Has anyone taken gifts for your steward/waiter, etc?

[CowPrincess]

Our friends are going to an "all inclusive" resort in Dominican, and are taking along sample sizes of shampoos, makeup, luxury bath products, made up into little bags, to give to the housekeeping staff.

 

Has anyone ever done that on a cruise ship, and do you think it was appreciated or considered insulting?

[runner15km]

I think cash works best.:)

[Marie51]

Do you mean instead of cash tips, or in addition to cash tips?

My opinion is that it would be in poor taste if it is meant as a substitute for cash.

[cruiserking]

I agree with the former poster, cash would be the most thoughtful gift, either that or perhaps a calling card.

 

Jonathan

[emjsea]

I would agree that cash is best, but most especially no gifts in lieu of cash. Those folks work hard for the money and deserve it. Also, I find people, myself included, to be kind of picky about what kind of "product" they use so they might not even wind up wanting it anyway.

 

In my humble opinion it's a little bit to informal/intimate of a thing to do and also just a little bit patronizing. At least, that is all how I would find it if I were on the receiving end and looking forward to a tip!

[wieslaw]

Our friends are going to an "all inclusive" resort in Dominican, and are taking along sample sizes of shampoos, makeup, luxury bath products, made up into little bags, to give to the housekeeping staff.

 

Has anyone ever done that on a cruise ship, and do you think it was appreciated or considered insulting?

 

Hi,

IMO, the best 'gifts' that one can give to the people that 'serve' you on the cruise ship are : money, some smiles and respect, and perhaps a good comment on the Comment card or a letter to the cruise line.

If You want to bring something very unique and special for the Captain - that is another story , ......... but the waiter or the steward got this very small cabin and got no place to keep any 'gifts'....... and they can / may buy anything that they need or want ( including the "calling cards" - which they often purchase for better price that 'we' do.)

 

Wes

[gerif]

I think they can get all the "sample size" stuff they want from the stock that gets put into the suites. They need (and want) cash. I often see posts from people who bring the staff little "souveniers" (postcards, mugs, etc.) from their home towns - these people live in rooms the size of closets, where are they supposed to put this stuff???? Of course, they are going to be very gracious and appear happy to receive it, but they'll be much happier with cash.

[cb at sea]

You know how small the inside cabins are for passengers--the crew has to share a smaller cabin than that! They have no room for knick-knacks! Give them money and they can purchase whatever they want. Most of them send the cash home to family and they really appreciate $$$!

[paul929207]

i agree, they can get the sample size of most of those things at the resort. They are from poor countries and want money.

[CowPrincess]

OMG, I didn't mean INSTEAD of cash. No, no, no :) We are doing autotipping and cash tips (less $$$ than if there was not autotip, but cash nonetheless) -- already decided. I liked the idea for the all-inclusive resort -- their intent is to tip and give the gift.

 

Emjsea said "patronizing". After I thought about my friend doing this at the all-inclusive, I thought about it for onboard. But got to the "patronizing" feeling and couldn't shake it so thought I'd ask for opinions.

 

But definitely NOT in place of tipping!!!!

[emjsea]

Yeah, I thought long and hard about using such a strong word as patronizing, but I couldn't shake the feeling either!

[flamomo]

If it were tioletries that one was considering gifting to stewards, they might interpret is as you think they aren't clean. That could be insulting to them.

Stick with cash.

[kitty9]

Why in heaven's name would people take things like shampoo samples to give to workers at a hotel? I'm not being mean, but it sounds rather silly when you consider that they have those things on their hallway carts. The shampoos and such at those resorts are very good quality, so why would anyone want to bring the workers things that they have access to already? As for the workers on the ship, look at it this way: you're sharing a room that's half the size of the smallest cabin on the ship. You have little storage space and serve hundreds of passengers during your 9 month contract. If even half of those passengers give little gifts, where will they put all that stuff? How would they get it home? If you give certain things, how do you know if they're allergic? Gifts of any kind are impractical, and cash is the best and most appreciated.

[trurocruiser]

I agree with the former poster, cash would be the most thoughtful gift, either that or perhaps a calling card.

 

Jonathan

 

We bring calling cards and give them as gifts for "extra special" service. This is in addition to the recommended gratuity. Since most of the crew are from other countries, they can use the cards to call home and talk to their family ;)

[CowPrincess]

Why in heaven's name would people take things like shampoo samples to give to workers at a hotel? I'm not being mean, but it sounds rather silly when you consider that they have those things on their hallway carts.

 

Because they don't have them for themselves, they have them to re-stock the rooms. Generally it is in violation of their employment contract to take anything. It is considered theft and can get them fired.

[cruisead]

The calling cards you're giving to the staff won't work. First of all, if you purchase those cards in the US, they don't work in those phones in the ports that the crew uses. Plus, the crew gets great discounts on calling cards they purchase themselves, through the cruise line. And, we've had crew members show us the huge numbers of calling cards they get from passengers that they never, ever use. Don't bother with gifts of hometown caps/tshirts, candy, calling cards or whatever. While it might make you feel good, the reason these people work so hard, for so many hours a day is for cash......cash they send home to their families to provide a better life.

[CowPrincess]

thought long and hard about using such a strong word as patronizing

 

I had actually gotten to "condescending" but "patronizing" is much more accurate!

[iheartbda]

Extra CASH with a hand written thank you note.

[trurocruiser]

The calling cards you're giving to the staff won't work. First of all, if you purchase those cards in the US, they don't work in those phones in the ports that the crew uses.

 

That's why we buy the cards at a foreign port, during our cruise.

 

Plus, the crew gets great discounts on calling cards they purchase themselves, through the cruise line.

Even with a good discount, they still have to BUY them.

 

My understanding is if you would like to give a gift in addition to cash, the calling card is a good way to go...just MHO..............

[CC Help Michell]

If it were tioletries that one was considering gifting to stewards, they might interpret is as you think they aren't clean. That could be insulting to them.

Stick with cash.

 

That was my first thought, too -- like that sort of funny feeling you get when a friend offers you a mint ("what does she mean by that?" and you try to secretly sniff your breath) -- only by a factor of about ten on the "funny feeling" scale -- "is my hair greasy? do I need deodorant?" etc. What a strange "gift." What I do when we're overrun with those sample bottles, packs, mini soaps, etc is put them in a bag and donate them to a homeless shelter our church runs. I don't hand them to any of those who use the services there -- I just give the bag to the office staff to use as they see fit for the benefit of their clientele.

 

It strikes me as downright weird to offer such a thing to people who are employed full-time and presumably capable of managing their hygiene. Guess it takes all kinds!

 

On the calling card thing, that got started several years ago and has become a myth the crew on most ships detest. Most of the cards aren't usable internationally, or don't work in the areas where the crew would need them to. They can't sell them, or use them. Give cash -- the crew member can use it to buy a calling card (or prepaid phone) if they need one.

 

I've only ever given 2 non cash gifts on cruises, and each time was to a steward as a result of conversation with them during that cruise. Once the stewardess and I were joking about our candy bar stash, and she mentioned that her favorite was Mr. Goodbar. The other time my steward admired the clear magnetic frame I'd brought with a picture of my SO in it, and said that he'd have to look for them for his family photos in his bunk. So during those cruises I picked up a Mr. Goodbar, and a magnetic frame, respectively, and put the end of cruise cash tip with the item, just as an extra "thanks." I'd do that again as an impromptu thing, but otherwise cash is king, along with filling out comment cards mentioning great employees by name -- those can really help crew members with the cruise line.

[RoofingPrincess]

Plus, the crew gets great discounts on calling cards they purchase themselves, through the cruise line.

 

Even with a good discount, they still have to BUY them.

Yes, they do have to buy them - but with a gift/tip of cash, they can buy more phone time than you can for a given amount of money by buying discounted cards from the cruise line.

Let's say for the sake of argument that the face value of a phone card purchased in port (so it would be usable there) is $10, and that's what you'd pay.

Let's also assume that the cruise line can get a 50% discount on those cards and sells them to their employees for $5.

What would you rather have - one of those phone cards, or two?

 

And all this assumes, of course, that the crew member wants to call home. Perhaps he or she would forgo talking to their family so they could send that $10 back home - who knows what wonderful things it could buy for them?!? One article I found on Human Rights Watch says that school fees in Indonesia are about $2/month, with books, uniforms, and other supplies costing about another $2/month. In India, it's $10 to $30 a year to attend a public school. And the article was full of quotes from interviews with children who had had to leave school because their families could not pay these (modest by our standards) fees.

[momofmeg]

Yes, they do have to buy them - but with a gift/tip of cash, they can buy more phone time than you can for a given amount of money by buying discounted cards from the cruise line.

Let's say for the sake of argument that the face value of a phone card purchased in port (so it would be usable there) is $10, and that's what you'd pay.

Let's also assume that the cruise line can get a 50% discount on those cards and sells them to their employees for $5.

What would you rather have - one of those phone cards, or two?

 

And all this assumes, of course, that the crew member wants to call home. Perhaps he or she would forgo talking to their family so they could send that $10 back home - who knows what wonderful things it could buy for them?!? One article I found on Human Rights Watch says that school fees in Indonesia are about $2/month, with books, uniforms, and other supplies costing about another $2/month. In India, it's $10 to $30 a year to attend a public school. And the article was full of quotes from interviews with children who had had to leave school because their families could not pay these (modest by our standards) fees.

 

 

that is what I have heard-that most prefer to stay in touch by e-mail to save money.

 

If you want to do something for thougthful for your steward or waiter- buy him a thankyou card and add a little cash in it that is ABOVE the automatic tip- that way you know he will defiently get that money and not have to share it with other staff as he does with the automatic tip.

 

Then he can take the extra cash, buy phone cards, shampoo, or send it to his family, whatever his choice.

[kat89447]

The best "extra" I had heard was a dollar wrapped around mini candybars. The example was given by a lady who left it for her room steward because he brought her ice every afternoon. Who doesn't like some chocolate on occasion.

[Grannycb]

We asked our steward on one cruise what he would most appreciate over and above his tip. He wanted power bars or granola bars. Now we leave a bar and a note for our stewards every day.

[karatemom2]

On our Christmas cruise we gave our Steward, Waiter and Assistant Waiter small Christmas stockings and we tucked candy and a twenty dollar bill in each of them. I had a glitter glue stick that I brought with me and I wrote their names in glitter on each of their stockings. They seemed very touched. It must be so hard to be away from your family at Christmas!