Room stewards - Extra tip?

[Andoria]

I leave auto tips in place and that's about it. I clean up after myself and the most I ask for is an extra pillow.

 

My room steward on the Splendor was very sweet. I'm awful with my sense of direction and would always have trouble finding my room. He'd see me and yell out in the hallway "Other side of the ship, Heidi." In hindsight I probably should have tipped him extra.

[Orison]

What a perfect place to ask my question!!

 

One thing that has always bothered me about Carnival is the sheer number of crew members in your personal "circle." There is the room steward and also a morning assistant and an afternoon assistant. Then there is the waiter and two assistants.

 

I always go on a cruise expecting to give extra tips. I don't have a lot of money, but I appreciate the pampering I get. But who to tip?

 

Thanks for any insight.

 

Kathy

Just tip your steward. He is hiring any assistants you may see to increase the number of rooms he covers, and pays them. Your auto tip takes care of that of you are confused.

[Domino D]

For those that sail with Carnival, do you give extra money for a tip to your room steward and what do you feel is a fair amount?

 

What a perfect place to ask my question!!

 

I always go on a cruise expecting to give extra tips. I don't have a lot of money, but I appreciate the pampering I get. But who to tip?

 

Kathy

 

Like some of the other posters, I consider the auto-gratuity as part of their salary, and part of the true cruise cost (along with taxes, port fees, etc.). To me that is a "service fee" not truly a gratuity. I kind of go by this definition "Gratuity is something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service".

 

I believe it is therefore personal, so I don't think anyone should feel obligated to tip extra.

 

I have always tipped the cabin steward and and wait staff something extra, but have varied the amount based on exactly what they have done for us. I do tip them at the end of the cruise, because we interact with them all week.

I base the amount on, service provided and number of days. Cabin Steward for 7 days $10 to $70. If I had a lot of interaction with one of the assistants, I would split the amount between the two. In the dining room I tip all three of the waitstaff, but not on the same scale. Head waiter $10 to $30, Lead assistant (waiter) $5 to $20, second assistant $0 to $10. Again the split might change depending on how much I interacted with all three.

 

There are number of other employees we tip based on our interactions with them, or what they have done for us. I have tipped Maintenance People, Guest Service Reps, Shore Excursion Reps, Pool Deck Hands, Lido Buffet workers, etc. These people I tip as I see them, and they are doing something I consider a favor (or above the normal job). In these cases I tip what I am feeling.

 

I had an issue with a shore excursion I booked. I went to the desk to see if anything could be done. The young man there listened to my story and actually took notes. He said he would look into it and get back to me. I told him it was my fault, and I appreciated anything he might be able to work out. 3 days later he left me a message to stop by the desk. He showed me the email correspondence going back and forth with the operator. He explained that he had talked to his boss about it. He apologized that there was nothing he could do for me. I tipped him for his efforts. He did not want to take it at first, but I told him it was for his effort and understanding. He could have heard my problem and said "Sorry nothing we can do for you". He went out of his way to try and I appreciated it.

 

There was another employee busing tables at breakfast up by Guys Burgers. I was drinking coffee and looking out through binoculars. Between busing tables, he would bring me and my wife coffee, and look through the binoculars to answer questions about islands, boats, etc. that we were seeing. I tipped him, he made our morning better. We never asked him to do it, he just did. I also gave a few dollars to the woman cleaning up around the ice cream machine one night. What a mess. If anyone deserved a tip it was her.

 

Gratuity comes from the same word as grateful. I give them to people when I am grateful for what they are doing, not simply because I think they do or do not earn enough in salary without it.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Domino D

[taillon]

We usually tip a small amount in the beginning...usually $10 and then another $20 at the end of the cruise.

[bradboy]

Im with GradUT...in the minority!! Im one of the few that do not prepay them. I did give my room steward an extra 20 for requesting my ice bucket be filled everyday. I enjoy giving the individual cash, in an envelope that I get from customer service, and a thank you hug on the last night ~ we'll even include a little note from us inside with the $$.

[serene56]

Unless they do something REALLY special, I think the suggested tip is sufficient. They are supposed to give you towels, ice, clean up, etc,.....to me, that is NOT "above and beyond"!

 

If they are friendly, but not too friendly, I think that's good. We usually give about $10 over the suggested tips...but it's not mandatory by any means!

 

This is the thing about "auto" or "prepaid" tips...you tend to forget how much you've already spent!!!

 

 

In our past few cruises I hardly ever seen the people. I do not tip extra.

3 people-- one a child. We keep the auto tips in place. Now if the crew does something extra-- that will get the tip.

 

Extra towel animals using GDs nightgown-- love it.

 

The waiter getting her to finish EVERY meal with the promise of a table magician-- now he got an extra 50. because that itself was worth it.

[jmcancruise]

On our 1st cruise we did not tip xtra. Quite honestly never considered it, just figured we had paid up front and that would be enough. Since then we have always tipped 20 - 40 quite happily for great service. That being said no one should feel guilty if they can't afford to tip above and beyond. I am sure many people do not.

[Ellaleah]

Assuming we receive great service and I want to leave extra, would 20. And 10 or 20 for the assistants be I inadequate for such a large party?

[GradUT]

See below

Edited October 31, 2014 by GradUT

[GradUT]

Assuming we receive great service and I want to leave extra, would 20. And 10 or 20 for the assistants be I inadequate for such a large party?

 

Pay what you feel is appropriate and what you can afford. I'm sure they all appreciate whatever extra tips they receive, no matter the amount.

[petesweet]

Just tip your steward. He is hiring any assistants you may see to increase the number of rooms he covers, and pays them. Your auto tip takes care of that of you are confused.

 

Very helpful response. Thank you!

 

Happy sails.:)

 

Kathy

[PAPERBKWRITER]

I agree that $20 extra is sufficient but don't forget he/she has 2 assistants. I give them $10 each. Same with the MDR waiters.

[Cruise-Crazy]

Usually $15 on a three day weekend and $40 on a week long cruise.

[Mark@cfcmail.co.uk]

We normally work on £3.00 a day

[Life_Traveler]

I have tipped extra on every cruise we have ever taken except the last one. I had to ask three times for the bar to be opened in my room and they still never. did it so I figured there went his tip. I am low maintenance also. Just ice everyday and the bar open. usually about $60 per cruise.

[AQW]

Well, I am obviously in the minority here, but I do not tip extra. The steward is supposed to clean my room, bring fresh towels and fill the ice bucket and that's what he/she does. I am supposed to tip through the autotip and that's what I do.

 

However, I must agree that if a steward treated my mother like LUVS2CRUISE's steward did, I would tip extra, but it would have to be something REALLY extreme like that.

 

I generally do not tip extra, but I have done so a few times for service that I thought was truly above and beyond.

 

One room steward on a 14-night sailing took excellent care of my mom, who likes to spend most of her time relaxing in the cabin reading or doing crafts. She leaves the door open to watch people coming and going, and every time he passed by he peeked in on her to see if he could get her anything or to chat with her for a few minutes. He brought her warm chocolate melting cake one evening, and another afternoon he brought her a plate full of fresh exotic fruit that had just been loaded onto the ship in Costa Rica. Completely unprompted he brought an extra light source when he noticed she was struggling to see her handiwork in the evenings with just the cabin light. It seemed like just about every day he was doing something to make her vacation more comfortable, memorable, or special. To me, that was "above and beyond" and I certainly left him an additional gratuity.

[patrice1]

We leave auto tips on. We tip the last night. The only thing we usually ask of him is to make sure we have lots of ice. Other then that we are low maintenance. For a 7 day cruise in a suite we will tip $50 for the steward and $20 for his helper. Handed to each in a envelope. We do anytime dinning and will usually leave $5 every night in MDR. We have a favorite bar and will give him $20 on the last night. Specialty dinning $15. I don't tip any management such as head waiter, ect. they are well paid. Will tip the servers when doing the chefs table. If service was bad or not up to par, I would ajust according. We have never had a bad room steward on any cruise line. sometimes dinning room staff is either having a bad or just not into it that day. The staff is away from home for long periods and I can see where it could play on your mood sometimes.

 

We do exactly the same thing! We do YTD and usually find a server team we like on the first couple of days and ask for them the rest of the week. The team, including the bar server, get an extra tip at the end of the week.

[SadieN]

Just off a cruise. We tipped 'our' crew extra. We also ask the Stewards if they need anything from shore. Many of them don't get off if it's a short port or tendered.

Our room steward asked for a tshirt for his daughter. Wanted to give us the money for it.