Christmas Gifts for Staff

Do any of you experienced cruisers give members of the crew (your waiter, asst-waiter, and most especially your room steward) Christmas gifts? If so what?

Just asking

No. If anything I would give cash. Many of the staff do not celebrate Christmas and do not have space for the stuff people would give them.

Just extra cash! After all, that's why they are working....for money! That way, they can purchase what they'd like.

What would your rather get from the person you work for....a trinket (that you may or may not need or want) or CASH???

Considering that these folks have to share a cabin with another crew member that is smaller than the smallest passenger cabin, trinkets are not the way to go!

I gues$$ you can $urmi$e my thought$ on thi$ $ubject. :D

Extra cash, treat them with respect, and if they provide outstanding service give written comments to the cruise line mentioning them by name.

Do any of you experienced cruisers give members of the crew (your waiter, asst-waiter, and most especially your room steward) Christmas gifts? If so what?

Just asking

Ignoring the fact that giving gifts other than cash is a really lousy idea, have you considered the fact that many members of the crew are not Christians and do not celebrate Christmas?

DON

Do any of you experienced cruisers give members of the crew (your waiter, asst-waiter, and most especially your room steward) Christmas gifts? If so what?

Just asking

This question has been asked, and answered many times on this board. Read the link below and see the answers. In short, cash only. They don't need any little gifts or food items for many reasons.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1520557

We will be on a holiday cruise next month on a cruise line that we sail often.

We will give cash to the waiters as we normally do. We will give cash to the stewardess but will give something more such as Candy. The candy will be on top of whatever extra we give for the holiday. We will also give candy to others such as the front desk personnel who we would not have given anything to on a regular cruise. There are some others we know who we have some other gifts for. But this is on top of what we would normally do in the way of tips.

But in the end, do what you think is best.

Keith

Ignoring the fact that giving gifts other than cash is a really lousy idea, have you considered the fact that many members of the crew are not Christians and do not celebrate Christmas?

 

DON

Well said.

The two times we sailed, we gave them cash and the day off! Told them not to go inside our cabin for ANY reason! We then told some of the other passengers on our deck and a lot of people told them the same thing. I think they appreciated that a lot!

Yep, I think that you just can't go wrong at Christmas (or any other time) with giving your favorite crew members pictures -- particularly those of dead presidents! :p

Treating them with respect and consideration for all the hard work they do for you is always a winner, as well! :cool:

(Although, I would worry a little about giving my cabin steward the "day off" -- you never know when their bosses will show up for a surprise inspection of their work!) :eek:

Extra cash, treat them with respect, and if they provide outstanding service give written comments to the cruise line mentioning them by name.

Well said!

I thought I would give our cabin steward and our waitstaff an 8 by 10 picture of us. I figured I would pay half of the cost and resuce the autotip by the other half. Does this seem fair? J/K ;)

Yep, I think that you just can't go wrong at Christmas (or any other time) with giving your favorite crew members pictures -- particularly those of dead presidents! :p

Treating them with respect and consideration for all the hard work they do for you is always a winner, as well! :cool:

(Although, I would worry a little about giving my cabin steward the "day off" -- you never know when their bosses will show up for a surprise inspection of their work!) :eek:

Not when you make sure to let the hotel Manager know that you are requesting that they NOT work in your room on that day! Very easy to contact someone on a ship! Oh, and P.S. we also gave them cash.

I don't understand the need to pass out presents or more than the normal amount of tips to everyone on the ship during a Christmas cruise?

Would you be likely to do that in restaurants or hotels on land?? Why is it different at sea??

I'd give presents to your family and then give out normal tips to staff.

I don't understand the need to pass out presents or more than the normal amount of tips to everyone on the ship during a Christmas cruise?

Would you be likely to do that in restaurants or hotels on land?? Why is it different at sea??

I'd give presents to your family and then give out normal tips to staff.

Actually yes! Around Christmas time we give extra tips to our hair dresser, school bus driver and we even give gifts to our teachers! When we lived in an apartment we gave gifts to our super! It's just polite to give gifts around the Holidays!

I don't understand the need to pass out presents or more than the normal amount of tips to everyone on the ship during a Christmas cruise?

Would you be likely to do that in restaurants or hotels on land?? Why is it different at sea??

I'd give presents to your family and then give out normal tips to staff.

Years ago I worked as a server in a restaurant. We had about 50 regular customers who dined with us 3-7 nights a week. The majority of them gave a "bonus" to be pooled among all the wait staff, hostesses, and busers as well as the regular tips around the holidays. A few brought in boxes of candy to be left in the break area. Some gave nothing--their prerogative. I'm not saying it was expected, but it was a really nice gesture.

But we seldom received anything out of the ordinary from non-regulars--maybe a few extra dollars on the tip for Christmas Eve customers but never more than that. (We were closed on Christmas Day.)

LoveMyBoxer, Perhaps you did not read my post carefully? I didn't talk about the folks like teachers or others with whom you come in contact every day.

I spoke about hotel employees or restaurant employees that you may see during the holidays and who you had not seen before that time like on the ship.

In the end everyone does as they choose and so I imagine there will be many different opinions on this topic.

So right on...can you imagine how much a Muslim would enjoy a gift of smoked sausage or a Hindu would enjoy a beef salami stick.

Cash always works in every culture.

Ignoring the fact that giving gifts other than cash is a really lousy idea, have you considered the fact that many members of the crew are not Christians and do not celebrate Christmas?

 

DON

the 'ignore my room' is a creative thought

and the 'supervisor check-up' a valid concern.

would leaving the "do not disturb" out all day (telling your attend' why) cover the gaps?

but I agree ... green paper with no intrinsic value but with pictures of past presidents IS the most appropriate token in this situation; augmented by 'ignore my room' is a nice add on

I agree that giving your steward the day off could work, as long as you notified the head of housekeeping that you didn't want your room made up on that particular day -- and, more importantly, why. That even gives you another chance to tell the bosses what a good job your steward has been doing. Great idea, Lovemyboxer -- thanks for suggesting that! :cool:

We've let the cabin steward know ahead of time that we were going to leave the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the cabin as a mid-week break for him/her as our way of saying "thanks" for a great job..during a regular summer vacation cruise. We always think cash when we think of the most appreciated gift we could leave for the staff.

Jeez it's hard enough deciding what to buy for the people I KNOW and LOVE; I'd hate buying gifts for people I've never even met! Give 'em cash.