Phone cards

[Jedi Fred]

What specific phone cards-brand names- are best to give as additional tips to cruise staff? Is this practice still being used? Any help would be appreciated.

[Nitemare]

My motto: CAW: Cash Always Works

Yeah, a phone card might work, maybe even probably. But Cash Always Works.

I wonder if any crew member would prefer a phone card, toiletries, or a shrubbery to cash of the same value.

[valentina1209]

i was planning to give out phone cards too, in addition to the monetary gratuities Carnival automatically adds to my bill. It just seemed funny to me to walk away on the last night without physically handing the waiter, cabin steward, etc, something. (I thought about taking the gratuity off my bill and handing them that money instead, but I kind of like they way a small portion of it goes towards the minor members of the dining staff)

I happen to like the MCI cards issued by Costco...they are supposed to work in most places and are the cheapest ones available. ($20 for 670 minutes)

Home Lines Atlantic 7/88; Cunard Countess 6/89; Costa Rivera 6/90; Explorer of the Seas 8/02; Adventure of the Sea 8/03

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=da70d6&cdt=2004;6;26;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  till the Carnival Miracle

[kitty9]

Please understand, while you might think giving them a phone card is a good idea, almost all of the phone cards you purchase here in the US, DO NOT work in phones in the Caribbean or Mexico. These hard-working people only have a limited amount of time to get off the ship in the ports and they don't have time to search for a phone that would take the card. Not even those so-called International Calling Cards work at all in the Caribbean or Mexico. If you want to do this, you have to look around and find calling cards in each of the ports you visit----those are the only ones that will work.

Darcie

[valentina1209]

Thanks for making a good point. I'm sailing on the Carnival Miracle, which has 2 US ports and 2 Bahamas ports, so I'm not too concerned about the card not being useful to the crew. At least I can be sure they'll work half the time. Even if there's just one US port, the crew will appreciate a calling card to use once a week.

Home Lines Atlantic 7/88; Cunard Countess 6/89; Costa Rivera 6/90; Explorer of the Seas 8/02; Adventure of the Sea 8/03

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=da70d6&cdt=2004;6;26;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  till the Carnival Miracle

[Nanci]

We just returned from the Celebrity Summit and asked our butler about phone cards and pre-paid gratuities. He said that cash is the best gift to receive. If you charge the tips they have to wait till the end of the month to receive their money.

[serene56]

and what about handing aphone card to someone who doesnt have a phone at home? I did that on my victory cruise and the waiter told me that he doesnt have a phone at home. He can only write. ( so I wasted money- and he lost out)
Another thought to be considered is not a lot of time to get off the ship to make the calls.

Now what I do is take a disposable camera and take pictures of my waitstaff during the week. Get it developed next to the last night and include the photos in with individual thank you cards. Now they can send their families picutres of them hard at work.

Going NOWHERE
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;10;22;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]


Miracle, February 13, 2005
Legend, October 22,2004
Voyager August 31,2003
Victory September 22,2002
Regal Empress,June 2001
Sensation,August 2000

[carmendmun]

WOW I really like the idea of the pictures Serene56! I would have never thought of that. Its true these guys may only see their fmaily once or twice a year. This way at least their family can see them.