How much extra to tip?

[Jenhem31]

For those of you who tip your steward above the standard, how much extra do you tip? My tips are pre paid. Is $50 extra for a 5 day cruise enough?

 

First time cruiser so please don't flame me! :)

 

 

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[Shmoo here]

For those of you who tip your steward above the standard, how much extra do you tip? My tips are pre paid. Is $50 extra for a 5 day cruise enough?

 

First time cruiser so please don't flame me! :)

 

 

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Due to the nature of what a "tip" is, it's really a personal call as to what/whether you want to tip additionally. What is appropriate is what you feel the service was worth to you.

 

Many feel that the pre-paid gratuities/Hotel Service Charge (whatever it's called on your cruise) are sufficient. Others tip additionally. There are even some who remove the tips. It's your call.

[navybankerteacher]

For those of you who tip your steward above the standard, how much extra do you tip? My tips are pre paid. Is $50 extra for a 5 day cruise enough?

 

First time cruiser so please don't flame me! :)

 

 

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The prepaid essentially covers basic service competently provided. Anything extra is purely subjective - anything from a dollar or two per day of the cruise up to five dollars per day would recognize superior effort. Your suggested $50 extra for a five day cruise would strike me as rather generous.

[leaveitallbehind]

The prepaid essentially covers basic service competently provided. Anything extra is purely subjective - anything from a dollar or two per day of the cruise up to five dollars per day would recognize superior effort. Your suggested $50 extra for a five day cruise would strike me as rather generous.

 

Agree. Not sure what level of service would justify that amount over the standard pre paid gratuities. That would be more than double what most cruise lines recommend for the already prepaid daily amount.

[Jenhem31]

I just feel that some services deserve additional gratuities. I always tip at least 20% in restaurants, more for outstanding service. The steward in my opinion deserves a little extra. He's away from his family for months at a time and I don't mind throwing him a bone. Particularly for good service.

I'm not overly messy or anything like that lol. Thanks for the input!

 

 

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[notentirelynormal]

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this response but here it is anyway.

 

For the two of us, I always tip my room steward $100 extra, my waiter $100 and my assistant waiter $75 extra for a 7-10 cruise. I've been told in other threads that I am in a pissing contest to do this. Whatever!

 

This is how I look at it. I spend around $80 in gas to drive to and from the airport. I pay another $120 or so to park. I pay around $150 to take my luggage. I pay another couple of $100 for the hotel (depending on stay). I pay for transportation from the airport to the hotel to the port to the hotel to the port.

 

My room steward, waiter and assistant waiter are the main three people on a cruise that make it special. I have always considered this amount part of the cost of cruising. I consider it like the price of an excursion for the enjoyment they give me. My home is kept wonderful. I am waited on hand and foot by the other two. I have traveled with young children and a cranky mother and I can tell you these people earn the extra money. I have never, ever removed the auto tip. Granted that extra tip is per cabin not person.

 

My cheapo husband - and I do mean cheap - would never consider not leaving this tip and that pretty much says it all. He's about as um, frugal as you can get.

 

In answer to the OP - yes $50 additional for a 5 day cruise is generous as long as you leave the original tip on.

[kdawg954]

I do appreciate the great service I receive on cruise ships, but I never tip more than the "daily service charge". I do prepay them though, as a benefit to get "Anytime Dining" and the fact that I'm comfortable that I will receive great service and if I don't, the cruise line usually does its best to take care of you.

 

One of the great things about cruising is that I don't want to worry about "what to tip" or "what the check will be" . . . it's already included. Worrying about what to tip in port (drivers, excursions, restaurants, etc.) is enough for me.

[paul929207]

There is no right amount. Since you have prepaid the autotip, you have taken care of everybody. We go on longer cruises, 30 to 50 days and I usually give $50 to $100 extra to those I feel have really taken great care of us.

[spookwife]

For those of you who tip your steward above the standard, how much extra do you tip? My tips are pre paid. Is $50 extra for a 5 day cruise enough?

 

First time cruiser so please don't flame me! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

entirely up to you and what you feel his extra attention was worth.

 

for instance, we ask for ice to be refilled when he is in the room each day morning and at turndown. also if he brings our luggage inside for us, that's an extra bit of service. I personally feel $10 a day is excessive. we might give an extra $20 at the end of a 7 day cruise based on just the above services. more if we asked for additional attention.

[swoonx]

Well, planning the exact amount before you cruised is not possible.

 

With the auto gratuities you tip/pay them for a regular good work. If they provide no extra or outstanding service, there is no reason to tip extra. If they do something special for you, you can do something special for them. That's the way it works.

 

But right now you can't know how outstanding the service will be ;)

 

If you think they are so good that you have to double their tips, do that. But personal I think doubling the salary just because they are nice and do a good job is too much. (Would you tip 30-40% in a restaurant? Don't think so.)

Edited March 27, 2014 by swoonx

[SwissDave]

There is no requirement at all to pay anything extra.

 

If the steward has gone above and beyond for you if you have had special requests then something extra is always nice.

 

But to me, $50 extra for a 5 day cruise would be too much. Stewards get roughly $3-$3.50 per day from your automatic or prepaid gratuities so maybe $17 for those 5 days. by giving $50 you are effectivley paying them triple in addition to the standard amount.

 

$20 is what pay extra, and usually do on a 7 night cruise, unless as I said before he did something extraordinary.

[cb at sea]

I have to agree....I would think, unless the attendant had done something MIGHTY special,(and I can't imagine what that might be!!!) that $5 extra per day is MORE than enough!

 

I know everyone is all worried about how little these folks make, but in reality, they do ok, since they have NO EXPENSES on the ship to speak of!

 

If you do the suggested amount, you're good to go.

[OCruisers]

You've already tipped so whatever you give your cabin steward is EXTRA.

$5 a day extra is ample.

You might also want to consider an extra tip to a bartender you have really liked.

LuLu

~~~

[Flatbush Flyer]

I have to agree....

 

I know everyone is all worried about how little these folks make, but in reality, they do ok, since they have NO EXPENSES on the ship to speak of.

 

 

With the understanding that I am not weighing in on the extra tip discussion but am concerned that new cruisers will get the wrong impression from your comment:

 

Having "no expenses" on the ship doesn't speak to the regular ongoing expenses of the crew's (or their families') life on shore.

 

And if you think that any merchant mariner (from oilers and food workers through junior officers) working on a ship flying a "flag of convenience" is making wages akin to union labor (at least in the U.S.), you may want to do some research.

 

Making a living at sea is a very difficult life. In fact, in a relatively recent survey of deck and engineering grads from American maritime academies, it was found that their average life "at sea" is about 5 years.

 

 

 

 

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[Sue Do-Over]

We tip an extra $5 each time we ask for anything extra/special.

 

When we arrive, we leave a note for the steward asking for an extra duvet (to make the bed softer) and a fan, 'at his convenience'. The tip is placed under the note on the bed. Never fails, the duvet gets added when he turns the bed down for the night, and the fan is sitting on the dresser.

 

Try to make it easy for him to help, by giving him time to work our request into his work pattern, or saving him a trip.

 

Also put trash in the can, towels on the shower floor, etc. so that he can quickly clean all the surfaces.

[Sue Do-Over]

We tip an extra $5 each time we ask for anything extra/special.

 

When we arrive, we leave a note for the steward asking for an extra duvet (to make the bed softer) and a fan, 'at his convenience'. The tip is placed under the note on the bed. Never fails, the duvet gets added when he turns the bed down for the night, and the fan is sitting on the dresser.

 

Try to make it easy for him to help, by giving him time to work our request into his work pattern, or saving him a trip.

 

Also put trash in the can, towels on the shower floor, etc. so that he can quickly clean all the surfaces. Easy for him means nicer for us.

[SwissDave]

With the understanding that I am not weighing in on the extra tip discussion but am concerned that new cruisers will get the wrong impression from your comment:

 

Having "no expenses" on the ship doesn't speak to the regular ongoing expenses of the crew's (or their families') life on shore.

 

And if you think that any merchant mariner (from oilers and food workers through junior officers) working on a ship flying a "flag of convenience" is making wages akin to union labor (at least in the U.S.), you may want to do some research.

 

Making a living at sea is a very difficult life. In fact, in a relatively recent survey of deck and engineering grads from American maritime academies, it was found that their average life "at sea" is about 5 years.

 

 

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for each $ earned by, or tipped to, a room steward, would be equivalent to giving them $3 if they lived in USA.

 

Tipping $20 is the same as giving your waitress at a land resturant $60.

 

It's no wonder the crew are happy if they are being given the equivalent of $150-300 extra by one cabin multiplied by up to 15 if each of their other cabins did the same. so possibly up to $10,000 per month in tips, which would be a US equivalent annual salary of $120,000.

 

difficult living? those stewards or waiters probably wouldn't think so.

[serene56]

For those of you who tip your steward above the standard, how much extra do you tip? My tips are pre paid. Is $50 extra for a 5 day cruise enough?

 

First time cruiser so please don't flame me! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

we do not tip extra unless the steward went over and beyond what is expected. Most of our cruises he/she cleans the room 2 times a day. To me that is what the tip pays for.

We barely see the steward. On a 7 day cruise we will give the steward "off" two days so no room cleaning on those days.

If I do extra request like an extra chair for the balcony- an extra blanket or extra ice for a cooler-- then I would tip 10- 20 bucks..

 

50 dollars-- no.

 

same with the waiters, asst waiters-- if service is what I expected i give just the prepaid tips. Added extra service I will tip more for.

 

Example: on the Pride we took grand daughter age 6. The waiter was phenomenal. He got the GD to eat all her dinner each night because if she did he went to find the table magician to perform magic tricks for her.

 

For that-- I have him $25.00 extra dollars.

 

 

for your first cruise you have nothing to compare it to. so no extra tipped is needed really

[Flatbush Flyer]

for each $ earned by, or tipped to, a room steward, would be equivalent to giving them $3 if they lived in USA.

 

Tipping $20 is the same as giving your waitress at a land resturant $60.

 

It's no wonder the crew are happy if they are being given the equivalent of $150-300 extra by one cabin multiplied by up to 15 if each of their other cabins did the same. so possibly up to $10,000 per month in tips, which would be a US equivalent annual salary of $120,000.

 

difficult living? those stewards or waiters probably wouldn't think so.

 

 

Interesting math with extreme and unreferenced assumptions. Your comment sounds like that old pitch: "make thousands at home in your free time."

 

In any case, what was I thinking? Why would we want a "third world" worker to realize better than a "third world" wage (not to mention making enough in six "24/7" months away so they can be with their family the rest of the year)?

 

 

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[chengkp75]

With the understanding that I am not weighing in on the extra tip discussion but am concerned that new cruisers will get the wrong impression from your comment:

 

Having "no expenses" on the ship doesn't speak to the regular ongoing expenses of the crew's (or their families') life on shore.

 

And if you think that any merchant mariner (from oilers and food workers through junior officers) working on a ship flying a "flag of convenience" is making wages akin to union labor (at least in the U.S.), you may want to do some research.

 

Making a living at sea is a very difficult life. In fact, in a relatively recent survey of deck and engineering grads from American maritime academies, it was found that their average life "at sea" is about 5 years.

 

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Try very hard to stay away from tip threads. To address your last statement about making a living at sea, I'm a US mariner, been sailing for 40 years, and the salaries have been completely flat over this time. That's not in dollars adjusted for inflation, that's in raw dollars. What a Chief Engineer made in 1975 in 1975 dollars is what I make now (maybe a little less now, actually) in 2014 dollars.

 

I will say that the international crew make a pretty middle-class income compared to their home countries, but the long periods of separation makes for pressures on any marriage.

[wallie5446]

No right no wrong. On our last sailing we did not leave any extra as we did not feel our staff did any thing other than the normal.

 

An extra $50 for a short sailing would require a whole lotta shakin going on above and beyond:D let alone a 7 day.

Edited March 28, 2014 by wallie5446