Tipping per drink on top of gratuities?

[karma459]

Tipping is highly subjective, and is (or should be) truly at your discretion.

 

On land, I'm generally a 20% tipper.... why? because it's easy to do the math, and I like my life to be easy. On Cruises, I prepay tips and I get cheers and therefore, I feel like the "easy" part of tipping is covered. I'm meeting expectations. 

So, if I receive service that "meets expectations" I call it even and generally don't tip extra. I think that's a fair deal. 

If I received exceptional service, or memorable service, or something that just stands out to me- then I generally tip in cash at that time. 

If I"m having a GREAT time, well then I tend to tip a little more than normal, becuase - gosh- aren't we all just having a great time?? oh look! another drink!! 😄

 

I don't tip to try to IMPROVE poor or expected service. I tip to recognize service ABOVE the expected. 

But still, "expected" is subjective, so there is no "right" answer. 

 

Now, if I ASK for something unique or outside the "norm", you bet I'm going to tip in gratitude for that service (i.e. room service delivery, fresh ice daily, extra towels, pillows, blankets, etc. brought to me).

 

What/When/How you tip above & beyond standard gratuities is really no one elses business, and it should feel good to you. It should feel fair. 

 

Unless you are someone who removes pre-paid gratuities and then tips nothing or tips nothing while enjoying DOU, then - well - I hope you get a painful bug bite on your arse during your next cruise, because that feels fair to me!! lolol! 

 

 

[kona_wahine]

Nope.  18% is fine. On a $10 drink that’s $1.80. Plenty enough. I tip roughly 20% also in a restaurant, for same reason as above, it’s easier to calculate. I agree the whole tipping thing is out of hand. The only thing extra I tip is the steward if they do a good job. I can remember only once not tipping extra. 

[ray98]

9 minutes ago, karma459 said:

 

I don't tip to try to IMPROVE poor or expected service. I tip to recognize service ABOVE the expected. 

 

 

Pretty much my philosophy. 

[wallyboag]

Does anyone know how much of a tip the bartender/server gets on a cheers package drink?

 

For instance, a $12 drink paid with cash would have an auto-gratuity if $2.16 added.

 

If I got the same drink with cheers and did not add an extra tip, how much would the server get? The same $2.16?

[cuccicruisers]

For my 7 day cruise I paid gratuity of $65 and change on the cheers package. 
 

To make it easy that is roughly $10 a day and I drink 9-10 drinks per day. My drinks cost $10-14 per drink and if I did not add more I would feel I was not tipping appropriately as would be around a 10% tip in consideration of the price of the drink. 
 

I do not add additional tips to bottles of water or canned beverages. 
 

[icft]

3 hours ago, cuccicruisers said:

For my 7 day cruise I paid gratuity of $65 and change on the cheers package. 
 

To make it easy that is roughly $10 a day and I drink 9-10 drinks per day. My drinks cost $10-14 per drink and if I did not add more I would feel I was not tipping appropriately as would be around a 10% tip in consideration of the price of the drink. 
 

I do not add additional tips to bottles of water or canned beverages. 
 

I have never done the cheers package but I think I would probably feel the need to take the same approach. But I can't really fault those who don't add to the built-in tip for a couple of reasons. The first is that a 10% tip was the standard tip until the late 1970s. Then a big bout of inflation set in and in a show if ignorance people started saying that since prices went up the tips should go up and started paying a higher percent in tips, apparently not understanding basic math and that the same 10% applied to the higher prices produced a higher tip. Second, the tipping game is that you tip based on the charge. If you get a hamburger for $10 at one place you tip based on $10. If you get the same hamburger for $20 at another place you tip based on $20. So while I would feel the need to add to the built in cheers tip I can't fault those who do not.

[cuccicruisers]

Everyone is free to their own conclusions- this is how I made mine. Being a past service industry employee also factors into my equation. 

[vanislandcruisers]

We always get the Cheers/Drink Package when Cruising.

 

For a 7-day Cruise on Carnival or Princess I ensure that I have 105 @ $1 Bills for Drink Tips. I put 15 @ $1 Bills in my 'Cheers' Pocket each morning. I give the Drink Waiter or Bartender a $1 Bill for each Drink. 

 

This serves 2 purposes in my mind:

1. I think it makes whoever served me the Drink feel better and if even better/even quicker service is a result that's a bonus and 

2. I can keep track of how close I am getting to the daily limit of 15 Drinks when on Carnival and Princess.

 

My Wife tips $1/ Drink as well however she usually adds it to the Receipt so it is 'pooled'. The 15 in a day isn't as much of a concern for her until I am approaching or have reached my 15.

 

We have also cruised on Celebrity and Norwegian where there wasn't a Daily Limit on Drinks so we adopted a different strategy. We tend to be 'creatures of habit' on Cruises and end up finding 'our places'. We end up doing the majority of our hydrating at 2 or 3 of the same Bars throughout the Cruise so we tip a little more in bulk meaning we'll give our favourite Waiters and Bartenders a few bigger Cash Tips (a couple of $5's or $10's  here and there) while still tipping those we get service from on a more 1-up basis a $1 Bill/drink.

 

 

 

 

[Kbeth93]

On 1/3/2022 at 12:16 PM, famof4togo said:

We hand our steward a $20.00 upon introduction....I find it helps them expedite our requests or always have our ice stocked etc....but totally not required and to each their own...every cruise we bring $100.00 in ones and $100.00 in fives for tipping.

Do you find yourself running out of the 1/5's by the end of the cruise at all?

[famof4togo]

4 minutes ago, Kbeth93 said:

Do you find yourself running out of the 1/5's by the end of the cruise at all?

Yes we usually do and just break a few $20's at the casino.....I am a generous tipper, but hubby is an extremely generous tipper...he's been know to split his wins 50/50 at the casino with his dealer when tipsy enough....lol....

[Kbeth93]

Just now, famof4togo said:

Yes we usually do and just break a few $20's at the casino.....I am a generous tipper, but hubby is an extremely generous tipper...he's been know to split his wins 50/50 at the casino with his dealer when tipsy enough....lol....

Haha that's awesome about the hubby though!. I like to have plenty of cash on hand but was trying to figure out how much to take as my husband and I are generous tippers as well! Do you ever tip the table staff in the MDR (we usually only go there for dinner)? I've been thinking about doing that, just cause I see physically those trays they carry and have spoken to them in the past about what it does to their bodies (yes random convo, I'm a physical therapist so I notice that kind of stuff lol).  

[Wennfred]

I had the same cabin Steward on first first 2 cruises onboard Panorama, on my 3rd cruise he was gone, his contract was over and he was off the ship in Long Beach. 
 

Today you don’t see your cabin steward unless you see him/her out in the hallway. They leave a business card by the mirror and if you call for housekeeping that person will answer.

 

They only make your bed once but they will ask you if you prefer the room cleaned in the morning or evening.

 

Either way, they do an amazing job and I appreciate all they do for us. They are well tipped on the last day. 
 

Fred

[Elaine5715]

21 hours ago, wallyboag said:

Does anyone know how much of a tip the bartender/server gets on a cheers package drink?

 

For instance, a $12 drink paid with cash would have an auto-gratuity if $2.16 added.

 

If I got the same drink with cheers and did not add an extra tip, how much would the server get? The same $2.16?

Yes, you can do the math.  No, they do not get anything close to $2.16 on a drink unless you only order 4 beverages a day on CHEERS.  

Here is the math.  If you prepay for CHEERS, you pay $51.95 a day plus $9.35 daily for gratuities.  

So now divide that $9.35 by the number of drinks per day. If you have one beverage, you would have tipped $9.35 for that drink. If you have five beverages, $1.87 tip per drink.  If you have ten beverages, 93.5 cents per drink.  

On a typical day, I would have a mimosa at breakfast, an after breakfast latte (or two), a mojito with lunch, another coffee type drink, a Miami Vice, two glasses of wine with dinner, an after dinner espresso, something at the Alchemy and grabbed several bottles of water throughout the day.  With more than 10 drinks a day, my servers would be getting less than 90 cents per drink.  

 

[famof4togo]

If you are on the fence about tipping extra or not, maybe look into the wages of the employees on the ship....you might be surprised how little they make and how far tipping helps them.  You will also figure out why you see so few American employees on the ship.  

[cruisingguy007]

26 minutes ago, famof4togo said:

If you are on the fence about tipping extra or not, maybe look into the wages of the employees on the ship....you might be surprised how little they make and how far tipping helps them.  You will also figure out why you see so few American employees on the ship.  

 

Their contract has nothing to do with me, call me Bennett. I don't always tip extra if I have to fetch my own drink or stand in a line to get it but WILL ALWAYS tip extra for drink runners or if a bartender is pouring generously or gives me special attention and/or expidiant service. If you're a lido person, getting in good with the runners is the way to go. It can really be the difference in shlepping to the bar for every refill or kicking back and relaxing. They will litterally look out for you if you look out for them. Often times they will memorize your folio info and you can simply signal back and forth when you're ready for anoither. Tip more the further you are away from the bar and double it if they have to climb stairs or they bring you somthing extra like cigaretts or other items. Basically, anyone who fetches somthing for you should be getting a cash reward for that IMO as they are allowing me to enjoy more of my vacation without standing in line or fetching items on my own. That's service!   

[Colorado Beach Bum]

We always tip extra. Not because we are wanting to supplement low wages, not because the cheers amount is lower than the typical amount if you paid for each drink, not so we can expect a better pour, and not because they may have ran for a drink.  We do it just as an additional Thank You!

[RenoNanaOz]

3 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

We always tip extra. Not because we are wanting to supplement low wages, not because the cheers amount is lower than the typical amount if you paid for each drink, not so we can expect a better pour, and not because they may have ran for a drink.  We do it just as an additional Thank You!

Same!

[lobster1313]

6 hours ago, famof4togo said:

If you are on the fence about tipping extra or not, maybe look into the wages of the employees on the ship....you might be surprised how little they make and how far tipping helps them.  You will also figure out why you see so few American employees on the ship.  

Look at the wages compared to the wages in their home countries. The cost of living is much less so they do very well compared to what they would back home and they probably do better than a lot of the people cruising.

[Elaine5715]

On 1/5/2022 at 7:13 PM, lobster1313 said:

Look at the wages compared to the wages in their home countries. The cost of living is much less so they do very well compared to what they would back home and they probably do better than a lot of the people cruising.

So do you think surgeons who migrate from places like India or dentists from England and choose to practice in the US, should be paid less than US peers since they would get paid less at home?

[ray98]

2 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

So do you think surgeons who migrate from places like India or dentists from England and choose to practice in the US, should be paid less than US peers since they would get paid less at home?

Apples and oranges.  A surgeon in India makes a salary that is directly related to the cost of living in that economy.  If that same surgeon migrates to the US then they will be paid according to our economy.

[Elaine5715]

On 1/5/2022 at 7:13 PM, lobster1313 said:

Look at the wages compared to the wages in their home countries. The cost of living is much less so they do very well compared to what they would back home and they probably do better than a lot of the people cruising.

 

3 hours ago, ray98 said:

Apples and oranges.  A surgeon in India makes a salary that is directly related to the cost of living in that economy.  If that same surgeon migrates to the US then they will be paid according to our economy.

The concept is the same.  Where someone is from or what their expenses are has no bearing on what level of gratuities is given for a personal service

[lobster1313]

10 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

 

The concept is the same.  Where someone is from or what their expenses are has no bearing on what level of gratuities is given for a personal service

This has nothing to do what I was responding to which was on wages.

[SNJCruisers]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:09 AM, wallyboag said:

 

If I got the same drink with cheers and did not add an extra tip, how much would the server get? The same $2.16?

The Cheers drinks are tipped out from a collective pool that the servers share from.  The per drink tip would then be determined by how many drinks were served from the dollars allocated.  It of course would be substantially less than the normal 18%.  Because of this discrepancy, many feel the need to add a buck or so per drink, while others add nothing, while others add for exemplary service.

[SNJCruisers]

On 1/5/2022 at 12:46 PM, famof4togo said:

You will also figure out why you see so few American employees on the ship.  

That's why NCL charges so much for their Hawaiian cruises.  The ship is based in the US and has to use a US crew and pay them accordingly.

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, lobster1313 said:

This has nothing to do what I was responding to which was on wages.

Wages have nothing to do with gratuities, either.