Gift ideas for outstanding crew service?

[kitty9]

No one has said that this gift giving is in place of a tip. But personally, I think giving a gift in addition to a tip is a huge waste. Think of it this way when referring to a cabin steward: 10 cabins per cruise, 4 cruises per month, times the contract average of 6 months. If even one-quarter of those passengers give a little extra gift, what in the world is that crew member going to do with all that stuff. How many caps or t-shirts from your home or an island can they possibly use? Be real here and understand that these hard working crew members have to share very small cabins with very limited space. Since it's this way for every crew member, they're not going to pass this stuff around to one another.

 

As for the calling cards, just know that most calling cards you purchase in the US do not work in most of the places cruise ships go and even if they do, the crew member has to waste valuable time trying to find the phone in which that card does work. They just don't have the time off to hunt around to find that one card compatible phone.

 

If your crew member gives extra special service, cash is the very best way to say how much you appreciated their work. That, and a letter to the cruise line.

[98Charlie]

and a letter to the cruise line.

 

Darcie - My understanding from both stewards and wait staff is that mentioning a crew member by name on the end of cruise survey helps the crew member get better job duties such as more and/or better tables or cabins. This in turn increases their pay. I'm sure that a letter to the cruise line couldn't hurt either.

 

As for gifts, it has always been my contention that the individual crew member knows best what they want and where to get the best deal.

[Diamond928]

While on other cruise lines cash may be the perceived method of gifting that is not always the case. HAL has just put in place a new tipping policy where guest accounts are charged $10 per day per person for gratuitys which is divided among the service staff once a month. If you decide you want to give a service worker an additional gift of cash then by company policy they have to turn that money in as well and have that added to the pot so that it can be divided as well. If they don't they could risk getting fired.

 

The phone card thing sounds great since they spend a lot of time on the phone when they are in port.

 

Cash does not always work and it it good that people at least think about alternatives...you never know the actual cruise line rules about gratuitys and the money you are giving them may just end up in a pool.

[ASM]

HAL's policy requires additional tips be pooled only if the passenger has had the automatic gratuity removed. If the 10% is left in place to be pooled, then any additional tip given a steward or waiter is theirs to keep. (There is also a 15% automatic charge to bar tabs.)

I'll be giving extra cash on my next HAL cruise.

[momofmeg]

What is wrong with MONEY? Someone put a post here a month or so back where they had copied an article where a cruiseship employee had stated as he was supporting family members back home he much preferred MONEY. He said his family were on hard times and they much preferred his sending them a little extra money then for him to call them with a phonecard he had been given as a gift. He also mentioned that foreign banks are skeptiicial about the $2 bills and are afraid they are counterfeit so it was a lot of trouble to unload the $2 bills.

 

Anyway I felt good after reading that as we had never done the "gift" thing but almost always tip extra especially when we are given outstanding service. Many a time we have doubled the suggested tip for this reason.

[saltysam]

If your ship has it, prepay for some internet time in lieu of a phone card. They don't have to wait for port time to use it. You will find many emplyee's at the computers during their time off. I'm sure your creative enough to find out if any of your staff use them. The cruiseline's do not discount their internet rates to the workers.

[kpduties8]

How about a small photo alblum with cash tucked into one of the pockets? Just a thought

 

Kathy

[momofmeg]

saltysam when I watched the show about the Voyager of the Seas on the Travel channel the crew were given free internet access to keep in touch with home. That is why they are not so keen on the phone cards as they can e-mail free.

 

What is the purpose of the gift giving anyway? Is it because it is cheaper to give them a piece of junk instead of money? I know I personally when I give cash as a gift I always give more cash then I spend on a gift. I think we all do that. We foolishly think the gift recipients will think we gave them a more expensive gift then we did. They know though you can bet. I always know.

 

I know too nine times out of ten the gifts I am given are not things I want unless I was asked what I wanted by the gift giver. I know many others have done what I have done-eventually that gift is donated to a thrift store. Cash is ALWAYS better.

[cruzincurt]

Momofmeg,

 

You hit the nail on the head. $2 bills are just plain corny. I wouldn't even try to use them myself here in the States, why would anyone think they were a great idea on a ship?