Room Service Tips

[JFCruise]

Room Service basically has 2 options. Either the 'continental' or 'american'. Continental is complimentary, but the American is $8. I wasn't much of a room service person. But with a child that wakes up and wants breakfast, and me being a 'give me coffee first', I thought ordering continental breakfast every day seems like a good idea.

Anyways - I know tips are a controversial topic, but if you were to tip for Continental Break, what would be something that is well seen? Or is tipping for room service not common? I don't want to be an asshole to the person who is going to make my morning that much more better, to be honest.

And a somewhat related topic, is there a way for them to leave the food by the door? Or do I need to open the door for them?

[CanHardlyWait]

Well nothing is "well seen" lol. Who really knows what anyone really tips. My advice is go with what feels right to you. It sounds like you have given it plenty of thought and therfore cannot go wrong.

[teddy]

In my mind, tipping is a very personal subject and I don't like to throw around amounts.  We only get the continental breakfast (we're too cheap thrifty to pay for breakfast when there are included options).  We do give a small tip when our coffee and snacks are delivered.

During the restart, they would leave a cart outside with the order on it, but now that the pandemic rules are no longer in play, they bring it into our room.  I'm not sure if they'd leave it in the hallway.  My gut says no, but asking never hurts.

One thing to note, we've never been able to get coffee delivered before 6 am.  Our days begin by 4 am at the latest here at home, so it's usually halfway through the cruise week before we are still in the cabin at 6. 

Coffee can be a bit difficult to source before 5 am.  On the other hand, the common areas on the ship are deserted.

[OCSC Mike]

24 minutes ago, teddy said:

Coffee can be a bit difficult to source before 5 am.  On the other hand, the common areas on the ship are deserted.

You've got us beat. Wife gets up early to walk (recently gave up running) and I get up with her and hope the DL coffee machine is operational... but not THAT early.

I do love how quiet the ship is pre-7am though. I often head to Park Cafe when it opens at 6:30am to get an egg sandwich or bagel (pre-breakfast snack) and Central Park is very peaceful at that hour.

[BobbieS]

2 hours ago, teddy said:

One thing to note, we've never been able to get coffee delivered before 6 am.  Our days begin by 4 am at the latest here at home, so it's usually halfway through the cruise week before we are still in the cabin at 6. 

Coffee can be a bit difficult to source before 5 am.  On the other hand, the common areas on the ship are deserted.

We are the same...our day begins at 4am everyday at home and it's the same for vacations!

[JFCruise]

3 hours ago, teddy said:

One thing to note, we've never been able to get coffee delivered before 6 am. 

We were thinking of having the coffee delivered to us at around 7:30. That's usually around the time our kid wakes up.

And thanks everyone above for the tips on the...well...tips.

[Xaa]

6 hours ago, BobbieS said:

We are the same...our day begins at 4am everyday at home and it's the same for vacations!

I'm also team 4am at home and onboard. (maybe closer to 3 at home).  I call that deserted ship experience my "Good Boat Morning".  It's my favorite part.  See you our there @BobbieS and @teddy

[bobroo]

I am staunchly against waking up 4am while I am on vacation! UGH!

As far as tipping room service I feel staunchly about this too. When I order room service, this is me being lazy. And I better not think for a second that when that assistant waiter who drew the short straw knocks on my cabin door to bring me what I ordered is not going to get at least a few bucks from my hand to theirs....ah......No bobroo, you'll be digging deep into your pockets to thank that person for you being so lazy. Added gratuity or not, that person is getting at least a few dollar bills unless I see a $5 first.

[tingtang]

We're also 4am club members.   Would love a coffee pot in the cabin.  

[ScottD]

13 hours ago, bobroo said:

I am staunchly against waking up 4am while I am on vacation! UGH!

As far as tipping room service I feel staunchly about this too. When I order room service, this is me being lazy. And I better not think for a second that when that assistant waiter who drew the short straw knocks on my cabin door to bring me what I ordered is not going to get at least a few bucks from my hand to theirs....ah......No bobroo, you'll be digging deep into your pockets to thank that person for you being so lazy. Added gratuity or not, that person is getting at least a few dollar bills unless I see a $5 first.

I know "to each their own" and we aren't supposed to judge about tipping, BUT I couldn't imagine having something delivered to my room on a daily basis and not handing that person a few bucks each time. 

[Pattycruise]

I don’t know if mine was the exception, or if it was because I was in quarantine-so maybe not the standard.  I ordered room service for disembarkation day for 7 am.  They were so kind to call me at 6am and tell me it was on the way,  I truly did not appreciate the call, nor the early delivery-especially since I was sick,   
so if you have a kid sleeping I think it’s important to hear from others…does room service actually call before they come up?

[amanalo217]

I always got a call before getting my breakfast room service delivered.  Never more than 10 to 15 min before scheduled delivery time.This was on 2 Harmony cruises and 1 Odyssey cruise. Only got them for breakfast. No calls for late night service.

[teddy]

We’ve always gotten calls before coffee is delivered to our cabin, most recently on Anthem back in February. 

[JFCruise]

Good to know they call before delivery. It's fine, just might have to change the approach slightly. Or maybe try and ask them not to do it.

[ScottD]

We actually use the room service as a wake up call,knowing that they'll call ahead of time. 

[Hoppy2BHere]

Maybe more than necessary for this thread, but…

Balcony room - 6am call. Feet hit the floor. Shorts on. Clear off place for coffee. Knock on door. Grab a few bucks. Wife covers her head. In they come with the goods. Hand tip with a good feeling. Off they go. And to the balcony we go! 
or - to the Diamond lounge I go for the wonderful output of the “Machine”. And to the balcony we go.
Suite - Fire up coffee machine. And to the balcony we go…

Hmmm… I see a theme here.

J&S

[CrimsonCruiser]

On 8/22/2023 at 3:00 PM, amanalo217 said:

I always got a call before getting my breakfast room service delivered.  Never more than 10 to 15 min before scheduled delivery time.This was on 2 Harmony cruises and 1 Odyssey cruise. Only got them for breakfast. No calls for late night service.

They do always call for morning room service ordered the night before ( I would imagine they don't bother calling if you call down to order). Sometimes its 20 minutes before...but most times I swear they are calling while the cart is in the elevator because the knock on the door will come less than 5 minutes after the call.