How much extra do you tip for good service

[Mjasp]

Just curious...Besides the service charge of $12 per day which is split amongst many. How much do you tip for those who give you good personal service, like your waiters and room attendant.

 

 

On my previous cruises we always had the same wait staff but I always tip the waiters who serve me breakfast and dinner in the dining room because they aren't my usual dinner servers. On this cruise no waiter will be our usual nightly waiters, but our room attendant should be the same. So I am curious to those who tip extra to those who personally give you good service what do you tip.

 

Thanks

[rsinj]

For simply "good" service - nothing extra. That's what they get paid for and what the auto gratuities (aka "service charge") are for. For exceptional service, anywhere from $20 per person to $50 depending who it is and what they've done for me during the cruise.

 

Howard

[johnql]

For simply "good" service - nothing extra. That's what they get paid for and what the auto gratuities (aka "service charge") are for. For exceptional service, anywhere from $20 per person to $50 depending who it is and what they've done for me during the cruise.

 

Howard

That's pretty much my approach, too. In the specialty restaurants, I will also tip an extra $5-10 pp for exceptional service.

[Tucker in Texas]

When I meet my room steward, I give him/her a "punch" list of things I would like done: Fill my six-pack thermo cooler in the shower full of ice every day, two copies of the daily newsletter every evening, egg crate mattress cover, extra pillows if there aren't two already there and empty out the mini-fridge.

 

If I come back that night and this (or most of it) has been done, the next day I leave $2, a piece of snack candy, and a note thanking them. If not, then I tuck the $2 back in my wallet and leave the candy with a note requesting it again. If the service is good, then I leave $2 and snack candy every day with a note thanking them for something.

 

In the dining room if we have good service, then husband slips them a couple of bucks when leaving. On a 19 day trans-Atlantic, this was only done twice and it was for service that would have been minimum on other lines but a whole lot better than what we had been getting (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas

[romrai]

for the specialty restaurants, we always left an extra $5. because the service was always great. We also gave our steward an extra $20.

[pixiedustdawn]

I usually tip the room steward's extra, especially when I have them empty my mini fridge and remove the coffee maker. I usually don't request more then that. I tip them ten dollars each when we get to our first port and another ten or twenty when I leave the ship. (depends on how much was done in the cabin. Usually service is outstanding)

 

I will also leave a tip at Blue lagoon if the service is good. If I request the same waiter in the main dining room I will give him/her extra money.

 

Speciality restaurants I usually give a $20 for good service.

 

Depending on the buffet and if anyone helps with anything extra, I will give a few dollars.

[tiggerfan616]

We usually tip our stewards an extra $20 sometimes more depending on our cabin and if our son is traveling with us. I do usually have a few small requests like emptying my fridge, ice bucket kept full and milk rather then creamers for my coffee. Never had any issues, well except on the Sky they just couldnt remember to put ice in the ice bucket.

 

Restaurants it depends we have had outstanding service that went above and beyond and my husband slipped the waiter $20. But I must say he was outstanding and went above and beyond the call of duty. My son was 7 and was having one of his moments at dinner and wasnt eating anything I dont know how or why but he went down to La Cucina and got him a pepperoni pizza with his name on it in pepperoni. Well thats his favorite and we didnt tell him either. Need less to say my son ate it all, and allowed us to enjoy our dinner

[Zeno]

Stewards - Depends on three things:

- the number of extras I request (egg crate matress, extra pillows,empty fridge,extra towels)

- if I get everything that I request promptly and pleasantly

- how well the regular stuff is done (is the bathroom clean, etc)

 

I tip $10 extra for each. I have never left less than $20 and most times, I leave $30.

 

Waiters

If service is really excellent - efficient and attentive without being annoying and the orders are all correct. Most times I end up tipping something extra in the specialty restaurants (around $5 pp) and occasionally in the dining rooms.

[biker@sea]

We bring 50 or 60 single dollar bills. We spread them around. A couple of buck to the coffee guy that was a joy to talk to. A couple to the waiter that brought me 2 desserts. A couple on our pillow every night for the stewards Plus $20 the last night. The bartender that makes a mean Bloody Mary for breakfast . We totally enjoy the smiles we get from the crew every time.:D

[Bamagal in FL]

Every cruise is different...... On NCL Pearl, we tipped BOTH stewards an extra $75.00 each (there were 3 cabins of us) because they had done some "extra" things for us, MOST were without our request. We tipped a few extra dollars to a couple of people who went out of their way to accomodate a special dietary request for my FIL (even though we did not inform them in advance)....worth EVERY $$$.....

On our CCL, we did not tip any extra (didn't develop any "relationship" with the steward or others). Service was good but not "extra".

We are going on NCL Jade in March and will tip extra if someone goes that 'extra step"......the amount will depend on what that 'extra step" is.

[slotaddict]

We always tip the room steward, his helper, waiter and bus boy extra - $20 and $ 10 to the helper - that is for a 7 night or longer - if its a short cruise - then half of the above amounts...

 

If the service were extraordinary then the tip would be higher...

[Sally Forth]

Just curious...Besides the service charge of $12 per day which is split amongst many. How much do you tip for those who give you good personal service, like your waiters and room attendant.

 

 

On my previous cruises we always had the same wait staff but I always tip the waiters who serve me breakfast and dinner in the dining room because they aren't my usual dinner servers. On this cruise no waiter will be our usual nightly waiters, but our room attendant should be the same. So I am curious to those who tip extra to those who personally give you good service what do you tip.

 

Thanks

 

$20 extra each to our room and dining steward several days in a row as a way to share the wealth after an incredible run of luck at the casino. After three days, the guys started to ask about the casino every time they saw us! Mostly, though, I'll leave between $10-20 at the end of a cruise if the service was good.

-$20 extra to my nieces' cabin steward after he picked up an incredible array of wet bathing suits and towels and remade their beds. They never did it again, either.

-$20 to the steward when I had noro. Use your imagination as to why.

-top tip ever- $100 to a waitress in a specialty restaurant when we closed the restaurant and she never once looked exasperated that she still had people while everyone else was cleaning up their stations

 

Viv

[roger001]

[quote name=-top tip ever- $100 to a waitress in a specialty restaurant when we closed the restaurant and she never once looked exasperated that she still had people while everyone else was cleaning up their stations

Viv[/quote]

 

Boy..do I feel cheap now. But, for me, $1 per round to the waiter who brings each round of drinks to my wife and myself. $5 for an evening meal in the MDR, $2 or $3 for any sit down breakfast or lunch where ever. $20 for each of the room attendants on the last night of the cruise. I haven't ever used room service, but would tip $2 if I did.

[Mjasp]

How many room attendants do you have on NCL. All my other cruises we only had one and she or he introduced themselves to us on the first day, saying they would be our room attendant for the week.

[Studebaker59]

One cabin steward plus his/her assistant

[biker@sea]

How many room attendants do you have on NCL. All my other cruises we only had one and she or he introduced themselves to us on the first day, saying they would be our room attendant for the week.

 

Most times 2. I have had 1 and he was very good.

[BIG_Steve]

Boy..do I feel cheap now. But, for me, $1 per round to the waiter who brings each round of drinks to my wife and myself. $5 for an evening meal in the MDR, $2 or $3 for any sit down breakfast or lunch where ever. $20 for each of the room attendants on the last night of the cruise. I haven't ever used room service, but would tip $2 if I did.

 

That makes you feel cheap? I've never tipped a drink waiter, as IMHO 15% is a nice tip for a drink already. And since there is always a bar right nearby, it's not like he had to walk one end of the ship to the other.

 

I've gotten good service in any dining situation on the 2 cruises I've been on. But no one went above and beyond, especially because we're very easy to please. So I haven't tipped extra there. On NCL, the room steward never showed his face (fine with me I guess) and did what he was supposed to. Again, we gave him no reason to have to hustle or go beyond, so we didn't tip extra. On CCL, the steward introduced himself, and did more "little things" around the cabin than NCL did, but nothing major. So we left him 20 bucks extra. It was a 3 night cruise. I was perfectly fine with the level of service the NCL steward gave, but the CCL did give a higher level.

[Kancruze]

duplicate post

[Kancruze]

I learned this advice a long time ago from another CC'er on this board.

 

DH or I always find the stewards and tip him/her $10 right off the bat and unknown to them, plan on another $20 if we get good service throughout. We have never once been disappointed and have sometimes tipped even more at the end because we've gotten such good service.

 

As for drinks, if I get it myself, I don't tip but if a waiter brings it to me, I tip $1 and we tip between $5 (lunch) to $10(dinner) for good service in the dining rooms. However; if a waiter has virtually ignored us other than just bringing our meals, they don't get anything. To me, simply serving someone is akin to handing someone a burger at Micky Dee's. Again, that situation has rarely occurred onboard any ship we've ever been on.

[saddleman]

Tipping must be a locational thing. Most of the big tippers in this thread seem to be from the NE USA. Other areas, not so big. I, as a Southerner, tip extra on every cruise, but not in the amounts $20-50-even 100. I also don't ask for much beyond the normal services. Each to their own.

 

saddleman

[Mjasp]

Tipping must be a locational thing. Most of the big tippers in this thread seem to be from the NE USA. Other areas, not so big. I, as a Southerner, tip extra on every cruise, but not in the amounts $20-50-even 100. I also don't ask for much beyond the normal services. Each to their own.

 

saddleman

 

Saddleman...Yes it's true about the NE being big tippers. After we tipped a skycap on one of our vacations, he said to my husband are you from the NE, when my husband answered yes he said I can tell by your tip, he said people from the NE tip big and a lot of other states don't tip at all. We never thought about it before, being from NY we just do what we are use to always doing.

[pixiedustdawn]

Saddleman...Yes it's true about the NE being big tippers. After we tipped a skycap on one of our vacations, he said to my husband are you from the NE, when my husband answered yes he said I can tell by your tip, he said people from the NE tip big and a lot of other states don't tip at all. We never thought about it before, being from NY we just do what we are use to always doing.

 

This also holds true for us NE people attending weddings.

[terrymtex01]

OP we usually always tip a couple of dollars to the waiter at breakfast, lunch and dinner and I have to admit, even if service is just so-so. I can't help myself with that, because I always think to myself maybe he has had something bad happen to him that day or maybe she isn't feeling well, etc. I know we shouldn't tip for so-so service, but we will. Now if it is bad service, no way. 8-)

 

For our room stewards we always try to tip at least $20.00 for each of them per week of the cruise. For instance on the Dawn cruise we just got off of we tipped them $40.00 each because it was a two week cruise, and to me they earned every penny of it.

 

Butlers and Concierges we tip based on length of cruise, how much we used their services and how they treated us. Generally we start at $10.00 for each of them per day of the cruise and then adjust up or down from there.

 

I have always thought we were generous tippers, but I guess being from Texas maybe we aren't. Guess I should hang out with some of my NYC friends and watch what they do. :p

[terrymtex01]

OP we usually always tip a couple of dollars to the waiter at breakfast, lunch and dinner and I have to admit, even if service is just so-so. I can't help myself with that, because I always think to myself maybe he has had something bad happen to him that day or maybe she isn't feeling well, etc. I know we shouldn't tip for so-so service, but we will. Now if it is bad service, no way. 8-)

 

For our room stewards we always try to tip at least $20.00 for each of them per week of the cruise. For instance on the Dawn cruise we just got off of we tipped them $40.00 each because it was a two week cruise, and to me they earned every penny of it.

 

Butlers and Concierges we tip based on length of cruise, how much we used their services and how they treated us. Generally we start at $10.00 for each of them per day of the cruise and then adjust up or down from there.

 

I have always thought we were generous tippers, but I guess being from Texas maybe we aren't. Guess I should hang out with some of my NYC friends and watch what they do. :p

[Tideone]

Tipping is really a personal thing, as far as I am concerned... and it also depends on how much a person can afford to tip...

Someone who makes big bucks from the northeast can afford to tip much more than a poor southern boy like me...

So with that in mind, I usually leave the room stewards at least $20 each because as in our case on our last cruise on the Dawn, we had some exceptional room stewards... I wish I could have left them much more but I did have a budget to live with...

I tipped the conceirge $25 for some things he did for us as well as $20 to a butler we had on a previous cruise... although we were not staying in a suite, our former butler did several things for us...

I also tipped each of the waiters in Cagney's (we ate there breakfast and lunch) twenty bucks each for their superb service.... and when I ate in a speciality restaurant I also left a tip for the servers... By the way, there were ten servers in Cagney's so that was an extra $200...

We only ate in the main dining rooms twice and I did leave a tip for those servers too....

although I can't remember how much....

We had excellent service everywhere we went....