Sorry…but another tipping question…

[chloemonkey]

Last day and getting ready to write thank you notes and add gratuities….any guidelines for but,Er and cabin stewards?  And should we also do the assistant cabin steward separately?  Or do they share……

this is our first time on this line and just wanted some of your thoughts and how you is issue.

[MEFIowa]

One of those things I think that is up to each individual and their perceptions/expectations. On Riviera 12/13-23/21 in A4 Concierge wife and I tipped our two cabin stewards separately with cards. And we wrote one combined card for the 3 boutique individuals we spent a lot of time with and who helped us with some purchase guidance (Adele, Dennis & Kassim).

[Hawaiidan]

2 hours ago, chloemonkey said:

Last day and getting ready to write thank you notes and add gratuities….any guidelines for but,Er and cabin stewards?  And should we also do the assistant cabin steward separately?  Or do they share……

this is our first time on this line and just wanted some of your thoughts and how you is issue.

Your  "tips are auto deducted  and billed to you $16pp per day ( $23pp in suites)  so $32 a day you are already tipping!   If your cabin staff has done some  special above and beyond   then you decide.    O is not a  last day envelope sort of  operation.      Same with the Bar.... your tip of  20% is auto added .  You can write a nice note and turn it in to reception  to benefit the employee  no matter who    Tips are as I remember pooled in a common fund

[Harters]

On our only O cruise, we didnt tip anything additional to the daily amount that O charges. We'll be doing similar on our upcoming cruise.

[Hawaiidan]

3 minutes ago, Harters said:

On our only O cruise, we didnt tip anything additional to the daily amount that O charges. We'll be doing similar on our upcoming cruise.

your not alone....  on Oceania, many  feel the  daily deduction is sufficient. Your 10 day  cruise you will already have tipped your cabin  folks/ and wait staff   $ 320.00

 Its all you if you want to tip more      Important to know your turf and  if your already paying s tip.   

 

Once in Italy ( Lira days I  had a very expensive dinner $$$$$  and  tried to figure out the tip .  Later I calculated that I left like a 2% tip and felt bad  till I discovered that the restaurant I ate at  adds a %20 service on my bill   and I was tipping 22%...   So  know what toe policy is....  or learn .

[Queen of DaNile]

We give an envelope with cash to each of our cabin attendants at the end of the cruise and they are always thrilled and gracious. Not knowing exactly how much each person is getting from the communal pool, we want to make sure that those who provide us with personalized service several times a day get something extra. We are fortunate to have the resources to travel and believe that the dollars we give them means more to them than to us. 

We also make sure to name all the individuals who have made our cruise special in the post cruise survey.

[Jancruz]

22 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

We give an envelope with cash to each of our cabin attendants at the end of the cruise and they are always thrilled and gracious. Not knowing exactly how much each person is getting from the communal pool, we want to make sure that those who provide us with personalized service several times a day get something extra. We are fortunate to have the resources to travel and believe that the dollars we give them means more to them than to us. 

We also make sure to name all the individuals who have made our cruise special in the post cruise survey.

We do the same and always tip our Butler extra and anyone in any of the restaurants that has improved our cruise with great service..a bit more..

Jancruz1

[DC225]

On our recent cruise, we only gave an extra gratuity on the last night to the two bartenders who went so far above and beyond to provide excellent service to us.  All the other staff we encountered were uniformly excellent but we were comfortable that our auto gratuities were appropriate recognition.

[Jancruz]

So according to the answers everyone does their own thing..

Jancruz1

[Hawaiidan]

1 minute ago, Jancruz said:

So according to the answers everyone does their own thing..

Jancruz1

It might be salient to point out that some posters who have written...get  daily. gratuities  all paid  for them because of  status with O. and thus their generous feelings. 

Remember, it you in a suite for 10 days and shelling out $46 a day  for your caibn thats almost $500 for a 10 day cruise.    YOU need to decide if that's enough.   I have had great cabin  folks and butlers  but also duds. tip for special  service  not out of habit or guilt.

[Jancruz]

7 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

It might be salient to point out that some posters who have written...get  daily. gratuities  all paid  for them because of  status with O. and thus their generous feelings. 

Remember, it you in a suite for 10 days and shelling out $46 a day  for your caibn thats almost $500 for a 10 day cruise.    YOU need to decide if that's enough.   I have had great cabin  folks and butlers  but also duds. tip for special  service  not out of habit or guilt.

So thats what I said Dan everyone does their own thing...

Jancruz1

[Harters]

15 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

felt bad  till I discovered that the restaurant I ate at  adds a %20 service on my bill

Exactly. When we started cruising, back in the 90s, cash in envelopes were the way to tip. And tips in restaurants were also cash.

 

Now, many restaurants add a service charge and cash tipping (or adding a further tip to your credit card) is comparitively rare. So, O adding a daily gratuity for us, is no different from a restaurant having a service charge. And it would never occur to me to tip over and above the service charge.

 

Of course, it's a matter for everyone whether they pay the amount expected, or add something more. I suspect it's a cultural thing. In some cultures, tipping is important (both for the receiver and the giver). In other cultures, tipping is much less important or not an issue at all.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Harters

[MEFIowa]

17 hours ago, DC225 said:

On our recent cruise, we only gave an extra gratuity on the last night to the two bartenders who went so far above and beyond to provide excellent service to us.  All the other staff we encountered were uniformly excellent but we were comfortable that our auto gratuities were appropriate recognition.

In light of your thought about "appropriate recognition", just curious, what specific amount do you think your cabin attendants, for example, actually received? I have no idea. Nor any idea as to how O divides up the pool amongst all the crew. My two attendants on Riviera in Dec 21 were Indian and Ukrainian, likely fortunate to have work on board, and possibly supporting family back home.

[Hawaiidan]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

In light of your thought about "appropriate recognition", just curious, what specific amount do you think your cabin attendants, for example, actually received? I have no idea. Nor any idea as to how O divides up the pool amongst all the crew. My two attendants on Riviera in Dec 21 were Indian and Ukrainian, likely fortunate to have work on board, and possibly supporting family back home.

You should consider that the wages received from  working on O  for an employee, while vastly different  than that of the US, are top tier in their home country .   A  waitress in the ship bar told me she was engineer but  could make more money serving tables.   Another a  high school teacher ,    .. said the same

Both  said they lived in  a great home and  made enough to. support not only her family but several relatives back home..

  Bottom line,  don't try to save the world or social engineer by judging  by your standards back home.     Americans are worlds famous for over tipping.   To many cultures  that is an insult... not appreciated.  Use your judgment and what suits you knowing all the facts and needs..     

[pinotlover]

I don’t overthink it. Tips into the pool are distributed by Oceania depending upon their own parameters. I have been told by two different butlers that monies (tips) given directly to an employee are theirs and not pooled. We therefore give additional gratuities to crew as we see fit, in amounts we feel appropriate, for the additional services they individually provide. Our tip is not based upon what they may, or may not make, in their home country. It is not based upon race, gender, or how many mouths they may or may not be feeding back home.  It is based solely upon our feelings of their performance for us on our cruise. There is never a set amount upon what the tip is based. Some get nothing, some get tipped generously. It’s all a personal decision and I could care less whether others tip more or less than me. That likewise is their decision.

[Jancruz]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

I don’t overthink it. Tips into the pool are distributed by Oceania depending upon their own parameters. I have been told by two different butlers that monies (tips) given directly to an employee are theirs and not pooled. We therefore give additional gratuities to crew as we see fit, in amounts we feel appropriate, for the additional services they individually provide. Our tip is not based upon what they may, or may not make, in their home country. It is not based upon race, gender, or how many mouths they may or may not be feeding back home.  It is based solely upon our feelings of their performance for us on our cruise. There is never a set amount upon what the tip is based. Some get nothing, some get tipped generously. It’s all a personal decision and I could care less whether others tip more or less than me. That likewise is their decision.

Well said Plus 1

Jancruz1

[DrHemlock]

5 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

Another a  high school teacher ,    .. said the same

Um ... that would also be true where we live in our own home country: the good ol' U. S. of A.

[Harters]

21 hours ago, pinotlover said:

I could care less whether others tip more or less than me.

Absolutely agreed.

 

When I travel, I try to understand the tipping culture of the country I'm visiting and generally conform to that. I'd find it very silly to bring my own country's tipping culture with me when that may mean I over or under tip according to local custom. Obviously a cruise ship isnt a country and the staff will come from a wide range of nationalities, each with their own tipping culture (on our previous O cruise, we came across crew from twenty different nationalities - by no means all of them "third world"). So, I reckon that O sets the tipping cultural norm with the level of its added gratuity and I'm fine with that. It's certainly a lot more than I would tip if I was staying for a week or so in a hotel here in Europe but that's just something I have to suck up.

 

 

[ronrick1943]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:55 PM, Queen of DaNile said:

We give an envelope with cash to each of our cabin attendants at the end of the cruise and they are always thrilled and gracious. Not knowing exactly how much each person is getting from the communal pool, we want to make sure that those who provide us with personalized service several times a day get something extra. We are fortunate to have the resources to travel and believe that the dollars we give them means more to them than to us. 

We also make sure to name all the individuals who have made our cruise special in the post cruise survey.

I feel you are 100% right and we do the same - we feel we’re lucky to be able to travel and treat those (at the end of the cruise) something extra as they made the cruise extra special for us.

[Cliff-FLL]

While cruising, we don't worry about the various, cultural norms of the crew.  Tipping is an integral part of their compensation package and, if they are offended by tips, being an on-board crewmember is probably not the best career choice.

Although our tips are pre-paid, we still give many crewmembers an additional tip.  So many of them go so far above and beyond that it's difficult to believe the base tip is sufficient.  Also, through the decades, we've had our financial ups and downs but, overall, we have been extremely fortunate.  Somehow, it seems like the right thing to do is to share our good fortune with others who are working so hard to achieve it.  To the extent that we're not going to miss $20 here or $50 there, we'd be hard pressed not to give a little that could have such a positive impact on others' lives.

[Mura]

We have been traveling in suites in recent years and generally have pre-paid tips included in our fare.

 

But even so we generally tip extra in cash to our cabin staff depending on the service.  We always give something. And we tend to be generous by OUR standards.  I can't give specifics, however!

 

I can't remember a time when we were unhappy with the cabin stewards and the butler.

[chloemonkey]

On 3/10/2022 at 5:23 PM, ronrick1943 said:

I feel you are 100% right and we do the same - we feel we’re lucky to be able to travel and treat those (at the end of the cruise) something extra as they made the cruise extra special for us.

I always do the same...and this trip was no different.  So thanks for all of the input and thoughts.  And if I remember my original post, I was not asking whether or not to add additional gratuities.....I believe that I was asking for amount parameters.  And yes, I DO know that there are already service fees added to my ticket price.  I too feel fortunate to be able to travel and see how hard these individuals work.  And I have always had my doubts about how management distributes the service fees.....  It all worked out great.....and as I said, I gave to both cabin steward, her assistant, our butler and often left a $20 bill on the table when receiving extra special service in the restaurants.  I just feel better tipping additional.....to each his own.

 

[1985rz1]

So here's a question you might find enlightening.  If there were not automatic gratuities added to your account, and you distributed tips to the various staff, cabin attendants to waiters to butlers (like the old way),  what would be your average daily outlay for gratuities.  How does that compare to the daily charge?  Would it be more or less?  

Edited March 15, 2022 by 1985rz1

[ORV]

13 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

what would be your average daily outlay for gratuities

Well back in the days when we did stuff envelopes and give them toward the end of the cruise it was still a recommended amount. The bottom line is that there are those that will leave none if they can get away with it, and others that are generous. Human nature. 

[1985rz1]

15 minutes ago, ORV said:

Well back in the days when we did stuff envelopes and give them toward the end of the cruise it was still a recommended amount. The bottom line is that there are those that will leave none if they can get away with it, and others that are generous. Human nature. 

Thanks for the info.  I never cruised back in the days of the envelopes, so I didn't know how it worked.