Tipping the Room Steward

[DeclanDeclan]

I was thinking to insure good service by tipping the room steward on the first day of the cruise. Has anyone done it and what was your experience. And how much would be the correct amount.

[Casshew]

I don't think that is necessary.

[-Lew-]

I know many cruisers do it, but I just can’t bring myself to tip in advance. My feeling is that service providers need to earn their tip.

 

A tip in advance is not going to make a cabin steward who is not inclined to give superior service to, all of a sudden, become a superstar. Just as higher wages do not make an employee work smarter or harder, an advance tip doesn’t work either, IMHO.

 

People in the service sector, including onboard personnel, either have it or they don’t. A tip in advance won’t change the level of service they provide.

 

Lew

[Christapie]

We never pre-tip. That to me is more like a bribe. We are friendly and not demanding but always polite. I treat others the way I like to be treated.

 

At the end of the cruise our room steward always gets an extra tip from us in addition to the auto tip.

 

BTW, we have always been given such great attention and I feel soo special when I am on the cruise. That's why we tip!

[cruiseryyc]

Agree with the other posters, have never tipped in advance and have always got exceptional service.

[Spikesgirl]

Like all the others here, we do not pre tip, however, what we do do...do do?.. is take along some goodies from home, usually homemade chocolate chip cookies or See's Candy and place them out on a platter with the invitation that any time the cabin steward wants something, to help him or herself. Our last steward was extremely attentive and was always dropping by to make sure we didn't need anything, "Oh and while I'm here, I might as well..." It was great and I didn't to to repack a single thing!

 

We kept the auto-tip in place and then did additional tipping at the end of the cruise. It hasn't failed us yet!

[paul929207]

We never pre-tip and have always gotten good service. I leave on the auto tip and occasionally give extraif I feel it is warranted.

[whale-watcher]

We pre tip if we are asking for a number of services upon embarkation(opening of balcony partitions, delivery of egg crates, changes to the bed configuration, lounge chairs for the deck...).

[Druke I]

delete-server duplicated post (again).

[Druke I]

Like whale-watcher above, we sometimes pre-tip if we have a lot of requests at the beginning.

 

More often than not, we don't.

[DonnaK]

We never pre-tip either, and have always gotten excellent service. I like the idea of leaving a plate of goodies for the steward to help himself to - we'll definitely consider doing this!

 

We don't usually give the steward more than the recommended amount at the end of the cruise either. We really don't require anything special or extra, just the basics of his/her job. I often wonder what the steward does to warrant an additional tip from those who give more than the recommended amount?

Now, the dining team always gets an additional tip from us, but unlike the steward, they have lots of opportunities to provide us with above-and-beyond individualized and personal service.

[cacy6893076]

If you choose to tip extra it is helpful and more entertaining if you can sing the old song, "here a buck there a buck everywhere a buck buck" It always makes me smile.:)

[Kurbanfan]

We normally have our steward fill up our ice chest as soon as we arrive and give him extra at that time. Go with your experience......you will know when it is the right time;)

[jkudzu]

We give him/her something when we first meet because I have a few requests when we get on board. Not a huge list of things. Just egg crate, extras of something. If our service has been wonderful (and it always has been) we tip extra at the end too. Call it what you want but the stewards work hard and deserve every penny.

[Sandytoes]

Like all the others here, we do not pre tip, however, what we do do...do do?.. is take along some goodies from home, usually homemade chocolate chip cookies or See's Candy and place them out on a platter with the invitation that any time the cabin steward wants something, to help him or herself. Our last steward was extremely attentive and was always dropping by to make sure we didn't need anything, "Oh and while I'm here, I might as well..." It was great and I didn't to to repack a single thing!

 

We kept the auto-tip in place and then did additional tipping at the end of the cruise. It hasn't failed us yet!

 

I do the exact same thing.

 

We do not pre-tip.

We live the auto-tip and hand additional tips with a thank you card to all those who went way beyond to serve me.

I bring pretzels, candy, goodies things that they would really appreciate.

I once left a nice bottle of wine that I didn't use with a note attached.

[gertz]

We do pre-tip a partial amount and we let the room stewart know the remainder will be given during and at the end of cruise.

 

Call it a bribe or whatever these guys or gals have seventeen cabins to keep up with and not everyone is going to get excellence in service. We require some service and we pay for it.

 

Have tried it several different ways and this seems to work best for us.

 

GERTZ

Princess Elite

Next Tahitian 9/18 Vancouver to Honolulu

Coral 4/12 FLL to LA

Island 8/17/2009 back to Alaska 4th time w/grandson

[kodiac]

We did both... it did not seem to make a difference in service. Now, we just leave extra what we they earned during the cruise.

[teripp]

No pre tipping. IMHO Why bribe someone to do their job? And I dont feel this guarentees you better service. The tip at the end should be for above and beyond not the norm.

[Colo Cruiser]

I don't either.

Kind of defeats the purpose. :rolleyes:

[FLACRUISER99]

I only tip in advance if I request a special service. An example if I ask & get a Chaise lounge that the room steward has to get from an open deck or pool area.

[jdm]

We pre tip upon meeting room steward and ask for extra towels, ice etc. We also tip at the end of cruise in addition to the automatic tips. They work so hard and it is our way of thanking them for helping make our trip wonderful.

[sultan_sfo]

We always tip Xtra at the end. Our experience has been that the service is excellent. However, we look for opportunities to give small tips during the cruise -- e.g. when sending out laundry (and include a small amount for him to give to laundry person he deals with), extra towels, etc.

[Sandytoes]

There are some cruisers who stiff on the last day and\or remove auto tips.

I guess people who pre-tip lets cabin attendants know that they're not going to be stiffed.

In that respect, I think it's a good idea.

But, we will still follow our past practices and give extra on the last.

[Melissa5920]

We plan on giving pre-tip b/c we are probably going to want some extra's when we get there (pillows and such) I think anytime we ask for something extra, above and beyond we tip. If service was amazing then we will also throw in some extra at the end in addition to the set gratuity.

[domdombus]

So pre-tip $10 then ask for a lounge chair for your balcony and you wont get a reply of no its a fire hazard?