Extra Tipping???

[travelwriter01]

I am just wondering if anyone recommends tipping your room steward BEFORE the cruise (on the first day)? Has anybody done this, how have the results been?

 

I am just thinking with the tips already added to your SS account that a little extra upfront might help guarantee super service.

 

 

Let me know what everyone’s experiences have been with THIS issue

 

Thanks

[GoinCruisin]

You can do a search on tipping and find many opinions on this matter. We tipped extra to our steward and bar waiter... we had excellent service, but who knows, it may have been excellent without. I figured the tips on the S&S were less than 10% of the cruise price, so I did not mind paying a little extra, especially knowing how hard they work and how very little they make... it was our personal choice... good luck and have fun!

[hstrybuf]

Some do, some don't. We don't. We do tip extra if we ask for something special, even a deck chair. Results of tipping extra at the beginning do vary. I've seen people post who got great service and others who didn't. I guess you take your chances. We prefer to wait until the end of the cruise and tip generously to those who have made our cruise something above our expectations. :)

[Cruising89143]

I will usually give the room steward a tip the first day. If it is a seven day cruise or longer then usually mid week they get another tip if they are keeping the room clean and everything stocked. This leads to great service from day one. I also keep the tip on the sail n sign card the same.

[IBEEMOM]

I always leave the tips on the S&S card. I also give additional tips at the end of the cruise. The service has always been outstanding.

[Cotton]

I've never tipped the cabin steward on the first day - not on any cruise - and have had excellent service. Others tip for 'insurance'....but I'm nice to my steward, get to know him a bit, and the service is outstanding each cruise....with no $ up front.

[ker2169]

My friend and I tipped extra on the first day, becuase we had a cooler in our room and the room steward filled it with ice twice a day. That to me was above and beyond. I also added extra at the end.

[matchman]

I've tipped extra on two cruises on the first day, and on both occasions the service was lacking. So my experience has been that once they have the money they service tended to run out the window. (But then again a sample of two is not a great deal.) On the 5 other cruise tipping at the end of the trip has always resulted in excellent service.

 

There are quite a few threads on this topic so you might want to perform a search. :)

[sea_u_onboard]

I tipped up front on our last two cruises. The last one on RCCL it didn't seem to make a difference (fair service) - the poor man seemed very overworked.

 

On our last CCL cruse (Conquest) I did give the steward $20 up front (4 of us in cabin) and told him about some special services I needed (ice incooler, plastic bed cover for son with spastic bladder). I told him it was on top of the auto tip and that we were looking forward to having a GREAT time on our cruise. We never lacked for ANYTHING. We had extra towels without asking - extra mints for the kids and he even refilled our complementary basket mid-week. The cooler always had ice and the bucket was full. He saw we had our own little "bar" set up and made sure we had extra glasses. He was great. Gave him another $20 later in the week (second to last night).

 

We had such a WONDERFUL cruise all around.

[Ted]

While some has certainly been better, I have never had anything less than fully acceptable service on a cruise ship (and we have been on nine cruise lines). Regardless of who is working with me and providing services, on sea, land, or air, I attempt to treat the provider with courtesy and respect, and let them know that I deeply appreciate the services that are provided. Further, I believe in rewarding good service, and always tip well above recommended amounts.

 

I realize that bakseesh makes the world go around, and that there are circumstances where it is expected that a gratuity will be provided in advance. However, thank goodness, cruising has not yet come to that. Thus, I am opposed to pretipping as a matter of principal unless I am asking for something that is beyond the normal. Any cabin attendant (or other shipboard provider) who needs a pretip to give me first class service does not deserve the extra money. My bottom line is that I prefer rewards to bribes.

[pholter]

We have always tipped the regular amount on our S&S card and provided extra money and phone cards to those that went above and beyond the call of duty. This time we will begin our cruise with an extra $5 for the Steward as we will be bringing a cooler and want ice service daily. At the end of the cruise, we will also tip extra to the Steward if the service was great and anyone on board that made our trip special.

 

We usually do not tip the Maitre'D, as he normally provides no service to us personally and managing the waitstaff is his job.

 

We will be taking GoinCruisin's advice about tipping by the pool though in hopes that we'll receive outstanding service on our Fun Ship days on the topless deck! :)