Question about tipping extra & shore excursions

[kfrisk]

Going through these threads I have seen people talking about tipping your tour guides for your excursions or shore trips or whatever - - as well as tipping extra for your i.e. room steward or excellent wait staff...but my dilemma is this: I am never sure what to tip - and especially not for the shore excursions because we have never cruised before. What is an acceptable amount or standard amount for these types of tips? Thank you for any help because I am a little clueless and I would hate to offend someone while we are on the ship but I also don't want to go overboard with extra tipping - if that makes sense. (I know its not a requirement to tip extra).

 

Kris

[Underwatr]

Since some people don't tip for tours or any additional to wait staff anything offered is appreciated. For an excursion I might suggest $5 or so(I once tipped $20 but I was in a good mood). When we tip our steward it might be $40 or $50 for about a week; we typically tip our waiter $30 and the assistant $20. But we don't always tip extra like this.

 

I'm sure others will have different opinions about this.

[Essiesmom]

Depending on the length of tour, I may tip $5, maybe more. I assume that the tour guide will share with the driver, but if the route has been particularly challenging for the driver, I may tip hip separately. EM

[cb at sea]

For those on the ship, always keep in mind what you've already paid to them in tips...tip additionally based on that, if you feel it necessary. That's the problem with having tips added to your account, or even, pre-paying...you tend to forget how much you've already given them!

 

Of course, additional tip amounts will depend on what they've done for you that warrants additional tips....I would think $10-20 above what you've already paid would be very nice.

 

On excursions, you tip what you feel the experience was worth to you. We've had some "tour guides" that did very little "guiding" and had no personality....so we didn't tip them at all. On excursions where the guide is interesting and fun, and really makes the day for us, then $10-20, depending on length of trip.

 

It's really up to you...there are no real guidelines.

Edited March 7, 2014 by cb at sea

[serene56]

Tipping on the ship- we have prepaid tips with final payment. I dont worry about tipping extra onboard. Bar waiters get an additional 15% off the price of a drink.

 

IF someone goes over and above their work then we will tip.

example-- on Carnival Pride-- if my grand daughter ate all her food the waiter then went to get the Table magician to show her the tricks.

 

This waiter not only got her to finish her meal but gave her something to look forward to-- we gave him an extra 25 buck tip in cash on top of what we prepaid.

 

Another cruise we asked the cabin steward to give us an extra chair for the balcony-- we tipped him an extra 5 bucks when he gave us the chair.

 

With cabin stewards-- we also give them "off" to clean our rooms a few days during the week.

 

tips for tours-- if the tour exceeds my expectation or I thoroughly enjoyed myself-- then we will tip 5 bucks

Edited March 7, 2014 by serene56

[Hydrokitty]

On shore excursions I usually give tour guide $5 per person and driver $5 per trip. If the tour is especially good, I may add to it and if it's really disappointing I do not feel obligated to tip at all.

 

As to cabin steward and dining room staff....I leave the tips on my account and if someone does something extra will tip them $5 at the time. This way I don't have to wonder if the right person is getting the tip.

[George C]

Depending on the length of tour, I may tip $5, maybe more. I assume that the tour guide will share with the driver, but if the route has been particularly challenging for the driver, I may tip hip separately. EM

 

we normaly tip each seperate, also like you depending on length of trip

[smeyer418]

Hi, I've never actually taken a cruise before, but have been reading a lot about it lately. I've never heard of pre-tipping, though. How does that work with regards to who actually gets the money? Do they keep track of what people pay for on the ship?

 

On some/most cruise lines you can pre-pay the suggested amounts of the daily service charge(or whatever that particular cruise line calls it). Sometimes as promotion the cruise line or your TA will pre-pay or include the daily service charge. The daily service charge varies from a low of about $8.00 to 12.00 per day per person or more. If the cruise line has a way of pre-paying they keep a list that they circulate to the crew. This list will be made available to your room steward and your assigned eating staff.

FYI it only covers your room cleaning staff and the dinning venues. Other staff is not normally included(butlers, concierges, bar staff, spa staff etc)

I have seen it on some of the cruise lines(Celebrity for an example).

Edited March 8, 2014 by smeyer418

[jennyprovo]

We usually tip tour guides $10/person. And if we have a good room steward $40 for a week.

[serene56]

Hi, I've never actually taken a cruise before, but have been reading a lot about it lately. I've never heard of pre-tipping, though. How does that work with regards to who actually gets the money? Do they keep track of what people pay for on the ship?

 

The cruise lines I sail the tipping is 11.50 per person per day

It goes to the cabin steward. The dining room and the lido people

Bartenders are separated

[pinkdiamond13]

Anything you decide to tip above the mandatory tip is very generous and appreciated! I typically don't tip extra unless the service is above and beyond. Also, look into who is included in your mandatory tip. Not everyone on the ship is included in that for example spa service and casino beverage runners do not receive anything so you should definitely tip them accordingly.

[OCruisers]

It depends on the length of the shore excursion and the service that is provided to us.

For a simple three hour excursion we normally tip $5.00 for both of us. On other excursions we tip $10 to $20. When a bus driver is involved we always tip him a couple of dollars extra.

LuLu

~~~~

[kfrisk]

Thanks for all the responses - it will be very helpful for me!!