Extra Tip for Room Attendant & Dining Room Waiter

[DENIE]

On 5/8/2019 at 8:33 PM, SunNFunCruzer said:

We just got off a fabulous Holland 10 day cruise and tipped our waiter/asst waiter/asst m'd/cabin steward/asst cabin steward extra.  We didn't eat at the main dining room every night (it was a 10 day cruise), but the staff were friendly, courteous, engaging and they remembered our preferences without us having to ask and claimed to "miss us" when we didn't come to dinner.  Lol.  😉  We also didn't have our room serviced every day.

 

But, if you take a moment to ask them about themselves and their culture and homeland, you'll realize that a lot of them leave their families (and send a great deal of money home) and that they have dreams of what they'll do next (buy a small store, buy land and sell produce, work for a major hotel chain in a large city, etc.). They work soooo hard, and such long hours, that the least we can do is provide a little extra and know we had a hand in making a dream or two come true. 

 

We have had absolutely terrible experiences with staff as well, but not in many, many years (thankfully) -- thus the tip to the Asst M'd.

SunNFun - couldn't agree more!

We also enjoy asking the staff about their homes (unless they are really busy at the moment).  It is nice to get to know them.  Yes, they do work sooooo hard.  We find that engaging them gets you better service even if a tip is not involved.  That said, we always tip our cabin steward on the first day, middle of the cruise, and a bit more at the end.....always get great service!  We try to do the same for MDR and/or specialty restaurant servers that we see frequently. 

 

We also found a great bartender in the Martini Bar that we purchased an upgrade to premium beverages, and dear SIL purchased a whole package.  We also gave him a bit extra now and then.  Every time we went to the Martini Bar, he found us!  He knew our preferences and usually asked if we wanted "the usual", or if we wanted to try something different and fun.  Always had a great smile....priceless!

 

 

[Marelaine]

1 hour ago, citronella said:

I can never understand all the chat about whether the tips are pooled or not. What does it matter ? When you tip in a restaurant on land it’s pretty standard that tips are pooled. So why would it matter on a cruise ship ? 

 

I would like to see the gratuities become part of the fare - I bet some of the pickiest and most demanding passengers are the ones removing the auto tips.

 

You have a good point. I don't care how they distribute the auto-grats. We've seen the chart with the breakdown of how that is disbursed. But if I give someone an extra tip because they gave exceptional service, I want them to have control over it. It may be that they give the head housekeeper or the person who delivers their fresh linens part of the tip, because they helped them to be exceptional, but it's their choice. 

[lovestx]

Thanks for the honest answers to this question as we do like to add special tips to certain staff (in addition to autograt) and always fear that we are tipping too little.

 

On our recent 14 day trip on Solstice, we tipped our cabin steward $40, the head and assistant waiters in Blu each $40 and the sommelier $20 (I think).  They all gave us excellent service and were deserving of recognition.  And we (our travel group) all feel very fortunate to be in a position to give a bit extra.

 

A great story:  we never 'met' our asst. cabin steward but would see him often.  Towards the end of the cruise, I said to my husband that I wasn't sure he ever serviced our room but couldn't be sure (not realizing that Celebrity no longer had asst. cabin stewards).  So on the last full morning, I gave this man $20 for a tip.  He said that I should be giving it to my cabin steward.  I responded that I did give him a tip.  Later that day, this honest man came to me and said "I am not your cabin steward and haven't worked in your room."  And gave me the money back!!  I thought that was incredible integrity and made sure to comment on this to his superiors.  So refreshing to know that there are honest, good people still in our world!!