The best thing slipping $10 has gotten you onboard?

[Luke Dawg]

I've been giving something extra to the room stewards up front since my second cruise and to me it seems my cabin is well kept, always have ice and they seem to be a little happier. And have given a few bartenders some bucks in advance. Helps when the bar is packed, some times I'll be served quicker.

totally agree - we give $20 at first introduction, a little gesture really makes their day and I believe I get better service. I never have to fill my cooler with ice.

[golfb4cruzing]

I got a designer watch for $10 bucks once. Yippee!!!!

 

LOL I got a pen included with mine.

[loxley]

totally agree - we give $20 at first introduction, a little gesture really makes their day and I believe I get better service. I never have to fill my cooler with ice.

You can pass out all the twenties you want to. I have never given anything up front and I have never had an empty ice bucket.

 

I have had a couple of terrible room stewards, but even with them never had a problem with ice.

[crusinpsychRN]

There are no locked doors to the rooms.

 

You can walk directly to them after boarding and no one will stop you.

 

Just curious who you gave $10 to to get your luggage. That sounds like a fantasy.

 

Sometimes there are people standing by the doors to prevent you from going to your cabin if you're not FTTF, Platinum or Diamond and there is a sign saying do not enter.

[jakesnana]

you would be surprised how resourceful your room steward can be for a $10 and a picture of your luggage ;)

 

Very resourceful and a great idea. If I wasn't Platinum I would definitely try this as we really like to have our luggage unpacked prior to the muster drill.

 

totally agree - we give $20 at first introduction, a little gesture really makes their day and I believe I get better service. I never have to fill my cooler with ice.

 

We always do the same thing. IMHO, the stewards job is to make the bed, keep the cabin tidy, clean the bathroom and provide fresh towels and ice. Anything beyond that is just that, above and beyond. We request extra pillows, extra ice. Also, we are very late sleepers and the steward works around our schedule, so to us the extra money is well worth it.

[BallFour4]

Sometimes there are people standing by the doors to prevent you from going to your cabin if you're not FTTF, Platinum or Diamond and there is a sign saying do not enter.

 

Absolutely correct. And for those that are cleared to get to their cabins early their is often someone standing and arguing with the crew member assigned to the elevator lobby trying to explain that...

 

.

Edited June 28, 2016 by BallFour4

[Micahs Grandad]

Very resourceful and a great idea. If I wasn't Platinum I would definitely try this as we really like to have our luggage unpacked prior to the muster drill.

 

 

 

 

Typically your room steward has no part of delivering luggage up to your floor or cabin so dont know how that will get you luggage faster.

[Micahs Grandad]

Yes and i'm sure they would be happy to do it.

But since i'm asking him to go beyond his regular duty's I feel

a little something extra would be nice

 

Bottom line it is your money and you get to decide how to spend it.

[First and Ten]

Typically your room steward has no part of delivering luggage up to your floor or cabin so dont know how that will get you luggage faster.

 

It may not be typical, but it worked....I showed him a picture of our luggage (its pretty distinguishable) and asked can he get it for us. Dropped my carryons, walked to the Lido deck and got something to eat (it was great, had to be 20 people there, tops) grabbed a quick bite, maybe gone 20 mins. Walked back to the room and bingo, luggage was there

Edited June 28, 2016 by First and Ten

[LMaxwell]

On our last cruise the steward made our kids bed up with the soft blanket from the dive in movies, laid out stuffed animals, etc. It was a nice touch. I gave him $10 as a thank you for the attention to detail and he told me to keep the Dive In blanket. So it wasn't $10 to get him to do something, but a nice extra perk from giving him the $10

[momof3cruisers]

Well, we didn't tip him in order to get anything extra, but we tipped the bar server in the nightclub $25 one night because we kept getting just water and if we'd been ordering drinks, he would have been getting tips. We never had an empty glass after that. We did continue to give him tips here and there too. He was such a sweet young guy.

 

We also tipped our steward quite a bit extra but at the end of the cruise, because we had him making up my sister's bed on the floor instead of the Pullman. Those ladders are painful! I've tipped other stewards some extra at the end before, but not that much. We knew it was a hassle. Didn't feel the need to bribe him ahead of time.

Edited June 29, 2016 by momof3cruisers

[cdamion]

When I first started cruising, I would tip room stewards in advance, but have since stopped. There wasn't really any difference in service.

 

Sometimes if I am traveling with teens, I will tip them in advance, but that isn't for some kind of freebie, it is more of an "Im sorry" in advance.

[tonit964]

When I first started cruising, I would tip room stewards in advance, but have since stopped. There wasn't really any difference in service.

 

Sometimes if I am traveling with teens, I will tip them in advance, but that isn't for some kind of freebie, it is more of an "Im sorry" in advance.

 

I think tipping them at the end of the cruise for any extra work for teenagers is sufficient. Tipping at the beginning of the cruise is probably a tell tale sign, you don't have much confidence in their ability to do their job.

[firemanbobswife]

Our first cruise on Celebrity our waiter was so slow to come to our table because he was busy chit-chatting with some guests he knew from a previous cruise. Once he finally came over and started taking care of us, DH slipped him a $20 and guess what? From that moment on, he was always right there and we were served each night before everyone else. The other couple might as well not have existed after that. Was it wrong? Maybe to some. It worked for us so it was worth it.

 

On this past cruise I had an inside room and I really missed not having a chair in my cabin. I get tired of sitting on the bed and there's no sofa (the stool under the vanity is not comfortable to me at all). So I asked my room steward to find me a chair before I went to dinner. He said he didn't know if he could get one because the inside cabins aren't supposed to have them but he would try. I left him a note with $5 that said "Thanks for the chair!". When I came back, the note and $5 were gone and I had a chair. So maybe the $5 "helped" him to find a chair. I don't know for sure, but I was happy.

[cdamion]

I think tipping them at the end of the cruise for any extra work for teenagers is sufficient. Tipping at the beginning of the cruise is probably a tell tale sign, you don't have much confidence in their ability to do their job.

 

The last time I tipped in advance, the steward saw that I bought my son the towel animal book and left a stack of towels for him to practice. I don't know if it had anything to do with the early tipping.

 

Like I mentioned, I don't really tip in the beginning anymore because I dont notice a difference. Also, my kids are now older and more mature - we'll see in December when they come along again.

[John Reid]

There was this woman from Atlanta. For $10 she gave me something I never had before. It took $300 worth of antibiotics to get rid of it. :eek:

 

Take care,

Mike

 

You beat me to it!

Was her nickname Dixie Chicken?

[emm126]

I will tip extra but usually after I receive the service. The only time I did before was on a last minute booking a couple of years ago on the Triumph for New Years. We were only able to book 1 cabin for 5 people. Coming from NY we had coats, boots, etc all over the room as there was no room in the closets. Trying to keep the room tidy with 2 adults and 3 kids not easy either. The 2nd day of the cruise, my sister and I were saying how difficult it was for our steward to try and clean our room. When we saw him, we tipped him and apologized for making his job more difficult. He did a great job but it was not easy.

[fivemonkeysplus1]

Sometimes there are people standing by the doors to prevent you from going to your cabin if you're not FTTF, Platinum or Diamond and there is a sign saying do not enter.

 

We actually had FTTF last time and they wouldn't let us in. Said rooms weren't ready. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

[joeyancho]

IMHO, tipping in advance is condescending and in poor taste. I have never gotten bad service. Always excellent. I ask for what I would like with kindness and respect. They always respond in kind. I tip very generously at the end in appreciation for the good service, not in advance as a bribe.

[ilovemy3boys]

I've been giving something extra to the room stewards up front since my second cruise and to me it seems my cabin is well kept, always have ice and they seem to be a little happier. And have given a few bartenders some bucks in advance. Helps when the bar is packed, some times I'll be served quicker.

 

 

My family does this, as well. I know they are helpful no matter what, but they go out of their way even more to make the room more pleasant. I am taking my 3 teenage boys on a cruise on the 9th and will be giving the room steward $20 cash the first day with "I apologize ahead of time for the stinky boys in here"...haha. Honestly, it is not a job I would want and feel they enjoy the extra recognition.

[MCFTJCH2V]

you would be surprised how resourceful your room steward can be for a $10 and a picture of your luggage ;)

 

I change my description from rubbish to hogwash. Most people can't even find their own luggage in a carousel.

[louanne93]

When I first started cruising, I would tip room stewards in advance, but have since stopped. There wasn't really any difference in service.

 

Sometimes if I am traveling with teens, I will tip them in advance, but that isn't for some kind of freebie, it is more of an "Im sorry" in advance.

 

And that is exactly what I say as I'm handing him the $20. "I'm SO sorry!" We just recently cruised with our twin 17 year olds!

[louanne93]

IMHO, tipping in advance is condescending and in poor taste. I have never gotten bad service. Always excellent. I ask for what I would like with kindness and respect. They always respond in kind. I tip very generously at the end in appreciation for the good service, not in advance as a bribe.

 

I was in catering and food service for 27 years. When someone would give me extra before hand I would surly pay extra attention. EVERYONE gets great service but tipping before hand just insures it! There are a lot of people out there that don't believe in tipping, so it's nice to see when people express their beliefs in tipping before. Just my opinion...

[Micahs Grandad]

I will tip extra but usually after I receive the service. The only time I did before was on a last minute booking a couple of years ago on the Triumph for New Years. We were only able to book 1 cabin for 5 people. Coming from NY we had coats, boots, etc all over the room as there was no room in the closets. Trying to keep the room tidy with 2 adults and 3 kids not easy either. The 2nd day of the cruise, my sister and I were saying how difficult it was for our steward to try and clean our room. When we saw him, we tipped him and apologized for making his job more difficult. He did a great job but it was not easy.

 

Hmm he was getting 5x auto tips for one cabin so thinking he was happy about the arrangement before you gave him the extra tip..

[Micahs Grandad]

I change my description from rubbish to hogwash. Most people can't even find their own luggage in a carousel.

 

After thinking about this agree with you. How do you expect room steward to wander about deck 1 looking for one piece of luggage and finding it amongst thousands.