Tipping.

[MBP1]

People need to stop saying that cruise lines underpay their employees. Most of the employees on the ship come from countries where the cost of living and pay is far lower than the US and Europe. We cannot compare their wages to ours in the U.S or Europe., the "small" amount people perceive them making can be way more than they can make in their home country. A $1 tip on a drink or a few bucks for room service worth way more to them than a similar tip would be on land in the states.

[bUU]

A $1 tip on a drink ... worth way more to them than a similar tip would be on land in the states.

Very true... Roughly $2.30 (for an Indonesian crew member).

 

 

 

 

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[TEXASMUNK]

If you STIFF the STAFF......STAY HOME!!!!!!!!!! otherwise, pre-pay, or let your tips be added during your cruise.

[Californiacruizers]

On my Vista cruise this past April I tipped the porter that took our bags $5.00( there were 3 bags). My gratuities were $233.00 and was charged to my sign and sail account towards the end of the cruise. I tipped ever bar tender $1.00. At the end of the cruise I wrote a thank you cars for our steward and placed a crisp $100.00 bill in it. I handed it to him and he was about to slip it into his pocket. I told him to open it and he did. He actually shed a few tears, he was so thankful. I wanted to tip the child care center but there were too many workers and they kept switching them out so I had no idea who to actually tip.

 

I am not saying you have to tip as much but I do suggest that you acknowledge the hard work of the crew members that assist you.

[NotThePest_Too]

On my Vista cruise this past April I tipped the porter that took our bags $5.00( there were 3 bags). My gratuities were $233.00 and was charged to my sign and sail account towards the end of the cruise. I tipped ever bar tender $1.00. At the end of the cruise I wrote a thank you cars for our steward and placed a crisp $100.00 bill in it. I handed it to him and he was about to slip it into his pocket. I told him to open it and he did. He actually shed a few tears, he was so thankful. I wanted to tip the child care center but there were too many workers and they kept switching them out so I had no idea who to actually tip.

 

I am not saying you have to tip as much but I do suggest that you acknowledge the hard work of the crew members that assist you.

 

 

May I ask how long (days) was your VISTA cruise? I am doing a 49 night S.A. cruise in Feb. 2019 and I have a spreadsheet to calculate tips. Tips for excursions, MDR wait staff, Steward … I don't drink so sorry no bar staff tips... I've calculated for $3 per day for the Steward and about 20% total of excursions (Private, My Travel Agent's recommendations and Ship Excursions). I have prepaid gratuities included, calculated as part of cruise costs.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Ramona

[Californiacruizers]

May I ask how long (days) was your VISTA cruise? I am doing a 49 night S.A. cruise in Feb. 2019 and I have a spreadsheet to calculate tips. Tips for excursions, MDR wait staff, Steward … I don't drink so sorry no bar staff tips... I've calculated for $3 per day for the Steward and about 20% total of excursions (Private, My Travel Agent's recommendations and Ship Excursions). I have prepaid gratuities included, calculated as part of cruise costs.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Ramona

 

My Vista cruise was 6 days. There were 3 of us in my cabin( myself and 2 children)

[Stick93]

Quoted for emphasis. If you remove the automatic tips, your servers and stateroom attendant pay your tips for you out of their own pockets. If you've put money in their pockets, no big deal. It's a wash. Everyone gets what they are supposed to, including the staff you don't see. If you didn't put money in their pockets, you've aggrandized yourself at the expense of someone who probably couldn't afford it and shouldn't have had to.

 

And if you really want to reward the person you see, the only way to do that is to give them more than the expected amount, so they can pay your share of the expected amount and then keep the rest.

 

But alas there will be the deniers, putting their own personal benefit over truth the feel compelled to deny even though we have heard from numerous sources over the years how the cruise lines actually operate.

 

 

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I love the tipping conversations and the passion it brings out. This is a point that I have not seen written before. Please can you name a source for this fact?? I believe the statement is possible but not 100% accurate (I don’t mean that personally to the person who wrote it).

 

Tipping and the auto tips are such a hot topic. I believe they should incorporate this into the fare and the whole issue would be put to bed. The cruise lines by allowing people to remove them have set up (according to this above statement and others about removing the tips and its effect on the crew) a system that is unfair and unjust to the people who leave the gratuities and the employees who receive them.

 

Shame on the cruise lines for fostering the system and not helping the people who make our vacations so wonderful.

 

 

 

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[NotThePest_Too]

My Vista cruise was 6 days. There were 3 of us in my cabin( myself and 2 children)

 

 

Thank you so much and you were quick. What you tipped your steward for three people (two kids! Wow) is approx. what I've calculated per day, $4.50, $221 for 49 nights. I'm single and traveling solo. I also tend to "tidy" up pre steward. If you did any excursions, how did you tip if there were multiple people involved (drive, tour guide). My first cruise 10 days, I did a lot of eco-tourism with multiple people taking the helm in a multi-part excursion. I took the 20% of what I had set aside as a tip and divided it up. It didn't help that I was unaware of just how many people would be involved with the excursion. The worst was one I did Jamaica, W.I. Zip line, Bob Sled ride, hiking to falls, bus driver and tour guide (she was terrible). Each of the first three sections had two people each, Ugh!

 

Ramona

[bUU]

Havingfun2010 and I have done it homework, having been attentively participating here for over a decade. This has been shared with us first hand and second hand in numerous threads over the years. I already have read them so I don't need to find them again; my memory suffices. It will be a good bit of work to find enough past threads that you personally would consider sufficient evidence but it is well worth the work of it is something you really care to find.

 

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[Stick93]

Havingfun2010 and I have done it homework, having been attentively participating here for over a decade. This has been shared with us first hand and second hand in numerous threads over the years. I already have read them so I don't need to find them again; my memory suffices. It will be a good bit of work to find enough past threads that you personally would consider sufficient evidence but it is well worth the work of it is something you really care to find.

 

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No disrespect to your length of time cruising/reading and the posts I have not read in the past - but I have a hard time believing this as fact. It may be so and I am just blown my horn, but the number of people on line the last 2 days of any cruise to “discuss their bill” leads me to think that if it were true there would be more buzz on the ship to these facts. I have spoken to many people and staff members over the course of my carnival cruises and have point blank asked them about gratuities. They have never disclosed this information. They have discussed paying colleagues to help them clean and refresh over rooms on turn over days and having to pay for the water bottles placed in the cabins that if you open you are charged for. Stewart’s and wait staff having to pay for their tips not left has never been mentioned. I believe the staff is on scouts honor to turn in cash given to them by people who withhold gratuities. But even that is a slippery slope. I will reiterate if the above is true - it’s very unfair to people who pay and pay extra that what they thought they were doing is right and overly extending themselves is just covering the people the cruiseline allows to cheat the system and the their staff.

 

These boards are very informative but some people (Not you per say) seem to know too much and it leads me to believe there are some old wives tales and pulling of legs on some topics. This topic specifically get people into name calling and personal insults very quickly. Whether this is one of those topics or not - I won’t lose any sleep over. I will be asking people on my next cruise and I am sure if it’s in fact true there will be one or many employees who will spill the beans (I will even tip for the information - obviously above my daily gratuities!)

 

 

 

 

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[bUU]

The information had been related by far too many people, in far too many capacities, for it to be dismissed as you wish to. I'm the first to call bs when someone puts something forward without adequate backup and I probably doubted it the first few times it was shared in the forum. After a certain point, doubt becomes illogical.

 

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[MajMom96]

If you STIFF the STAFF......STAY HOME!!!!!!!!!! otherwise, pre-pay, or let your tips be added during your cruise.

 

 

 

I totally agree! We all know that tipping is part of cruising, just like its part of going to a restaurant when on land. So JUST DO IT!

 

 

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