Donation to crew fund

[swansong]

I’ll start this topic by asking that responses do not start another tipping dialogue please!

I only wish to know if anyone would like to give some indication of an amount to donate to the crew fund after a normal ( say 10 day )cruise.

We normally donate to the fund but it has got me wondering if the amount we give is considered stingy.  ( is this a British word?  and I won’t disclose the amount).

Only once in many cruises have we not donated as on that occasion the service overall was poor.

We do wish what we donate to be meaningful but being British  ( and Yorkshire at that) tipping is not the culture here as it is in the US.

 

 

 

 

[DavidTheWonderer]

Good question! As you undoubtedly know, but others may not, the crew fund is used for things like parties and excursions, extras in the crew area like drum kits, and also to help members of the crew to get home in case of a family emergency. So it is very much an extra, not a tip. It also benefits the "back of the house" crew who we don't usually see on a regular basis but work very hard to make our experience so wonderful.

So, I'm not sure even a North American like me can help with the amount.  I would guess that $10 per day is a reasonable number to consider.

[DeepFreeze63]

I generally (Boo on me. I have sometimes forgotten) give $100 at the end of a cruise. Our Heros are the Laundry attendants (who we have working for us daily) so we love the idea of the Crew Fund.

[Sheltieluv]

We donate $100 to the crew fund.  Money well spent.😊 

They are very appreciative and acknowledge with a nice thank you note on behalf of the crew.

[swansong]

Thank you, that’s a relief, I guess i’m not stingy after all!

[FengShui@Sea]

Thank you for posting this question, and for those that volunteered an answer.  We will be taking our first Regent cruise in January.  It is good to know that there is such a thing as a crew fund, and what is considered an acceptable donation.  If I had only learned about the crew fund on our first Regent cruise I would have struggled with what amount to donate.  We normally add $10 a day (in total) when on other cruise lines that have automatic tipping, so it is right in line with our comfort level.

[gb58]

On our last (first) Regent cruise, we had an OBC (refundable) & let's face it, there's not much to spend it on while onboard... So we cashed it out & donated most of it to the Crew Fund. We received a very nice letter from Management thanking us for our donation. Being a fellow Brit, the tipping culture sometimes passes me by too...

I think our donation was round about $400, but it wasn't really our money in the first place...

[journeyfan]

I tried to donate non-refundable OBC to the crew fund and it was told I couldn't.  This annoyed me so much that I made sure I spent every penny of it in the shops onboard.😀

[wristband]

Small World: we also routinely leave $100 for the crew fund.

Charging it to our room account, we w/draw cash at the front desk, stick it in an envelope & the desk attendants note our name & room number.  Doing this for some time on Regent.

Why $100?  For me, it seems the right amount based on conversations with others.  Others prefer not to tip or tip individually.  With so many working so hard to make our cruising so enjoyable, we believe this is an inclusive and gracious way to express our appreciation.

 

Your mileage may differ.