Jump to content

Tipping at the end of your cruise


Recommended Posts

Ok, so I have read the blog about gratuities and see that everyone seems to have their own opinion on how to handle them.  My question is at the end of your cruise if you choose to tip the stateroom attendant extra, what would be an appropriate amount?  I dont want to be the guy that insults someone by low balling and certainly dont want to go way overboard.  But I have no problem paying someone what they deserve.  Can you all give me an idea of whats fair?  With all of the 18% gratuities added on and us prepaying gratuities do we only need to worry about tipping the attendant and our waiter?  Thank you in advance.  First timer just gathering information!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe the automatic gratuity is sufficient gratuity to begin with, so do not feel obligated that you have to tip beyond that automatically.

That being said, I tip extra depending on the situation.  If we were extra messy, or the attendant really seemed to go out of his/her way to keep things organized then I definitely tip extra.  

I know you're asking for a fair price, but it really depends on what you're comfortable with.  As I mentioned earlier, I see the auto gratuity RC charges as a good baseline, so I have tipped an extra $20 as a "thank you" for the excellent service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did $5 a day for our room steward.  So $30 for our 5 night cruise. 

We also tipped $5 to the guy who took our bags when we arrived at the port embarkation day  

We’ve had people tell us we were too  generous and others tell us we were too stingy.  Bottom line, we felt comfortable with that amount.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Matt said:

I believe the automatic gratuity is sufficient gratuity to begin with, so do not feel obligated that you have to tip beyond that automatically.

That being said, I tip extra depending on the situation.  If we were extra messy, or the attendant really seemed to go out of his/her way to keep things organized then I definitely tip extra.  

I know you're asking for a fair price, but it really depends on what you're comfortable with.  As I mentioned earlier, I see the auto gratuity RC charges as a good baseline, so I have tipped an extra $20 as a "thank you" for the excellent service.

I agree with Matt, pre-paid is fine, if i feel it was exceptional I'll do $20-40.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was told by a lady from church that travels. That a phone card or a visa gift card is a good thing to give the room attendant. She told me to also not forget the people working in other areas of the ship who help. ie: Dining room server,  the cafeteria workers. and the guest services folks.  Yes or no

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Mitch said:

That a phone card or a visa gift card is a good thing to give the room attendant

Not so sure about that. That's a great idea for tipping folks in the states. The majority of the folks working on a cruise ship are not from the US and a phone card/visa gift card may not work for them in port or at home. I think they would prefer cash. :27_sunglasses:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, rjac said:

Not so sure about that. That's a great idea for tipping folks in the states. The majority of the folks working on a cruise ship are not from the US and a phone card/visa gift card may not work for them in port or at home. I think they would prefer cash. :27_sunglasses:

Cash is King

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree that it's not necessary, but we usually tip $20 at the beginning, which usually means we get very good service and occasionally, we will also tip at the end. We also have it in a wee 'thank you' card as well.

We will always have a few thank you cards with smaller tips inside on us for when we come across exceptional service, but we're unsure if we will see that crew member again on the cruise.

One thing we ALWAYS do is to write plenty of the comment cards for the staff. They not only get to receive and read them, but it can also help with pay increases and perks and that doesn't cost you a thing :)

Just my two cents worth

Shelley

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, amathey11 said:

We always tip our room attendant $100. Servers in the MDR get $30-$50 depending on how many nights were there.

Everyone else such as bartenders get $1 per interaction (bag delivery is $1/bag).

Wow. Are you aware RCI is already charging you 18% tips automatically in both cruise booking to spread around the ship and as well as nearly anything you pay with your SeaPass, such as drinks at the bar?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, amathey11 said:

We always tip our room attendant $100. Servers in the MDR get $30-$50 depending on how many nights were there.

Everyone else such as bartenders get $1 per interaction (bag delivery is $1/bag).

This is almost exactly what we do as well.  $5 for breakfast, $10 for lunch and $20 for dinner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is in addition to the gratuity.

We're well aware we are already charged the 18%. We however highly doubt our service staff ever actually sees this money. I would much rather give it to them directly to ensure they're getting it. On our last cruise, I tipped $50 for a spa service and the woman literally cried. These people have nothing, the least I can do is give what I can to try to help them since they work so hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

On 3/6/2019 at 10:28 AM, Matt said:

Is that in lieu of the auto gratuity? Or in addition to?

 

On 3/6/2019 at 11:12 AM, souledgar said:

Wow. Are you aware RCI is already charging you 18% tips automatically in both cruise booking to spread around the ship and as well as nearly anything you pay with your SeaPass, such as drinks at the bar?

This is in addition to the gratuity.

We're well aware we are already charged the 18%. We however highly doubt our service staff ever actually sees this money. I would much rather give it to them directly to ensure they're getting it. On our last cruise, I tipped $50 for a spa service and the woman literally cried. These people have nothing, the least I can do is give what I can to try to help them since they work so hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally feel the prepaid gratuities have been sufficient.   I have yet to experience over the top service that would warrant an extra tip.  Maybe I will notice the difference with RC.  When I was with DCL the room steward actually asked us to leave so they could do up the room.  We were in the room watching a movie enjoying some family time.  I figure they were having a bad day, but really???  I only have 2 cruises so far :( hoping to have many more to come.  So maybe I will have a more seasoned perspective in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, DublinFC said:

I personally feel the prepaid gratuities have been sufficient.   I have yet to experience over the top service that would warrant an extra tip.  Maybe I will notice the difference with RC.  When I was with DCL the room steward actually asked us to leave so they could do up the room.  We were in the room watching a movie enjoying some family time.  I figure they were having a bad day, but really???  I only have 2 cruises so far ? hoping to have many more to come.  So maybe I will have a more seasoned perspective in the future.

Wow. That's horrible. I've been on carnival, DCL, and RC and experience great service with all of them. 

 

Like I said, I personally don't believe the people I'm interacting with on that ship daily see any of that money whatsoever. They're usually paid way below minimum wage and spend months and months away from home. They least I can do is give them a few extra bucks for their service.

That's just my philosophy though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, amathey11 said:

That's just my philosophy though.

+1 on this, we prepay gratuities and we usually give extra to the room steward and others depending on how we spend the week. This would also include the Diamond or Suite Concierge depending on which I use during the week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, amathey11 said:

Wow. That's horrible. I've been on carnival, DCL, and RC and experience great service with all of them. 

 

Like I said, I personally don't believe the people I'm interacting with on that ship daily see any of that money whatsoever. They're usually paid way below minimum wage and spend months and months away from home. They least I can do is give them a few extra bucks for their service.

That's just my philosophy though. 

I understand your point 100%.  My wife had a manicure on NCL and was shocked when the lady told her that she doesn't take that much time off when she is allowed to.  "If I am not working, I am not getting paid".  The tips are how they make their money and I get it.  I just wont pay extra for "normal" service.  I had a waiter that went out of his way to take care of my wife and I on the Escape and I slipped him some extra cash after I had signed the bill.  He found out it was our honeymoon sailing, we didn't tell him, and brought out some campaign and a cake for the two of us.  That was on top of the already wonderful and timely service already received.  So definitely not against it, just needs to be earned that's all :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 9:46 PM, NZCruiser said:

Totally agree that it's not necessary, but we usually tip $20 at the beginning, which usually means we get very good service and occasionally, we will also tip at the end. We also have it in a wee 'thank you' card as well.

We will always have a few thank you cards with smaller tips inside on us for when we come across exceptional service, but we're unsure if we will see that crew member again on the cruise.

One thing we ALWAYS do is to write plenty of the comment cards for the staff. They not only get to receive and read them, but it can also help with pay increases and perks and that doesn't cost you a thing :)

Just my two cents worth

Shelley

Where do you find the staff comment cards?  I have learned to take a photo of the persons name tag so I can comment on them in my review after the cruise but I didn't realize there was an additional way to recognize there great service.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have pretty much been replaced with the online survey requested at the end of the cruise, but if you ask you room attendant for a "WOW" envelop they should be able to provide some to you. 

It is an envelop, so this is where I stick any extra cash to hand out to the people I want to recognize.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...