How much do you tip your Steward at the end of the cruise (poll)

[Greenpea2]

On 4/30/2019 at 5:09 PM, gmbhardy said:

 

For a standard cabin? Seriously?

Crazy, Or maybe a fib!

 

[trex-de]

1 hour ago, PORT ROYAL said:

 

Fact

Think "The House Of Saud", then there is no need for a Poll

 

 

 

Ah,  I see.  I don’t hang with them socially, so you can imagine my confusion...

[hladygirl]

Just got off the gem yesterday. Had a sail away inside cabin. First time in this class of cabin. No towel animals, no coffee maker for steward to replenish and no ice bucket for him to refill. Only thing he did was make my bed or turn it down or replace some towels. My cabin is always left spotless by me. I know they work very hard and I appreciate that but I do not feel I get any extra service to warrant an extra tip over what I have already paid anymore. Always used to leave extra tip but NCL doesn’t give the room stewards a chance to do anything extra for the guests. Go ahead and flame me!

[Greenpea2]

No flaming from me, In that situation, I agree with you!

[gmbhardy]

So do I.

[newmexicoNita]

17 hours ago, Peachypooh said:

I live in the U.S. and am a senior citizen and I STILL have problems figuring what to tip.

Restaurants are 20 percent, hotel maids $5 per night, cab drivers, etc. that I know.However,

for example if cabs are waiting across the street at a hotel  due to lack of space and the doorman

waves them over or radios a dispatcher I am assuming he requires a tip. But how much?

I give them $5. Is that too much or too little? Also if a front desk person at a hotel calls for a

car service for me do they get a tip? One time I just decided to tip EVERYONE that did any kind

of service for me and I quickly ran out of small bills plus I felt like a walking ATM. I wish it were

more cut and dried.

 

I think many of us face the same problem you do: when and how much? I have seen articles with lists and suggestions on tipping. The one that  I remember the most was luggage handlers. So you take a shuttle to the hotel from the airport: you tip the driver for handling your bags: then when he/she drops you off someone comes rushing to help you with you bags: tip that person: a nice gentleman holds the door open as you check in: tip him: the bell man takes your bags to your room: tip him. By now you have tipped 4 people before you are situated in your room. Talk about running out of $1s and $5: it goes fast.  

[PORT ROYAL]

19 hours ago, ray98 said:

The majority of people are big tippers on the internet, in reality few are dishing out $100's to servers all over the ship.

 

Totally agree.  

We sailed QM2 this year (half WC) back to Southampton and for research discreetly montiotred tipping for one time only.  It appeared, from tables about ours, there was a huge majority who did not seem to tip additionally at the end of a Voyage.  Obviously believing the daily charge was more than sufficient.  

Therefore, your premise of "in reality a few" is very perceptive, and probably correct, which can be easily be transferred to an onboard situation.

 

There is no need for "flaming", because the individual is only doing what they think is best.  In truth nobody was injured, no crime committed, the World stil spins, and people can still cruise.

 

 

 

 

[4774Papa]

19 hours ago, ocdb8r said:

 

Shoppie - I currently tip very similar to what you outlined above, both on a cruise and on shore.  

 

I've been cruising for over 30 years, and I can tell you my take on how tipping has evolved.  The impression I was given by several lines as "auto gratuity" emerged was that as US cruise lines diversified their marketing to capture more of the European market, average tipping began to decrease which started to create staff retention issues.  In order to remedy this, they introduced the auto gratuity system which they sold to the European markets as a "service charge" (a concept very common in Europe) and sold to the US as an auto gratuity added for convenience that could be adjusted at any time.   While there was some resistance, this has largely been successful in ensuring a more stable and predictable take home for crew (and now we even refer to it as a "discretionary service charge").

 

What I would be very curious to see is how the contractual pay offered by cruise lines has evolved since this development.  I'd really like to see if offered pay has increased at a similar rate to which the the auto gratuity amount has increased.  If cruise lines aren't upping their pay at a similar rate, I think it would tend to show a reliance on auto gratuity to compensate for pay rates not keeping up with inflation.

 

Finally, I have two thoughts about the comments by some that are frustrated this "poll" has evolved into yet another gratuity/tipping conversation:

 

1) I think having these conversations in healthy.  Tipping is a custom for which there are no hard and fast rules.  Regular discussion about the current state of the custom helps others see where the custom is moving and allows them to make a more informed decision about whether to adjust their own behavior or not.

 

2) the very fact that this is a difficult conversation without clear rights or wrongs is precisely why many of my European/English/Australian friends absolutely loathe the "tipping culture".  To them, the last thing they want to do when they are on holiday or sitting at a restaurant for a nice meal, is to run through in their head the very debate we're having here.  They'd much prefer to know that people in the service industry are being appropriately compensated for their work (even if that means higher prices or an added service charge).  For people not accustomed to it, it creates a lot of anxiety.  I quite often have European colleagues or friends come to me before heading to the US on vacation to ask what is "normal" tipping in the various vacation contexts because they are aware it changes over time (which reinforces what I said in #1 above, these conversations help calibrate "normal").

Great post.

We have lived in Germany for four years and found tipping to be less generous than in the USA.    Also, some restaurants include the service charge in the bill.

 

I still prefer the US tipping culture, since it rewards good service and encourages better service.   When you have no incentive, the service can be less than desirable.   I will say that in countries like Australia or the Scandinavian countries where tipping is not customary, service is usually still good. 

 

 

[Oakman58]

46 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

I think many of us face the same problem you do: when and how much? I have seen articles with lists and suggestions on tipping. The one that  I remember the most was luggage handlers. So you take a shuttle to the hotel from the airport: you tip the driver for handling your bags: then when he/she drops you off someone comes rushing to help you with you bags: tip that person: a nice gentleman holds the door open as you check in: tip him: the bell man takes your bags to your room: tip him. By now you have tipped 4 people before you are situated in your room. Talk about running out of $1s and $5: it goes fast.  

 

You are so right about going through tip money fast.  Generally I don't mind tipping and I have been known to tip above the DSC when I have a very special request of the room steward.  I always tip shuttle drivers and tour guides and feel they deserve it.  I've never tipped a doorman because I've never stayed at a hotel that was fancy enough to have a doorman.

The one person that I don't like to tip, but I do, is the baggage handler at the cruise terminal.  They are members of the Longshoreman's Union/Association and earn a much better than average wage. 

[FredZiffle]

3 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

 

The one person that I don't like to tip, but I do, is the baggage handler at the cruise terminal.  They are members of the Longshoreman's Union/Association and earn a much better than average wage. 

 

That's the one person I'm afraid not to tip.

[Nola26]

$0. When I sail solo, I'm pretty low maintenance. 

 

When I sail with my family and steward has done something a bit extra I have left $10 or 20. Last cruise our attendant wasn't quite up to par and border line rude on the final day so decision to leave nothing was easy.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Nola26

[cruise47]

We usually tip $25.00 at the beginning of our cruise. We expect excellent service during the whole cruise.

[Peachypooh]

2 hours ago, FredZiffle said:

 

That's the one person I'm afraid not to tip.

Me too. That's why I am sometimes surprised that they take our bags and before I can tip them

they run away with the bag and are on to the next person. I can usually catch up and tip them but

once I couldn't and my bags arrived safe and sound anyway.

[trex-de]

From this thread, I have learned a Tip is a:  reward?  Bribe?  Incentive?  Luggage insurance?  Etc.

 

interesting

 

 

[Oakman58]

21 minutes ago, Peachypooh said:

Me too. That's why I am sometimes surprised that they take our bags and before I can tip them

they run away with the bag and are on to the next person. I can usually catch up and tip them but

once I couldn't and my bags arrived safe and sound anyway.

 

Wow, I wish I had your luck.  The baggage handlers I usually have to deal with darn near demand a tip.

[newmexicoNita]

6 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

 

You are so right about going through tip money fast.  Generally I don't mind tipping and I have been known to tip above the DSC when I have a very special request of the room steward.  I always tip shuttle drivers and tour guides and feel they deserve it.  I've never tipped a doorman because I've never stayed at a hotel that was fancy enough to have a doorman.

The one person that I don't like to tip, but I do, is the baggage handler at the cruise terminal.  They are members of the Longshoreman's Union/Association and earn a much better than average wage. 

I think many of us feel the way you do and yes, they are paid very well, but for some reason we all think we have to give them spending money. Man, I wish I had the money they make on tips!!!!

[newmexicoNita]

1 hour ago, Nola26 said:

$0. When I sail solo, I'm pretty low maintenance. 

 

When I sail with my family and steward has done something a bit extra I have left $10 or 20. Last cruise our attendant wasn't quite up to par and border line rude on the final day so decision to leave nothing was easy.

On our last cruise we think our cabin stewardess was new and she really didn't know much, we rarely ask for anything special and are low maintanence, but we still did leave her something at the end. If she hadn't been so nice we probably would not have. 

[Zippeedee]

I hated the old tip envelope system with the Maitre D hanging around your dinner table on the last night when we hadn’t seen him all week. I much prefer the standard charge and give extra for the steward, casino drink waiters etc.

[OceanBlueWaters]

For a Studio Cabin = 0$.  My cabin is small and do not request much.  I keep it clean and therefore Stewart (Steward) does nothing.  I had cooling problems (on Escape) and he did nothing after giving him $10 to go figure it out.  Never again will I tip in Studio Cabin

[CasinoCruzGirl]

Wow 23% don’t tip

[pbenjamin]

56 minutes ago, CasinoCruzGirl said:

Wow 23% don’t tip

 

No, 23% believe that they’ve already tipped. 

[JuneauWhatIMean]

On 5/2/2019 at 9:23 AM, havenfan said:

 

I'm like some of the other PPs, usually leave $5/day for the room in a hotel.  There I tend to leave something every day or two, not just at the end of the stay, since I rarely see housekeeping and don't know if it's the same person every day.  I know chambermaids (is there a gender-neutral word for this?) in the US do get "proper" salaries, unlike waiters in the US, but I also know the salaries aren't exactly lucrative and anything extra is much appreciated.

 

Tbh, I'm not completely sure why I do this beyond that I believe that I've been extremely fortunate financially so I feel better when I a) give to charity, b) tip 20% for normal service at a restaurant and 25%+ for "over and above" service, and c) tip room attendants whether I'm on land or on a ship.  If you count the number of "I"'s in the previous sentence you'll see that it's all about me, i.e., a purely personal preference.  I don't believe there's any societal norm to do the same.  Unlike the first 15% for normal service in a restaurant in the US.  Or the DSC on NCL.

 

Truly....a PERFECT post!  I salute you!  😎

[trex-de]

20 hours ago, CasinoCruzGirl said:

Wow 23% don’t tip

 

Why would you think this?  NCL charges the DSC.  We see it right on our bill. If I recall, it was promoted to be a convenient way to give gratuity.  As I read the poll and was noted in a response already, some believe it is covered. 

 

Is it safe to assume if you do not hand cash, you are really not tipping?  Or not enough?

 

Maybe the DSC has made it too impersonal?

[CasinoCruzGirl]

57 minutes ago, trex-de said:

 

Why would you think this?  NCL charges the DSC.  We see it right on our bill. If I recall, it was promoted to be a convenient way to give gratuity.  As I read the poll and was noted in a response already, some believe it is covered. 

 

Is it safe to assume if you do not hand cash, you are really not tipping?  Or not enough?

 

Maybe the DSC has made it too impersonal?

To each their own but I always tip my steward, the bartenders, the servers, dinner each night. I know the DSC is in place I just feel uncomfortable getting up from a table and leaving nothing. As far as the steward goes I give $20 when I first meet then again at end at least &40 $50 more. 

[Casino Comp Chick]

On 5/5/2019 at 9:18 PM, CasinoCruzGirl said:

Wow 23% don’t tip

 

That percentage should not surprise you.