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Extra tips (gratuities)

Clepire

By Clepire,
in Royal Caribbean International

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GUT2407

GUT2407

Posted
Posted
Hi all. How much do you usually bring with you for extra tips for a 10 day cruise? There will be 5 stops.

 

Where do you allocate your extra tips? ($20 room steward, $5 porter, etc.)

 

How long is a piece of string.

Everyone's answer will be different.

 

Do what you want.

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cb at sea

cb at sea

Posted
Posted

The tips they add to your account (or charge you in advance....whichever is your preference) is ample. If someone does something ABOVE AND BEYOND..then you will figure out what that is worth to you. There is no need to tip additionally.

 

 

The $13.50 pp, per day covers your cabin attendant, waiters, ass't waiters, and head waiter. Any drink you purchase will have 18% added to the cost as a tip. I think 18% is more than ample PER DRINK! At most land-based bars, if I get my own drink, I tip $1 per order....not per drink. If you have table service, then 18% of the total tab is ok.

 

Do NOT get over anxious about tips! The suggested tips they charge you are ample!

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Freehike

Freehike

Posted
Posted

For me it all depends on the situation. The main person I tip extra to usually is our room attendant. The cruise lines work them to death and they're the person I interact with the most. I haven't eaten in a MDR in years so I don't worry about them. I'll tip our servers in the specialty restaurants too unless the service is horrible.

 

I used to tip a good bartender a bit extra but my last few cruises the bartenders haven't been that great so they get nothing on top of the mandatory 18% that I'm already forced to pay.

 

Ultimately each person will have to decide what they are comfortable tipping. Just don't be that person that complains and tries to remove their gratuities...... I'll get attacked now for saying that but those people drive me nuts.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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George C

George C

Posted
Posted
Hi all. How much do you usually bring with you for extra tips for a 10 day cruise? There will be 5 stops.

 

Where do you allocate your extra tips? ($20 room steward, $5 porter, etc.)

 

Tipping is up to you, we always tip porter a couple of dollars a bag or 10, we almost always tip room steward extra, all depending on service. We eat most of our meals in specialty restaurants so we normally tip 10 extra there depending or service. Also bring 100 in small bills mostly singles to tip for drinks and its good to have extra small bills on islands , but many people do not do this

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nets33

nets33

Posted
Posted

DH and I do like to leave extra $ for the room steward - anywhere from $10 to $20 is normal for us. It is not necessary as the room steward is included in the daily grats but if they've done some extras for us we do leave a little extra.

 

Small bills for on shore is good to have - not necessary for the ship.

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Laurie7

Laurie7

Posted
Posted

I typically tip my room steward an additional $20 cash above the auto tip that they can keep just for themselves. Specialty dining sometimes extra $10 if we really enjoyed the service. Bartenders at a favorite bar extra $10-20 at beginning and end of week to help guarantee good service and reward good service. Nothing over the top, but every little bit helps these hard working staff out.

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voyager70

voyager70

Posted
Posted
whats classed as extras? by your room steward?

 

Some are just much better than others IMO. Some practically bend over backwards to make sure everything is satisfactory while others (not many) pretty much do the bare minimum. Some will be very visible and have a quick chat when you see them while a few you will hardly ever see.

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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted
Hi all. How much do you usually bring with you for extra tips for a 10 day cruise? There will be 5 stops.

 

Where do you allocate your extra tips? ($20 room steward, $5 porter, etc.)

 

Get your WOW envelopes at GS.

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tserface

tserface

Posted
Posted

We tend to tip extra to anyone who helps make our experience great. That usually includes waiters, asst. waiters, and room attendants, but it often includes bar servers who have helped us throughout our cruise... or anyone else that pops up.

 

We consider the auto tipping thing to be a service charge that helps pay for the staff wages. Yeah, they could add that into the price, but every cruise line would have to be willing to do that to make the prices comparable and they probably aren't going to all agree to do it so...

 

All that said, it's totally up to the person doing the tipping. By definition, tipping is "extra" based on service and at the discretion of the giver.

 

We often tip our room attendant if they do or get extra things for us. For example, on our last cruise we asked for some different pillows and came back and they were there. We wrote a note of thanks and left $5 for his trouble. But, we didn't feel like we had to do that... we were just grateful.

 

I don't know if the staff get to keep cash tips or not. I assume they do. They always seem to appreciate it.

 

Tom

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geduffer

geduffer

Posted
Posted
whats classed as extras? by your room steward?

 

 

I'll give you an example. I boarded Jewel of the Seas on January 8. I met the room steward and immediately requested an extension cord for my CPAP machine, a sharps bucket for my room and separate the beds to make a wide middle aisle in the room. With this I gave him $20. Additionally, he went on a search for my nephew's suitcase and delivered it, made a phone call to get my minibar order filled and had them do it on the spot and made towel animals for me since I wasn't feeling great. That got him another $40 in an envelope at the end of the week. Additional I gave the waiter $40 and assistant waiter $25 (this is from 3 people) and the barista/bartender in Caffe Latte-rides an additional $20. (He was extremely surprised since I had the café card and tips are added to the charge.) I don't know what other people do and it's not my business. I do what I feel is proper at the time. I do know that the extra gratuity envelopes are much appreciated by the recipients.

 

 

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SilkySal

SilkySal

Posted
Posted (edited)

We (2 of us) usually take $500 in cash and frequently have $$ leftover from cruise. We always tip our luggage handlers. We pre-pay gratuities but reward in cash for exceptional service. We have Deluxe drink packages (stress-free) but tip in cash to servers, who bring us drinks, not if we get them ourselves (unless the bartender is very attentive). There are no set rules but this is just how we do it!;) I would rather have too much cash on hand, than not enough.:rolleyes:

Edited by SilkySal
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slyster

slyster

Posted
Posted

So not counting the tips you pay above and beyond....

 

bag porters, usually a $1 a bag. room service $1-$5 depending on what you order. Tour guides, we usually give $10-$20 depending on how well they did.

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