Tipping

[unfathomable]

Good point, simonv. We have heard that too. You're only as good as your last review!

[ltsally]

I, too, am glad to hear about that crew fund, which I'd known nothing about. It does seem the ideal way to reward all of the outstanding service on SS - I couldn't get over the warmth of smiles and hellos, whether it was from a busboy carrying past a stack of plates or the bartender or room stewards. It certainly adds to the overall experience when you are among people who take pride in their work.

[blackbird71]

I was on the Gruziya (Russian) ship ~10 years ago over the new year. The Gruziya was mainly manned by females. All restaurant servers were female in addition to the room stewardresses.

 

I saw the one server that only served the crew. Once in the small shop onboard she was trying to buy a couple small bath items and was having problems not having enough money so I paid for a couple of them. But before I did that, I saw her smell on bottle of perfume. So after she left, I brought the perfume and had the shop lady deliever it to her. The next night in the restaurant, she said Thank you in very very broken English. :eek: Then I knew why she only served the crew. :(

[Dolebludger]

I'm going to come in on he side of taking SS at their word that "tips are included in the fare" and go from there for a these reasons. First, I'm not paying $1000 or so per week for my cruise like on the mass market lines, where I would tip. Second, the crew is not working primarily for tips, as they are on the mass market. And third, SS has a highly international group of guests on their cruises as a rule, many of whom come from countries where tipping is NOT customary as it is in the US. So, Silversea really has included generous tips in the fare that the crew really receive. And though I always tip (once) I never tip twice!

 

Thanks,

Richard