notice that the porters are older, especially on Sundays. This is because the senior people have priority and working on Sundays pays really big bucks, even bigger than their typical big bucks.

 

IMHO, their grabbing my bag out of my hand before I can put it on the belt doesn't equate to much value added.

 

Personally, I wouldn't tip them at all unless I actually needed their help. DH tips them (I don't know how much) because that's what he does whether the service is useless or not.

[pegpowell]

Regardless of what you tip (and what it shows about you), if porters are threatening and damaging bags because of lack of tips, they aren't doing the job they are being paid to do in a proper manner. They should be fired.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

The intimidation fear is overwhelming to some people. They'll tip $10 or more to someone who hardly lifts a finger one time & stiff someone else on the ship who caters to them the whole trip. Amazing. :cool:

[donaldsc]

Let's assume that the average tip for the porter is $5 per bag. Let's also assume that the average number of bags per party is 3 bags. Lets also assume that the average number of parties the porter can handle is 6 (that is 10 minutes per transaction which is obviously very low). This means that the porter is earning at least $90 per hour for moving bags. Based on a FTE of 2000 hours, his effective yearly salary if he really did work 40 hours per week is $180,000 per year.

 

How much do you earn per hour?

 

I know that you will say that he is only working a few hours per week but that is his problem because he has chosen to work a part time job. Nobody forced him to take that job. Even if he only worked 10 hours per week for 20 weeks per year, that is $18,000 per year. Not bad for very part time work.

 

Bottom line is that when he is working, he is making at least $90 per hour. You can also bet that most of that $90 per hour is tax free.

 

That is why I do not tip the porters. Do the math.

 

DON

Edited December 23, 2014 by donaldsc

[pegpowell]

In San Francisco, the porters are members of the longshoreman's Union. While they aren't working at the cruise terminal everyday, they can be working elsewhere. It certainly can be a full time job.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Let's assume that the average tip for the porter is $5 per bag. Let's also assume that the average number of bags per party is 3 bags. Lets also assume that the average number of parties the porter can handle is 6 (that is 10 minutes per transaction which is obviously very low). This means that the porter is earning at least $90 per hour for moving bags. Based on a FTE of 2000 hours, his effective yearly salary if he really did work 40 hours per week is $180,000 per year.

 

How much do you earn per hour?

 

I know that you will say that he is only working a few hours per week but that is his problem because he has chosen to work a part time job. Nobody forced him to take that job. Even if he only worked 10 hours per week for 20 weeks per year, that is $18,000 per year. Not bad for very part time work.

 

Bottom line is that when he is working, he is making at least $90 per hour. You can also bet that most of that $90 per hour is tax free.

 

That is why I do not tip the porters. Do the math.

 

DON

I had an old article from California a number of years ago which documented their salaries and I lost it when my computer crashed but even in that period of time it was over $100 K so well over $180 K isn't that farfetched.

[Kingofcool1947]

We are fairly new to crusing.

 

So, can one carry their own large roller bags (2) up the gangway, and to their cabin? Avoiding tipping the dockside porters?

 

Do you people do that?

 

We are not concerned about having lunch onboard upon embarkation.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Kingofcool1947

[shredie]

So, can one carry their own roller bags (2) up the gangway, and to their cabin bypassing using the dock porters?

 

We are not concerned about having lunch onboard upon embarkation.

 

Yes, as long as they fit through the security scanners. I've done it.

[Kingofcool1947]

Oups. Forgot about the luggage having to go through the ship scanner. Guess I'll have the dockside porters do the schlepping. $2 per bag is no biggie. Afterrall, we'll be on vacation! And having the porters do the heavy lifting, it will save my backi.:)

 

Thanks.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Kingofcool1947

[zaos]

Regardless of what you tip (and what it shows about you), if porters are threatening and damaging bags because of lack of tips, they aren't doing the job they are being paid to do in a proper manner. They should be fired.

 

If they are damaging bags on purpose, I'd say criminal and civil charges are in order.

[Colo Cruiser]

If they are damaging bags on purpose, I'd say criminal and civil charges are in order.

 

Damage for retaliation/carelessness happens pretty often and has for many years. I doubt any charges are ever filed because they are never caught.

[JimmyVWine]

 

How much do you earn per hour?

 

I know that you will say that he is only working a few hours per week but that is his problem because he has chosen to work a part time job.

 

A) A lot more than that.

B) What one tips is based on the service one receives, not on the worker's lot in life. The bellman at the hotel chose to do what he does. The valet who parks your car chose to do what he does. The waiter in the restaurant chose to do what she does. So what? Does their career choice affect the service you receive? Is it right or fair to say that they chose a life of low wages so we should fulfill the expectation or stereotype?

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

We are fairly new to crusing.

 

So, can one carry their own large roller bags (2) up the gangway, and to their cabin? Avoiding tipping the dockside porters?

 

Do you people do that?

 

We are not concerned about having lunch onboard upon embarkation.

We've been doing it for years now.

It avoids the porters, not having to worry about packing anything of value, you can pack anything that could be squashed and you'll know it'll be safe and you'll have you luggage to unpack immediately.

[reney313]

I'm shocked at how many really think about how much the porters make in determining if they are going to tip or how much to tip.

 

I guess as a former server/bartender, someone could look at a good day and think I was making $100K also...which would be severely misguided.

 

I have always tipped based on what I thought was fair for the service (and expected).

 

I tip $2-$3 a bag to the porter..if there is something complicated/heavy, I give extra. It's not that difficult, I've paid quite a bit for my vacation (airfare, pre and/or post night hotel, excursions, onboard expenses, and the cruise itself)...the extra bit of tipping is not going to make or break me and they are providing a service. The amount they make for that 2-3 hours at the port that day is irrelevant to the tip I provide.