Cabin Steward - Tipping The First Day

[darchibald]

I have read posting here about people tipping the cabin stewards on the

first day of the cruise. I would think that if you used he/she for extras, then ok. I never saw our cabin steward but I am not sure whether my g/f saw he/she. We did however have a little card with pictures of three stewards (two male, one female) on it.

Just curious.....

[tanker47]

Interesting that you never saw your cabin steward. I've never had that happen. What ship and cruise length did you experiance this on?

 

We were recently on the Mariner and our steward met us at the door of our cabin when we first arrived. She familarized us with everything in the cabin then asked if there was anything else she could do for us. I asked her to remove everything from the refrigerator, bring us some wine glasses and extra regular glasses. Tipped her $10.00 and told her that it was just a little something extra and that she would get her regular tip at the end of the cruise. Did we get extra attention after that? I don't know, but we saw her at least 3 or 4 times a day and she seemed to go out of her way to please us.

 

Happy Cruising

 

Tanker

[Sea Island Lady]

Our steward met us on the Mariner and we saw hime several times a day (he was always out in the hall). We also asked for some extra's and tipped both the male and female stewards a $20 up front. I don't think the female ever came to our stateroom but her picture, along with his were on the dresser.

 

On the Serenade, we met our steward and handed him a $20. We asked about his assistant, but never saw him to tip. There were no pictures in our stateroom either. Later, towards the end of our cruise, our steward introduced the assistant to us. It was the next to last day. I don't know if he introduced us so that we would tip him also, but we never saw him before, so we didn't tip him extra. Our steward was on his first duty on the Serenade and started out a little rusty, but shaped up by the time the 12 days was upo.

[negc]

My only question concerning the efficacy of giving your room steward a tip at the beginning of your cruise, is how do you know that the service you subsequently received was any better than what you would have received if you waited until the end of the cruise to provide the whole tip? Frankly, with very rare exceptions, we have always received outstanding service without providing any advance on the tip, and on those few occasions where the service was not exceptional, I can't believe it would have been better had we tipped the steward in advance. At least by waiting until the end of the cruise, we can tailor the tip to match the service provided. :)

[Sea Island Lady]

waited until the end of the cruise to provide the whole tip?

The $20 we give at the start of the cruise is for special services such as getting bathrobes (if not provided), extra ice bucket and ice for cooling stateroom wine or beer, extra towels, etc. This $20 is in addition to the recommended full gratuity+ that we give at the end of the cruise. ;)

I have to say that our last steward was a little sluggish until he saw that $20. :rolleyes:

[DON M.]

My only question concerning the efficacy of giving your room steward a tip at the beginning of your cruise, is how do you know that the service you subsequently received was any better than what you would have received if you waited until the end of the cruise to provide the whole tip? Frankly, with very rare exceptions, we have always received outstanding service without providing any advance on the tip, and on those few occasions where the service was not exceptional, I can't believe it would have been better had we tipped the steward in advance. At least by waiting until the end of the cruise, we can tailor the tip to match the service provided. :)

Your right, one will really never know if that "little extra" ahead of time meant any difference. Last Jan., for the first time in 11 cruises I "pretipped the steward" he was absolutely the best we had ever had. But, whose to say we were just lucky and even without the tip he is the same. Alot of it could be "human nature". An anolgy might be walking into a crowded rest. and "pre-tipping" the waiter ( I have never done this), would you get better service than other tables? Your guess is as good as mine.

[Cloudmaster]

My only question concerning the efficacy of giving your room steward a tip at the beginning of your cruise,

 

I think I need to go back to college :)

[hstrybuf]

We have had a wide range of service from our various cabin stewards, although there was never a time that we didn't meet at least one if they worked in a team. It is our habit to tip the minimum at the end of the cruise and supplement that for those who have given service above what we consider standard/basic. We aren't hard to please, so most everyone gets extra. The only time we tip our steward at the beginning of a cruise is as you said, when we request something extra from them.

[naylenk]

My husband and I sailed on the Carnival Triumph last summer and we never met our steward throughout the entire week. I'm hoping that our luck will be better on the AOS in January. I plan on pretipping extra at the beginning of the week.

[over the edge]

We are staying in a Junior Suite on Voyager and I know robes are not in those rooms, but............if I request them, will I get them? I would be happy to tip for them but has anyone ever had this experience???

[Sea Island Lady]

Yes, I ask or leave a note for the extra jobs. I either give a $20 as I ask or leave the $20 with the note. The robes are always brought right away.

[darchibald]

Interesting that you never saw your cabin steward. I've never had that happen. What ship and cruise length did you experiance this on?

 

We were recently on the Mariner and our steward met us at the door of our cabin when we first arrived. She familarized us with everything in the cabin then asked if there was anything else she could do for us. I asked her to remove everything from the refrigerator, bring us some wine glasses and extra regular glasses. Tipped her $10.00 and told her that it was just a little something extra and that she would get her regular tip at the end of the cruise. Did we get extra attention after that? I don't know, but we saw her at least 3 or 4 times a day and she seemed to go out of her way to please us.

 

Happy Cruising

 

Tanker

Tanker47

I never saw our room steward. I am not sure if my g/f did or not. Maybe she did and just never told me. *shrugs shoulders* It really isn't any big deal though. As a matter of fact I think that my g/f did see our steward because she had the envelopes and when we went to dinner the last night, she gave them to me afterwards and there were only three. *shrugs shoulders*