Drink Voucher and gratuities

[Done]

I have read the drink vouchers do not include 18% per added to the staff gratuities fund.  Is this true?

[Qeyton Dude]

I have been told both yes and no. 

I think its all perspective, on the UBP, do people start tipping after they hit drink #5 (the break even point) ?

I tip them for the great service I receive.  I have been bringing a stack of crisp new $2 bills on every cruise now that I'm Diamond.

[Swar]

I always tip for every drink, soda, water, or coffee. Sometimes I tip a $20 or so on embarkation day to two of the bars I will frequent. Rarely have to wait for a drink.

[asquared17]

@Swar and @Qeyton Dude these are both excellent suggestions!! thank you both for sharing.

(i always forget $2 bills are even a thing. seems handy, esp in this scenario.)

[Done]

On our last cruise (7 night B2B) we left the bar staff $10 day 1 and every day beyond.  Starting day 2 of the cruise we didn't need to show our Sea Pass card and they started fill our order when they saw us coming.  We never had an empty glass and we learned to tell them when we were on the last drink before dinner or they would have had to carry us to dinner!  

We had a late excursion day 4, 2nd cruise, didn't go to Schooner, and the next night we were asked by all the staff where were we last night.

[smokeybandit]

Careful with the $2 bills. Some staff, depending on their home countries, have to get rid of them before they send the money back home as they aren't accepted when they exchange the money.

[asquared17]

^^ oh boy, good to know about this.

[steverk]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Careful with the $2 bills. Some staff, depending on their home countries, have to get rid of them before they send the money back home as they aren't accepted when they exchange the money.

Huh. I wonder why. $2 bills are legal US tender, just like $1 bills.  Do they have trouble exchanging the toonies ($2 coins) from Canada?

[smokeybandit]

20 minutes ago, steverk said:

Huh. I wonder why. $2 bills are legal US tender, just like $1 bills.  Do they have trouble exchanging the toonies ($2 coins) from Canada?

Their home country wouldn't accept $2 US bills. I think it was Malaysia for this particular server who was telling us about it

[Tmsmith]

We bring enough $1 bills to cover our Diamond voucher tips for the entire cruise. In the morning, we pull out the money for the day and we never have to remember how many vouchers we've used. 

[TXcruzer]

17 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Their home country wouldn't accept $2 US bills. I think it was Malaysia for this particular server who was telling us about it

Heck, you will even find some places in the USA hesitant to take $2 bills. 
 

[TXcruzer]

17 hours ago, steverk said:

Huh. I wonder why. $2 bills are legal US tender, just like $1 bills.  Do they have trouble exchanging the toonies ($2 coins) from Canada?

No one wants tipped with a coin 

[dmattinson]

1 hour ago, TXcruzer said:

No one wants tipped with a coin 

But Canada doesn't have $1 or $2 bills anymore...they are coins and have been since 1996 for the $2 and 1989 for the $1.  Since Jan 1, 2021, $1 and $2 bills are no longer legal tender.  So for Canadians, coins it is. 

[Mike.s]

10 minutes ago, dmattinson said:

But Canada doesn't have $1 or $2 bills anymore...they are coins and have been since 1996 for the $2 and 1989 for the $1.  Since Jan 1, 2021, $1 and $2 bills are no longer legal tender.  So for Canadians, coins it is. 

Same for the UK, smallest note is £5 (with the exception of Scotland), has to be exceptional service to tip £5 for a drink!! Not sure the crew would be happy with a Scottish £1 note, most shops in England don't like accepting them, cue an outburst from our Scottish members

 

 

[CruiseGus]

2 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

Heck, you will even find some places in the USA hesitant to take $2 bills.

Not only hesitant, down right will not take them.

[TXcruzer]

7 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Not only hesitant, down right will not take them.

yep

[TXcruzer]

8 hours ago, dmattinson said:

But Canada doesn't have $1 or $2 bills anymore...they are coins and have been since 1996 for the $2 and 1989 for the $1.  Since Jan 1, 2021, $1 and $2 bills are no longer legal tender.  So for Canadians, coins it is. 

 

8 hours ago, Mike.s said:

Same for the UK, smallest note is £5 (with the exception of Scotland), has to be exceptional service to tip £5 for a drink!! Not sure the crew would be happy with a Scottish £1 note, most shops in England don't like accepting them, cue an outburst from our Scottish members

 

 

May I suggest some US $1 bills

[Morganno]

23 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

No one wants tipped with a coin 

Sadly in Europe we don't have 1 or 2 bills only coins so I double line my speedos to tip all the people I talk to on the ship. I get funny looks with my 200 coins bulging but hey ho when in Rome.... 

[Morganno]

13 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

 

May I suggest some US $1 bills

You may but good luck getting them outside the US 

[ellcee]

23 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

No one wants tipped with a coin 

The issue in the US with the $2 bills is that there are enough people who don't believe they're real. Hell, I know they're real and have 2 of them and have always felt weird about using them. 

 

[TXcruzer]

54 minutes ago, Morganno said:

You may but good luck getting them outside the US 

Interesting, I can go to my bank (in the US) and get currency from any major economy worldwide. 
This isn’t possible in Europe? I am almost certain I have utilized currency exchanges on my visits there. 

[TXcruzer]

49 minutes ago, ellcee said:

The issue in the US with the $2 bills is that there are enough people who don't believe they're real. Hell, I know they're real and have 2 of them and have always felt weird about using them. 

 

 I’ve had retailers in the US outright refuse to accept them

[twangster]

1 hour ago, TXcruzer said:

 I’ve had retailers in the US outright refuse to accept them

And some retailers will call the police... and sometimes the officers that show up don't know about $2 bills.  

It's quite amazing how some people including law enforcement don't know about $2 bills.

[FManke]

On 9/2/2022 at 11:53 AM, Swar said:

I always tip for every drink, soda, water, or coffee. Sometimes I tip a $20 or so on embarkation day to two of the bars I will frequent. Rarely have to wait for a drink.

I also like to be "proactive" 

[Morganno]

3 hours ago, TXcruzer said:

Interesting, I can go to my bank (in the US) and get currency from any major economy worldwide. 
This isn’t possible in Europe? I am almost certain I have utilized currency exchanges on my visits there. 

Firstly most banks in Europe don't have cash you have to order it. Last few times I've ordered USD the lowest denomination I could get was 20$. People these days use pre-paid cards in Europe like Monzo or Revolut. Cash is rarely used in Europe and I am suspicious when a vendor says his machine is broke. I usually reply saying that's ok I can do a phone transfer. In most bars people tap to pay for drinks. 

[SuzanneM]

We don't usually have cash inside the bank; not even for our own currency. As said, you have to order it for a particular currency a couple weeks ahead. However, at my bank we do have a couple ATMs, one with the ability to dispense Euros and the other USD, along with our own currency (shekels). It's very convenient for when one goes on trips. 

I've been considering what to do for my upcoming cruises out of Haifa. I think I'm going to take Euros out of the ATM and ask the service desk on the ship for change in coins and bills. 1-euro coins and 2-euro coins, plus some fives and tens for bills. 

[Swar]

You can also go to any slot machine, establish a pin, do a room transfer, and cash out the vouchers for $$$. No fee.

[TXcruzer]

8 hours ago, Swar said:

You can also go to any slot machine, establish a pin, do a room transfer, and cash out the vouchers for $$$. No fee.

Cash out what vouchers?

[need2cruz]

41 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

Cash out what vouchers?

This is what we do for cash.  It's the only reason we go to the casino.  You go to the slot machine.  Tell it you want to bet a certain sum of money.  Let's say you need $200.  It charges your sea pass card $200 then you hit "cash out" (instead of gambling).  It will print you a voucher for $202 or $204 (if you had a couple of C&A dollars of free play loaded by RC).  You take the voucher to the cashier and they give you cash in any denomination you want.

[SuzanneM]

1 hour ago, need2cruz said:

This is what we do for cash.  It's the only reason we go to the casino.  You go to the slot machine.  Tell it you want to bet a certain sum of money.  Let's say you need $200.  It charges your sea pass card $200 then you hit "cash out" (instead of gambling).  It will print you a voucher for $202 or $204 (if you had a couple of C&A dollars of free play loaded by RC).  You take the voucher to the cashier and they give you cash in any denomination you want.

That's a nifty trick! Thanks. 

[Cez]

Basically you can change higher denomination (and get plenty of $1 US bills) at two convinient locations:

- casino cashier - the fastest and easiest but closed in the ports

- guest services, if casino is closed in the port usually there is no lineup to the guest services desk with an exception of embarkation day