ADDITIONAL Tips/Gratuities - How much do you give and for who?

[zdad59]

"It's not tipping I believe in.    It's over tipping."

                                                     -  Todd Wilkinson

 

 

[zdad59]

I really do believe in over tipping.     I usually break it into a couple of parts.    On day one, I'll slip a $20 to the cabin steward, the person I adopt a my favorite bartender, the mater D', and the head waiter.    Then, based on service level I'll tip at the end of the cruise as well.    Usually $10-15/day for the cabin steward and head waiter, and extra $50 to the Mater D' if he has worked to provide extra service during the week,  $10/day for the asst waiter, and misc. amounts to those that provided additional service.

[cruise kitty]

8 minutes ago, zdad59 said:

"It's not tipping I believe in.    It's over tipping."

                                                     -  Todd Wilkinson

 

 

You beat me to it,

one of my all time favorite  movies  :)

[George C]

We sail in exactly two weeks, for a 7 day cruise I get about a hundred in singles and fives. Tip waiter or bartender a dollar or two with each drink order, we are in suite so lots go to suite lounge. Since we do not get same waiter each night in suite restaurant or specialty we tip 5 or more with each meal. At end of week we tip room steward normally 40 or more, also butler depending on service , may or may not tip concierge depending what they some get nothing one did get a hundred. 

[Denny01]

What a refreshing thread!  When I saw the title, I went Oooooh Noooooo!!

 

lots of good advice on tipping. When I order breakfast in our SR, I’ll have a few bucks handy. 
 

den

[Shadow9612]

3 hours ago, sunonfire said:

I have a question about Celebrity Cruise. If you have unused onboard credit can you designate “x” amount of dollars to a specific crew member as an extra gratuity? We were able to do this on a Royal Carribean Cruise. I had to fill out a form with the crew members’ names and where they worked. I made a duplicate copy and handed it to the crew member so they had proof. Hopefully it showed up in their paychecks.

 

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

You can do the same on Celebrity, at least for some positions.

Last cruise, I was told by guest services that the only person you could do this with was your stateroom attendant.  Has anybody been able to specify other crew members?

[Oville]

19 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

What a refreshing thread!  When I saw the title, I went Oooooh Noooooo!!

 

lots of good advice on tipping. When I order breakfast in our SR, I’ll have a few bucks handy. 
 

den

But of course we are only hearing from tippers.  Always love your posts but this topic may be excluding those who feel the auto tipping is plenty.

[Bo1953]

29 minutes ago, Oville said:

But of course we are only hearing from tippers.  Always love your posts but this topic may be excluding those who feel the auto tipping is plenty.

Maybe it will give a few of them some pause to think about it going forward???

 

Hope Springs Eternal...

 

bon voyage

[chill6x6]

I have really no PRE-plans as far as extra tipping goes.  Of course I leave the standard gratuities in place.  I tip completely by seat of the pants method.  If I feel like someone is going the extra mile...they will get a good tip, but I'm not about to tip just to tip. The guy pushing the cart of beer around the pool aboard the Silhouette got a GREAT tip...yet the concierge got nothing because the one or two things we asked of her seemed to be an imposition.  The concierge aboard the Rotterdam got a great tip yet our cabin stewards half way did things so they got nothing extra.  Our butter and cabin steward both got excellent tips on Getaway yet the concierges really did nothing for us so nothing.  Completely seat of the pants and case by case basis.

[yorky]

5 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Maybe it will give a few of them some pause to think about it going forward???

 

Hope Springs Eternal...

 

bon voyage

Nope the cruise line set the tipping levels and that’s fine by me. We occasionally tip extra for exceptional service but that it. As above completely seat of the pants and case by case basis which is the way it should be in my view.

[Pushka]

6 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Maybe it will give a few of them some pause to think about it going forward???

 

Hope Springs Eternal...

 

bon voyage

If you come from a country where wages are paid according to a minimum standard set by government then I can’t remember the last time I tipped in Australia. So if I’ve paid the gratuities set by the cruise line then I’m sure many non US people would think they have covered everything required. 

[ghstudio]

7 hours ago, Oville said:

But of course we are only hearing from tippers.  Always love your posts but this topic may be excluding those who feel the auto tipping is plenty.

 

I thought I made it quite clear in the opening post that this is meant to be for the SOME folks who leave additional tips......

 

This thread assumes that you pay the standard gratuity, whatever it is in your cabin category.  Some of us leave additional tips.....but reading in CC or elsewhere, apparently the "politically correct" statement is "give whatever you think is deserved" which sounds wonderful but gives absolutely no information to the reader. 

 

I am starting this thread so new cruisers can get an idea of how much folks give as an ADDITIONAL tip in dollars...not in words like "nice tip".  If you don't leave the standard gratuity, for whatever reason...,please be a reader....don't add to this thread....there are a multitude of threads about whether or not to leave standard gratuities....please post there.

 

I am sure there are many who do not leave additional tips, tip individually rather than using standard gratuities or perhaps don't leave any tips.....and those topics are very well covered in (many) other threads.  This topic is an attempt to try to translate words like a "good additional tip" or " a great tip" into $'s (I took those words from posts in this thread)

[anniegb]

14 hours ago, ghstudio said:

I wish I could moderate this thread....because it will undoubtedly become a discussion of standard gratuities, etc....but please do NOT discuss those here. 

 

This thread assumes that you pay the standard gratuity, whatever it is in your cabin category.  Some of us leave additional tips.....but reading in CC or elsewhere, apparently the "politically correct" statement is "give whatever you think is deserved" which sounds wonderful but gives absolutely no information to the reader. 

 

I am starting this thread so new cruisers can get an idea of how much folks give as an ADDITIONAL tip in dollars...not in words like "nice tip".  If you don't leave the standard gratuity, for whatever reason...,please be a reader....don't add to this thread....there are a multitude of threads about whether or not to leave standard gratuities....please post there.

 

As a start, we normally give the following on each cruise.  If it's a back to back....that's two cruises.  We don't change the amounts based on the number of days on a cruise...a cruise is a cruise.  I repeat...this is in ADDITION TO STANDARD GRATUITIES.

 

Cabin attendant: $20 plus $10 at embarkation if we ask for something special which we seem to do more often than not.

 

waiter: $20 if we have had the same waiter for multiple nights in select/aqua

 

asst waiter: $10 if we tip the waiter

 

wine steward $20 if he refills our glasses and doesn't try to pass classic wine when we have the premium package (unfortunately, this means we often don't tip him)...often I'll give him $10 after a couple of days...and then another $10 at the end of the cruise.

 

bartender: varies...usually $10-20 if we use the same bartender often....and he doesn't try to put house vodka in the martini.  I have strayed here for some exceptional service, heavy pours or the occasional premium pour on the classic package.

 

specialty restaurants.....we had one meal in the wine room with a group with our own dedicated head waiter....we had wonderful service and he and the sommelier got a $50 tip.  Normally we don't leave anything extra.

 

I'm interested in reading what others give.

 

Is this per cabin or per person?? just asklng

 

Thanks

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

If you come from a country where wages are paid according to a minimum standard set by government then I can’t remember the last time I tipped in Australia. So if I’ve paid the gratuities set by the cruise line then I’m sure many non US people would think they have covered everything required. 

p - thank you for this input, my point is generally, that those who come here to CC and see these discussions and to some degree participate in them, may gain a better understanding of the topic and its' application outside of their 'norms'/'culture'.

 

I do not think that the purpose of the thread is to directly affect those norms or sway peoples behaviour outside of N. America. Not even those here in N.A. need be swayed or changed, if one chooses not to tip extra, that is fine for the most part because we would not know unless disclosed by the poster. Trust me, we do not need to know who does not do this and their reasons. We do not need to know who removes the daily gratuity/service charge, either.

 

Most of CC posters can accept and understand that our approach to this situation is very different than outside of our shores.

 

I believe the purpose of the post is to gauge the amounts various passengers will tip and in which level of cabin and under what circumstances. This input is only meant to provide information as to the range and NOT shame those who do not tip extra for whatever reason... those individuals do not need to respond at all, IMO.

 

As you can read, we are all over the place in terms of who and how much the posters will give extra. Hopefully it will help those who have questions as to 'how much extra' they want to consider tipping, if at all.

 

Thank you regardless.

 

bon voyage

[Pushka]

4 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

p - thank you for this input, my point is generally, that those who come here to CC and see these discussions and to some degree participate in them, may gain a better understanding of the topic and its' application outside of their 'norms'/'culture'.

 

I do not think that the purpose of the thread is to directly affect those norms or sway peoples behaviour outside of N. America. Not even those here in N.A. need be swayed or changed, if one chooses not to tip extra, that is fine for the most part because we would not know unless disclosed by the poster. Trust me, we do not need to know who does not do this and their reasons. We do not need to know who removes the daily gratuity/service charge, either.

 

Most of CC posters can accept and understand that our approach to this situation is very different than outside of our shores.

 

I believe the purpose of the post is to gauge the amounts various passengers will tip and in which level of cabin and under what circumstances. This input is only meant to provide information as to the range and NOT shame those who do not tip extra for whatever reason... those individuals do not need to respond at all, IMO.

 

As you can read, we are all over the place in terms of who and how much the posters will give extra. Hopefully it will help those who have questions as to 'how much extra' they want to consider tipping, if at all.

 

Thank you regardless.

 

bon voyage

 

I agree with all that and I’ve found it helpful. It’s our first trip in a suite and we’ve never had a butler before. We have tipped additionally to some great stewards but not others. 

[yorky]

58 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

 

I thought I made it quite clear in the opening post that this is meant to be for the SOME folks who leave additional tips......

 

This thread assumes that you pay the standard gratuity, whatever it is in your cabin category.  Some of us leave additional tips.....but reading in CC or elsewhere, apparently the "politically correct" statement is "give whatever you think is deserved" which sounds wonderful but gives absolutely no information to the reader. 

 

I am starting this thread so new cruisers can get an idea of how much folks give as an ADDITIONAL tip in dollars...not in words like "nice tip".  If you don't leave the standard gratuity, for whatever reason...,please be a reader....don't add to this thread....there are a multitude of threads about whether or not to leave standard gratuities....please post there.

 

I am sure there are many who do not leave additional tips, tip individually rather than using standard gratuities or perhaps don't leave any tips.....and those topics are very well covered in (many) other threads.  This topic is an attempt to try to translate words like a "good additional tip" or " a great tip" into $'s (I took those words from posts in this thread)

With respect I think what people leave as an individual should be left at that and is personal to that individual and dependant on what is the norm to them. People should not need guidelines on what is “ a great tip”, all this does is make people feel pressured to adhere to what’s seen as “a great tip”. You did indeed make it very clear but I’m afraid we do still have the right to an opinion and sorry but I think the thread is a bit daft.

[hcat]

There's  a sep thread about tipping in the EDGE 4 mdrs..but of course I cannot find it again (CC search feature not what it used to be.... functional!.)

 

We tipped a Special Hostess in Tuscan who  we knew from  a prior EDGE sailing in BLU and who took great care of us on our 4 mdr cruise. Tuscan is pur favprite followed by Cyprus.

 

Also tipped some very special servers in Cyprus ...went to fund them on the last night.    Other thsn that it was fairly ad hoc... night by night.

 

Stateroom attendant gets extra and bartenders  too if we are someplace for awhile...

Edited February 2, 2020 by hcat

[keesar]

3 minutes ago, yorky said:

With respect I think what people leave as an individual should be left at that and is personal to that individual and dependant on what is the norm to them. People should not need guidelines on what is “ a great tip”, all this does is make people feel pressured to adhere to what’s seen as “a great tip”. You did indeed make it very clear but I’m afraid we do still have the right to an opinion and sorry but I think the thread is a bit daft.

 

Well said.  There are other points of view.  This "daft" thread needs to be open to the  views of others.

 

On a recent cruise, our stateroom attendant was lucky we left the auto tips  in place.   No way was I going to give this  individual anything above.  I will tip select individuals on  a case by case basis.  For example, we gave $40 to our server at the Elite cocktail hour. But this does not occur all the time.   $20 to the security officer for removing children from the Solarium.  Generous  tips to the serving  staff in Blu.  

 

Even though we have the auto tips in place, I will get the old envelopes from Guest Services.

[Bo1953]

25 minutes ago, keesar said:

 

Well said.  There are other points of view.  This "daft" thread needs to be open to the  views of others.

 

On a recent cruise, our stateroom attendant was lucky we left the auto tips  in place.   No way was I going to give this  individual anything above.  I will tip select individuals on  a case by case basis.  For example, we gave $40 to our server at the Elite cocktail hour. But this does not occur all the time.   $20 to the security officer for removing children from the Solarium.  Generous  tips to the serving  staff in Blu.  

 

Even though we have the auto tips in place, I will get the old envelopes from Guest Services.

 This thread is definitely open to others, there is no question about that, IMO.

 

There are other threads, which abound us, that discuss in some depth, the reasons to or not to tip or leave the auto gratuities in place, that is NOT the thrust of this thread. It has been acknowledged and accepted upfront, on this thread, that there are different approaches to this practice.

 

The point of the thread is not to dictate or tell others what or how much or if they need to tip 'extra' or judge if one pays them or not or even remove the auto gratuities.

 

Just those who tip extra, to indicate how they go about determining if they will and how much they will based on OUR experience with the staff. It is all personal, to be sure.

 

The point of this thread is not to coerce individuals to disclose how much, if at all, they tip 'extra'.

 

g started the thread as a point of information and guidelines for those who choose to tip 'extra' and was not trying to out those who choose to not do so for whatever (personal) reason(s). There is a 'No Judgement Zone' on this thread, IMO.

 

I believe that g structured the opening post in a way to advise what information was being requested. I Am sure there are some of us who do tip extra, rather not disclose that, as it is a very personal act with personal approaches which differs for each of us. AND that is fine, no contribution to this thread is being coerced or thwarted in the least bit as far as I have read.

 

Some of the practices have given me pause as to my extra tipping on-board and I will re-think and 'possibly' do this differently going forward, who knows, maybe not.

 

Thank you all for your input, regardless.

 

bon voyage

[rotoal]

I am happy to see this discussion.   We probably over-tip some and under-tip others.   We never tip the room steward on the first day although DH always wants to do that.   Our only special request is to ask that the contents of the fridge be removed.   Once we asked the steward to remove the cigarette butt that was sitting on the table in the balcony in our first Aqua cabin.   Neither of us smokes, and I didn't want anyone to report a cigarette butt in our trash.

 

We arrive supplied with a lot of single dollar bills and some other smaller bills as well as larger bills for extra tip money.   We usually tip a dollar when getting a drink, especially at a place we don't frequent.   This does not guarantee us any better service or any recognition.  

 

I like knowing a breakdown of the auto-grats so we know when we've gone overboard.  We once tipped a so-so room steward $100 for a 7 night cruise and realized that we should have cut that back to a more reasonable amount.

 

We never tip the maitre d' because until the second to last night of a cruise he is usually not in our radar.   We have tipped the seating hostess (I can never remember what the exact title is) when we felt that we were recognized mid-way through the cruise.  I don't expect to be remembered in select dining on a 7 night cruise, but in Aqua on a 14 night cruise, it would be nice to be recognized.   

 

We like to try and sit in the same area either in select or aqua so that we can establish a rapport and have someone to tip, and then we tip based on the number of nights we've dined with that team.   Our waiter and assistant waiter usually get the same amount, but I think that we've given the assistant more money when he/she has gone the extra mile.

 

On our last cruise we joined a couple from the UK for dinner in Murano one night, and he did mention to us that he always tips something extra to his favorite waiter.   We were so happy to hear that because we know that there is a different tipping culture in other parts of the world, and we didn't want to do anything out of place.

 

On two cruises last year we had the same bar staff in the World Class Bar, we got great service and we tipped them fairly generously at the end of each cruise, but this is in sharp contrast to the times I've tried to get a drink at a bar, either crowded or almost empty only to be ignored.

 

We also travel with thank you note cards, a tip I read about on CC many years ago.  We enclose the cash with a note thanking the person and giving our names and cabin numbers.

 

 

[alwaysonaship]

In my opinion tipping is for extra service beyond the normal expected. We  cruise on  lines where there is no tipping required or expected. We usually give something extra to the room stewardess, but in most cases the staff is paid well.

[Bo1953]

Quick Question: are your guidelines the same for non-Caribbean sailings or are most responses non-Caribbean sailings?

 

bon voyage

[yorky]

10 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

 This thread is definitely open to others, there is no question about that, IMO.

 

There are other threads, which abound us, that discuss in some depth, the reasons to or not to tip or leave the auto gratuities in place, that is NOT the thrust of this thread. It has been acknowledged and accepted upfront, on this thread, that there are different approaches to this practice.

 

The point of the thread is not to dictate or tell others what or how much or if they need to tip 'extra' or judge if one pays them or not or even remove the auto gratuities.

 

Just those who tip extra, to indicate how they go about determining if they will and how much they will based on OUR experience with the staff. It is all personal, to be sure.

 

The point of this thread is not to coerce individuals to disclose how much, if at all, they tip 'extra'.

 

g started the thread as a point of information and guidelines for those who choose to tip 'extra' and was not trying to out those who choose to not do so for whatever (personal) reason(s). There is a 'No Judgement Zone' on this thread, IMO.

 

I believe that g structured the opening post in a way to advise what information was being requested. I Am sure there are some of us who do tip extra, rather not disclose that, as it is a very personal act with personal approaches which differs for each of us. AND that is fine, no contribution to this thread is being coerced or thwarted in the least bit as far as I have read.

 

Some of the practices have given me pause as to my extra tipping on-board and I will re-think and 'possibly' do this differently going forward, who knows, maybe not.

 

Thank you all for your input, regardless.

 

bon voyage

It’s not about making a judgement on others for sure, I just think it’s pretty crass. I don’t go to one of my favourite restaurants then go from table to table asking how much they intend tipping I make my own judgement based on my experience of the meal I have had and previous experiences  at other establishments. This thread is very much about people disclosing how much they tip as you point out yourself. We are all adults my friend and the level we chose to reward should be personal and not dictated or influenced by others.

[DYKWIA]

We prepay gratuities and other than room service (or other services above and beyond) that's it.

[bEwAbG]

15 minutes ago, yorky said:

It’s not about making a judgement on others for sure, I just think it’s pretty crass. I don’t go to one of my favourite restaurants then go from table to table asking how much they intend tipping I make my own judgement based on my experience of the meal I have had and previous experiences  at other establishments. This thread is very much about people disclosing how much they tip as you point out yourself. We are all adults my friend and the level we chose to reward should be personal and not dictated or influenced by others.

 

There are standard percentages for dining in a restaurant, though.  It's only natural for people to wonder what is meant by "a good tip" on a cruise.  I had the same question about cruises when I first started.  This thread gets posted a few times a year because people are seeking guidance on the standard.  What you discover is that some people way over-tip (or they're lying about it) and some don't tip extra at all.  I personally am not going to add several dollars per drink for something that already includes an additional 20% gratuity on it, but I understand why someone would.  As long as neither of us is being shamed for it, then share away.

 

The bottom line is that the daily charges are there to take the guesswork out of it & are considered sufficient.  I do agree that anything you do beyond that is up to you.