Butler question

[Travelcat2]

Why are we tipping? Read the regent info

You read it for day of departure/ sailing time , why not no tipping.

This just then adds to this discomfort of those who follow the advice and those who boast about what they give. I'f you must give ,keep it quiet!!

Anyway in a £5000+ cruise the included gratuity must be way above this!!

 

Another example of the totally different approach to this on both sides of the pond. Tipping is on its way out in Europe, but still seems embedded in the DNA of Americans and seems to be much more intrusive and at a higher level than when we first travelled to the states more than 25 years ago.

 

Agree with you 100% but so many people (generally people from the U.S.) feel the need to tip and make others uncomfortable. As you mentioned, the rest of the world is going away from tipping which, IMO, is a good thing. Where we live, servers earn an incredible amount of money per hour (more than college educated professionals in some cases). Also, so many passengers come from mainstream cruise line where tipping is almost required. They don't understand that luxury cruise lines are different. Unfortunately, this is turning luxury cruise lines into what they are used to (mainstream cruise lines with servers, stewards, stewardesses, butlers, with their hands out - figuratively speaking).

 

Just tonight I was speaking to a restaurant owner that would love to sail on a luxury cruise line. The first thing he said is that he would tip the bartender so that he could have a "strong" drink. Out of politeness, I did not tell him how clueless he was but did mention that you could get a drink of any strength by just asking.

 

P.S. One more thing that I just remembered. In Fiji, tipping is not the norm but they quickly learned that American's like to tip (much more than Australians who are their target clientele due to the proximity of Australia to Fiji). They quickly learned to give the least amount of service to Australian's and focus on guests from the U.S. I was frankly appalled when I learned this. Let's hope that this trend will not become the "norm" on Regent. Anyway, for those that wish to argue with me, this is last "tipping" comment on this thread.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Travelcat2

[Winner]

Greetings from South Beach, Eliza 3. We have had only great butlers, and we keep them busy. Our usual tip is $100 for a 14 day cruise. No butler has suggested we tip, and we have had them on NCL, Seabourn, Cunard, Oceania and Regent. We also tip room stewards. Last time on Navigator, one of our room stewards had also been ours on Seabourn. She had retired for a while, returning to the sea when family members had terrible problems. In the end, tipping or not is a personal matter and that we do so is directly tied to the service we get. Our next cruise is on Explorer.

 

Mary

 

Seabourn does not have butlers; if you had one you must have smuggled him/her aboard!