Tipping Common Sense

[LibraByTheSea]

If you would eat 3 meals a day on a land based vacation, lets make some assumptions:

 

You are in a five star resort or hotel ( following estimates are based on what I paid this week when staying at the Marco Island Marriott on business)

 

Breakfast $20

Lunch $25

Five course dinner(not to mention those who diet before so they can order 3 appetizers, soup salad, 2-3 entrees and desert) $100

Pizza in the middle of the afternoon $15

Room Service Munchies $20

(and I feel a need to add...absolute martini$12....absolute & soda$8.50 & 20% gratuity automatically added...maybe because it was Century 21 and the world knows how tuff its been on REALTORS lately...scared they wouldn't get tips...lol)

 

Total food cost = $180 per day @ 18% gratuity = $32.40 in standard tipping policy

 

WHY!!!!! do you people complain and chinz out on a cruise ship???????:(

 

I have read ( and myself enjoyed ) cruise value with a less than $150 per person per day cost. and there are people complain about $5.50 for (in my experiences) service that far surpasses my expectaion. I have left ships wanting to take my dining room staff and cabin stewards home with me. IMHO $5.50 a day is an insult!:mad: and to see the complaints baffles me:eek:

 

If that stretches your budget too much...look at a KOA and pork and beans on the fire ya build each night;)

 

Now if you want to to discuss what we have to pay to park:rolleyes: I am all over that

__________________

[MrPete]

This makes absolutely no sense the the language CHEAP.

[Yazoo cruiser]

On the subject of tips, a few years ago we were on a cruise when a hurricane kept us from reentering the Mississippi river and we had two extra days at sea. They fed us ,entertained us and took care of our cabins just like the regular cruise days. Walked by the purser's desk on the last day and there must have been 100-150 people in line. Most everyone of them was complaining about the tips that were added to their accounts for the extra 2 days. Having been a retail store manager, I was used to some rediculous complaints, but to me that was absolutely terrible, taking the tips from the hardworking staff that treated us so well the extra 2 days.

[Wennfred]

WHY!!!!! do you people complain and chinz out on a cruise ship???????:(

 

1. Not well travelled

2. Clueless to Travelling Etiquettes

3. Cheap

4. Tightwad

5. Did I mention clueless already? :rolleyes:

 

 

Fred

[LMHSRN]

If you would eat 3 meals a day on a land based vacation, lets make some assumptions:

 

You are in a five star resort or hotel ( following estimates are based on what I paid this week when staying at the Marco Island Marriott on business)

 

Breakfast $20

Lunch $25

Five course dinner(not to mention those who diet before so they can order 3 appetizers, soup salad, 2-3 entrees and desert) $100

Pizza in the middle of the afternoon $15

Room Service Munchies $20

(and I feel a need to add...absolute martini$12....absolute & soda$8.50 & 20% gratuity automatically added...maybe because it was Century 21 and the world knows how tuff its been on REALTORS lately...scared they wouldn't get tips...lol)

 

Total food cost = $180 per day @ 18% gratuity = $32.40 in standard tipping policy

 

WHY!!!!! do you people complain and chinz out on a cruise ship???????:(

 

I have read ( and myself enjoyed ) cruise value with a less than $150 per person per day cost. and there are people complain about $5.50 for (in my experiences) service that far surpasses my expectaion. I have left ships wanting to take my dining room staff and cabin stewards home with me. IMHO $5.50 a day is an insult!:mad: and to see the complaints baffles me:eek:

 

If that stretches your budget too much...look at a KOA and pork and beans on the fire ya build each night;)

 

Now if you want to to discuss what we have to pay to park:rolleyes: I am all over that

__________________

 

How lucky for you that you could afford this $32.00 daily tip.

 

BTW - were you on an expense account?

 

I agree about the tipping, but your comments are just palin out in left field.

 

What does one have to do with the other?

 

Like everything else, you make choices about expenses. You chose this adventure and high prices. You probably got reimbursed for it!

 

The average person just wants to enjoy a nice vacation with reasonable expenses. $5.50 per person per day is more than reasonable....your comments are not.

[VolzCruiser]

Not sure where you have traveled lately LMHSRN, but I just got back from a nice trip to Asheville, NC and I would have to say that almost every day I put down $20 a day in tips. Did I stay at a five star hotel no I didn't I stayed at medium priced hotel and ate at reasonably price restaurants the whole time I was there. So not sure where you are eating that you can get away with only tipping $5.50 a day but that isn't average. That is below average I tip that much at one meal.

[French_Fry]

You will ALWAYS have people who will moan and groan, whine and cry when it comes to tipping.

 

To some in these United States FIVE CENTS is too much to tip! And those people will never change!

 

And every time this topic comes up around here those people will be griping front and center about why they have to tip!

[French_Fry]

Not sure where you have traveled lately LMHSRN, but I just got back from a nice trip to Asheville, NC and I would have to say that almost every day I put down $20 a day in tips. Did I stay at a five star hotel no I didn't I stayed at medium priced hotel and ate at reasonably price restaurants the whole time I was there. So not sure where you are eating that you can get away with only tipping $5.50 a day but that isn't average. That is below average I tip that much at one meal.

 

 

The $ 5.50 is CCL's tip guideline for the DR daily per person.

[billsrobb]

How lucky for you that you could afford this $32.00 daily tip.

 

BTW - were you on an expense account?

 

I agree about the tipping, but your comments are just palin out in left field.

 

What does one have to do with the other?

 

Like everything else, you make choices about expenses. You chose this adventure and high prices. You probably got reimbursed for it!

 

The average person just wants to enjoy a nice vacation with reasonable expenses. $5.50 per person per day is more than reasonable....your comments are not.

I think that the op comments were right on. What right do you have saying or assuming that "you probably got reimbursed for it. You know what assume means don't you?

[Leo Jay]

Cheap and selfish people deify common cents.

[DMW/LAW]

I think that the op comments were right on. What right do you have saying or assuming that "you probably got reimbursed for it. You know what assume means don't you?

 

The OP stated that he was at a 5 star hotel on business, just my opinion, but to assume that he would not have been reimbursed via an expense account would seem the least logical assumption. I agree 100% that the amount of tips that are charged by Carnival are reasonable and it would be a shame to reduce your tips, but to each his own. Also just my opinion, but to compare a Carnival dining experience to that of a 5 star hotel and use that as a guidline to determine if the Carnival rates are a bargin is truely comparing apples to oranges. I have taken 3 Carnival cruises in the last 2 years, and while I had a fantastic time on each and every one, I have never had a breakfast that I thought was worth $20 or a dinner that even approached $100. The food has alway been good and there were almost unlimited choices, but I would not expect it to even come close to the 5 star level when they have to cook for close to 3000 guest each meal.

[vacruizer]

As a former bartender/server/hotel room service person - AMEN!

 

There are cheap people everywhere - not just on cruise ships.

[SandyW]

Did I miss something? I thought the OP was just using a comparison of his off ship meal tipping with what they "ask" of us on ship. Who cares whether he was getting reimbursed or ate at a five star hotel. My husband and I went to Red Robin the other night and it cost us a little over $20 for my salad and his burger and soda. We left $4 tip just for that one meal. Considering how much more I could have had to eat onboard ship....and considering the food would have been much better than at Red Robin...$5.50/pp is a modest amount to ask of us.

[mcfam5]

that must make first time readers never want to come back! Having worked in the food service industry for quite a while, I will say....there are people who begrudgingly tip and those who do so happily. It is not worth getting is such a huff about. :)

[MaryZ]

If you would eat 3 meals a day on a land based vacation, lets make some assumptions:

 

You are in a five star resort or hotel ( following estimates are based on what I paid this week when staying at the Marco Island Marriott on business)

 

Breakfast $20

Lunch $25

Five course dinner(not to mention those who diet before so they can order 3 appetizers, soup salad, 2-3 entrees and desert) $100

Pizza in the middle of the afternoon $15

Room Service Munchies $20

(and I feel a need to add...absolute martini$12....absolute & soda$8.50 & 20% gratuity automatically added...maybe because it was Century 21 and the world knows how tuff its been on REALTORS lately...scared they wouldn't get tips...lol)

 

Total food cost = $180 per day @ 18% gratuity = $32.40 in standard tipping policy

 

/QUOTE]

 

LOL, wow you really eat a lot ;)

Anyway, whatever the suggested amount is what we start with. We might add extra in envelopes I bring along with me for certain people if we feel they have done something extra for us. We've never tipped less yet.

We always tipped the camp carnival people when our kids went, they mostly are really great and deserved to be tipped. Apparently a lot of people forget to tip them, which is sad. My kids when they were young loved all the activities.

I personally think in a way, it is the cruiseline's own fault that people are so chintzy with tipping. They keep saying it is "suggested" and a lot of people take that as well I don't have to do it then. Which is why you see people removing the tips from their shipboard account or back awhile when people skipped dinner the last night so they didn't have to tip.

I like that it just goes right onto the account. I like even better that my travel agent paid for mine for the next cruise we are taking :D Getting shipboard credit and paid gratuities made me very happy. That's quite a few hundred dollars for our cabins that I don't have to pay.

[momofmn00]

On the subject of tips, a few years ago we were on a cruise when a hurricane kept us from reentering the Mississippi river and we had two extra days at sea. They fed us ,entertained us and took care of our cabins just like the regular cruise days. Walked by the purser's desk on the last day and there must have been 100-150 people in line. Most everyone of them was complaining about the tips that were added to their accounts for the extra 2 days. Having been a retail store manager, I was used to some rediculous complaints, but to me that was absolutely terrible, taking the tips from the hardworking staff that treated us so well the extra 2 days.

 

I gues because it was a "un-planned" expense...but come on...you know they were also the ones complaining the whole time the were "forced" to stay out @ sea...and man....one question...you said the cruise line charged you for the tips...but they probably didn't chage you for the extra 2 days of room/board/food?

 

Sad to say, but some will never change....CHEAP!!!!!

[mom23guys]

I think the people who complain about the cost of tipping have never worked in a service industry. I haven't either but my children sure did. They worked summersthrough high school and college in restaurants. There are always those who grudgingly leave $5 on a $100 tab. Knowing how hard our children worked and how much tips meant to them we never leave less than 20% (unless of course there is something wrong with the service-I'm not talking about the food or kitchen problem but with the servers) We didn't dine in the dining room the last night because we were still at the glacier and food was not as important as the view, but I went into the DR after the dinner service, found my waiter and gave him extra. It is the right thing to do.

[globe9]

I was the OP on the original tipping thread. I didn't mean to imply that I was cheap. I have many friends in the service industry down here in New Orleans and I generally tip 25% to 30% on my dinner bills, and usually around 50% to 100% on my bar tabs.

 

My main reason for the question was that I did NOT use the dining room at all during my cruise. I did not, at the time of the question, understand that the dining room tip included much more than just dining room service. I did not remove the tip from my S&S account either. Just so you know that I am a horrible, cheapskate, non-tipper :)

[big_duck]

one question...you said the cruise line charged you for the tips...but they probably didn't chage you for the extra 2 days of room/board/food?

 

Nope in cases like that there is no extra charge. So these people were in fact complaining about a ten dollar tip on a fee cruise.

[momofmn00]

As if...they ATE more than $10 in food alone.....:eek:

[e150club]

What if the cruise line just charged $10.00 more pp per day to the price and left the tipping up to your satifaction of service. that would be a true gesture of satisfaction not a extra charge. [We always give extra tips for great service]

[Mudpieprimitives]

Hum i think we paided 10.00 per day per person that was the flat fee for tips. Then if we wanted to adjust this we could on the last night. We gave our stewart an extra 60.00 cash being we only eat 3 times in the dinning room we gave an extra 25.00 and at the point we did 40.00 tip it was outstanding five star dinning. ut if you wanted you could leave it at the flat fee. From what I under stood and that is not high or to low I guess.

 

Conquest March 25th 07

[Chigirlcruzin]

I think the people who complain about the cost of tipping have never worked in a service industry. I haven't either but my children sure did. They worked summersthrough high school and college in restaurants. There are always those who grudgingly leave $5 on a $100 tab. Knowing how hard our children worked and how much tips meant to them we never leave less than 20% (unless of course there is something wrong with the service-I'm not talking about the food or kitchen problem but with the servers) We didn't dine in the dining room the last night because we were still at the glacier and food was not as important as the view, but I went into the DR after the dinner service, found my waiter and gave him extra. It is the right thing to do.

 

NOT saying this is the case with your children, but sometimes the service just doesn't warrant a decent tip. That said, I can only think of 2 times where I didn't tip at least 18% at a land restaurant. In both cases, I complained to management to clue them in, because I always wonder if the server realizes that their service was terrible, or if they just assume the customer is cheap. Many times, a lousy tip is indicative of lousy service. However, I do feel the majority of crummy tips come from cheap customers.

[Mrs. Connie]

Cheap and selfish people deify common cents.

 

Great observation! (And why do I keep thinking of Jay Leno every time I see a post from you :p )

[osiebosie]

I felt like OP was just giving an example of how much we spend "on land" but then complain for having to spend quite a percentage less "on ship". I didn't see anything offensive about his post. Quite a few smileys.

 

Face it, if you eat one decent meal out, you've pretty much spent on tips (or at least I have) what you are requested to spend in one day on a cruise ship. And yes, some complain, but still tip. Some complain and do not tip.

 

I've always felt that if someone does a good job, then a good tip is in order. If a good job is not done at a restaurant, I make sure that the fault is not somewhere else, such as the kitchen. I don't think I've ever not tipped at a restaurant. The service would just have to be HORRIBLE.

 

Shay