Neptune Lounge Concierge Tips

[Avery's mom]

Hello Helpful HAL Cruisers!

 

We embark on our first HAL cruise in a month on the Eurodam and took advantage of an upsell to a Neptune Suite. Is there a consensus as to the appropriate tips for the concierge staff in the Neptune Lounge? Naturally, we would adjust this depending on how much we utilize their services. However, it would be helpful to have a ballpark as to what is commonly done.

 

On Disney, we have tipped anywhere from $20 per concierge when we didn't use them for anything at all, to $200 per concierge when they helped us score a last minute cabana on Castaway Cay.

 

Does anyone have any advice to guide me? Thanks!

[kazu]

I think you have hit the nail on the head when you say "depending upon how much you use them".

 

My tips have been all over the place. Sometimes it is nominal because we really didn't need much. Sometimes it is a lot more, not necessarily because we needed more but because they made us feel special by doing little things that mattered a lot but were not asked for.

 

Other times, we do need them and reward accordingly for the help.

 

Before someone else says it, tipping is NOT mandatory. You paid the price to have the concierge's assistance and most people don't tip the Front Desk staff. Just the same, I have noticed a number of people (not all) expressing gratitude to the concierges. Service is MUCH more than Front Desk. Not all concierges are created equal, of course, but the good ones make being in a Neptune Suite a real plus :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Agree -- you don't have to tip them if you don't use them. And there are people who use them a lot and don't tip because they feel that their higher fare price covered them.

But we do them. What we tip them depends on how much we have used them and the length of the cruise.

[Harry1954]

We always tip the concierge personnel - the amount has been commensurate with the amount of interaction. Longer cruises seem to warrant more dependency and thus higher tips.

 

harry

[detroit70]

We have had Neptune Suites on 7 of our 9 HAL cruises and, with only one exception, have always tipped both of the concierge in the Neptune Lounge. The one exception was a woman with a very poor customer service attitude, but we still wanted to tip her colleague so we wrote our thank you note for him, included the tip, but turned it in at the front desk where he also worked so that we didn't make it obvious to her that we were excluding her. That evening we saw him and he thanked us profusely for the complimentary note we wrote and said "I was so excited to read what you wrote that I posted it on the staff bulletin board so everyone else could see!" So much for trying to not make his colleague feel bad.

[Sonora5]

We use our stationery they give us in the suite to write notes with our tips. We generally agree with the tone of this thread. We always tip something, but that amount can go up and down depending on how much we use the concierge service. I think presenting the tip in an envelope with a note is appreciated.

 

On our recent cruise we went to a dinner with the officers. The officers rotated thru each table with each course. We made a point of telling the officer in charge of the concierges how wonderful they were. She seemed pleased to hear it, and that may have been worth as much as a very nice tip! But we tipped them also.

 

I think it is important to remember to praise up the chain of command as well as complain up the chain of command.( But I think we all give more attention to registering our complaints. )

[Sundagger]

I think you have hit the nail on the head when you say "depending upon how much you use them".

 

My tips have been all over the place. Sometimes it is nominal because we really didn't need much. Sometimes it is a lot more, not necessarily because we needed more but because they made us feel special by doing little things that mattered a lot but were not asked for.

 

Other times, we do need them and reward accordingly for the help.

 

Before someone else says it, tipping is NOT mandatory. You paid the price to have the concierge's assistance and most people don't tip the Front Desk staff. Just the same, I have noticed a number of people (not all) expressing gratitude to the concierges. Service is MUCH more than Front Desk. Not all concierges are created equal, of course, but the good ones make being in a Neptune Suite a real plus :)

 

On a recent cruise of the K'dam, the concierges were exceptional. Not only did Shirley and Jaz do everything asked, but did things like get me a cup of espresso when I sat down at the computer terminal. Apparently they noticed that I loved the espresso from the machine in the NL and anticipated that I'd appreciate one even if I didn't make it myself. They saved a few trips down to the Front Desk for basic requests.

 

They did get a tip, a note of thanks, and a mention in our evaluation of the cruise.

[POA1]

We tip based on how much we use their services, so it varies quite a bit. I think if you use the same formula you use on Disney, you'll be fine.