Gratituties

[june1]

What are the recommended guidelines for tipping/gratituties on the river cruises?

[smeyer418]

What are the recommended guidelines for tipping/gratituties on the river cruises?

it varies by Region more in Europe than other places but in General its $5-10 per day per person.

[Suesan Jean]

What are the recommended guidelines for tipping/gratituties on the river cruises?

 

Just a few days ago, an AMA rep told me that $15 a day per person is what is expected.

Also, $4 a day per person for your daily tour guide.

Plus, when you go into churches in Russia, there is usually a person collecting a fee if you want to take pictures. The AMA rep said that right now it is $10 a camera.

This could get costly because there will be a lot of churches to see and my DD and I both have cameras.....!!!

[caviargal]

It is 12E per day on Avalon and 15US per day on AMA. We tipped our C the recommended 3E pp pd and our tour guides were dependent on the particular tour.

[Paulinda]

Caviar is correct on Avalon. Recommended tips were 12 euros per cruiser per day for the crew and 3 euros per cruiser per day for the Cruise director. You could tip individual crew members more if you felt they deserved it.

 

It was receommended to tip daily tour guides 1 euro per person, but this was not emphasized. I observed that most people did not tip the daily tour guides which was a shame. On a couple of our daily tours I tipped well beyond the 1 euro per person because I felt they were very excellent guides.

 

Some on this board will not agree with the recommended tipping rates. I guess they feel the trips cost enough. (I would hate to be a waiter or waiteress serving them). For our 7 night cruise we tipped the CD and crew about $280 total. The trip cost over 7000. 4% tip

[Ozjohnno]

As an Australian I'm very glad that on our trip next year all the gratuities are paid in advance. As tipping is not something we Aussies are used to this takes away the concern that a lot of us have down here as who and how much to tip.

[Paulinda]

Ozjohnno - I had heard that Australians didn't tip after the cruise. I wonder if the gratuties are built in the pricing? I've also heard that in Australia you only tip 5% for a dinner. Is that true?

 

I know that in Europe customers normally just round up the bill for tips. I've heard it's because the people serving you are actually paid a livable wage opposed to in the US they are typically paid minimum wage or less. They 'live' on the tips. Americans are programmed to tip 15% to 20% for service. At least most Americans do so.

[smeyer418]

Ozjohnno - I had heard that Australians didn't tip after the cruise. I wonder if the gratuties are built in the pricing? I've also heard that in Australia you only tip 5% for a dinner. Is that true?

 

I know that in Europe customers normally just round up the bill for tips. I've heard it's because the people serving you are actually paid a livable wage opposed to in the US they are typically paid minimum wage or less. They 'live' on the tips. Americans are programmed to tip 15% to 20% for service. At least most Americans do so.

 

 

No tipping in Australia at all. It violates their sense of propriety and its considered a bribe.

[Ozjohnno]

Paulinda - As this will be our first River cruise I can't speak on behalf of other Australians but we were aware of the gratuities that are expected from reading this board and decided that having all our gratuities paid in advance was best for us.

 

I can honestly say that I have never tipped in an Australian restaurant in all of my 62 years and I remember vividly when I was on joint service with the USAF in 1981 that I had absolutely no idea how much or who to tip during my time over there. On subsequent trips to the States on holidays we became accustomed to tipping even though we never felt comfortable on the amount.

 

In Australia the wages paid to those who serve you in restaurants or are appointed as your tour guide are very livable (our minimum wage is now just under $30k AU) and don't expect tips from fellow Australians but you can bet they wouldn't say no to a visitor if they were handsomely tipped.

 

From past reading I've seen this subject can be very emotive and personal but you can rest assured that most Australians don't tip not because they're stingy but that it's just not in our custom/nature.

[Ozjohnno]

No tipping in Australia at all. It violates their sense of propriety and its considered a bribe.

 

I have to say that you've been mislead if you think tipping in Australia is considered a bribe. Tipping is not against any law that I'm aware of. I'm sure visitors to our shores that are used to tipping for good service would continue to do so and that if was offered a working Australian would accept it.

[smeyer418]

I have to say that you've been mislead if you think tipping in Australia is considered a bribe. Tipping is not against any law that I'm aware of. I'm sure visitors to our shores that are used to tipping for good service would continue to do so and that if was offered a working Australian would accept it.

The history in Australia when it was a penal colony has the cultural memory of a tip being the equivalent of a bribe.

[Barrheadlass]

Uniworld publishes what is expected, and it comes out at about $700 for our 2 week cruise...and it HAS to be paid in Euros.

[Ozjohnno]

The history in Australia when it was a penal colony has the cultural memory of a tip being the equivalent of a bribe.

 

I can see that you're not too conversant with our history so may I politely say you have no idea what you're talking about.

[stretchcruz]

We're on Avalon Tranquility 10/21 and the pre and post hotels in Budapest and Prague are part of the trip. Do we book the Cruise Director for the days he/she is at the hotel with us in Budapest and Prague?

We are budgeting 30 Euros per day for tips for basics.....and we tip add'l if we want to, correct?

How about drinks in the bar? Are they billed to our shipboard account or do we pay cash? And are tips included or do we tip in cash?

Thank you so much....

[smeyer418]

I can see that you're not too conversant with our history so may I politely say you have no idea what you're talking about.

from the BBC

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A640018

 

Note that contrary to many posters the BBC says that tipping in UK is the norm

 

and from trip advisor

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g255055-s606/Australia:Tipping.And.Etiquette.html

 

although they do say at some high end restaurants this is changing.

 

Its OT anyway. When on a river cruise you should follow the local customs(on cruise ships too) anyway and not what the norm is at home- which obviously may differ.

 

and as to the history see

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A53650

 

"Then, around 1770ish, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent over, with a few deranged and stupid people in charge"...

while I freely admit I wasn't there, it is my understanding that out of this past came an abhorrence to tipping but its also true this was written by the British and I can't be sure of its accuracy either.

[Ozjohnno]

I read all of that and nowhere did I find any reference to where the "custom of not tipping in Australia" comes from our Penal Colony roots because it was considered bribing.

 

I have no real idea what you're trying to get at because when I'm in Rome I do what the Romans do. When overseas I conform to that countries rules of etiquette. In the US I tipped. In Australia I don't. All I stated in my original post was that I was more comfortable with the gratuities being included in the price. How you got to where you did from that is beyond me. Maybe you just don't like Australians. Fair enough mate.

[caviargal]

We're on Avalon Tranquility 10/21 and the pre and post hotels in Budapest and Prague are part of the trip. Do we book the Cruise Director for the days he/she is at the hotel with us in Budapest and Prague?

We are budgeting 30 Euros per day for tips for basics.....and we tip add'l if we want to, correct?

How about drinks in the bar? Are they billed to our shipboard account or do we pay cash? And are tips included or do we tip in cash?

Thank you so much....

 

You can add tips to your ship board account or you can use cash, whatever you prefer.

 

Drinks are added to your shipboard account - not sure if you can choose to pay cash - and tips on drinks are not included so we tipped in cash. Also, we tipped extra to some staff members who were particularly helpful to us.

 

We did our pre and post on our own so cannot help with that question.

[squarevanman]

This year on CroiseEurope and last year on a Presidential Nile cruise each cabin was given an envelope and requested to place this in a sealed box. Both indicated that tips were then shared between all the crew from the Captain upto the cleaners (yes I mean upto). I would imagine that as both the ships were mainly full of Europeans this alleviated any embarrassment.

[Kellie Poodle]

How does AMA work with the gratuities. Does it have to be cash or can you put it on your shipboard account? Can you use US currency? It might be hard to get Euros on a Moscow to St. Peterburg cruise. Would have to hit the airport ATM on a layover or get them at our bank and drag them around for 2 weeks.

 

We did a Uniworld cruise and it had to be in cash and it had to be in Euros.

[Suesan Jean]

How does AMA work with the gratuities. Does it have to be cash or can you put it on your shipboard account? Can you use US currency? It might be hard to get Euros on a Moscow to St. Peterburg cruise. Would have to hit the airport ATM on a layover or get them at our bank and drag them around for 2 weeks.

 

We did a Uniworld cruise and it had to be in cash and it had to be in Euros.

 

You know, I can't remember if I got this information from the young lady at AMA or my TA.

But, I was told with AMA, you get an envelope at the front desk, put your $15 (US) a day per person in the envelope, and there is a box up at the front desk that you put it into on your last day.

I think that is what I was told last week. So much information was flying back and forth between me, AMA and my TA.

But, I think that was what I heard her say.

Just call AMA, see is I am right or I am hallucinating........

[franski]

Uniworld is cash only... When we were on the Seine, they indicated they would take Euros, dollars, Traveller's Cheques (signed) - just no plastic.

 

With AMA we could pay cash (in the envelopes at the front desk) or put on our credit card.

[Kellie Poodle]

Uniworld is cash only... When we were on the Seine, they indicated they would take Euros, dollars, Traveller's Cheques (signed) - just no plastic.

 

With AMA we could pay cash (in the envelopes at the front desk) or put on our credit card.

 

Thanks.

[shipnc]

I just finished a review of our Rhine Cruise aboard AMA Waterways Amalyra, which I will be posting shortly, but I had a section where I discussed tipping, which I am attaching here as it pertains to this thread:

 

Tipping guidelines aboard the Amalyra followed typical river boat guidelines: 12 Euros/day per person for the crew put into a pool, and a separate 3 Euros/day per person for the cruise director. Tipping philosophy aboard river cruises is somewhat different than ocean cruises since you don’t have clearly identified service providers. One might ask why the cruise director on a river cruise is tipped and the cruise director on an ocean cruise is not. This is a reasonable question, but the concept is justifiable because the cruise director does not stay attached to any one ship and also coordinates the shore extensions. He also does a lot more and works harder than the typical cruise director aboard an ocean ship. The quality of the cruise director is a major factor in the overall quality of the experience, and we were fortunate to have an excellent one in Peter Whitehead.

But while I understand the tipping concepts used by river boats, I still have some heartburn about the concept of “blanket” tips for a pool of people. Yes ,many of the crew, such as the laundry people, work behind the scenes and deserve to be compensated, but why should my tips go to them if I never use the service? Pay them a decent salary instead of asking the passengers to subsidize their wages. As it turned out, we did have one cabin cleaner and we ended up eating most of our meals at the same dining room station, so we had one identified waiter. We ended up tipping both of these individuals because we appreciated their service. That is what tips are about. Anytime you go with predetermined tips or pools, that becomes the expected, and then the real tips go on top of that. But, when all is said and done, the service was great and the crew deserved whatever they got.

[shoshona2]

We returned from a Rhine/Moselle rivercruise on Tauck in late July. Our tips were ALL included in the price of our cruise. These people work very hard doing various jobs aboard the ship. The person who cleaned our cabin also served drinks in the lounge at night. By the time, the lounge closes, they have to hurry to get to sleep to be up to service our cabin when we went to eat breakfast. The wonderful gal who gave massages in the Spa had the morning detail in the Lido Lounge where early coffee was served. She always had a wonderful smile as did ALL the staff. When our river cruise was ending, we made sure we gave a tip to the people aboard who took such good care of us. Most of them were from Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, etc., etc. One of young women in the restaurant was so shocked to get an additional tip from my DH. She most certainly deserved it!!

 

Sheila

[folly32a]

Having just finished the European Serenade cruise on Uniworld the recommended tipping is 10 euros per day for the crew and 3 euros per day for the cruise director and I can say that the staff work exceptionally hard..

 

We had the misfortune of being stopped by high water at the Deggendorf bridge and ended up on a bus to Vienna.. which was a huge disappontment for me :( but the staff handled the situation exceptionally well and made sure we were kept informed of the situation and whe they had to off load all the luggage ALL the staff not involved in serving the breakfast were taking part in möving the luggage to the buses, including the captain.

 

As for Australians not tipping that is a huge generalisation.. some never do, some do sometimes and some do all the time..

 

And as the saying goes.. when in Rome...