Tipping the cabin steward?

[windsmith]

Will the cabin steward accept cash tips, and is there benefit to doing this?

[klfrodo]

Of course and NO

[cb at sea]

They LOVE cash! When you tip on your room account, they have to wait until the next pay day to get their tips...when you give them cash, well, it's CASH!!!! It's theirs from that point on!

[glitch]

The cabin steward on my last cruise accepted USD tips. Just tip him good and early. If you lose a towel than he might replace it without noting that you lost it. Give you extra pillows and stuff like that.

[tedjazz]

From my experience they really like Cash!!!

[Megnolia]

um.. if you are tipping to get a benefit, isn't that called a bribe? ;)

 

I'm just teasing, of course... but tips are appreciated. We always tip in cash on the last day for each member of our room service team. We've always had wonderful service from them, even though we don't tip when we first meet them. Same with waitstaff. I don't think you'd notice a difference in service whether you already tipped or not.

[Megnolia]

The cabin steward on my last cruise accepted USD tips. Just tip him good and early. If you lose a towel than he might replace it without noting that you lost it. Give you extra pillows and stuff like that.

 

 

I don't know about the towels, but anyone can request extra pillows, too. I think you can even ask about getting different types, thicker, hypo-allergenic etc.

[royd1968]

Will the cabin steward accept cash tips, and is there benefit to doing this?

 

will he? just wait until day six of your cruise..if you havent tipped him/her yet, you will notice that all of a sudden you run into them a little more frequently...not neccesarily with their hands out...but definately in a friendly manner tugging at your wallet.....at least thats my experience...they absolutely take your cash...thats their livelihood.....the salary they get doesnt add up to much...I didnt really know this on my first cruise...in fact, im not sure if I even tipped him...I thought it was totally covered with the pre paid tips...and to be honest, it is....but after being on here... Ive learned to appreciate the services I get onboard much more....and how hard those people work for us....I will always tip extra....unless the service is just really bad....but I cant imagine that ever happening

[gonecamping4now]

I would have never tipped our cabin steward extra if I hadn't read these boards about it. I just figured it would all be taken care with pre-paid, it would have never crossed my mind. We gave our steward $10 right off the bat to keep our ice chest full of ice and at the end we gave an additional $20 because he was so awesome. My parents had the same steward and they gave him $40. Which is kind of funny because my mom cleaned the room everyday before they left the cabin, she made their beds and put everything away.

[Kurbanfan]

I would have never tipped our cabin steward extra if I hadn't read these boards about it. I just figured it would all be taken care with pre-paid, it would have never crossed my mind. We gave our steward $10 right off the bat to keep our ice chest full of ice and at the end we gave an additional $20 because he was so awesome. My parents had the same steward and they gave him $40. Which is kind of funny because my mom cleaned the room everyday before they left the cabin, she made their beds and put everything away.

 

The pre paid does take care of it............

[tedjazz]

My parents had the same steward and they gave him $40. Which is kind of funny because my mom cleaned the room everyday before they left the cabin, she made their beds and put everything away.

 

Lol...Maybe your Dad should have given your Mom a $40 Tip. ;)

[Perfect Stranger]

I would have never tipped our cabin steward extra if I hadn't read these boards about it. quote]

 

I didn't either until then....but I'm going to stop. While $3.50 per person a day isn't much, multiply it by the # of people they serve a day and they're making MUCH more than they'd make in their home country. Carnival set the rate so they must agree that it's a fair amount. If they raise it fine, but I'm not going to worry about bringing extra cash for the steward and waiters any longer.

[Georgiagolfer]

The pre paid does take care of it............

 

Agree.............................. and we may tip extra for something exceptional.

[mrsbean1990]

We kept our autotips on and then tipped him an additional $20 cash on the last night. We kept our towel animal elephant from the night before, put a hat on him, and put the envelope under his trunk. We came back after dinner to find that he had turned our elephant into a heart with candy in the middle. :D

[mrsbean1990]

will he? just wait until day six of your cruise..if you havent tipped him/her yet, you will notice that all of a sudden you run into them a little more frequently...not neccesarily with their hands out...but definately in a friendly manner tugging at your wallet.....at least thats my experience...

 

That was not my experience...we ran into him in the hall once a day, regardless of the day. The only day we found him in the room was for turndown on day 1...after that, he knew our schedule and always had our cabin cleaned/beds turned down by the time we returned.

[98Charlie]

Have never tipped a cabin steward outside of the regular gratuity from cruiselines prior to the last night on board and have rarely had nothing less than impeccable service by a room steward on our cruises so far.

 

We generally give the steward and assistant steward an extra $20 - $40 totalfor the cruise at the end of the cruise if we feel te duo has earned the extra tip.

 

Have never taken a gratuity off of our S&AS card prior to the end of a cruise.

 

Dianne

[cathyoo]

just wait until day six of your cruise..if you havent tipped him/her yet, you will notice that all of a sudden you run into them a little more frequently...not neccesarily with their hands out...but definately in a friendly manner tugging at your wallet.....at least thats my experience...

 

 

Always leave a thank you card on the last night with a little something extra. I have never experienced any tugging at my wallet from any of the crew.

 

In fact on cruise I was paying for drinks with coupons and tipping an extra dollar and the server told me "tip included" and tried to return my dollar.

[Traveler353]

I don't bribe the staff up front. Tips are for service received. I have never received anything but outstanding service from walking onboard to clearing the terminal. I have always tipped extra because of this. Why some people are so proud/brag about how much they tip eludes me.

[DocF]

I don't bribe the staff up front. Tips are for service received. I have never received anything but outstanding service from walking onboard to clearing the terminal. I have always tipped extra because of this. Why some people are so proud/brag about how much they tip eludes me.

 

And let us not forget those who take pride in stiffing the hard working cabin stewards and waiters.

 

You know, it is very incorrect to tip at the start of a voyage. This is, indeed, perceived as a bribe (although the hotel staff on the ship is too well mannered to tell you this).

 

Just leave the automatic tips on your S&S card and give some cash in addition at the end of the voyage if you feel the service you have received has warranted it.

 

Doc

[Karson]

and, there are evenings when we put the do not disturb sign out and give him the evening off..................:)

[*jess*]

We kept the auto tips on and tipped him an extra $20 on the last day because he was so awesome.

[Kurbanfan]

How about just tip........pretty simple;) So simple that the cruiselines do it for you by making them auto tips.......

[StuartLittle]

I tipped my steward extra on this last cruise. First time ever. I asked him on day one to keep my cooler full of my smuggled beer and iced down. On last night I gave him extra $20 for the extra service. Had 6 beers left over and asked if he wanted them. He did, so I obliged. :)

 

I figured that was more than fair for a M-F cruise.

[Nunu]

How about just tip........pretty simple;) So simple that the cruiselines do it for you by making them auto tips.......

 

Even I can understand that concept. :noconfused:

[Chief93]

I have never given an additional tip to the cabin steward up front. I usually tip extra on the last night.

 

Last cruise on the Legend I did not tipe the steward cuz I found him adequate at best, but did give $20 to his assistant, who was great.

 

I did give our steward $20 on the Conquest on our first formal night, as I broke an entire bottle of wine on the carpet. He told me not to worry, to enjoy dinner. When I came back that night it was wet, but clean. I had visions of the $500 repair charge on my S&S account. I gave him another $20 on the last night.