need thank you gift ideas for stewards

[Summertime]

It's my first cruise and I would like to bring along a thank you gift for our steward or other crew members who gave excellent service - I want to give a little something as well as the cash thank you. Any ideas of things they can really use?

 

Summer:rolleyes:

[Krazy Kruizers]

They can always use bar soap, shampoo, shower gels, tooth paste - they have to use their tip money to buy those items.

Some people give the phone cards but you have to be careful there - not all international phone cards can be used for certain areas of the world.

[Happy ks]

You have no idea what their preferences are. A little extra cash and a personal note is always most welcome and most needed. If you really like them and they do a great job for you, marking your comment card and writing something nice about them can go a long way towards advancement in their career.

[Cotton]

I stopped taking a gift for my cabin steward a coupla years ago. I was told that they have very little room in their shared cabins, and "things" are really not wanted or needed. (When given cash, they can buy the sundries they need from the crew's store.)

 

On several cruises before I learned this, I had taken little gift baskets/bags with many items - disposable cameras, pens, note paper, mini-calculator, candy, cookies, USA t-shirt, puzzle books, etc. LOL, I was so proud of my little assortment. Oh well.

 

Now what I do is take some of the mini-candy bars (those that come 10-to-a-pack). Every day, I leave one of the candy bars along with $1 and a happy face on a sticky note - I leave this on the bed, so he can't miss it. My stewards have always said a smiling thanks....just a little happy.

 

I also give a candy bar (along with a tip) to the room service person when he makes a delivery. Always get a big surprised smile!:)

[98Charlie]

Cotton:

 

Love your tip on including a mini-candy bar as an extra for room steward.

 

Have two cruises coming up that coincide with the Easter season. Plan on taking a few boxes of marshmallow peeps to surprise and delight staff along the way.

 

Got to love the marshmallow Peep season!

 

Dianne

[Ehpride]

That's a great idea cotton :)

 

And I LOVE peeps!!

[kitty9]

Summer, while your wanting to give them "gifts" is nice, you have to realize that these people serve literally thousands of passengers during their contract time and if even half of them give gifts, what would they do with all the stuff? If you give them a hat or t-shirt from your state/city, they could literally have hundreds of things like that from all their other passengers. Gifts aren't practical, they don't have the room to store the things, and they can't ship all that stuff home because it just gets too expensive. As for personal items, that's probably not the best idea either, when you think of it. We all have our preferences when it comes to things like shampoo, toothpaste and such, and unless you know what they like, it's really a waste. I know I'm allergic to certain things, and I would bet that some crew members have allergies also, so giving personal items might not be the best.

 

Extra cash and a letter to the cruise director about how great the service was, goes a long way for the crew. They receive rewards and maybe even promotions when the boss hears they give exceptional service.

[Lois R]

Hi:) this is something I do, and it has always received a Big Smile. Instead of using the standard cruise envelope for the tips I bring Thank You cards with me. Not the "packaged cards" but I go to Target and pick out individual cards. They have a wonderful selection.

When I hand this to them I have always seen a smile:). It is just a bit more of a personal touch.

Actually, I had a marvelous Asst' Maitr'd on Constellation last month. I know everyone doesn't tip them, but I chose to do it. She gave me the biggest hug and said she had never received a Thank You card. It made it all worth it:) Hopefully I will see her on another ship one day! Her name is Ruby and she is from South Africa.

[KamloopsCruisers]

I too always pack thank you cards from home. A personalized note and extra cash is always welcomed. Lilke previous posters, in the past we took extra gifts for staff, but I have since read that they can purchase phone cards at a discount and I agree they only have room for so much "stuff".

 

So now just extra $$ - the exception being when we cruise at Christmas. We always pack a box of Belgian chocolates for our staff, along with a Christmas card from home. On one cruise we had an excellent drink server - he always found us around the pool no matter where we were sitting, and every day in the dining room he was waiting to take our dinner drink order. When we presented him with his Christmas gift he had tears in his eyes. This cruise was his 17th away from his family (yes, he was very experienced) and it was the first time a passenger had given him a Christmas gift. His tears and smiles really touched us.

[LARGIN]

Dead Presidents works for me and they love it... :D

[mii]

Dead Presidents works for me and they love it... :D

 

Largin: I had to re-read that statement before I finally figured it out. LOL:D :D

 

Marilyn

[LoriLinay]

LOVE your idea cotton! My teens will be in their own inside (WE booked an OS!!!LOL!!) next cruise and I'm sure the steward will deserve MUCH more than the normal tip!

 

Last cruise I bought a package of Oreos and gave them to our steward after he saw my daughter eating some and said he liked them. He also had a son the same age (and size he said) of our son. This was his last cruise before going home for a month. My son would not wear that suit again before he'd outgrow it, so we asked the steward if he wanted it for his boy. He appeared to be so happy with the offer. He told us that his brother was also on the ship with him. The next day, as we approached our cabin, a "strange" steward thanked us for the suit and said he was our stewards brother. That made us all feel good. (and left more room for souveniers)

 

He was not the best steward as far as how he kept our suite (we had to ask for a lot of things, like shampoo packets, etc...) but he was so nice with our children! His tip reflected that great kindness.

 

Cash and a nice note are surely what they need the most!

[momofmeg]

You have no idea what their preferences are. A little extra cash and a personal note is always most welcome and most needed. If you really like them and they do a great job for you, marking your comment card and writing something nice about them can go a long way towards advancement in their career.

 

I agree with Happy KS. Some months back there was an article posted at cruisecritic written by a person who was a crew member on a cruiseship. He said that their rooms are very small and they do not have alot of room for personal items -therefore he prefered gifts to be money.

 

Most of them come from really poor countries and they are supporting family members back home (including cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. not just immediate family) and that usually they e-mail to save money and would rather have the money then a phone-card.

 

I read another post here where a person told a waiter they liked his ink pen which he gave to them-insisted on it-said he had TONS of them that passengers had given him as a "thank you " gift-then he added he really preferred tips to gifts as he needed to support his family. One thing you need to remember-these people are not our culture or our income bracket. Many things we consider necessities to them are luxuries.

 

So tip them a little extra-forget the gift-and give them a nice personalized card. Cards are always appreciated.

[Are we there yet?]

Love your ideas! Will be taking thank you cards with me for sure. Also the little chocolates, maybe some aero and Jersey milk bars, since they are Canadian.

 

Could someone please fill me in on the "dead presidents". LOL:)

[98Charlie]

Love your ideas! Will be taking thank you cards with me for sure. Also the little chocolates, maybe some aero and Jersey milk bars, since they are Canadian.

 

Could someone please fill me in on the "dead presidents". LOL:)

 

Only photos of dead presidents are on American greenbacks.

 

Dianne

[Are we there yet?]

"Only photos of dead presidents are on American greenbacks."

 

 

Well duh........don't I feel stupid!! lol:D

[vijoge]

Cash, CASH, and more CASH!:D

[Summertime]

Tipping

[Summertime]

Thanks everyone for your input. I think that now after reading the comments I will just make the extra effort with a nice thank you card and extra cash. I am still confused after the many posts I've read elsewhere about tipping. Does it all go into the same pile at the end and then gets distributed between certain people? Somewhere I read that any tip they receive has to be turned in and then it all gets distributed evenly. I'm just wondering if I tip the steward extra or a certain waiter if he or she gets to keep it? I'm sailing on Princess Diamond and they take out $10.00 a day which seems very reasonable to me but am wondering if there are other people that I should tip - I still seem hopelessly confused about the whole thing.

Thanks,

Summer

[98Charlie]

I am still confused after the many posts I've read elsewhere about tipping.

Best bet is to ask the steward how the tips are actually handled.

 

I have heard that if you remove any auto tips that anything anyone receives goes into a general pool. But, if you leave auto tips in place they can keep any additional tips from you.

 

Charlie

[kitty9]

Summer, when a cruise line does the automatic tipping added to your bill, those tips go to your cabin steward, your waiter and assistant waiter. When you purchase any drinks from a bar or lounge, or at the pool, they automatically add a 15% tip to the server. Depending on the service you receive, you can tip other crew members if they go beyond in helping you, such as your head waiter. For those extra tips, you just give cash on the last night.

[Are we there yet?]

How do the people working in the kitchens (cooks, dishwashers, etc.), or the people working in the shops, and other places on the ship get tips?

Does it come out of the $10 a day?

[serene56]

The people in the shops, cooks etc get a salary from the cruise lines. You dont have to worry about tipping those. Same with Photographers. Bar waiters get a 15% gratutity for all drinks they serve. Your tips include ONLY the waiter/asst waiter and cabin steward. Even if you do not eat in the dining room all the nights of your cruise please consder not lowering your tips since the waiters/asst waiters also work the buffet area on the off time.

[Are we there yet?]

serene56, I would never consider lowering my tips, and we have 4 children sailing with us that will also be paying $10 a day each for tipping. Do the waiters, cabin stewards, etc. that do receive tips, not get any salary at all, or is it just a smaller percentage of what everyone else gets? I am the sort of person that tends to tip too much, rather than not enough and I was thinking that if they do a very good job, I would tip them more.

The reason I ask about the cooks and dishwashers is that my kids have worked in restaurants for the summer, and they always got a percentage of the tips. Thank you for your reply, I would have felt bad for everyone else otherwise! lol:)

[wheresthewater]

Don't know about you, but when I had to memorize the presidents, Alexander Hamilton (on the $10) and Ben Franklin (on the $100) weren't on my crib cards. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. I never could understand what Franklin had to do with currency. Perhaps he wanted to be the first printer.