Princess Plus medallion tipping

[johnritt]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first time on Princess as well as our first time using Princess Plus and the medallion. On previous cruises and cruise lines, we've always tipped for things like room service and  the like.  As medallion seems like ship wide room service on steroids, is it common or expected to leave cash when using medallion or is this figured in with the Princess Plus package?I don't want to screw the crew but the idea of keeping cash with me all the time is a pain.  Any insights would be helpful.  Thanks.

[Thrak]

Princess will charge you a daily gratuity automagically. It will be deducted from any On Board Credit you may have or else simply charged to your credit card if you don't have any OBC.  From Princess:

 

A crew appreciation is a daily amount added to your onboard account, which is shared among the many members of our crew in hotel, dining and entertainment throughout the fleet who help make your cruise experience special. The daily amount of the Crew Appreciation is based on stateroom category: $14.50 per guests in Interior, Oceanview and Balcony, $15.50 per guest in Mini-Suite and Club Class, $16.50 per guests in Suites.

 

In regard to additional tips there is no right answer nor is there a wrong answer. Some choose to tip extra and some don't. Some only tip their room steward extra. Some tip extra for room service, specialty dining, etc.  (By the way... A gratuity is already included in the the specialty dining charge.) Tipping is a personal choice and it is up to the individual to decide if they want to tip extra or not. While I feel certain that extra tips are appreciated I don't believe they are expected and they are certainly not required.

 

There are cruise passengers from countries where tipping is not at all the norm and is only done in cases of truly superior service or assistance. I believe many folks from those countries are truly annoyed by the American tipping frenzy. I don't judge those who tip extra nor do I judge those who don't. The ones I do judge (and I judge them rather harshly) are those who remove the automagic daily gratuities referenced above.  Of course if you have Princess Plus those daily gratuities are included and can't be removed.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Thrak

[c-boy]

let no will be imposed upon you that you are not willing to accept 

[suzyed]

24 minutes ago, johnritt said:

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first time on Princess as well as our first time using Princess Plus and the medallion. On previous cruises and cruise lines, we've always tipped for things like room service and  the like.  As medallion seems like ship wide room service on steroids, is it common or expected to leave cash when using medallion or is this figured in with the Princess Plus package?I don't want to screw the crew but the idea of keeping cash with me all the time is a pain.  Any insights would be helpful.  Thanks.

We keep a small stack of $1 bills and tip room service a few.  We tip the room steward extra if he is really great and goes above and beyond.

[Thrak]

39 minutes ago, suzyed said:

We keep a small stack of $1 bills and tip room service a few.  We tip the room steward extra if he is really great and goes above and beyond.

 

On our last cruise just before the shutdown - and our only cruise to date as Elite - I would gladly have paid extra to have the steward keelhauled. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. I can't think of a single positive thing to say about him but could make a fair list of negative things to say. We were shocked after all the great stewards we have had in the past.

[Doug R.]

1 hour ago, johnritt said:

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first time on Princess as well as our first time using Princess Plus and the medallion. On previous cruises and cruise lines, we've always tipped for things like room service and  the like.  As medallion seems like ship wide room service on steroids, is it common or expected to leave cash when using medallion or is this figured in with the Princess Plus package?I don't want to screw the crew but the idea of keeping cash with me all the time is a pain.  Any insights would be helpful.  Thanks.

The drink package part of Princess Plus includes an 18% gratuity.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@ThrakWhat happened with your Room Steward?  For you to say something like that it had to have been really bad.

[pris993]

Just got off the Ruby, had the Princess Plus package.  Ship was only have full, so that meant auto tips would be less for all staff, since less passengers on board. 

 

We happily tipped for the excellent, consistent service we received over the 10 days on board.  Took $100.00 in ones came back with about $30 left.  Tipped a few dollars for coffee in am in our cabin and few dollars when ordering drinks and coffee throughout the cruise.  Even though cabin stewards are only required to service cabins once a day, often ours did our cabin twice without any special requests.  We tipped the steward an extra $50 on the last day.  

 

With Princess plus, our bill at the end of the cruise was $16.00.  We used an on-board credit to buy items from the shops on board and overspent only $16.    Dinners at the Crown Grill for 3 people were prepaid and did not show on our bill.  We tipped an extra $20 per dinner there.  

 

While the variety of food in the buffet and some limits on entertainment on board were noticeable, we felt the attitude and willingness of staff to provide excellent service consistently warranted extra tips.   

 

Relative to the OP's question, tipping is up to you with the Princess plus package.   We have always tipped more than the required auto tip and did the same with the package.  Happy cruising.

[pris993]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

On our last cruise just before the shutdown - and our only cruise to date as Elite - I would gladly have paid extra to have the steward keelhauled. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. I can't think of a single positive thing to say about him but could make a fair list of negative things to say. We were shocked after all the great stewards we have had in the past.

Does happen, we had wait staff in MDR once on a Princess ship that were so bad, we did not tip them on last night at all, this was before auto tip was established.  They looked for us in the morning before we left the ship and asked if we forgot something.  We said no we did not forget at all the poor service your provided.   

[caribill]

6 hours ago, johnritt said:

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first time on Princess as well as our first time using Princess Plus and the medallion.

 

With Princess Plus your daily gratuities for cabin steward and dining staff are covered as well as the tip for beverages with the included beverage package.

 

Just as in the past before Princess Plus, some people who had the daily auto-tip added to their on board account and also paid the tip for every purchased beverage like to tip additionally a second time in cash, but there is no policy or tradition to do so.

[MissP22]

Don't you just love the new term for tipping, "crew appreciation"?

They want to make it sound as though if I don't tip extra, I don't appreciate the crew for the job their doing. 😄

[SinbadThePorter]

9 hours ago, Thrak said:

There are cruise passengers from countries where tipping is not at all the norm and is only done in cases of truly superior service or assistance. I believe many folks from those countries are truly annoyed by the American tipping frenzy.

 

Being one of them, from the outside this cash tipping obsession looks confusing, arbitrary, annoying and faintly demeaning to both parties.

 

The need to reduce every interaction with staff to a financial one seems a bit perverse, but I suppose there are lots of peculiar customs in the world and we shouldn't judge.

Edited February 28, 2022 by SinbadThePorter

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

The ones I do judge (and I judge them rather harshly) are those who remove the automagic daily gratuities referenced above.  Of course if you have Princess Plus those daily gratuities are included and can't be removed.

That was likely a conscious decision by Princess to prevent revenue loss for the crew.

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Double post

Edited February 28, 2022 by JF - retired RRT

[JF - retired RRT]

6 hours ago, pris993 said:

Does happen, we had wait staff in MDR once on a Princess ship that were so bad, we did not tip them on last night at all, this was before auto tip was established.  They looked for us in the morning before we left the ship and asked if we forgot something.  We said no we did not forget at all the poor service your provided.   

Amazing!! That really takes some big stones.

[CineGraphic]

Less passengers = less money for the crew.

I know of crew who have quit because they were making 30% less than before.

[johnritt]

Princess Plus is one reason we're trying Princess this time. I like the idea that the crew gets paid and that passengers can't take advantage of low fares and then treat the crew like indentured servants for a week.  What i was trying to figure out is what I should do if I have all of these different things delivered to all of these different places. I'm comfortable with how I handle room service, favorite bartender, good waiters, coffee shop crew, dining and speciality dining.  They work their butts off and have always been friendly and kind.  It just seems like the service on Princess may be more intense in the areas where I'm not used to that level of service.  So I was checking.

[wowzz]

9 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Less passengers = less money for the crew.

I know of crew who have quit because they were making 30% less than before.

Having said that,  if they quit will they be able to earn the same amount of money in the Philippines or wherever,  even with the 30% drop ?

[CineGraphic]

16 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Having said that,  if they quit will they be able to earn the same amount of money in the Philippines or wherever,  even with the 30% drop ?

 

Maybe not, but they won't be away from family for extended periods either.

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Maybe not, but they won't be away from family for extended periods either.

I understand that. However,  with passenger numbers  rapidly increasing, you have to be pretty brave to quit. 

[CineGraphic]

Just now, wowzz said:

I understand that. However,  with passenger numbers  rapidly increasing, you have to be pretty brave to quit. 

 

But at the time, they hadn't worked in almost 2 years, and they were told that the time between contracts would be much longer than usual.

How long can one wait?

How would any of those who quit from November through January know that things would ramp back up to 100%. Even with the recent changes, it will still be a long while before they get to 100% again.

[Potstech]

8 hours ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

Well 30% is a pretty steep loss in income so I'm sure there are some workers at the margin ready to leave over a pay cut of that magnitude. 

 

Related to this, I will say this again and again and again.  Cruise lines NEED to make gratuities mandatory.   

Then it is no longer a gratuity.  Just pay them a proper salary and raise cruise prices and get rid of tipping all together.

[c-boy]

       good article, written by staff  ....                https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=261