ballinafad Posted February 23, 2007 #1 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Asked this on Carnival board but thought I would ask all you family cruisers. How much do each cruiseline charge for automatic tips for children? Carnival is $10 same as adults. Are other lines the same? Not trying to get out of tips as I usually tip extra if deserved but just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry's Girls Posted February 23, 2007 #2 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Princesss is the same as Carnival. I believe they're all the same - I've certainly found that my kids use as much, if not more, services in the stateroom, dining rooms, etc. Best, Mia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlissa Posted February 23, 2007 #3 Share Posted February 23, 2007 NCL charges $5 per day, this is half of the adult rate. I'm not sure at what age a child is considered an adult though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswims Posted February 24, 2007 #4 Share Posted February 24, 2007 For NCL I belive that 13 and over is considered an adult. 12 and under gets the 5.00 per day charge. I could be wrong about the age cut-off. We have been on 3 NCL cruises with our 2 kids and the staff (waitstaff and cabin Stewards) were very attentitive and accomodating to our kids. My 8 year old was treated like a Princess by all of the staff every time she went into the dining room. It made her vacation extra special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylorsmom Posted February 25, 2007 #5 Share Posted February 25, 2007 we just took rccl back in Jan. with our six month old and the tips were the same as an adult, but the staff went above and beyond for her, they made her the star of the ship for the week. and I think our room steward had to work harder because of her and the crib, up and down twice a day, so we even left him a little extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trvlqueen Posted March 7, 2007 #6 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Yes, they are, unfortunately, all the same. I don't want to shortchange anybody, either, but what stinks about that is that the kids club or camp counselors are not included in distributions from the standard tips. So, if your kids spend a lot of time in the kids club and not as much time in the dining room, I'd drop the standard tip for the kids altogether, tip your room stewards in cash for the kid's portion and then make individual cash tips to others who frequently served your kids ... the counselors deserve gold medals, not just money! That's been our family's policy because 2 of our 3 kids never even ate in the dining rooms on our last several cruises. they preferred to grab a snack at the buffet and get to the kids club ... so we took the money allotted for them and spread it out to the people who actually took care of them. For those of you who will say "not fair" to the waiters who had empty seats at their tables ... we usually end up tipping "extra" anyway to them ... but tipping $105 for kids that aren't even there (assuming half the tip goes to the waiters) didn't make sense when you consider that we had to dig into our pockets to tip the kids club staff too ... if the cruise lines were smart, they'd revamp the way the tips collected for children are distributed among the staff ... and the room stewards and camp staffs would get the bulk of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccalouise Posted March 7, 2007 #7 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Kids make more messes than adults. I have always tipped as much for my kids as an adult- even if it wasn't required. I also give the kids club $ 100 to pool among them- a small price to pay for approximately 42 hours of babysitting (6 hours a day x 7)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmgaritty Posted March 7, 2007 #8 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Kids make more messes than adults. I have always tipped as much for my kids as an adult- even if it wasn't required. I also give the kids club $ 100 to pool among them- a small price to pay for approximately 42 hours of babysitting (6 hours a day x 7)! You only pay $7 for babysitters?? It's 9-10 around here:eek: Travelqueen: The staff in the buffet area are part of the tip pool. By "shortchangimg" your dining room staff you are shortchanging them. I am sure they cleaned up/served your children when they were in the buffet. JMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladypalmtree Posted March 7, 2007 #9 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I agree..leave the tips on for the kids..............the staff goes out of their way for them..and they are messy little humans...do not short change the staff..If you take off the auto tip..they have to pool the tips you give them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccalouise Posted March 8, 2007 #10 Share Posted March 8, 2007 You only pay $7 for babysitters?? It's 9-10 around here:eek: Travelqueen: The staff in the buffet area are part of the tip pool. By "shortchangimg" your dining room staff you are shortchanging them. I am sure they cleaned up/served your children when they were in the buffet. JMHO (6 hours a day x 7) meant... my son is usually in the kids program for 6 hours a day for 7 days. That's free babysitting for 42 hours! So I think giving the girls $ 100 is the least I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpkin Posted March 8, 2007 #11 Share Posted March 8, 2007 My understanding was that counselors were not on the same "level" of staff as the service staff (waiters, cabin attendants) and therefore paid more by the cruiseline--oaid as "professionals", and did not rely on tips to supplement their income. My impression was also that they held college degrees and were trained in education (albeit probably newly received degrees). Because of this, I did not think they were included in the tip pool, and did notthink they necessarily expect a tip. I was on 3 cruises so far, and only tipped counselors on the 3rd (a very nominal amount, a token amount) because the cruise director recommended it during the disembarkation talk announcement in the theatre. I had been quite surprised and caught offguard (had not planned on this expense in my budget). I understand that it is perfectly lovely to tip counselors, but is it what MOST parents do on a cruise? (I do tip camp counselors, but I consider them kids, and know they are not making a "professional" salary). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom and wife Posted March 10, 2007 #12 Share Posted March 10, 2007 We are going on Costa for the first time and first with the kids there tips are cheaper. They are $8.50 for adults and if I remember right $6.50 or $4.50. I will be more then glad to pay if they do there job. On our first cruise we gave more they we wonderful. The only thing I am wondering about my self is if they are with the kids club for dinner that night i am thinking that the kids staff should get the money. And the kids staff do not even get tips. I do not know if we are going to use sitting much it is a family vacation but if we do I want to tip them they will be watching my biggest item on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emelvee Posted March 12, 2007 #13 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I like trvlqueen's idea of adjusting tips and tipping Camp Carnival staff. Our daughter ate only one meal in the formal dining room on our first cruise. And I'm probably at least as messy as she is, so she's not causing extra work for the staff :) She spent a LOT of time at Camp Carnival, so I'd like to give the counselors something extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswims Posted March 16, 2007 #14 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Yes, they are, unfortunately, all the same. I don't want to shortchange anybody, either, but what stinks about that is that the kids club or camp counselors are not included in distributions from the standard tips. So, if your kids spend a lot of time in the kids club and not as much time in the dining room, I'd drop the standard tip for the kids altogether, tip your room stewards in cash for the kid's portion and then make individual cash tips to others who frequently served your kids ... the counselors deserve gold medals, not just money! That's been our family's policy because 2 of our 3 kids never even ate in the dining rooms on our last several cruises. they preferred to grab a snack at the buffet and get to the kids club ... so we took the money allotted for them and spread it out to the people who actually took care of them. For those of you who will say "not fair" to the waiters who had empty seats at their tables ... we usually end up tipping "extra" anyway to them ... but tipping $105 for kids that aren't even there (assuming half the tip goes to the waiters) didn't make sense when you consider that we had to dig into our pockets to tip the kids club staff too ... if the cruise lines were smart, they'd revamp the way the tips collected for children are distributed among the staff ... and the room stewards and camp staffs would get the bulk of it! I think that this advice also depends on the cruise line that you are traveling on. On NCL, it is freestyle so you will have different waiters each night in different restaurants. The automatic gratuity is divided up to lots of staff. You will have different waitstaff because you have the option of eating in 10 restaurants on most of the larger NCL ships. In addition, some of the people that are "behind the scenes" that make a cruise more enjoyable for all, are also part of the gratuity pool collected. We have always had great service on NCL and the staff have treated our kids with the same level of service. This has prompted us to tip more than the auto gratuity. I also agree that the Kids Crew staff have been wonderful and we have tipped them very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting_Cruiser Posted March 17, 2007 #15 Share Posted March 17, 2007 The wait staff doesn't receive tips for only serving you at dinner. They also work in the buffet for breakfast and lunch, so reducing your child's tips short changes the staff--it doesn't really matter whether your children eat in the dining room in the evening--they're eating somewhere and the staff works hard and deserves the tips. On most cruises, DD eats with us in the dining room almost every evening, but on one cruise she ate every dinner with Camp Carnival. Whether DD eats in the dining room every evening or with Camp Carnival, we leave her tips in place. The staff earns and deserves them no matter which venue DD eats at. We always tip the counselors. They have a great deal to do with DD's enjoyment of her vacation. She loves Camp Carnival and spends a lot of time there--we budget additional tips for the counselors. My 2 cents, Jayne :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellybeana123 Posted March 19, 2007 #16 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Does anyone here know if the crew members recieve the entire tip amount that the ship collects? Since Carnival has mandatory gratuity, I was just wondering if it all goes to the service team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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