Gifts for the Crew

[Grits53]

I like to give them nice writing pens (like Papermate refillables with extra refills), and they truly seemed to enjoy receiving this gift. I think we all appreciate a good pen and probably take it for granted that we don't have to use those cheap stick pens that skip or glob. After all, the crew members all use writing pens, if not in their jobs, at least in writing letters. :)

PS - I also tip in cash, along with the pen. ;)

[cruiserbryce]

we just stick to cash...mostly b/c we have seen the crew quarters on a couple ships (freinds work aboard) and I cant imagine where they would put stuff if everyone brought gifts.

[richbum]

I just thought of another thing that we did on our first cruise...We saw on Cruise Critic that many people gave their room attendant a tip at the beginning of the cruise..we did this (and our friends who cruised with us didn't...guess who had their bags delivered into their room that day, and guess who had theirs waiting outside) anyway, our room attendant was from Jamaica (one of our stops) he was looking forward to seeing his family for a couple of hours and was trying to finish his rooms so that he could go see them. We told him not to bother with our room and gave him another $50 to spend on his family while we were in port....He was so appreciative. and thanked us many times...he still cleaned our room that day, because he had to wait to get into others, but he was so greatful. At the end of the cruise, since he was so good to us, he also received his regular tip...and then some!:D

[nrvptl]

We are leaving for our cruise this Sunday. We are taking DVD's for us to give to the Crew.

[KingofSomewhereHot]

I am certain he was very grateful!:D How did you do?

 

 

Ok after a 3 hour battle with my insurance company trying to get them to approve another sale. They thought I wanted to sell it on the black market I guess....

[5waldos]

Ok after a 3 hour battle with my insurance company trying to get them to approve another sale. They thought I wanted to sell it on the black market I guess....

 

Gee- I didn't realize that insulin was high on the list of drugs of abuse!:p Glad you were ok, and I am sure that your stewart greatly appreciated the "special" gift!

[Wennfred]

In addition to tips, people often talk about things they want to bring for their crews.

 

This comes up all the time about gifts for the Crew. The last thread about this posted some great info that they do not have any room to store anything in their cabins. Most will be thrown away. CASH is what they really want. So please save your gifts for family members or for your local church that supports the homeless etc.

 

Someone posted pictures of how small their cabins are and those are for 2 crew members.. I was on a few NAVAL Ship during my time and we didn't room for anything either. We used our Department Fan rooms onboard our shps to hide things.

 

 

Fred

[Wennfred]

Believe me its very admirable and a nice thing to do, but I would be happier with Cash !!!!

 

 

 

Fred

[5waldos]

This comes up all the time about gifts for the Crew. The last thread about this posted some great info that they do not have any room to store anything in their cabins. Most will be thrown away. CASH is what they really want. So please save your gifts for family members or for your local church that supports the homeless etc.

 

Someone posted pictures of how small their cabins are and those are for 2 crew members.. I was on a few NAVAL Ship during my time and we didn't room for anything either. We used our Department Fan rooms onboard our shps to hide things.Fred

 

that was kind of my hidden agenda here- information and seasick medication don't take space (medicine is used up pretty fast), nor do the things others have mentioned here, at least mostly. I spoke directly to our staff about tee shirts, etc, and while they were always grateful for the thoughts behind them, even 2 tee shirts per trip times 52 trips a year (or whatever it would be) is a LOT of "stuff" to put into a cabin, especially since they are in uniform almost all the time.

[Wennfred]

that was kind of my hidden agenda here- information and seasick medication don't take space (medicine is used up pretty fast), nor do the things others have mentioned here, at least mostly. I spoke directly to our staff about tee shirts, etc, and while they were always grateful for the thoughts behind them, even 2 tee shirts per trip times 52 trips a year (or whatever it would be) is a LOT of "stuff" to put into a cabin, especially since they are in uniform almost all the time.

 

We have left the other type of medicine for them to have.....BOOZE !!! :D

 

 

 

Fred

[crusingmama]

Something you can do is buy postcards with stamps so they can send family members a short note home. I am sure the family members would like to see some of the places they get to visit. Plus so many crew members do not get off the ship at all ports everytime but they can mail it from the ship post office. We have also given the disposable cameras and they are so pleased to get these as well.;)

But if the truth be known MONEY is the best gift of all.

[Riggy]

I love this thread and am glad I found it.

 

We have invited crew members to join us in port if they have a day off. Just off of the Legend and our waitress Katerina from Belorus spent the day with us in Cozumel and Roatan. Great way to get to know them and learn about their life. A few tears on the last night:(

 

We now have a friend for life!:)

[MrsZee]

Found this thread, thought I would revive it. I like all these suggestions. It also changed my mind about the gifts we were going to take. We live in Alabama, so I was going to take the t-shirts from UA... but, if they get that many shirts, then I think I will skip it. Instead, now I am thinking a pack of Alabama postcards and a sheet of stamps.

[5waldos]

Happy to see this revived- I had forgotten my own advice from last year! Memo to self: bring ff applications and ginger pills. Not for us but for crew. I remember some of the new crew looking more than a bit green one choppy night.

[TheDINGOateMyBaybay!]

OMG, this made me CRACK UP. Just the wording of it still makes me giggle!

 

 

Wasn't knocking your ideas at all, in fact I think they are great, but you know some around here will think that it is ok to remove the gratuities from the S&S account and then just leave a couple of Dramamine. Anything you do extra for the crew (after tipping) is greatly appreciated.

[tk5953]

Some creative and interesting ideas. I have always felt that cash was the way to go, but am now realizing there are perhaps other effective methods of recognition. Not that I want to cutter up the crew quarters!:) I would like to mention a crew member that I always tip on the last day and feel deserves recognition from many more than I - the hamburger guy!!

[MrsZee]

I think cash is the way to go, this is just an "extra". My pack of postcards will be in addition to a 20 in ADDITION to the prepaid gratuities.

[PunkinsDad]

I'd forgotten about this thread. Going to have to come up with something to give out for our upcoming 4/10 Carnival Draem cruise.

 

The crewmembers work so hard, and are almost always (in our experience) so friendly. I love the idea of being able to brighten their day by a simple gesture.

 

As I stated before, the chance to meet and get to know the crew is one of the things we love the most about cruising.

[Chris64]

On our last cruise, we requested (more difficult than it should have been) and had the same haid waitress we had on a previous cruise. She was great and always went out of her way to take good care of us.

We, thru regular conversation, found ourt when her birthday was. Then when in port, we bought her a pair of earings with her birthstone in them.

She now has something she can remember us by and it will take virtually no room at all to store.:)

[purrlinda]

I once left 3 bottles of insulin for my room steward...

 

OMG, I laughed so hard at this! :D

 

I left a bottle behind in my mini-bar last time I was in Mexico.

[5waldos]

Wasn't knocking your ideas at all, in fact I think they are great, but you know some around here will think that it is ok to remove the gratuities from the S&S account and then just leave a couple of Dramamine. Anything you do extra for the crew (after tipping) is greatly appreciated.

 

Although I can imagine on the rare day, the dramamine might take precedence over any other tip you could offer the crew:eek::D

 

Cash is king for sure. And after that, more cash. But some people seem to feel incomplete if they don't bring something else. I was originally trying to suggest things that are thoughtful but not spacetaking- as in, any space. Even small things multiplied out by the number of guests times the number of trips a year could be overwhelming pretty fast.

[mkinmidtn]

On our last cruise, my DD (15 at the time) would leave a sticky note on the mirror just telling the room steward to have a great day and she would leave kisses (chocolate one...LOL) and mini hersey bars with her notes. The room steward seemed to really appreciate them. :)

[DEBnGAB]

My room steward asked for my leftover Captain Morgan...and I threw in some spider rings for good measure.

[djhsolara]

Not that it is very unique, but we live very close to Hershey PA. Even though they are everywhere, Hershey kisses are what we consider to be "local" chocolate to us. We hand them out to crew on the sailing (my Mom loves to do this). We did this on our sailing that came back into port on Valentine's Day last year.

[n2knight]

Well I left a few of these in different denominations. They seemed to be a big hit with most of the staff.

 

If you hold it just right, and gently pull the tail the wings will flap!