The bigger the tip the faster you get your luggage?

[not-enough-cruising]

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

You can’t get it easily but that $150,000 figure is an extrapolation if the longshoremen is at the highest hourly rate and worked 52 weeks a year. There are often furloughs. In any case we tip porters because it is custom. Tipping them won’t get them to you faster on the ship because the bags are loaded on the ship in containers and distributed by crew. What the porter who handles your bag on shore could do with your bag if they have a gripe with you is handle it roughly and damage your bag. Maybe misplace them. Maybe rip off the tags which would delay you getting them. 

So you willingly participate in extortion??

[alfaeric]

If you want the most consistent delivery time to your cabin, as in the second the rooms are available every single time you board- carry them on yourself.  Done.

 

We've been doing that for all but 2 of our last 40 cruises.  One was we were with family- who needed help, the other was when we were forced to not carry them on in Boston (makes no sense at all).  

 

Otherwise, carrying them on has made sure the first thing we do is unpack and there are no stresses.

 

(then again, we are far, far, far from fixated from being the first on the ship.  The only things that are open are the bars and food.  Boarding at 1pm really does not change the experience.  )

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

So you willingly participate in extortion??

 

Nope. I don’t think most do those things or most would. Bags that are damaged it is usually by accident. I tip the porters because it is customary. I am not a cheapskate. 

[ssb]

Do not understand all this concern ? 

Drop bags and go enjoy your day . The luggage will be delivered to room . Why worry about this . Carry on what you absolutely need the first afternoon day , if necessary? 

[jean87510]

Last January the husband and I left on a vision of the seas cruise out of NOLA. We were dropped off by our Uber driver then we placed our bags where indicated. Unfortunately we only had $20 Bill's on us which we were not going to tip with. I found $5 and apologized to the porter for the low tip. He rolled his eyes at his fellow workers and started making comments about our cheapness. My husband was annoyed because he actually got the bags out of the car and put them next to the cart. This guy did nothing. Husband said she shouldn't give you anything at all since you did nothing. Well, result was my husbands bag never appeared so he had to go look for it. The paper tag was off. We now have the plastic ones. I was really surprised at this guy because honestly he really did nothing but just stand there while my husband did the unloading and putting bag next to cart. I think this was an extreme case since we usually have 2 or 3 people offering to help but for some reason I guess due to torrential rain, no one wanted to help and they just expected a tip for standing there.

Edited August 9, 2019 by jean87510

[vacationlover_mn]

I did a girls cruise on Indy, a few years ago.  4 of us in two balcony rooms.  We all tipped the porter.  Our bags arrived at different times, the latest being 5pm.

[grapau27]

16 hours ago, voyager70 said:

I'm a generous tipper and often don't get my bags until 5-6 o'clock.  Don't believe it matters.

 

I usually give $1 a bag and wait until they put our bags on the trailer before we move away to check in.

Our bags never turn up quickly even when checking in at 12 noon and often they arrive after muster.

On occasion when the CS asks if we are okay I will tell him what our bags are like and the colour strap with Pauline's name on.

Usually the CS shortly afterwards turns up with our cases and I give him $5.

[grapau27]

41 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

If you want the most consistent delivery time to your cabin, as in the second the rooms are available every single time you board- carry them on yourself.  Done.

 

We've been doing that for all but 2 of our last 40 cruises.  One was we were with family- who needed help, the other was when we were forced to not carry them on in Boston (makes no sense at all).  

 

Otherwise, carrying them on has made sure the first thing we do is unpack and there are no stresses.

 

(then again, we are far, far, far from fixated from being the first on the ship.  The only things that are open are the bars and food.  Boarding at 1pm really does not change the experience.  )

I would prefer to do that but are discouraged by staff.

Our cases are 20 inches wide.

How wide are yours because if they go through the scanner and are this width or more I will carry ours on in future.

Many thanks 

Graham.

[Needz2Cruise]

I think it makes zero difference how much you tip the porters. Basically all they do is load it on a cart and maybe get it to the ship. Once on the ship, I'm pretty sure its RC staff that sorts it out by deck, then at the proper deck it sits by a service elevator until someone else gets all of it out to the staterooms.  Last two cruises, both out of same port (Bayonne), both on Adventure OTS, arrival about the same time, tip the porter about the same: first time, I retrieved the luggage from the service elevator area myself since they left it open about 6:00 and the second time it was there almost as soon as they opened up the staterooms at 1 or 1:30.

[Ourusualbeach]

18 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

Hi

is it true that giving a big tip to the porters will get your luggage faster to your stateroom?  I dont know how a porter has any control on a luggage once its in the ship but Im reading it about it over and over and I was wondering if its something new now that I dont know or simply a rumor. In my case I wont pay more to get my luggage a few hours early but its always good to know what is trending now 

Thanks 

 

On your next cruise why don’t you test your theory.  Tip the porters $20 a bag and report back whether they made it to your room quicker 

[blueridgemama]

We tip $1-2 per bag and never had a porter ask for more, roll his eyes or damage our luggage. I really don't think they have the time to remember who tipped what and then go find that person's luggage and rip off the tags or purposefully damage your luggage.

[Tony O]

18 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I never tip the porters, it's ludicrous to tip someone for doing the bare minimum in their job description, all the while making well north of $150,000 a year PLUS union benefits. My luggage comes about the same time as all the people around me.

Please quote your source of information. 

[Tony O]

17 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It most certainly is true.  The porters at the terminals (USA Terminals) are part of the Longshoreman's union.  Starting salary average $130,000. The guys working the cruise terminals are more senior members of the union, as this is a highly desired assignment (thus they are higher paid and are making an overtime and weekend differential as well) Tack on paid vacation, union medical and dental, and they are VERY well compensated for moving y bags 20 feet or so from the curb to the nearest trolley (where they then hand it over to RCCL staff)

You are so way off on your alleged  facts.

First of all the men assigned to work as porters are from the new hires to the senior men.

There is NO starting  salary for longshoremen they get paid for tbe hours they work and not on a salary.

The do make overtime differential but this was bargained  in the contract between union and management.

Longshoremen in Baltimore agreed  to a wage reduction and work and starting times flexability to accommodate  the cruise line.

Again the benefits package was agreed to by both union and management  with fiscal  responsibility  on both parts and there are out of pocket cost they pay such as deductibles etc.

Also they guys you see loading the ship stores etc. make sure you have enough to eat and drink are also longshoremen.

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I would prefer to do that but are discouraged by staff.

Our cases are 20 inches wide.

How wide are yours because if they go through the scanner and are this width or more I will carry ours on in future.

Many thanks 

Graham.

Small enough to carry onto airplanes.  

 

We had issues with our luggage before cruising, so we got into the carry-on only thing pretty early on in our flight travels.  Makes life a lot easier- on many, many fronts.

 

But our longest vacation ever will be next year, where we will be gone for 3 weeks.  With carry on only luggage.  That will be interesting.

[legaljen1969]

18 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I never tip the porters, it's ludicrous to tip someone for doing the bare minimum in their job description, all the while making well north of $150,000 a year PLUS union benefits. My luggage comes about the same time as all the people around me.

$150K a year plus benefits to carry luggage?  Jeez. I am going quit my job as a paralegal and go get a good gym membership and carry luggage.  That's 3x what I make!

[legaljen1969]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Nope. I don’t think most do those things or most would. Bags that are damaged it is usually by accident. I tip the porters because it is customary. I am not a cheapskate. 

That is the darn truth.  It is customary. It is nice to show appreciation for people doing a job helping people do something they don't want to do themselves. 
People, if you don't want to tip, then carry  your own stinking bags.   Seriously. They are there to help you and tipping them is the right thing to do.

[grapau27]

10 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

Small enough to carry onto airplanes.  

 

We had issues with our luggage before cruising, so we got into the carry-on only thing pretty early on in our flight travels.  Makes life a lot easier- on many, many fronts.

 

But our longest vacation ever will be next year, where we will be gone for 3 weeks.  With carry on only luggage.  That will be interesting.

Thanks.

We usually take 2 big cases measuring.

20 inches wide and 33 inches long

11 inches high.

Has anyone took this size case or bigger on board ship themselves?

We always carry our cases off the ship so not a problem but really would prefer to carry them on board too.

 

[cruisegirl1]

In our experience, the higher the level on the luggage tag, the longer it  takes to get your luggage delivered.😄. 

 

M

[time4u2go]

12 minutes ago, legaljen1969 said:

That is the darn truth.  It is customary. It is nice to show appreciation for people doing a job helping people do something they don't want to do themselves. 
People, if you don't want to tip, then carry  your own stinking bags.   Seriously. They are there to help you and tipping them is the right thing to do.

Except that they don't let us.  I would be more than happy to carry my bag that additional 5 feet and not have to deal with them at all.  But we can't.

[GTO-Girl]

3 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

We give them $5 per bag but we usually only have 1 at most 2...and our carry ons.  Out of 24 cruises I can only count maybe 2 that our bags weren't waiting for us at 1:00 or shortly thereafter.  But once on Mariner when we were queing on the outside promenade, we watched the stevedores run over a couple of bags in their loader, I kid you not, the bags fell off and he ran over them totally, everybody around us was horrified!  

 

A number of years back we were on the Carnival Dream hanging out on the balcony watching them load luggage for our sailing.  They had the bins stacked way over full.  Just as they were about to lift it onto the ship three suitcases fell off the top and right into the water!!!  They just laughed, got a big hook and fished them out and put them on the ship. 

 

 I sure was glad they weren’t mine because water was pouring out of them!!

[LMaxwell]

20 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

Hi

is it true that giving a big tip to the porters will get your luggage faster to your stateroom?  I dont know how a porter has any control on a luggage once its in the ship but Im reading it about it over and over and I was wondering if its something new now that I dont know or simply a rumor. In my case I wont pay more to get my luggage a few hours early but its always good to know what is trending now 

Thanks 

 

no truth whatsoever.  All the porter does is put it on the luggage cart; that cart is then taken to a behind the scenes screening area and then a train of carts is driven out for longshoremen to load on the ship.  Luggage is then sorted and delivered.    

[BND]

We always tip because we choose to, not because we feel we have to.  Usually $5 for 3 bags.  We usually arrive early and our bags are usually at our room well before muster, but it really is a crapshoot.  Tips are extra and these guys are already getting paid.  They're employed by the port, not the cruise lines and they are unionized.  There are multiple posts here about tipping and the porters/longhoremen.  There are/were signs at some of the ports saying not to tip.  From what I've read these guys make more than a lot of the cruisers they're loading luggage for.  

[DrivesLikeMario]

I've never found that to be true about a larger tip meaning faster bag delivery.

[SRF]

1 hour ago, Tony O said:

You are so way off on your alleged  facts.

First of all the men assigned to work as porters are from the new hires to the senior men.

There is NO starting  salary for longshoremen they get paid for tbe hours they work and not on a salary.

The do make overtime differential but this was bargained  in the contract between union and management.

Longshoremen in Baltimore agreed  to a wage reduction and work and starting times flexability to accommodate  the cruise line.

Again the benefits package was agreed to by both union and management  with fiscal  responsibility  on both parts and there are out of pocket cost they pay such as deductibles etc.

Also they guys you see loading the ship stores etc. make sure you have enough to eat and drink are also longshoremen.

 

Wrong, they are the more senior, because of all the tipping.  Figure how many loading bags?  20.  3000 rooms.  $5 per room, $15,000 in tips.  You think the newbies are going to get to do something that pays and additional $750 CASH (no tax), for 4 - 6 hours of work?

 

True, they are not salaried, but the stated amount are average ANNUAL INCOME.  And they have guaranteed minimum hours if they get called in. 

 

Yeah, take a few less bucks to make the tips.  Smart guys.

 

Yes, everything loaded or unloaded are handled by longshoremen.

[Tony O]

1 minute ago, SRF said:

 

Wrong, they are the more senior, because of all the tipping.  Figure how many loading bags?  20.  3000 rooms.  $5 per room, $15,000 in tips.  You think the newbies are going to get to do something that pays and additional $750 CASH (no tax), for 4 - 6 hours of work?

 

True, they are not salaried, but the stated amount are average ANNUAL INCOME.  And they have guaranteed minimum hours if they get called in. 

 

Yeah, take a few less bucks to make the tips.  Smart guys.

 

Yes, everything loaded or unloaded are handled by longshoremen.

So I guess my 48 years working in the longshore industry doesn't count.

There is a 4 minimum guarantee at some ports but they  only get paid for actual time worked after the guarantee. Jobs do not automatically to senior men women

The average income for ILA workers are around $60000 a year. I am not  sure what the ILWU wages are. But since you may not know there are many other jobs that longshoremen do such as working on container , breakbulk ,ro-ro ships in ALL kind of weather  They also work at container terminals and some work at the port railroad yards 

So what you see is a very small portion of what a longshoreman does 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Tony O