Pre-Tipping Room Steward: Benefits?

[PattyW]

I've heard a lot of people mention that pre-tipping the room steward gets them much better service throughout the cruise.

 

Could people who pre-tip respond by listing specific examples of how they believe their service was improved by the tip?

 

I've never pre-tipped and the service I've received has always been acceptable. I guess I'm trying to ask - what am I missing out on?

[TexasTwoSteps]

Pre-tipper here. We tipped our room steward $20 the first time we met and before our luggage was delivered. Benefits I feel we got.

 

Our luggage came rather fast, but hard to judge if that helped. I asked to have and ice cooler we brought filled with ice each day and that was done to perfection. We never were short of ice. We never saw our steward or saw him very little and the room was always promptly made normally before noon each day. I feel the whole expereinced was pleasant as the stward was attentive and enjoyed chatting whenever we did meet up with him.

[Michuck]

We like to give our steward $20 the first time we see him, letting him know it's just a little extra so that if he can get off the ship at a port, he can have a few extra $$. We do it more for our own enjoyment - we get to see the appreciation from our waiters, etc., but sometimes don't see our steward after he picks up his envelope the last nite. It just starts us off on a good feeling to see the steward's appreciation.

 

Michele

[spatz]

We pre-tipped just because we wanted to. We were so happy to be on a cruise that we wanted to do all we could to show our appreciation. This being our first cruise I really don't know if our pre-tipping helped or not but we sure had great service. Room always clean towel animals everynight and always a great big smile and How's your day when we saw him.

 

just linda

[bUU]

I haven't read that many posts from folks who have both pre-tipped a number of times and not pre-tipped a number of times -- so no direct comparisons, unfortunately. It seems that as many posters who pre-tipped got excellent service as people who didn't pre-tip.

[thompson4131]

I Pre-Tip only after the first "above & beyond" service gesture. Example...I like to work out in the gym early morning and shower in the Men's locker room. There are no hair dryers in the locker room (and no American electrical plugs) so I ask my cabin steward if an extra dryer can be brought to the cabin for the duration of the cruise. If received prior to my first work out, I'll leave a pre-tip of $10.00. Also, my daughter likes when the towels are folded into animal shapes. I'll pre-tip an extra $5 for each animal. This is all in addition to the recommended tip handed to the steward at the end of the cruise.

 

Happy Cruising!!!

[MackMasterson]

I agree with an earlier thread that pre-tipping for me is more for my enjoyment. I have noticed suttle differences, however, especially in when the room is done up and sending and receiving items to be pressed(actually got it done for free on last cruise).

[vancom]

On Mariner in June we tried to pre-tip our cabin attendant a $20--he laughed and said no no, you wait until the end and see how much I will have pleased you. Maybe he thought that was all I was going to tip....who knows. So it doesn't always work. We are fairly low maintenance passengers anyway...

 

Vanessa

[lacruiser]

We pre-tipped our room steward for the first time on AOS last year because we had several bottles of champagne and we wanted fresh ice and clean flutes in the room every day. We handed him $20 as we were just getting in the room and had the best service we've ever received. It's never been less than great, mind you, but this was above and beyond -- he even brought us a complimentary bottle of champagne! Any request we made was performed at lightning speed, too -- he was fantastic. We'll definitely pre-tip on Grandeur! (Needless to say, we tipped at the end, too!)

[JDMOR]

Never have pre tipped the room steward, and after 20 some odd cruises can say we have almost invariably had very good to excellent service. We do try to cooperate with the steward and keep the room reasonably picked up and neat. Always try to be out of the room in the morning for a couple of hours, and always put out the "Please Make Up Room" sign to let him/her know we are out of the room, or the "Do Not Disturb" during mid day naps. And a pleasant greeting every time you see them along with an occasional chat about their home, family, etc seems to help. I think they are the hardest working of the crew members. Only wish dining room waiters were as consistently good.