Port of Tampa - Tipping Baggage Handlers

[Sailor-man]

Booked on the Miracle in 5 days ... Do we need to tip the handlers in Tampa. At Canaveral, they wanted payment upfront while we exited the bus ... Any advice here would be appreciated.

[runner15km]

Tip, tip and tip some more. I have only flew into Tampa and we tipped the porter who put our luggage into the cab. When we got out of the cab we tipped the cab driver who handed the luggage off to the porter at the pier who stated to us that he was responsible that our luggage would arrive to our cabin so we tipped him extra. :eek: Bring plenty of singles!

[Cruiser@Heart]

We just sailed from Tampa last week. The Porters were pretty aggressive about tips. We tipped our Porter for our bags (we were dropped off by a shuttle) and proceeded across the drop-off area to the Terminal. Our Porter followed us demanding more money! He kept telling us that if we didn't give him more money he would make sure we didn't see our luggage on the ship. Needless to say, the first time cruisers traveling with me were digging around for more money as fast as they could.

 

I immediately turned right around in the middle of the drop-off area, stopped dead in my tracks and let him know that he wasn't getting anything else and told everyone to put their money away! An officer came over and asked what the problem was. I informed him that the Porter was demanding more money and threatening to not place our luggage in the containers to load on the ship. The officer looked at the porter, said "I've told you three times to stop pulling this s***" and proceeded to escort the porter and our luggage to the loading container.

 

By the way, our luggage made it onto the ship just fine. In fact, all of it was outside of our cabins by 3:00 pm!

[finoky]

We sailed out of Tampa and tipped the porter $5 for our 5 bags.

[D4]

I also sailed out of Tampa last week. We always tip $1 per bag.

[silentbob007]

I'll give them $1 a bag but that's all. When I boarded the Valor, the porter essentially had to move our luggage about 5 feet from the cab. Anyone who demands a tip though ... that is a person getting nothing.

[crazidude1400]

I'll give them $1 a bag but that's all. When I boarded the Valor, the porter essentially had to move our luggage about 5 feet from the cab. Anyone who demands a tip though ... that is a person getting nothing.

 

Agreed, however I feel if they move it less than 15 meters, no tip at all. I feel that saying "i will be the last person who sees this until the ship" is just like saying "I am the last person who will see your order go the the kitchen" at dinner.

[basketlover]

When we sailed out of Tampa the porter walked away with our luggage before we could even get our money out. We had to chase him. He wasn't aggressive at all.