Newby here but does anyone ever tip on first day over and above ?

[asalligo]

I tip the room steward when we meet if I ask for something special. Third chair on the balcony, table on the balcony, robes in the room. Stuff like that. 

[KarimaJ]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 7:06 AM, finoky said:

My policy is to never tip prior to services rendered. We have always received excellent service and any extra we fell like giving over the auto tips is done at the end of the cruise.

 

Agree! Tipping is for good service rendered. I have always given the room steward at the end, but never before.

[champagne123]

Have been on many cruises and have never tipped prior to cruising.

We recently returned from a 14 day cruise.  Our cabin steward started out being very sweet and did her job wonderfully.  By day 4, it began to diminish and only got worse by the day.  By day 13,  I heard every complaint imaginable from her.

Point being.....had we tipped her prior to the cruise, I would be kicking myself in the arse.  What would one do...ask for the tip back?   

[DebJ14]

We usually don't see the steward until real late in the afternoon on the first day and usually don't tip.  However, on our last couple of cruises on the Valor our steward came by right after we got in the cabin.  He immediately brought us robes and ice, so I tipped him.  And on our cruise on the Valor in September he was so concerned that we did not get our luggage (Diamond) until well after we should have sailed, (sailing was delayed until 7pm due to flooding in Galveston) that he went down and got it for us and put it in the cabin while we were at the Muster Drill.  You better believe we tipped him then too!  He turned out to be one of the best stewards we have had in a long time, on any line.

[pc_load_letter]

I do. I give him\her $40.

Edited December 6, 2018 by pc_load_letter

[Purvis1231]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 4:47 AM, sanmarcosman said:

Carnival discontinued placing ice in the cabins without being requested to do so 6 years ago.

yes, I knew they discontinued it but still is it an extra service requiring $20.00 upfront? 

[sanmarcosman]

4 minutes ago, Purvis1231 said:

yes, I knew they discontinued it but still is it an extra service requiring $20.00 upfront? 

See post 14 for the answer.

Edited December 7, 2018 by sanmarcosman

[Joseph2017China]

If you tip extra, and expect them to do extra for it, than isn't that paying them extra and not tipping?  When you expect something extra, do you ask?  Is the extra outside the normal items that is expected of them for their job, like getting you ice? Why would anyone pay to have something done, that is already are requirement of their job?  Why do people tip bartenders 40% to pour a drink?  All points I ponder.

 

Tipping is a personal thing.  It's an award for a job well done.  I expect the employees to honor any request that I make.  I expect bartenders to treat me equally among the others.  Maybe, if at the end of the cruise, I notice a particular person that is always hustling and taking care of me and others around me, than at that time, I make the decision for awarding extra tips. 

 

Certainly, go ahead in tip extra.  But giving it out before the service is done, is not a tip. 

[deadmoney]

I do not think of it as a bribe.

I think of it as an incentive.

[The4Cruisers]

We don't try to BRIBE our steward.  However, we leave the auto gratuity in place and we tip over and above at the end of the cruise for a job well done. 

[simplelife]

We have never tipped anyone until the end. We always speak to our steward and say please and thank you and engage  with him/her. We leave the autotips in place and sometimes give extra the last day. Same with our waitstaff in the MDR. Next cruise will be the first time we do cheers. We are thinking of giving an additional tip to one or more bartenders at the beginning - our friend who always does cheers says this is what he does.  I plan to take a lot of $1 bills to tip bartenders who are particularly attentive,.

[declansdad]

On 11/30/2018 at 12:46 PM, crazy cat mom said:

I have been on 2 cruises...so I'm not an expert.  But we tipped our room steward at the beginning, middle and end of each cruise.  We also made sure to tip the bartender when we ordered the first drink of the day.  We also tipped the servers daily especially when we had "my time" dining.  And we NEVER had to wait for anything, even ordering drinks in the dining room.  I understand the cruise lines use tipping to justify their wages, so the assigned tips only take the hard working servers to minimum wage   

 

We've never given extra tips upfront and don't tip extra on the drinks. And we  have never had a problem getting anything in a timely manner.

 

On 12/7/2018 at 12:50 PM, deadmoney said:

I do not think of it as a bribe.

I think of it as an incentive.

 

If you give someone money before they do something, how is that an incentive?

[deadmoney]

If someone does something nice for you, do you not want to do something nice for them in return?

[HillBilly Bob]

I always tip a ten or twenty on the first meeting of our steward.   They will never forget you.  

[ray98]

No...everyone does not.  You do not have to tip up front to get great service is my experience on dozens of cruises.

Edited December 9, 2018 by ray98

[sparks1093]

4 hours ago, deadmoney said:

If someone does something nice for you, do you not want to do something nice for them in return?

Sure, after they've done it (and I don't see it as the staff "doing something nice for" me, I see it as them doing their job. If they just do their job they get the autograts. If they do something extra because I asked them to then they get extra at the end of the cruise.)

[OCruisers]

On 11/30/2018 at 12:06 PM, bsp said:

Once when we took my husband's parents we tipped the steward an extra $20 and asked if he'd take care of the parents. Can't say if he didn't anything extra; but, we found tipping good with first drink and you've got yourself a waiter for the cruise.  ..........

Happy Cruising 😎

 

When our girls (teens) were in their own cabin, we always tipped their cabin steward $20 up front like you did for your parents.

Totally agree on giving a good tip at the bar of your choice with the first drink!  

[sanmarcosman]

The only occasion when I tip a buck upfront is when I hand them my bag of laundry in the morning in the hallway on my way to breakfast.

[evandbob]

On 12/1/2018 at 5:02 AM, momof3cruisers said:

My question to you is, having worked as a waitress, what would you think if someone tipped you at the beginning of a meal? I would have found that weird and awkward so I haven't ever done that. To me, it doesn't feel professional. But they certainly won't turn the money down so do what you want.

When I've had a special request, like I'm in a hurry and want my meal fast and I'm in a busy NY restaurant, I tip the waitstaff an additional $10 or 20 as I give my order.  They will still get 20% when I pay the bill.

 

If I have a special request out of the usual for my cabin steward, I'll tip extra upon completion of the task/request.  I always prepay gratuities and never lower or eliminate that charge.

 

Like I said, I'm from NY and we are immersed in a tipping culture.  Other areas have less of a tipping culture.  The OP should do whatever he is comfortable with regarding extra tipping.

 

I only wish the cruise lines would fold the gratuities into the basic cabin fare!

[pacruise804]

On 12/2/2018 at 6:40 AM, sparks1093 said:

Yep, and when I was a bellhop back in the day we'd receive a small tip for bringing ice to a guest's room, so I see this as something similar.

 

I view a hotel a little differently since guests generally have access to the machine, but it is an extra (reasonable) service for the bellhop to perform.  Guests don't have access to the ice on the ship (unless you take your bucket to lido and fill it one cup at a time from the drink dispenser), so I view it as part of the steward's job.

 

On 12/2/2018 at 7:15 AM, sanger727 said:

No; I’ve never pre-tipped and never plan to. I’ve been a waitress as well and believe in tipping well but the idea of someone handing me cash prior to service with a request to take extra special care of them gives me a creepy feeling. It’s awkward and IMO completely unnecessary. Hard workers will work hard and not hard workers will work not hard, regardless of a pre-tip. I’d rather show them appreciation at the end.

 

I suppose I do pre-tip since we pay our daily gratuities in advance, but that isn't really what we are discussing here 😉 I think the bolded portion of what you wrote is key - we extend an additional tip and compliment to management if they exceeded expectations.

 

I agree with the thought of possibly pre-tipping for known messy children or extra care parents.  We are taking our children on their first cruise next summer and will just drill into them that they need to keep their belongings put away - the same as we do.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 

I view a hotel a little differently since guests generally have access to the machine, but it is an extra (reasonable) service for the bellhop to perform.  Guests don't have access to the ice on the ship (unless you take your bucket to lido and fill it one cup at a time from the drink dispenser), so I view it as part of the steward's job.

 

 

I suppose I do pre-tip since we pay our daily gratuities in advance, but that isn't really what we are discussing here 😉 I think the bolded portion of what you wrote is key - we extend an additional tip and compliment to management if they exceeded expectations.

 

I agree with the thought of possibly pre-tipping for known messy children or extra care parents.  We are taking our children on their first cruise next summer and will just drill into them that they need to keep their belongings put away - the same as we do.

As I understand it they will fill the buckets at any of the bars, so we could do it ourselves if we wished to, but I do see that it's not quite the same as at a hotel.

[pacruise804]

Which came first: low wages with the expectation that tips will make up the difference, or a generally accepted tipped position having a lower wage since it is expected that gratuities will bring the pay up?  I suspect it is a combination.  Many posters don't like the DSC, but I don't think it is as simple as the cruise line trying to make us pay the wages. 

 

Where I live someone working fast food is likely to earn minimum wage and they will probably only earn their hourly rate.  Someone else employed at a full service restaurant can have a lower base wage plus tips (employer will bring wage up to minimum if not enough tips collected).  The tipped employee generally will earn more because of the tips than the hourly worker.

 

My service expectations are fairly high, but I also try to make someone's job as easy as possible. We try to communicate clearly, smile, and treat others with respect.  I will continue to consider daily grats part of the cost of cruising, tip extra for exceptional service (after it has occurred), and not worry about what other passengers do or the business dynamics of the cruise line and their employees (assuming no gross abuses).

[Florings]

We always tip them when we meet on the first day - but we usually have a few requests also, so we feel if we are asking for something extra, we gladly will tip extra.

 

If service is great all cruise (always is...), we will tip an additional amount at the end.

 

This is over and above the auto gratuities.

[FSHLOT]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 7:17 AM, HillBilly Bob said:

I always tip a ten or twenty on the first meeting of our steward.   They will never forget you.  

 

Agree 100%

 

We just got back from the Dream (Dec.2-Dec.9) and we actually tipped before and after, and we really don't ask for anything while on a cruise. We do this on every cruise. They love it!! We also do certain bartenders/waiters throughout the cruise.