Who tips their cabin steward

[andrew2346]

I gave our cabin steward a $20 here and there..probably around $60 total. Above the regular grats. We had 3 cabins and one of the cabins were inhabited by aliens (teenage daughters) and it looked like a frat party went on in there. He more than earned it.

[ETski]

We have been on over 30 cruises. When we started cruising with Royal they didn't automatically add tips to the sea pass. They gave you a suggested amount that you should tip. That was a pain since you had to cruise with lots of cash. We followed the suggested amount and almost always gave more. Now that you can either prepay or its added daily it is a much better way for us. We do give more at the end of our cruise to our steward. We also give extra to our wait staff, wine steward, maître d, and favorite ball staff. These people work hard. They also give up things to work on a cruise ship away from their family.

[grapau27]

The cabin steward is usually the only person I provide additional tip too, however, my last cruise is the only cruise I didn't. They literally did the bare necessities and forgot things one too many times.

 

I will also tip a bartender extra if they treat me well for the duration of the sailing

The same happened on our last cruise which prompted me to ask the question.Thanks for your reply.

 

love sailing with RCCL

[Thetrail]

Who tips on top of prepaid gratuitys to their cabin steward?

Thanks for your replies.

 

 

 

love sailing with RCCL

Always have, always will...K.O.:D

[grapau27]

We have been on over 30 cruises. When we started cruising with Royal they didn't automatically add tips to the sea pass. They gave you a suggested amount that you should tip. That was a pain since you had to cruise with lots of cash. We followed the suggested amount and almost always gave more. Now that you can either prepay or its added daily it is a much better way for us. We do give more at the end of our cruise to our steward. We also give extra to our wait staff, wine steward, maître d, and favorite ball staff. These people work hard. They also give up things to work on a cruise ship away from their family.

I agree the ones who have wives,husband's and kids at home it must be hard on them.

 

love sailing with RCCL

[widallas]

We have only been on 2 cruises, so the info here has been invaluable with this question. On our first cruise, the steward was ALWAYS on her phone, and barely kept the cabin clean. I did give an additional tip (beyond auto-grats) but would not next time.

 

Our last cruise, we had a cleaning issue the first day (super-fast turnover, and my MIL's cabin bathroom was not cleaned well). The steward came in, introduced herself, apologized and went out of her way to make things right. We did not see her often, but when we did she was wonderful. We told her we didn't need towel animals, just ice and wine glasses...she would not have it. We got BOTH ice and glasses, AND a few cute towels animals hugging the bucket. We had budgeted an extra $40 for tips (we had 2 cabins -- ours and our boys) and left extra because she went above and beyond. (We had 2 teen boys and the cabin bathroom remained clean. That's a tip worthy feat!) I will say, since we did MTD, we did not see the same waitstaff more than once on the cruise. I was happy that auto-grats were in place, because unless we tipped per meal, there was no way to compensate anyone any additional amount.

 

On a side note, lots of CC folks tip much more than we do....many of them stay in much more expensive cabins and have many more demands than we do as well. We always pay the auto-grats up front, and budget extra for good service. I think budgeting ahead and then tipping more (or less) as is earned is a good way to start.

[OCruisers]

We almost always tip our cabin steward (cash) in addition to the auto tip.

[grapau27]

Always have, always will...K.O.:D

Great

 

love sailing with RCCL

[grapau27]

We have only been on 2 cruises, so the info here has been invaluable with this question. On our first cruise, the steward was ALWAYS on her phone, and barely kept the cabin clean. I did give an additional tip (beyond auto-grats) but would not next time.

 

Our last cruise, we had a cleaning issue the first day (super-fast turnover, and my MIL's cabin bathroom was not cleaned well). The steward came in, introduced herself, apologized and went out of her way to make things right. We did not see her often, but when we did she was wonderful. We told her we didn't need towel animals, just ice and wine glasses...she would not have it. We got BOTH ice and glasses, AND a few cute towels animals hugging the bucket. We had budgeted an extra $40 for tips (we had 2 cabins -- ours and our boys) and left extra because she went above and beyond. (We had 2 teen boys and the cabin bathroom remained clean. That's a tip worthy feat!) I will say, since we did MTD, we did not see the same waitstaff more than once on the cruise. I was happy that auto-grats were in place, because unless we tipped per meal, there was no way to compensate anyone any additional amount.

 

On a side note, lots of CC folks tip much more than we do....many of them stay in much more expensive cabins and have many more demands than we do as well. We always pay the auto-grats up front, and budget extra for good service. I think budgeting ahead and then tipping more (or less) as is earned is a good way to start.

Great reply thanks.

 

love sailing with RCCL

[strachan01]

Unless they have went above and beyond I just stick with the standard gratuities.That is the same for restaurant and bar staff too.

[Desert Cruizers]

We don't pre tip our cabin attendant but did give $20- $25 at the end of the cruise as well as our waiter & assitant waiter.

[vrock]

We always tip our room steward extra. We have very few requests ice and an extra towel. We try to keep things picked up and as neat as possible. Our counter tops clear and our stuff put away and all garbage in the cans. I have seen other cabins with their doors open for cleaning and all I can say is omg. :)

[918baker]

We just got off Serenade on Friday and left more for our cabin steward than we ever have before! Incredible service. I had a generous pre-planned tip set aside for him. Our wait staff in the MDR were abysmal, the worst service we've ever had. So their pre-planned tip money was rolled into John's as well. And then my husband added an extra $40 at the last minute because we were so grateful for his service.

 

We had 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids ages 5 and 8) in our oceanview room (aka tiny) and he kept the room as tidy as humanly possible. We kept our wine tucked away in a drawer for lack of room and he would make sure the bottle was on ice well before dinner each night. He taught my kids how to fold towel animals, gave them riddles each morning to solve and tell him later. He rushed laundry for us when one of my kids had a bloody nose and stained his shirt. It goes on and on. John made our 11 days on the Serenade absolute perfection. He earned every single cent. I would absolutely follow him where ever he goes :D We hunted down his supervisor to tell her so.

[grapau27]

He sounds like a top cabin steward and worth a great tip and a big mention in the post cruise survey

 

 

 

love sailing with RCCL

[deliver42]

Unless the service is awful, which, so far, has never happened, I tip the steward, waiter, and assistant waiter extra the last night.

[Lisa8]

Unless they screwed up big time then we always tip extra on top of the prepaid gratuities. I think they're underpaid for the amount of work they're doing

[luckyinpa]

i was in a haven room on NCL and it was our 1st cruise. the guy was so great and things were beyond perfect. he made the cruise more enjoyable. we gave him 100. a great steward can help make a cruise. a sucky steward can help break it.

[Cel_cruise]

Well, I guess this is a matter of opinion and what one is looking for. As I certainly respect your vision of what the cabin steward should do, I, for one see it as just the opposite. I don't have the need to interact with him/her. I don't need to know their life story, where they are from, how many children they have, etc. I don't need their e-mail address or FB name. Although we are very polite to ALL of the hard-working employee's on the ship, we are paying for their services and that is it. If I do not see my cabin steward for the duration of my vacation and my bed was made, towels replenished...etc. etc, I am very happy with that. If they go above and beyond, I would certainly leave extra $$....but I don't have to see them for this to be accomplished. I love the written note about the ports that you stated. To me, that is above and beyond and a great example of leaving an extra tip. :)

 

 

I have a hard time tipping extra to a steward we have never met and don't see that just kept our room tidy. Without interacting - how would they know if we wanted ice all the time? Or if we wanted to have the beds separated? Or if we needed extra towels? I do think that the notes about port stops would have been a nice touch even if we hadn't met..

 

Standard tip for a clean and tidy room. Extra tip for going above and beyond in some way (which means we probably have to have met you!)

 

 

 

 

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[Saab4444]

Most replies implify what I am afraid of. Paying just the already high amount of USD 13.50 per person and day becomes the new paying nothing and makes you cheap. Because of this the expectation from the crew is always an extra tip or they are not happy with you as a guest.

 

We do not leave a mess in our room, clean up our private stuff ourselves and have no special requests. It takes our cabin steward about 10 min to clean up the room and we contact him only if something is not working or missing. If this has been taken care of and all is back to normal I still feel no need for an extra tip.

 

For a lot of special requests and people who leave their cabin like after an earthquake every day I see the need for an extra tip. I am always shocked when I pass by and look in some cabins.

 

 

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[grapau27]

I have a hard time tipping extra to a steward we have never met and don't see that just kept our room tidy. Without interacting - how would they know if we wanted ice all the time? Or if we wanted to have the beds separated? Or if we needed extra towels? I do think that the notes about port stops would have been a nice touch even if we hadn't met..

 

Standard tip for a clean and tidy room. Extra tip for going above and beyond in some way (which means we probably have to have met you!)

 

 

 

 

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Good points.The cabin stewards don't seem to mix like they did but 2 more points,1 they have more cabins and don't have time and 2 people seem to give them extra on top of pre-paid tips so maybe they think they don't need to interact as much because people give them extra regardless.

 

love sailing with RCCL

[bUU]

Most replies implify what I am afraid of. Paying just the already high amount of USD 13.50 per person and day becomes the new paying nothing and makes you cheap.

One perhaps should not rely on the number of posters on one side of an issue to be any real indication of public sentiment. Posting in a thread is voluntary action and generally those who have the more extreme views post and those who don't have extreme views typically say nothing.

 

Each person has their own motivations and it isn't our place to guess the motivations of those who are claiming that the standard gratuity is anything but 100% sufficient, adequate and fully respectable. It is very unlikely that anyone has illegitimate argument to undermine our hosts advisories to us. It's their house​. They set the rules. They say that a certain amount is appropriate then it is, just like it is appropriate to smoke where they say to smoke, bring on board the alcohol that they say you're allowed to bring aboard, etc.

 

 

 

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[grapau27]

One perhaps should not rely on the number of posters on one side of an issue to be any real indication of public sentiment. Posting in a thread is voluntary action and generally those who have the more extreme views post and those who don't have extreme views typically say nothing.

 

Each person has their own motivations and it isn't our place to guess the motivations of those who are claiming that the standard gratuity is anything but 100% sufficient, adequate and fully respectable. It is very unlikely that anyone has illegitimate argument to undermine our hosts advisories to us. It's their house​. They set the rules. They say that a certain amount is appropriate then it is, just like it is appropriate to smoke where they say to smoke, bring on board the alcohol that they say you're allowed to bring aboard, etc.

 

 

 

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TBH when these threads come up in the UK like Cruise .Co.uk 90%+ of respondents are anti tipping full stop unlike on CC where 90%+ seem in total agreement regarding tipping.

As a Brit i am 100% in favour of tipping over and above to the hardworking cruise crew.

 

love sailing with RCCL

[frank808]

Our BEST cabin attendant was one we never saw! The room was made up and straightened every time we returned to the cabin...fresh towels, even if we hadn't left them on the floor ( I hate leaving stuff on the floor)...trash emptied EVERY time we left the cabin, ice all the time, linens changed daily....Needless to say, we tipped him/her extra on top of the suggested tips.

 

 

Folks who don't tip the cabin attendants probably don't tip the hotel housekeeper when they stay in hotels, either.

We also had a awesome cabin attendant just like you. We never saw him and only met him 5 days into a 7 night cruise. He was like a ninja. We usually leave a note with whatever we needed and voila it was done when we got back. Needless to say he got a very generous tip above the prepaid gratuities. We have always leave the suggested gratuities and tip extra for anyone that gives us great service. Has usually been the cabin stewards, waiters, bartenders and concierges.

 

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[bUU]

With respect, at least here in the US, the difference in perspective is more varied than that. Many people who advocate to abide by our cultural norms (as reflected in the standards that the cruise ships set forth regarding tipping) ALSO would prefer a system where service workers were provided a full living wage and tipping was therefore only for going above and beyond (I.e., more like the UK and Western European models). One doesn't necessarily need to fully support all aspects of a system in order to recognize that "it is what it is" and that THEIR responsibility is to do their part in accordance with the systems rules until the system changes.

 

And this is a key message: Even if folks don't like the system, they need to recognize that they aren't the masters of the universe and that it is not righteous to impose their preferences on others who are responsibly performing their obligations with the system. Until one successfully convinces society as a whole that their way is better, they are still just one person, beholden to live in accordance with their obligation to be a responsible member of society.

 

(Can you tell that I'm a worship leader? And after all, it is Sunday.)

 

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[DISFANS3]

We have had some great service in the past, and some just get the job done. I tip extra most of times. Just wish they could go back to the old days less cabins to clean better service for all...