How do you tip a porter?

[AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)]

I never thought of it before, but when your cruise is over, you go find your bags among the thousands of others, stacked neatly (or not so neatly) in the large hall. Who takes all of the bags out of the cages and lines them up?

 

Stan

[delirious9876]

Well thats something to be proud of.

Not proud at all, just adding my view/actions to the thread as I have a right to do without having sarcastic comments made.

[Kinkacruiser]

I never thought of it before, but when your cruise is over, you go find your bags among the thousands of others, stacked neatly (or not so neatly) in the large hall. Who takes all of the bags out of the cages and lines them up?

 

Stan

 

Good point. I wonder of all the 'embarking' porter tips are pooled and shared with those who unload at the disembarking point. Now that would be fair.

[OCruisers]

When we drop our luggage off with the porters to be put on the ship we tip $5 per bag.

[rdsqrl]

So much invective in this thread against workers who are being presumed to be making too much money. If you people are all so jealous of the dockworkers' salaries that you can't even part with a couple dollars when you hand over a suitcase, then maybe you should get yourself one of those jobs. I have a sneaking suspicion you might find out it's a little harder work than the cushy sinecure some of you are making it out to be.

[Times Prince]

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.

I wouldn't advise carrying large roller bags yourself. The ramps up to the ship can be a little steep, and if you are in a queue standing there, a large bag can be hard to control from rolling back down into the next passenger. I've even had problems with smaller airline carry-on bags, especially in Port Everglades.

[Kingofcool1947]

Thank you.

 

We'll just let the dockside porters handle our 2 large Pullmans. For a couple of $ it is no biggie.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Kingofcool1947

[imtired1959]

I agree. It is no biggie if I am not accosted to tip. I typically give $4 to $5 a bag anyway.

 

If you were to read my post earlier in this thread, you would see that my issue is when the porters directly say that my bag may not make it to the ship if I don't hand them a tip.

[jak378]

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Below is part of a post on the "Live (better late than never!) From the Star Princess (Hawaii)' Thread. We are seriously concerned about our bags on our upcoming trip. We've always tipped about $5 for two bags, but I'm seriously considering raising that to $10 or $20. We wish we could carry our bags on. Does anyone know the size of the scanner?

 

Embarkation - total chaos. I don't however blame Princess for this....there were significant problems with the port of SF and in particular the Porters. The Porters were rude bullies who did their best to sucker as many passengers as possible by telling them BS such as it would cost them $5 per bag for them to take their bags for them. There was zero order, lines were irrelevant...whoever was waving money got assistance...others just waited - most people confused. That's the one time we said Princess could have done more - they needed to have more representation outside assisting and directing people.

 

We are seasoned cruisers, so even though SF was new, we knew what should be happening, and my husband is fairly aggressive so we were not "had", but many new cruisers had no idea what was going on. Add to that the fact that it was raining and crowded and tensions were high. As it turned out, the Porters apparently decided to enforce their contract and stopped working at 5pm even though there was plenty of luggage still on the pier (contract says they can only work so many hrs without a break). They were also apparently not happy with the tips they were receiving or what was going on so they dumped an entire pallet of luggage into the ocean - seriously. Rumour has it a few pieces were never recovered (unconfirmed), and that Princess staff were the ones fishing them out of the Pacific.

 

We were supposed to leave at 5, but didn't leave til after 11pm. The late departure did not affect our timings or arrival in Mexico, so was of no consequence, and as I mentioned, we did not hold Princess responsible for the fiasco, and certainly did not let it spoil our first day. I'm certain Princess will be having a "conversation" with the Port Authority....after all - they don't need to depart from here.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Love.II.Cruise

[bhopal21]

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

 

I agree and that has always been our mantra as well.

 

Mike:)

[xavier]

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

 

Could not have said it better myself! You captured my sentiments exacelty.

[paddingtonbear]

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

 

But I thought that was what the American tipping culture was all about-compensating people for poorly paid work?

 

Where does it stop?

Please don't bring this culture to Australia or spread it around the world. :(

Edited January 2, 2015 by paddingtonbear

[donaldsc]

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

 

As hard as it may seem to others who have read my porter posts, I totally agree with you, especially with regard to your disembarkment experience. In both cases, the porters were not pushy and they provided a valuable service for which they should have been tipped.

 

My beef w porters is when they carry your bags 5 feet from your cab or bus to the luggage cart and then intimidate you into paying a hefty tip. This is not providing a service to me. This is extortion.

 

DON

[jak378]

But I thought that was what the American tipping culture was all about-compensating people for poorly paid work?

 

Where does it stop?

Please don't bring this culture to Australia or spread it around the world. :(

 

You ask where does it stop, well I guess it stops in Australia. Please not to worry I already corrupted your "culture" in 1976 when I spent several months there. Even there I believed in rewarding good, helpful and desired service.

 

It would probably be best if you did not venture far from "Australia's sunny shores," but I suspect that you already have.

[bhopal21]

But I thought that was what the American tipping culture was all about-compensating people for poorly paid work?

 

Not at all.

 

It is about rewarding people for good service, period.

 

Mike:)

[GUT2407]

Not at all.

 

It is about rewarding people for good service, period.

 

Mike:)

 

 

So if the service is poor or barely average I don't tip, is that right????

[Reader0108598]

But I thought that was what the American tipping culture was all about-compensating people for poorly paid work?

 

Where does it stop?

Please don't bring this culture to Australia or spread it around the world. :(

 

 

Please know that not all americans subscribe to this theory. Yes I tip but do not over tip it is not my responsibility to pay other peoples wages. I guess if you can afford that you are welcome to do it.

 

We roll our own bags off the ship, through customs where we meet the surly taxi driver (Fort Lauderdale )who also tries to extort money from us (Note I said tries):D

 

Reader

Edited January 2, 2015 by Reader0108598

[Reader0108598]

So if the service is poor or barely average I don't tip, is that right????

 

Yes that is correct!

 

Reader

[babyher]

As hard as it may seem to others who have read my porter posts, I totally agree with you, especially with regard to your disembarkment experience. In both cases, the porters were not pushy and they provided a valuable service for which they should have been tipped.

 

My beef w porters is when they carry your bags 5 feet from your cab or bus to the luggage cart and then intimidate you into paying a hefty tip. This is not providing a service to me. This is extortion.

 

DON

 

Thank you for calling it exactly what it is >

 

Everyone has pretty much said in one way or another you don't tip them and something happens to your bags

 

If you went to a land based restaurant and the waitress comes to your table and said "I am the one who will be handling your food when you can't see it before it gets to your table. You would be screaming for a manager.

 

If a baby sitter or day care provider told you "I will be the one alone with your child all day/night til you get back"

 

If a nursing home staff told you "I am the one who makes sure your mother gets her meds and food and is taken care of when you are not around . You wuld be screaming to the administrator and probably calling a cop.

 

But people just let the porters get away with it and pay. So it keeps going on

[babyher]

So if the service is poor or barely average I don't tip, is that right????

 

 

Yes that is right.

 

Thankfully only once in my life have I gotten truly BAD service. I mean to the point I thought I was on Candid Camera or one of those practical joke shows. I was expecting a host to come out and tell me the waitress was an actress, there was a camera in a potted plant , and the joke was on me *LOL*

 

 

That time I left zero, zip , zilch , goose eggs , nada.

[GUT2407]

Yes that is right.

 

Thankfully only once in my life have I gotten truly BAD service. I mean to the point I thought I was on Candid Camera or one of those practical joke shows. I was expecting a host to come out and tell me the waitress was an actress, there was a camera in a potted plant , and the joke was on me *LOL*

 

 

That time I left zero, zip , zilch , goose eggs , nada.

 

 

But what do you do when it is not so bad as to be a joke, but not real good either.

 

Do you still tip then?

[bhopal21]

So if the service is poor or barely average I don't tip, is that right????

 

Correct

 

Mike

[cflutist]

Thank you for calling it exactly what it is >

 

Everyone has pretty much said in one way or another you don't tip them and something happens to your bags

 

If you went to a land based restaurant and the waitress comes to your table and said "I am the one who will be handling your food when you can't see it before it gets to your table. You would be screaming for a manager.

 

If a baby sitter or day care provider told you "I will be the one alone with your child all day/night til you get back"

 

If a nursing home staff told you "I am the one who makes sure your mother gets her meds and food and is taken care of when you are not around . You wuld be screaming to the administrator and probably calling a cop.

 

But people just let the porters get away with it and pay. So it keeps going on

 

This applies to Pier 27/35 in San Francisco:

 

This from aaerobear:

 

I am not a union member, I work with Metro Shore Services as an agent. We wear the blue suits and red ties. The porters are members of the ILWU or Longshoremen's Union. They are very well paid. I do not know what other ports in the US also have ILWU porters, but would New York would be one for sure. Where ever there is a strong union presence in a city/state you can assume there will be union members working the pier. IE: Philly, Baltimore, Boston, etc. but I have no information about the other piers.

 

Tipping a couple bucks per bag is what I usually do myself, but I will NOT be intimidated or bullied into giving them more. Like I have said....ALWAYS get their number from their vest if they try to extort money from you. Give the information to a check-in agent and they will pass it on to the Chief Porter. They do take action, but they need the information first. Don't say anything to the porter, just make note of his number.

[shredie]

Tip. Don't tip. Crying about it won't change anything. Has it been confirmed porters deliberately dumped a pallet of luggage in the water or is that just a rumor? I guess a story like that would appeal to the conspiracy everywhere crowd.