Gratitude of Cabin Stewards

[wwcruisers]

Absolutely agree....they work hard and if they've done their job well enough to get an extra tip (which is ALWAYS for us) THAT is all the "thank you" ever needed.

 

Well said, Gracie! I think folks sometimes forget just how busy and stressful 'turn-around' day is, for the crew. And, if you pay attention, you'll see that the work really starts, the evening before. The mini-bars are often re-stocked, and fresh bed linens are often discreetly tucked away, somewhere in the cabin. Not a lot of time for hugs and heart-felt Thank-you's -- but, surprisingly enough, sometimes you get them anyway! :halo:

[Z'Loth]

Absolutely agree....they work hard and if they've done their job well enough to get an extra tip (which is ALWAYS for us) THAT is all the "thank you" ever needed.

 

I disagree. My background is customer support, so if someone has done an extraordinary job, it's worth send a good letter upward. Letters of praise get placed into an employee's permanent file, and, in the long run, helps them land a better position with better pay.

[Gracie115]

I disagree. My background is customer support' date=' so if someone has done an extraordinary job, it's worth send a good letter upward. Letters of praise get placed into an employee's permanent file, and, in the long run, helps them land a better position with better pay.[/quote']

 

 

That is totally different than what the OP is referring to. The OP wanted the attendant to show more appreciation for additional tipping....not necessary in my opinion

 

I agree with you and we always take the time to put in writing those who have given us exceptional service. But again I certainly don't expect the employee to seek me out and thank me. They did their job...that's all that's ever needed.

[Ma Bell]

You're the one who's thanking them for a job well done.

[legaljen1969]

I view additional gratuity as a way of saying thank you for great service. I don't expect to get a thank you for expressing a thank you. That's just me.

CM

I was always taught that giving a gift or an expression of gratitude should be given from the heart and because it is the giver's pleasure to do it. There should be no "expectation" of thanks. It is nice if it happens, so that the giver knows the gift was received but it should never be expected.

[legaljen1969]

Didn't help. Your comment still is more about you than providing thanks for great service.

 

I completely agree with this. Very self-centered and self-serving explanation. It is absolutely absurd that you would expect a formal thank you for your expression of thanks for a job well done.

[legaljen1969]

When you go to a restaurant' date=' and leave a tip, do you hang around after paying so that the waiter can come back and thank you?

We pay our bill, tip added to credit card slip, and leave.[/quote']

 

I was thinking the same thing. Does the OP hang around after the check has been paid expecting a thank you? I've never heard of such.

[legaljen1969]

We are always friendly and do tip extra as deserved, but I do not want to know how much they make, their life history, working conditions, etc.

also, don't believe every hard luck story you hear.

 

Could it be you are super entitled and elitist? Could it be you have no compassion for others?

 

Most of the stewards we have had are quite private about their personal lives. If someone does choose to speak up and say more, I consider it a privilege that they opened up to me for whatever reason.

 

Maybe for whatever reason, those last few dollars did make it possible for that steward to buy his child a wristwatch or to pay for something they didn't think was possible.

 

I have found that taking some excursions on various Caribbean cruises has really helped me gain a lot of perspective for the privilege I have. We often forget that even the poorest in the US often have a better lifestyle than many in the islands. And yet many in the islands are far more grateful for what they have and they are more content. Perhaps they curse the tourists as we leave and wonder why we don't do more, but for the time we are there- most are fairly pleasant.

 

And yes, it is quick turnover and most forget their people as quickly as they exit the ship. But before you act like a jerk about it, maybe you could try working as hard as they do.

[legaljen1969]

Why are so many jumping on the original poster? The room steward is given a tip 'for doing their job' (as someone stated earlier) via the automatic gratuity. For this part, nobody should expect a thank you. If however, as the OP states they are giving extra on top of that (more than the for 'doing their job' part)

 

To me, what you are saying is akin to a minimum socially acceptable tip (15% where I live) and then tipping above that for better service. I still don't expect to be thanked if I tip above what is "expected."

 

I don't know what it is about cruising that makes people think they can be so ungrateful to those working to make a memorable experience. It is elitism at it's most visible.

 

Those working to serve you in any manner are human beings as well and deserve to be treated with decency. They are not your slaves for the week.

[Ma Bell]

I was always taught that giving a gift or an expression of gratitude should be given from the heart and because it is the giver's pleasure to do it. There should be no "expectation" of thanks. It is nice if it happens, so that the giver knows the gift was received but it should never be expected.

 

I agree 100%.

[Gracie115]

I was always taught that giving a gift or an expression of gratitude should be given from the heart and because it is the giver's pleasure to do it. There should be no "expectation" of thanks. It is nice if it happens, so that the giver knows the gift was received but it should never be expected.

 

 

Totally, agree...

[mmsJack]

My grandmother once said to me - when you give to someone with expectations attached, that's not a gift, it's a loan. Loans are fine she said, just make sure all parties understand the terms of repayment...;)

 

(She was also strongly in favor of the sharing of diverse opinions and encouraged the respectful exchange of ideas - especially those that challenged our own ideals...)

 

(That woman also made a mean tomato gravy & I can't even discuss her yeast rolls or Sunday dinner fried chicken without tearing up... :hearteyes:)

[sippican]

I agree. In fact, i've stopped eating in landbased restaurants because of the dearth of thank you notes I received from in-grateful waitstaff. Serfs these days...just no class whatsoever.

 

Apples to oranges IMHO.

You have already tipped your cabin steward via automatic gratuities. Anything your choose to add, is above and beyond.

Your waitstaff, however, either gets tipped or not.

[Vagabond Knight]

We always provide an extra tip for our steward and others who provide excellent service during our cruise. However, like others have mentioned, I consider that a thank you to these folks and so I don't expect a thank you to me for my thank you to them.

[STIguy]

I agree 100%.

I agree 100% with your 100%.

We don’t tip bathroom attendants for extra service. We tip them because they are mostly forgotten and do a great job. They probably are working to move up to cabin steward level.

[GottaKnowWhen]

My sister is like the OP,...

...

As for the comments referencing thanking a boss for a paycheck, the OP's tipping practice is above and beyond the gratuity charges assessed by the cruise line. So it would be tantamount to a surprise cash bonus your boss brings to you one day after work.

 

 

Big difference.

 

 

Back when I worked, I supervised employees. Nobody ever thanked me for their pay check. Sometimes one would do exceptional work and I arranged a bonus. It was their work, they earned the bonus, but they thanked me for recognizing their effort. I would hope for the same thing here. I give a Martini Bar or MDR or room steward guy or gal an extra $ or two, yes a thank you would be nice. But no big deal either way, turnaround day, everybody is busy and stressed...

[Jade13]

Wow...thought I had written this. This is exactly how it went down on my last cruise.

 

As a couple, neither of us expect any recognition, thats why we have always agreed to auto tipping. But for whatever reason this time, the little bit extra was acknowledged with rudeness. (We chalked it up to short staff, in a hurry, cultural.) Never the less it left a bad taste for future extra tipping.......don’t flame the poster....he’s only being honest....it happens[emoji41]

 

 

Is it possible they thought you didn’t also auto tip? I know they have the records of who has left auto-tips.

 

We have always left any extra tips in person the morning we disembark, and told the steward or waiter something like, “this is extra for exceptional service, we left the auto tips in place”,

 

 

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[Oz_Steve]

I agree 100% with your 100%.

We don’t tip bathroom attendants for extra service. We tip them because they are mostly forgotten and do a great job. They probably are working to move up to cabin steward level.

 

On one particular cruise at the end of the cruise my wife gave one of the bathroom attendants a generous tip. It was near a bar that we frequented every night and my wife would comment every time she went to the bathroom how good the attendant was. I did notice that most of the people that came out of there were smiling. I think it was on an RCI cruise many years ago, Radiance of the Seas was the ship I think.

[3Shelaghs]

Is it possible they thought you didn’t also auto tip? I know they have the records of who has left auto-tips.

No like you, the thanks is given with “just a little extra ontop of the auto tips for going the extra mile”

I think this post was originally read wrongly. The poster like me, never expected accolades and genuflecting for giving a tip.

Lets put it into perspective....if you can afford to cruise and all that goes with, then you can afford an extra tip. That little extra tip in our world is really nothing, but in most of those employees it is.

I think in most of those employees worlds they recognize gratitude, and kindness, and those same people, like the people in my world give a nod of thanks, a thumbs up, a wave. I simply said, I found our crews response rude like.

I have cruised many times, and never seen this, so I was remarking on the experiance. The gentleman that posted on the OP taking left over cake back for the crew, .......truly showed his character. i need not say anymore.

I never got monetary recognition for going the extra mile, in my job,but frequently there was a coffee and muffin, or a box if chocolates left on my desk. People who like people, and are compassionate and friendly, know exactly when to tip their hat to acknowledge someones extra thoughtfulness. Oh, and by the way...I worked like a dog for my money, and I know only too well what its like to wear the shoes of others.

Sorry Jade13, i ranted in your area.....ps. i love jade. i bet you look fabulous wearing the green tones :)

[A Sixth?]

Strange post. I give to a lot of places and people and never expect to be thanked personally. Save a Tax receipt ;-)

 

We usually leave a bit extra (not always... we use the pre-paid system and at an average of over $ 50.00 per day in tips when dollar tips here and there and more for wait staff, it's a great start) but try to hand it directly to the attendant.

[Fish Lover]

Than You. Thank you for thanking me, Thank you for thanking me for thanking you. Thank you for thanking me for thanking you for thanking me for thanking you.

 

You are thanking someone with your extra tip. Why should they thank you for thanking them for their service?

Then you have made it all about you...not the service provider.

 

This reminds me a an acquaintance who made an anonymous contribution to a charity and them got annoyed that no one thanked him.

[Projunior]

Didn't help. Your comment still is more about you than providing thanks for great service.

 

Didn't help? Why am I not surprised? My attempt to provide context was, alas, the triumph of hope over experience. To you, and all those whose particular level of reading comprehension led them to utterly miss the point of both my original post and subsequent follow-up, I'm sorry.

 

Members in that cohort might want to reread the posts for no other reason than to surprise themselves with the revelation that, as plainly stated, after 30 cruises I am still generously tipping cabin stewards above and beyond the daily service charges. Well above and well beyond. They might even want to ask themselves, why on earth would I continue to do that, if this, as they are convinced, is all about my selfish and petty need to solicit gratitude as a means of my own self-reinforcement? That wouldn't make any sense, would it? Wouldn't I, as the embittered, aggrieved passenger that they have conjured me as, have stopped bothering to leave tips as of a couple of dozen cruises ago?

 

I don't crave thanks. I don't demand thanks. I don't expect thanks. If I did then let me take this opportunity to enlighten the many who proposed that I purposely hunt down my steward and thrust a tip into his/her hand - that I could have figured that out on my own. That, people, is grandstanding and trolling for gratitude. No thanks. I will continue to unobtrusively leave an envelope in the cabin.

 

See? I am not suggesting, nor did I ever once write, that I expected the cabin steward to pen me a "formal thank-you note" or to wander the ship to track me down. To the huffy repliers, indignant that I would have the gall to impose imaginary expectations like these on the cabin steward (on his/her busiest night!!): you are not just wrong, but hilariously wrong.

 

My simple point, sadly not as simple as I assumed, was that it might behoove cabin stewards, as a group, to encourage the general behavior and practice of tipping in any way they can, as the one steward did with his gracious three-word note. Do you think that a passenger that receives a note from him is more likely or less likely to tip a steward on the next cruise? A simple greasing of the skids for next time, as a self-serving benefit to themselves as a group. How this notion got torqued into a thread of "needy, overbearing passenger makes outrageous, unconscionable demands of cabin steward", was truly a wonder to behold.

 

 

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[bEwAbG]

How this notion got torqued into a thread of "needy, overbearing passenger makes outrageous, unconscionable demands of cabin steward", was truly a wonder to behold.

 

People are just reacting to what you wrote, which was that you wonder why employees don't go above and beyond to meet your bizarre expectation that they need to find time to thank you.

[mom says]

Didn't help? Why am I not surprised? My attempt to provide context was, ...yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah...

 

... it might behoove cabin stewards, as a group, to encourage the general behavior and practice of tipping in any way they can, as the one steward did with his gracious three-word note. Do you think that a passenger that receives a note from him is more likely or less likely to tip a steward on the next cruise? A simple greasing of the skids for next time, as a self-serving benefit to themselves as a group....blah, blah, blah

 

Here's where your verbose reply falls apart- the vast majority of the respondents on this thread have no problem or hesitation in leaving an extra gratuity without having received a thank you (in whatever form) from their stewards (past or present). Perhaps the stewards should get together and get a massive stack of pre printed thank you notes that they can initial and drop on everyone's pillow. Maybe that would satisfy you? Personally, I find it ridiculously uneccessary .

[Toofarfromthesea]

 

 

My simple point, sadly not as simple as I assumed, was that it might behoove cabin stewards, as a group, to encourage the general behavior and practice of tipping in any way they can, as the one steward did with his gracious three-word note. Do you think that a passenger that receives a note from him is more likely or less likely to tip a steward on the next cruise? A simple greasing of the skids for next time, as a self-serving benefit to themselves as a group. How this notion got torqued into a thread of "needy, overbearing passenger makes outrageous, unconscionable demands of cabin steward", was truly a wonder to behold.

 

 

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Didn't you just say the the presence or absence of a thank you has had no effect on whether you tip extra? So this whole 'greasing of the skids' argument doesn't apply to you. Why do you think it would be any different for everyone else?

 

Which kind of eviscerates your contention as to the motive of your OP. Or is it that you are better than other PAX because the absence of a thank you doesn't make YOU tip less but you are worried that other pax aren't as high-minded as you and would stop tipping because they didn't get a thank you?