Tip Porters?

[Silkroad]

Same as in US, $4-$5 for two bags. Either CAD or USD.

 

Thank you very much!

[drakes2]

For tips google tipping wheelchair pusher

 

This will help you. From celebrity site:

 

Extra Assistance at the Pier

Celebrity Cruises offers boarding and departure assistance to guests with mobility disabilities. Request assistance once you arrive at the pier or contact us prior to your cruise so that we may prioritize your needs during boarding. During peak times there may be a wait for assistance. Many ports provide easy access for wheelchairs and scooters, however due to various conditions: steepness of the gangway, tendering, weather, tidal and sea conditions, and shore-side facilities, guests using assistive devices may be precluded from getting on or off the ship. We will make reasonable efforts to assist our guests, but for safety reasons, our staff is not permitted to lift guests or equipment. Assistance with manual wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc. will be provided.

Hi Gerardo. Celebrity has arranged a wheelchair at the pier for me which I can use onboard and for excursions. Just not sure exactly where to pick it up. When they said pick up at pier I assumed it would be at baggage drop off. BTW: Do you know if we tender in Curacao? It's the only port of call that doesn't specify if we are docked?

 

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[CruiseCrew123]

I don’t think I’ve ever used a ‘porter’

 

I’ve always got off the port bus or taxi and wheeled my own case to the designated cruise drop off point

 

If any one tries to help a ‘no thank you I’m fine’ usually suffices

[gerelmx]

Hi Gerardo. Celebrity has arranged a wheelchair at the pier for me which I can use onboard and for excursions. Just not sure exactly where to pick it up. When they said pick up at pier I assumed it would be at baggage drop off. BTW: Do you know if we tender in Curacao? It's the only port of call that doesn't specify if we are docked?

 

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All ports will be docked

 

 

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[Fouremco]

Hi Gerardo. Celebrity has arranged a wheelchair at the pier for me which I can use onboard and for excursions. Just not sure exactly where to pick it up. When they said pick up at pier I assumed it would be at baggage drop off. BTW: Do you know if we tender in Curacao? It's the only port of call that doesn't specify if we are docked?

 

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No, Christine, we will be docked at the Mega Pier. To situate yourself, go to Google Maps and search for "mega pier willemstad".

[fizzy1]

Do not tip in the UK - it is not expected !

 

 

 

Absolutely

 

 

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[drakes2]

Great to know. Since I did not see docked under the various ports of call I thought perhaps we would use a tender. I am getting much stronger so hoping in 6 weeks I can manage a bit of walking unassisted but just being pro active. I will wear my boot for protection for all excursions.

 

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[Silkroad]

I don’t think I’ve ever used a ‘porter’

 

I’ve always got off the port bus or taxi and wheeled my own case to the designated cruise drop off point

 

If any one tries to help a ‘no thank you I’m fine’ usually suffices

 

Thank you. I’m perfectly willing to do the same, but some cruise ports require one to give one’s bags to porters. It’s helpful to know that is not the case at UK ports.

[fizzy1]

I don’t think I’ve ever used a ‘porter’

 

 

 

I’ve always got off the port bus or taxi and wheeled my own case to the designated cruise drop off point

 

 

 

If any one tries to help a ‘no thank you I’m fine’ usually suffices

 

 

 

Same with us in Southampton

 

 

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[Silkroad]

Same with us in Southampton

 

 

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Thank you. We’ll be exiting a cab with only one rolling bag and one carry on each, so we’ve no need for assistance.

[cltnccruisers]

I don't recall ever using a porter for any of our other cruises. Is it perhaps something unique to Fla ports?

[Silkroad]

I don't recall ever using a porter for any of our other cruises. Is it perhaps something unique to Fla ports?

 

The confusion lies in the fact that many of us have been referring to the people who take our bags for check in at the curb (in Miami and other ports) as porters. I certainly don’t know what else to call them. It sounds as though Southampton, unlike any US ports I’ve seen, also has proper porters who are not the same people who check in one’s bags.

[CEOofVacation]

The confusion lies in the fact that many of us have been referring to the people who take our bags for check in at the curb (in Miami and other ports) as porters. I certainly don’t know what else to call them. It sounds as though Southampton, unlike any US ports I’ve seen, also has proper porters who are not the same people who check in one’s bags.

The ones at Miami do not do check ins. They take your bags after you get off the taxi and drop them on the conveyor belt behind them. You cannot drop them onto the conveyor belt yourself. It is called ransom, thug or whatever you want to call that. We always tip but being demanded for money felt like robbery.

[Silkroad]

The ones at Miami do not do check ins. They take your bags after you get off the taxi and drop them on the conveyor belt behind them. You cannot drop them onto the conveyor belt yourself. It is called ransom, thug or whatever you want to call that. We always tip but being demanded for money felt like robbery.

 

Have you read the entire thread? That is not what I meant. I meant that we are required to “check” our bags with those, for lack of a better term, porters at the curb. I’d certainly call it checking the bags if I don’t see them again until they appear (hopefully) at our stateroom! I did not mean they check us, as passengers, in for the cruise.

[dkjretired]

We call Fort Lauderdale Tip City.

 

We arrive with a roll of $5 bills for 2 bags, sometimes three bags if our son is travelling with us. The shuttle or taxi driver gets a tip for off loading the bags at the port, airport and hotel. If a porter takes them from the driver, he gets $5. On the way home, one of the porters with a trolley, collected our 3 bags and encouraged us to put our carry-on bags on the trolley. He then wheeled the bags out and hailed a cab for us and loaded our bags into the cab. For the short walk, we gave him $15, the best bargain of the entire cruise.

 

Should go to New York.

[richard1s]

My understanding is in US ports the people who take your luggage are union longshoremen often earning very hefty wages. While many people seem to tip them, absolutely no need.

Really - is that a fact or an understanding; do they have 40 hours of work a week or just when ships are arriving or leaving port? After many cruises from multiple ports, I have never encountered a rude, disrespectful porter or anyone coming close to "extorting" money from me.

I will tip $5 per checked bag because I know there are a bunch of cheapskates out there who have rationalized that tipping someone who handles your bag and provides a service like this is some kind of rip-off and will tip zero to a dollar or two a bag.

[CruiseCrew123]

I cruised from Miami last year and did not need the services of a porter - will be interesting to see if things have changed when I sail in a few weeks

[Gonzo70]

Really - is that a fact or an understanding; do they have 40 hours of work a week or just when ships are arriving or leaving port? After many cruises from multiple ports, I have never encountered a rude, disrespectful porter or anyone coming close to "extorting" money from me.

I will tip $5 per checked bag because I know there are a bunch of cheapskates out there who have rationalized that tipping someone who handles your bag and provides a service like this is some kind of rip-off and will tip zero to a dollar or two a bag.

 

LOL, you tip $5 a bag for someone to put a bag on cart and push it a few yards - and who you have already generously compensated for this few seconds of work via your port fees? How much do you tip the numerous other people who do 99% of the work (and make far less than the longshoremen) but that you don’t see. You also tip the people who load you luggage on and off the plane, or are you a cheapskate? Save the money for the hardworking crew on the ship who make peanuts compared to the longshoremen and provide much more service than pushing my luggage a few yards on a cart.

 

A fool and their money are quickly parted.

[sollyman]

Silkman

 

No need to carry your own bags. There isnt actually anywhere for you to "check them in".

 

As soon as your taxi/drivers pulls up in the designated drop off area there will be port staff available to take your luggage off you.....and they certainly do not expect or deserve a tip.

 

Broadly there are three ways most cruisers arrive at Southampton :

 

1. Booking parking throught the port operator, ABP, DYNIA has already explained this process. You are directed to a specific parking place and within a minute or two a van pulls up near you, gives you time to sort out your carry on luggage, then one employee picks up your cases and carries them maybe 5 yards to the van.....another employee loads them on the van....the driver moves on to the next set of vehicles until it is full on he heads off to the terminal...all of less than 50 yards away.

On the four occasions i have used this service i have twice seen passengers offer tips, both elderly as it happens, they were politely refused and told it was not necessary.

 

2. The second is by taxi/private driver. I have done this only once. When our car pulled up at the designated point our driver emptied the luggage from the boot/trunk and before we had time to sort out or hand luggage from our checked luggage a port employee was on hand waiting to whisk our checked luggage away....all of about 30 yards to where they drop it off. There was not even the slightest hint that this employee expected to be tipped.

 

3. By feeder coaches from all over the UK and off port parking. These drop passengers directly in front of the terminal building and the drivers unload the baggage from the coaches. Whilst not actually using this myself I have watched the process from onboard. Most getting off have their hand luggage onboard the coach and proceed directly to check-in...they dont ever have contact with a "porter". Once all the luggage has been unloaded from the coach port employees load it into cages that are wheeled about 10 yards in the terminal building.

 

All of the luggage, however it arrives is loaded onto the ship in cages by fork-lift truck.

 

The port employees do not know from one day to the other whether they will be working the car park, the taxi/driver drop off point or the coach drop off.

 

I fail to see why one category deserves tips and others dont.

 

I think you can safely amend your summary to say tipping is not expected at Southampton.

[oneputt18]

Hi Gerardo. Celebrity has arranged a wheelchair at the pier for me which I can use onboard and for excursions. Just not sure exactly where to pick it up. When they said pick up at pier I assumed it would be at baggage drop off. BTW: Do you know if we tender in Curacao? It's the only port of call that doesn't specify if we are docked?

 

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View from Queen Emma Bridge you can see the ship docked in the background.

 

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[Fouremco]

You also tip the people who load you luggage on and off the plane, or are you a cheapskate?

AFAIK, the curbside porters (or whatever their official designation) have nothing to do with loading the ship. They simply initiate the movement of your bags from curbside to screening to loading to delivery. Using the airport analogy, porters did exist at airports, and still do in some locations, who would take your bags from curbside to check in, or from the luggage carousel (or customs exit) to curbside when arriving at your destination. We would certainly tip them.

 

Whether longshoremen are well paid or not, and whether they deserve a tip for the few seconds work is subject to debate, but when I've spent thousands of dollars on a cruise, I'm not going to quibble over $5 if it means that my luggage will be handled properly. If that makes me a fool, so be it. I've been called a lot worse!

[GerScot]

AFAIK, the curbside porters (or whatever their official designation) have nothing to do with loading the ship. They simply initiate the movement of your bags from curbside to screening to loading to delivery. Using the airport analogy, porters did exist at airports, and still do in some locations, who would take your bags from curbside to check in, or from the luggage carousel (or customs exit) to curbside when arriving at your destination. We would certainly tip them.

 

Whether longshoremen are well paid or not, and whether they deserve a tip for the few seconds work is subject to debate, but when I've spent thousands of dollars on a cruise, I'm not going to quibble over $5 if it means that my luggage will be handled properly. If that makes me a fool, so be it. I've been called a lot worse!

 

Could not agree more. Might only be a few minutes work to get your bags on board but try doing it yourself even if you do not have hand baggage! I always tip anyone who does something on my behalf because most times I could not do it myself!

[Gonzo70]

AFAIK, the curbside porters (or whatever their official designation) have nothing to do with loading the ship. They simply initiate the movement of your bags from curbside to screening to loading to delivery. Using the airport analogy, porters did exist at airports, and still do in some locations, who would take your bags from curbside to check in, or from the luggage carousel (or customs exit) to curbside when arriving at your destination. We would certainly tip them.

 

Whether longshoremen are well paid or not, and whether they deserve a tip for the few seconds work is subject to debate, but when I've spent thousands of dollars on a cruise, I'm not going to quibble over $5 if it means that my luggage will be handled properly. If that makes me a fool, so be it. I've been called a lot worse!

 

Regardless if i am sailing on a free cruise or splurged for the Penthouse Suite I tip those who provide me with good service generously and do not tip people who are already being very well compensated in wages for doing a few seconds of work that is a basic part of their basic assignment. What’s next, people are going to tip the Captan of the ship $10 per/port out of fear the Captain will otherwise skip the port. After all you already paid thousands for the cruise, right? Ridiculous.

[JRG]

We used to always tip $5 at Florida ports. Then last cruise in FLL, we tipped, but when we got to our room an hour later we looked out and saw our bags still sitting on the cart.

 

No more tips for porters.

[Gonzo70]

Could not agree more. Might only be a few minutes work to get your bags on board but try doing it yourself even if you do not have hand baggage! I always tip anyone who does something on my behalf because most times I could not do it myself!

 

FYI, you do not see the people who do 99% of the work in getting your bag to the ship, so that is plain untrue that you tip anyone who does something on your behalf. You are only tipping people who do the smallest amount of the task and are being paid the most in wages.