Does Cabin Steward know

[karena1]

19 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I never give my cabin steward a $20 on day one and ask politely for ice daily...works.

I tip at the end of the cruise, but ask my room person to fill my coolers every day and they do, no issues.  At the end of the cruise, we leave a tip for him, or if we see him/her, we hand it to them directly.

 

[BirdTravels]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:10 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

You aren't wrong, many do not participate

This is 100% wrong.
 

Most participate. And it benefits many of the behind the scenes crew work work tirelessly to make your cruise wonderful. 

[Hutcha]

8 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

That’s correct never could understand as to why.

Really? You can't? Not a knock on you, but there are not that many from the UK that are fully on board with the tipping culture of the cruise lines.

[BirdTravels]

duplicate

Edited June 4, 2022 by BirdTravels

[Hutcha]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Ice is an extra request…I don’t expect to think they may be doing it for free..that said, do what makes you comfortable…cash is a foreign concept to many people now, sadly.  

No, there's an ice bucket in the room for a reason. It's not a hotel. You can't go down the hall and fill it yourself. I'd gamble to say, that if you said nothing, the bucket would be filled each day.

[Hutcha]

9 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

On 6/3/2022 at 8:10 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

You aren't wrong, many do not participate

 

 

9 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

This is 100% wrong.
 

Most participate

Both statements can be correct.

[BirdTravels]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:54 AM, CGinMTL said:

i think that if you have pre=paid, they should not be giving you an additional envelope " for our convenience" . I find that very tacky and would be a real turnoff to give more

Absolutely not. We always give our room steward, for example, $10 per day per person in room. That’s above the few pennies a day they get from the auto grats.  

[BirdTravels]

8 minutes ago, Hutcha said:

 

Both statements can be correct.

Yes. Most people participate in the auto grats. 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, cram33 said:

My next cruise is the first in a L-O-N-G time, and first going pre-paid grats.  From what I remember, most of the servers come from poor areas and really depend on the tips as their pay is bad.  I also remember buying tip vouchers and adding cash to some.  So, I don't' see myself ever tipping below the minimum.  I expect basic service for this.
As I result I have one more thing out of the way, a bill I can pay off before the cruise, and still tip cash to anyone who goes above and beyond, since I expect minimum for the pre-paid tip.

Urban Myth on staff income.  The guaranteed minimum salary for the crew members we are talking about is well above average salary in their perspective home countries. Take the Philippines for instance; average ANNUAL income $3200 USD, GUARANTEED minimum income on the ship $1200 USD MONTHLY

[not-enough-cruising]

23 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

This is 100% wrong.
 

Most participate. And it benefits many of the behind the scenes crew work work tirelessly to make your cruise wonderful. 

No, it is not wrong, MANY do not participate. 

 

See my post above (#59) the "behind the scenes" staff, are being paid very well, contractually. My gratuity dollar, is intended for the people I interact with directly and personally; once that dollar leaves my hand, it is of no concern to me where it goes.

[c-leg5]

5 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Ice is an extra request…I don’t expect to think they may be doing it for free..that said, do what makes you comfortable…cash is a foreign concept to many people now, sadly.  

How is it an extra request? It used to be left routinely and people like us never used it so it was a waste of time and ice. Much better to be left only for the people that want it.

[reallyitsmema]

6 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Ice is an extra request…I don’t expect to think they may be doing it for free..that said, do what makes you comfortable…cash is a foreign concept to many people now, sadly.  

 

Ice is not an extra request, it is something the cabin stewards ask about the first time you meet them.  Why would anyone think they are doing anything for free?  They are being paid by the cruise line and they are also receiving gratuities.  If tipping up front makes you feel comfortable, have at it, I will tip at the end of the cruise, after the service has been provided.

 

3 hours ago, karena1 said:

I tip at the end of the cruise, but ask my room person to fill my coolers every day and they do, no issues.  At the end of the cruise, we leave a tip for him, or if we see him/her, we hand it to them directly.

 

 

We also tip at the end of the cruise.  We never prepay our gratuities, we have the prepaid gratuities hit our account everyday.  We also will give an envelope to our cabin steward at the end of the cruise when we thank them.  We never just leave it in the cabin or give it to guest services, we always give it to them directly.

[Nunagoras]

On 6/3/2022 at 11:47 AM, kernow said:

Yes they do know. They get given a list of those who have prepaid.

On an Indy cruise in 2019 we actually had this card left on our bed along with some extra envelopes.

European cruises are sort of managed apart. For example: Here in Portugal they mandate you to prepay your gratuities at time of booking because of our state tax system (actually on many or even most sailings they're only selling to us cruise+flight+transfers+gratuities packages from quite a while from now as their unique way to go). Some other jurisdictions are doing the same as well. Back in the day when lady Allure came in for her first dry dock we had those very same cards and envelopes on our bed when we entered the ship. Tips here are seen mostly as a way of rounding your bills (receive an EUR 19.45 bill, give them an EUR 20.00 note and they'll assume the bill as finished) not exactly as a way of service recognition. Good to know they're actually providing some info on what is expected on their ships with the American culture. Have a nice day!

[johnjen]

On 6/3/2022 at 4:17 PM, rudeney said:

 

Back when we handed tip envelopes directly to crew members, we'd never see the head waiters until that last night when they'd come by to collect their envelope.  I always felt they were useless and I resented tipping them (though I always do).

 

On one cruise we did have a head waiter that was fantastic.  He was funny and always came by the table to check on us and help his staff.  But that was the exception.  One night he came by and I told him that he was the best head waiter ever, and shared my opinion of the other typical head waiters.  He explained that he was only able to be so social because our table waiter was soon to be promoted to a head waiter, and he was helping out with those duties.  He said normally, head waiters are watching their crew and keeping up with wait times and re-orders and such.  He gave us some stories about things he had to deal with in the past and why he is often unable to interact with passengers.  I did gain a greater appreciation for that role, but still, if they are going to get a tip, they really need to come by at least once per meal and say hello.  

Our 'head waiter' positive: 2004 on Grandeur, our 1st cruise. We were doing the midnight buffet thing, Jen wanted to get one of the chocolate strawberries but they were completely out. Our head waiter overheard her and went to see what he could do. Unfortunately, there were none left. The following evening at our table, he showed up with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and presented them to the table after dinner, saying "this is just a small extra for the table, with compliments" we knew he directed the gesture toward Jen. That's an extra tip for him! Otherwise, they've done nothing too grand for us. We always pre-pay gratuities. Now if we go on this next cruise in July and a head waiter does something extraordinary, I'll tip that waiter on the spot.

[neverbeenhere]

22 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yes. Most people participate in the auto grats. 

If most means more than 50% on US based cruises, then yes most do participate. 

[bonsai3s]

Just a thought...

 

Imagine for a second, if there was a dedicated queue at Guest Services...with a sign saying "Remove Tips: line starts here".  How long or short will the queue be? 😇

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:09 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

Seriously, right? So many experts that know exactly the inner workings of the Royal Caribbean accounting department!

A room steward on Royal did tell me one time they do know who prepaid. I can't remember the context of the conversation. Even though they do know, I think they really hope you will give them extra over and above the prepaid amount they are allotted. We always do and even more at Christmas if we are sailing then. 

[not-enough-cruising]

5 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

Just a thought...

 

Imagine for a second, if there was a dedicated queue at Guest Services...with a sign saying "Remove Tips: line starts here".  How long or short will the queue be? 😇

Yet they allow one to accomplish this task with a simple phone call; obviously it isn’t a big deal one way or another 

[cruisegus]

Personally I think they should NOT allow anyone to remove the gratuities be they either the daily charge or prepaid.  They also should change what they call it, to a "service charge".

 

Most higher end hotels and resorts now have a resort charge.

 

Most tours ie Trafalgar, Globus, etc allow you to prepay gratuities for the tour guide.

Edited June 6, 2022 by cruisegus

[rudeney]

There may be a tax advantage to treating it as a "gratuity" and paying it directly to the crew as a pass-through.  If they call it something else, it may affect revenue and be subject to corporate taxes.  I don't have a problem paying my cruise ship gratuities collected up front, but I hate those counter-service places where I order from a cashier and then they flip the iPad around and have me select a tip percent.  A few will bring my order and then clear the table, but many just call my name or number and I have to go get it myself.  That's not "service". 

[lenquixote66]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:36 AM, Tlbecker1 said:

This surprises me.  We have cruised 35+ times and I have never spoken to anyone that doesn’t participate. To me it is just part of cruising.

We know a person who never tips for anything ,on sea or on line.We used to go out to dinner with him and his wife and leave the tip for the 4 of us.

[LGW59]

36 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

We know a person who never tips for anything ,on sea or on line.We used to go out to dinner with him and his wife and leave the tip for the 4 of us.

Would be much easier to ask for separate checks rather than cover for cheapskates 

[slyster]

I remember asking our cabin steward a couple of times when they have left envelopes if they knew we prepaid gratuities. They knew, but they put out envelopes to tip others or you can add to the basic gratuities.  Often times we get excellent service somewhere and we will use the extra envelopes.  If you feel they provided a basic service, you don't need to tip more.  If you feel they took care of any needs you had that were above and beyond, use the envelope.   

[lenquixote66]

3 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Would be much easier to ask for separate checks rather than cover for cheapskates 

We have done that .We no longer go out with them.

[crazyank]

11 hours ago, rudeney said:

I hate those counter-service places where I order from a cashier and then they flip the iPad around and have me select a tip percent.  A few will bring my order and then clear the table, but many just call my name or number and I have to go get it myself.  That's not "service". 

We agree,  and if we have to go to the counter to get our order we decline to select a tip percent.