Tipping for Children

Several years ago my sister and I took a total of four children on a cruise, well-behaved between the ages of 6-11. Some people feel that the standard tip should be given per person and children are no exception. How do others feel regarding this? I must admit we did not tip the full amount for our children because it was simply too costly.

Children are passengers and as a general rule will create more work for the sraff then the adults. Just because they are smaller then you it does not mean they are not worth as much as you are. I'm sure you enjoyed the extra attention all the staff gave to your children while on board and I think you were wrong to short change the tipping. These people rely on tips for a living and unless they give below standard service they are entitled to an adequate

gratuity.

Shame on you.:o

The automatic tips are the same for all passengers, no matter what age. Do you think the cabin steward has less work to do, or the dining room waiter - just because of an age difference? How unfair of you. I could elaborate, but I don't think you'd get it.

Yikes, I have to agree with the others here....children, no matter how well behaved they may be, create more work for the staff because they are another bed to make, another glass to fill, etc. If they would have been adults instead of children, would you have tipped the full amount?

On the seven day cruise we only ate in the formal dining area the first night and we ate at the buffet the remainder of the cruise. I just didn't feel it was necessary to tip for services we didn't receive. We tipped the room steward the full amount. As a matter of fact, my son purchased a wooden carved figure from one of the locals. Somehow it fell and the tip broke off its ear. We looked and tried to find it, but were not successful. When we returned back to the cabin after dinner, our steward was observant enough to realize it was broken, which was quite startling because it wasn't a major piece missing. Well, he had somehow found the missing piece and glued it back together. Talk about diligence!

On the seven day cruise we only ate in the formal dining area the first night and we ate at the buffet the remainder of the cruise. I just didn't feel it was necessary to tip for services we didn't receive. We tipped the room steward the full amount.!

If it is too costly for you to tip for four children, maybe you should consider a condo vacation. The reason they now add the tip to your sign and sail is because so many people were being cheap and the staff wasn't making any money.

Exactly how did you go about tipping the buffet crew? Surely, you didn't STIFF them too? Many if not most of those buspersons hustling to clean up yours and everyone elses mess in the buffet for breakfast and lunch are, in fact, tuxedoes waiters in the dining room for dinner. You probably never noticed.

Now you know why your turlet and lights got sabotaged.......:D JK

Dan

I guess I could do that, a condo vacation, but I enjoy cruising. I saw nothing wrong with not leaving a full tip in the restaurant since we only ate there once.

I have spoken to many of the workers on the ship and the reason it is such a desirable job and highly competitive is due to the high wages. Most workers come from third world countries where in a good month $50.00 is considered a high salary. When I was in Moscow two doctors facilitated my adoption and they both earned less than than amount each per month.

I don't begrudge the workers a good salary because they seem to work nonstop, but I do think folks should be able to tip at their discretion for good service, poor and additional for above and beyond expectations.

Again I am new at posting here, but the hostility that comes across is befuddling when discussing various topics. This is simply that, a discussion where people can share views, dissenting, without become angry and belittling others. This is the same kinda thing I tell my elementary students when they sit at the peace table to work thru conflicts.

I guess I could do that, a condo vacation, but I enjoy cruising. I saw nothing wrong with not leaving a full tip in the restaurant since we only ate there once.

 

I have spoken to many of the workers on the ship and the reason it is such a desirable job and highly competitive is due to the high wages. Most workers come from third world countries where in a good month $50.00 is considered a high salary. When I was in Moscow two doctors facilitated my adoption and they both earned less than than amount each per month.

 

I don't begrudge the workers a good salary because they seem to work nonstop, but I do think folks should be able to tip at their discretion for good service, poor and additional for above and beyond expectations.

 

Again I am new at posting here, but the hostility that comes across is befuddling when discussing various topics. This is simply that, a discussion where people can share views, dissenting, without become angry and belittling others. This is the same kinda thing I tell my elementary students when they sit at the peace table to work thru conflicts.

I think if you find any hostility it is because this is a hot button issue. From the tone of your posts, I read it as being that:

1. You don't think you should tip for kids

2. The employees should be grateful for what they get because they come from poor countries.

3. You see nothing wrong with not leaving a full tip.

4. You don't see that you are acting cheap.

I agree with Pickle on this. I have a 2 yo and a 9 month old. The 9 mo isn't going to use much at all. The 2 yo will, so I will tip accordingly. I went on NCL where they do the auto tip. We had bad dining room service so I adjusted that down to 0 and paid the helpful staff cash.

I'm not using this as an excuse, but being new I don't know the "hot button issues" yet, so I will try to avoid them in the future. Are there any others I should know about? I don't begrudge people from third world countries making a decent wage, I have adopted children from two third world countries and I have a great appreciation, being a person of color for those who are struggling to make it by "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps". I just simply did not feel we should leave a tip for a service we did not avail ourselves. Since we were given envelopes to leave tips, I tipped for the evening we ate dinner and left appropriate tips for others likewise, in the envelopes provided.

On the Conquest I did not have any young children in my party and the tip was added to our stateroom prior to sailing, so it was a nonissue. So I know you were joking, but obviously there was no correlation between my lights/bathroom not working to my previous tipping history. Hopefully Carnival does not maintain that kinda data on their past cruisers. That would be taking things to a new level wouldn't you say.

I'm not using this as an excuse, but being new I don't know the "hot button issues" yet, so I will try to avoid them in the future. Are there any others I should know about? .

I would say smuggling booze, kids, toddlers wearing diapers in the pool, and jeans as formal wear are other hot issues.

picklebongo,

I'm not being hostile and I was just kidding about sabotage in my earlier post.

"I saw nothing wrong with not leaving a full tip in the restaurant since we only ate there once.'

"but I do think folks should be able to tip at their discretion for good service, poor and additional for above and beyond expectations"

Re: Your first statement,

A big difference between your dining room service team and a land restaurant. The land restaurant waiters get to serve whoever is seated at their table. And tables are normally seated in rotation so each waiter gets approx. the same # of diners.

On the ship, your seating is assigned. You and your party are taking up the seating space even if you're at the buffet. Your wait team cannot replace the tips you withhold because the table stays empty. Should you have to pay for service you did'nt utilize? Of course not. But remember they were there for you and their record will just show that a group of pax witheld tips from this waitteam. It won't show that you were in the buffet [cause you did'nt tip there either]

I agree with your second statement. However to put it into perspectve, in over 40 cruises I have not tipped 1 waiter.[added his tip amount to his partners tip,the partner was great] Have gone with the recommended amount most times, and have on occasion tipped over the normal amount. And I am quite demanding and little tolerant as my posts indicate. Yet only 1 stiffing out of all those servers.

Since the service is that good shouldn't you consider tipping to be part of the cost even tho its voluntary? And being part of the cost, if you can't afford it---You can't go. Same as anything else we can't afford. We can't have it.

Tipping questions, jeans on formal nite, smuggling booze, questionable complaints, all bring heated responses.

Dan

For the sake of argument. Why don't you just plan on the full tip for budgeting purposes (kind of a baseline). Since you have not cruised yet, I am not sure how you can exactly determine what you will leave for services rendered if they are yet to be rendered. I am travelling with two children, I intend on leaving the full amount for each one (one is only 2). If I receive better service than what is expected (or the crew member has to go above and beyond due to the kids) then I will raise the tip appropriately. If I receive service far below expectations, well then I will have to make a decision make. But either way, since I do not know what the final tip will be until the end of the cruise, I am going to budget plan around the full amount.

Interesting that you should note smuggling booze is a "hot button issue" because I was thinking that I am being slammed for not leaving a tip for services not rendered and being called cheap, whereas some of the big spenders perhaps violate shipboard policy to save a few pennies and bring onboard water, soda and alcohol. The same goes here too, if you can't afford these items mayhaps one should do a condo vacation.

I must say though that the worst service I have ever received was when the tip was included prior to sailing. It's a darn good job when the workers can earn almost $1000.00 a week, pay no taxes and I don't begrudge them a penny, but I do feel I should be able to tip based on the service rendered and the quality of the service.

Hot button issues? Dare I even say..........smoking. Please don't open that can o' worms!!!

, but I do feel I should be able to tip based on the service rendered and the quality of the service.

I agree with you 100% however you stated in the original post you didn't tip because, I'm quoting you here,

"I must admit we did not tip the full amount for our children because it was simply too costly."

It's one thing to not tip because of poor service but it is appalling to not tip to save money.

Often it's the dining room waitstaff who are also working the buffet during the day. At either location, service was most definitely provided.

As others noted, the staff tends to have to do a bit more for the younger crowd. On my children's first cruise, our waiter knew by the third night what the children preferred. He was keen to notice whether our son was eating the meal he had ordered from the menu. If not, he would bring a slice of cheese pizza without being asked. Now that's service!

Our waiter was also seen in the buffet. I'm sure there are plenty of spilled milk, soda and fruit punch those folks clean up in the buffet. They are entitled to the full tip regardless of the age of the passenger.

In all honesty I do feel it was a combination of the service AND it was too costly. I guess I don't think it's fair to tell folks to stay home from a vacation if they can afford the fare and port charges. Tips are not mandatory as are fare and port charges. In theory one should be able to cruise and if they choose not to pay the tip that's up to them. I'm not advocating this position, but given the profits that cruise lines make as evidenced by the information shared thru Carnival's appalling deal with FEMA, they should pay the workers more than $1.50 per hour, with no benefits, social security, etc. This is what's cheap in my view instead of trying to squeeze the customer for every extra penny they can.

I agree with Pickle on this. I have a 2 yo and a 9 month old. The 9 mo isn't going to use much at all. The 2 yo will, so I will tip accordingly. I went on NCL where they do the auto tip. We had bad dining room service so I adjusted that down to 0 and paid the helpful staff cash.

Carnival seems to agree on the 9 month old:

All guests on each booking must prepay the gratuities, with the exception of children under two. The pre-paid gratuities can not be removed once the booking has been ticketed. The guest will not have the option to adjust the gratuities (up or down) based on the level of service received during the cruise.

In all honesty I do feel it was a combination of the service AND it was too costly. I guess I don't think it's fair to tell folks to stay home from a vacation if they can afford the fare and port charges. Tips are not mandatory as are fare and port charges. In theory one should be able to cruise and if they choose not to pay the tip that's up to them. I'm not advocating this position, but given the profits that cruise lines make as evidenced by the information shared thru Carnival's appalling deal with FEMA, they should pay the workers more than $1.50 per hour, with no benefits, social security, etc. This is what's cheap in my view instead of trying to squeeze the customer for every extra penny they can.

I'm at a loss for words.

Is this a new policy not being able to adjust the gratuity, because I know my sister did on the Conquest.

Is this a new policy not being able to adjust the gratuity, because I know my sister did on the Conquest.

Sorry slopping cutting in pasting. Pre-paid gratuities (those paid at time of booking) can not be adjusted. These do not appear on the S&S card.

The automatic gratuities that are added to the S&S can be adjusted.

Several years ago my sister and I took a total of four children on a cruise, well-behaved between the ages of 6-11. Some people feel that the standard tip should be given per person and children are no exception. How do others feel regarding this? I must admit we did not tip the full amount for our children because it was simply too costly.

If it is to costly maybe you should wait to go on a cruise until you can afford to cover all of your costs! The people that work on the ships are giving you good service & deserve to be paid for their hard work!

In all honesty I do feel it was a combination of the service AND it was too costly. I guess I don't think it's fair to tell folks to stay home from a vacation if they can afford the fare and port charges. Tips are not mandatory as are fare and port charges. In theory one should be able to cruise and if they choose not to pay the tip that's up to them. I'm not advocating this position, but given the profits that cruise lines make as evidenced by the information shared thru Carnival's appalling deal with FEMA, they should pay the workers more than $1.50 per hour, with no benefits, social security, etc. This is what's cheap in my view instead of trying to squeeze the customer for every extra penny they can.

Carnival does NOT pay them $1.50 per hour. They pay them $1.50 per day... however you justify it, sorry... if the children are older than two, the full tip should be paid. If your children EAT, the full tip should be paid. As stated plainly by Carnival, the tipping applies regardless of where you eat, as the same employees also work in the buffet during other hours. Trying to cheap your way out of something by making excuses, doesn't make it any better. If you can't afford to tip, you shouldn't be cruising... if paying the tip is going to make or break you, it is completely irresponsible, if you have children, to cruise. Sorry... but that is how I feel. Being responsible means taking a vacation you can afford and living within your means. You keep saying they make good wages... their tips ARE their wages!!! So when you stiff them, just HOW are they making good wages? Sorry... this is my opinion.