advice on tipping in Diamond loung please

[AMR40509]

These folks work hard. I usually do more like $10 a night in the DL, $5 for each pair of "free" voucher drinks when out and about. Also a $20 to the fav bartender early in the sailing seems to go a long way the whole trip. Cash makes folks happy, and happy folks make your vacation better. It's only money.

Edited March 13, 2016 by AMR40509

[Bruin Steve]

The way you tip is fine, but I wouldn't discourage others from tipping the way they want to by suggesting that it is 'tacky' and 'awkward' to tip after each round. Honestly, giving money to a worker in a tipped position is never 'tacky'. It's how they make their money.

 

I think it is tacky and awkward for you to suggest that the money means more to them than to you. It's condescending.

 

I have tipped all ways: end of week, per round, end of night. It is all appreciated, and I have never felt tacky or awkward.

 

My husband usually tips the bartenders about $1-2 per round. He is comfortable and does this with class and sophistication. Not a bit tacky or awkward. Gee, Steve, I hate to sound rude but your comment hit me hard.

 

Look friends...I am happy that you tip these hard working bar crew however you do it...All I was saying was that, FOR ME, I find it more in keeping with traditional shipboard custom to NOT carry cash around onboard and to tip at the end of the cruise...

 

I, simply, don't carry cash for any reason onboard...AND, I am not trying to gain favor with any bar waiter or bartender in advance on a drink by drink basis...I expect great service...and have always gotten it...without tipping in advance or in a pay-as-you-go fashion. The great service should be because that is simply how they treat their passengers, the gratuity is given at the conclusion of the service. My view of the Diamond Lounge or of the Elite Lounge on Celebrity is that I am there ALL cruise long. I have found that the same servers serve me all cruise long. I am NOT tipping them for bringing me individual drinks...I am tipping them for the totality of their service for the entire cruise--greeting me when I arrive, asking me if I'd care for another, remembering my "usual" drink order, the bits of conversation, etc. The waiters actually DO get a standard gratuity from the cruise line even though the drinks are free to you. (Otherwise, why would they ever want this assignment if it's less than just working an ordinary, probably much busier bar?). What we give here is above and beyond...and I give a generous tip here because that service is, IMHO, above and beyond.

 

To me, tipping a buck every time they bring you a drink is telling them, at best, "You are only as good as that last drink you brought me". At worst, it's saying "Here's a buck...and keep it up...there's more where that came from"...If you don't think that way, then good...But how many on this thread have said things like "I give the bartender a tip at the beginning of the cruise, that way he remembers me and treats me well"?

 

The reason for my comment about the money meaning more to them than to us is in regard to those passengers who don't tip or who are stingy with tips. The crew are generally from third world countries and their income is based largely on tipping. And even those "standard" tips--for the bar crew, the dining room crew, the cabin stewards--are really quite low...So this money IS very important to them. OTOH, WE are all wealthy cruisers...Yes, I know, everyone is in different wealth brackets...but the fact that ALL of us can find enough expendable money to throw away thousands on a luxury such as a cruise means that we are all much better off and money means at least a bit less to us than to the crew... This is NOT "condescending"--just the absolute facts. An extra $20 or $50 or $100 on top of my already large cruise expenditure is relatively little...FOR ME. For that crew member who saves his money and supports a family back home in the Phillipines or Indonesia or Honduras or Jamaica, it means an awful lot.

[Bruin Steve]

If you are on a ship sailing from a non-US port (Copenhagen) would you still tip in USD?

 

Any currency works...The shipboard currency is US dollars and the crew is accustomed to being compensated in US Dollars...and if they buy something on the ship, it's dollars...If they leave the ship for one of those rare days off in Europe, most countries the local currency is Euros...so, Euros do come in handy for them...Of course, like most of us, they know how to exchange dollars for local currency if they need it...

And, in reality, most of the tips they earn, they save...and bring it back to their families in their home countries--where they would likely need to exchange either currency into local funds...So, it usually matters little...

 

That said, I generally tip in US Dollars...but, occasionally, if I have extra local currency, I may tip in that...But I wouldn't go out of my way to exchange my US currency to local currency just for ship gratuities...OTOH, for guides in port, local currency is preferred...

[MNfamilycruiser]

Any currency works...The shipboard currency is US dollars and the crew is accustomed to being compensated in US Dollars...and if they buy something on the ship, it's dollars...If they leave the ship for one of those rare days off in Europe, most countries the local currency is Euros...so, Euros do come in handy for them...Of course, like most of us, they know how to exchange dollars for local currency if they need it...

And, in reality, most of the tips they earn, they save...and bring it back to their families in their home countries--where they would likely need to exchange either currency into local funds...So, it usually matters little...

 

That said, I generally tip in US Dollars...but, occasionally, if I have extra local currency, I may tip in that...But I wouldn't go out of my way to exchange my US currency to local currency just for ship gratuities...OTOH, for guides in port, local currency is preferred...

Thanks - we will be changing money, because we will be staying in Copenhagen a few days, and are taking private excursions in Norway. If we have any left we will go ahead and use it for tips rather than try and change it back. But I am sure we will have USD as well. Both Norway and Denmark use their own currency, not the Euro.