Porters in Europe

[hospsafe]

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess out of London in July. Does anyone know if we should tip the porters that help load our bags once we get to ship like we do in the states?

[RhondaPerr]

Yes.... You should tip the porters. Its nice if you have pounds or Euros.

 

 

 

 

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess out of London in July. Does anyone know if we should tip the porters that help load our bags once we get to ship like we do in the states?

[windsor26]

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess out of London in July. Does anyone know if we should tip the porters that help load our bags once we get to ship like we do in the states?

 

Yes do tip even in UK it is one of the - quite a few - things that Brits tip for (like hairdressers taxis restaurants etc)

[Josy1953]

Yes.... You should tip the porters. Its nice if you have pounds or Euros.

I would say that they prefer £s rather than euros, but like porters the world over they will take euros and dollars if that is all you have.

[SwissDave]

As someone who sails out of Southampton a lot, I can say I have never tipped the porters there. The bags are usually out of the car and whipped away so fast it leaves you dizzy.

 

Plus, the porters who take your luggage kerbside only move them about 20 yards and load them onto a conveyer belt. They do no more than that. At the other side of the belt another team loads the cases into a cage, someone else takes that to the side of the ship, and depending on ship, the cage is loaded directly onboard or unloaded again at dock side and another team load those bags onto another belt for loading onto the ship.

 

The team at kerbside most cetainly do not expect any tip, and they wont hang about with their hands out 'demanding' one.

 

Of course, feel free to give them a couple of pounds they cetainly wont throw it back at you, but one or two may refuse saying it is not required.

[hospsafe]

Thanks for the info, y'all. I apologize if this isn't the correct place in CC to ask this but what about transportation to and from the port. We will probably fly in the day before and stay somewhere in London. Not sure where yet. There are only two of us. In the US if I don't get a rental I normally try to use a car service. Should I consider doing that in London as well?

[Wavesprite]

Check the Britain board for information. When we went last May we took the National Express Coach (bus) to Southampton and then stayed in a B&B overnight before getting on the ship. London is not close to Heathrow......

[Pia1913]

Thanks for the info, y'all. I apologize if this isn't the correct place in CC to ask this but what about transportation to and from the port. We will probably fly in the day before and stay somewhere in London. Not sure where yet. There are only two of us. In the US if I don't get a rental I normally try to use a car service. Should I consider doing that in London as well?

 

Come back over to our Roll Call and ask there. I've used National Coach too.

[DeloreanGirl]

Thanks to the OP for asking this since the same question dawned on me the other night. I want to get notes at Heathrow but someone said the exchange rate wasn't that great? However, having just come off of 15 hours of flying, I won't have a chance to run to a bank in London. I'll have to grab some notes at the airport for the porters and to have for the English ports.

[juakkers]

As someone who sails out of Southampton a lot, I can say I have never tipped the porters there. The bags are usually out of the car and whipped away so fast it leaves you dizzy.

 

Plus, the porters who take your luggage kerbside only move them about 20 yards and load them onto a conveyer belt. They do no more than that. At the other side of the belt another team loads the cases into a cage, someone else takes that to the side of the ship, and depending on ship, the cage is loaded directly onboard or unloaded again at dock side and another team load those bags onto another belt for loading onto the ship.

 

The team at kerbside most cetainly do not expect any tip, and they wont hang about with their hands out 'demanding' one.

 

Of course, feel free to give them a couple of pounds they cetainly wont throw it back at you, but one or two may refuse saying it is not required.

 

This is absolutely correct - tipping here in the UK isn't expected as much in the US (although of course it is always a nice thing to do) If you are only going to change money for this purpose then I wouldn't bother, however if you have other UK ports to visit then you will need £'s anyway.

[Wavesprite]

Thanks to the OP for asking this since the same question dawned on me the other night. I want to get notes at Heathrow but someone said the exchange rate wasn't that great? However, having just come off of 15 hours of flying, I won't have a chance to run to a bank in London. I'll have to grab some notes at the airport for the porters and to have for the English ports.

 

What we did was order 100 GBP from our local bank so that we had something to use when we first got there, and then used bank atm's while in Britain, etc....

[Steve&Liz]

The porters working at Southampton are seasonal workers. As they normally do not have year round positions, they are grateful when receiving tips. We have always tipped the porters a few pounds when sailing out of Southampton.

[windsor26]

Thanks to the OP for asking this since the same question dawned on me the other night. I want to get notes at Heathrow but someone said the exchange rate wasn't that great? However, having just come off of 15 hours of flying, I won't have a chance to run to a bank in London. I'll have to grab some notes at the airport for the porters and to have for the English ports.

 

The smallest note you are going to get (if you get any small ones at all) will be 5 you will need pound coins for tips I think If you have a note go and purchase a tube of mints or a magazine to get some change would be a good idea