Extra Tipping

[grapau27]

I always give 10 dollars tip in speciality restaurants which is always appreciated. Tipping is out of control on ships when you prepay or they are added on your account and then they expect more.We had one eastern European cabin Stewart who told us his tip was a derisory amount and this made us feel uncomfortable and we gave extra.Some crew are of the opinion that if you cruise you are rich and should be dishing money out to them

 

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[vacationlover_mn]

Canuk- I shouldn't be saying this, cuz it's my newest trick I learned ;). On Labadee, my friend got up early, got off the ship asap, and hurried to an awesome spot on the beach that had sun and shade. She asked a worker, can you set this area up for 4 of us, and watch over us today? She is southern, sweet, nice, charming, AND she tipped him. He set us up, got us floaty mats, and took care of us all day :). At the end of the day we tipped him too. We had a fantastic time, in a great location, for 4 of us, for under $50 :)

 

 

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[Dinglebert]

We usually tip extra at bars, mostly to get better service.

 

Which is just plain wrong of the bar staff if they give you better service. I have paid my 18% and expect to get exactly the same service as anyone else who has paid. If it starts getting into "I tip more than you so I get better service" then I will be complaining to management.

[papaflamingo]

This is something I've been wondering. How much would you tip after a meal at chops or 150 CP etc? Do you guesstimate the land cost and tip accordingly? Or what would be considered a fair amount if service was excellent versus average to only ok? Would you consider not tipping at all at the specialty restaurants?

 

Things have changed so much since my last cruise!

 

 

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The cost of the Specialty Restaurant INCLUDES the Tip. Therefore any tip you leave is extra. That being said, the experience has always been excellent for us so I have always left extra. I don't base it on any "implied cost" from a land restaurant or even the cost of the meal. I leave what I feel is appropriate for the level of service. Usually though I leave around $20 for the 2 of us. I recognize that this is a VERY high tip considering the cost of the dinner and the fact the tip is included, but I have always felt the service and meal was worth it.

Edited January 13, 2017 by papaflamingo

[Psycho and Barb]

There's lots of threads on here about tipping and I also agree it seems to have gotten out of hand. I read on here...Couldn't find the thread...That all the tips get combined and redistribution evenly to the workers. They do this by job category...Housekeeping, waiters, bartenders, Etc. Not sure if it's true but might explain some of the reported hard pushes for extra/bigger tips.

 

Funny thing is just about everything you order/buy they tag on 18%

 

 

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[goneclear]

Wait. Where are you supposed to tip for loungers?

 

 

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You are not suppose to tip for loungers. Some people do tip on Labadee as attendants may get a chair and drag it for you to a location that you desire. Maybe a shady area etc.

If you just walk up and sit on a lounger that has already been set out there is really no need to tip anyone.

[grapau27]

Who is going to reject a tip?.It seems in some cases they try to make you feel sorry for them.I remember on a 7 night cruise after prepaying my tips I gave my cabin Stewart an extra 30 dollars in an envelope on the last night as he had been friendly and helpful.The next morning he blanked me in the corridor when we were leaving.

 

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[BILLP1]

If the 18 percent tip in speciality restaurants is per person so you will have left 36 percent for two people at a table. What does the waiter get?

[dorts]

Just a quick question...Money for extra tips or just include it on the line on the receipt?

 

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[goneclear]

Just a quick question...Money for extra tips or just include it on the line on the receipt?

 

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Thats entirely your personal choice. I never walk around the ship with cash. My wallet is locked in the safe so I just add to the tip line on the receipt.

[chandom]

Just a quick question...Money for extra tips or just include it on the line on the receipt?

 

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I normally hand cash over with my card if I know there is no need for a signature (no overage).

Speciality restaurant, hard call if I'm giving any additional gratuity. Nine times out of ten I'll add it to the receipt.

 

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Edited January 13, 2017 by chandom

[baileybrad]

Who is going to reject a tip?.It seems in some cases they try to make you feel sorry for them.I remember on a 7 night cruise after prepaying my tips I gave my cabin Stewart an extra 30 dollars in an envelope on the last night as he had been friendly and helpful.The next morning he blanked me in the corridor when we were leaving.

 

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Did you mean to say "thanked" or imply that he did not speak to you when you saw him the next morning because $30 was not good enough amount of extra tip in his opinion?

[SnorkelAway]

Every now and then I read one of these tip threads for the laughs. If everyone tipped like some of you say you do, the tipped staff would be making more than 90% of the pax on cruise lines like Royal Caribbean - what the heck, maybe they do.

 

My advice for cruisers who want others' opinions - - tip "extra" or when unnecessary ONLY if you can unquestionably afford it and unquestionably enjoy doing it. Do NOT tip out of guilt.

 

Couple thoughts: if you think that you are going to get the same service from the same staff as someone who has "overtipped" or just generously tipped that staff, you are naive at best. Maybe that happens in some universe I have not visited, but I am skeptical. If you want to pay for at least marginally better service, go for it - and, use cash.

 

In connection with cruising, pretty much the only time I tip when it is absolutely unnecessary and somewhat against my principles, is when I give a $5 bill to the luggage handler throwing our luggage onto the cart for loading onto the ship at embarkation. This simply has become our offering to the gods of longshoremen and is part of our embarkation ritual. A few years ago, a guy told us with a perfectly straight face: "I am solely responsible for making sure that your bags make it to your cabin." I was laughing out loud as I handed him his $5, which I felt he had earned with his Oscar winning reading of his line.

 

Somewhat against what I otherwise say - I do tend to tip generously on Labadee to a cabana attendant or, on times when we are not in a cabana, to a guy who sets up our chairs. Particularly with regard to the setting up of chairs, it is absolutely unnecessary to tip and if I feel pressured about it, I will not - but if the guy is cheerful, is offering to help, and is not sticking his hand out before I make a move, I am going to give him something and it does not bother me to do so, even though I know that in this case, the cruise line probably would prefer I not do it.

[BillDg]

Perhaps you need to re-do your math....

[Fouremco]

If the 18 percent tip in speciality restaurants is per person so you will have left 36 percent for two people at a table. What does the waiter get?

If two people dine, it's still only 18% because the meal price has also doubled.

[north29]

I am currently on the Navigator and am having a real problem with the extra tipping on the bar tab. I have no problem with the daily tipping but there is already an 18% tip added to your drink cost. I bought an empty light up plastic glass today, they added the 18% service charge and the waitress was visibly disappointed that I did not add an additional tip.

 

The tipping is getting out of control. I do tip extra at the end of the cruise for our room steward and wait staff as long I feel that they have given good service.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

I totally agree we do the same. Tipping is out of control! not just on cruise ships but everywhere, except American restaurants and now they kinda expect 20%

[tserface]

I've sort of retrained my brain to translate the word "gratuity" or "tip" into "service charge" when on a cruise. If they add it on automatically then, in my opinion, it's part of the cost of the drink (or whatever). I think it's a tricky way of charging more and still being able to list the drinks as having a lower price.

 

I think they also bank on the idea that a lot of Americans really like to tip. It's part of the culture and makes them feel good to give extra for extra service. So, if the cruise line adds on the "service charge" they are probably counting on a certain percentage of people, like me, that will tip extra. Then they get more.

 

Since all of the cruise lines do this now it's really easy to compare prices by just adding the service charges into the mix. Even though you can still, technically, modify some of the gratuities, it's a lot of trouble for very little savings. For us, the auto-gratuities add about 6-7% onto the price of the cruise.

 

There have been tons of threads over the years about what happens with the auto-gratuity money. The best I can understand is it goes into some pool and is parsed out as part of the compensation for the workers as the cruise line sees fit. Thus, to me, it seems like it's a service charge for the service.

 

If someone does something that makes us feel special on a cruise we always tip extra. So many people are adopting the idea of carrying around $1 bills to use as tips and we do that as well. It's very easy and we, at least, feel like if we put cash in their hands they may have a chance of actually getting to keep it :rolleyes:

 

They even charge 18% "gratuity" in some of the shops. I don't remember ever paying a tip to someone in a grocery or liquor store for checking us out at the counter. So, my opinion is, this is just another way to raise the prices without having to technically say they did so.

 

If the auto-gratuity doesn't actually go directly to the server or bartender and is, indeed, added to a pool and used as part of the compensation, I can understand how the workers enjoy getting extra that they can keep for themselves. I don't blame them and I don't think they came up with the screwy system.

 

That said, they should never make you feel uncomfortable.

 

Tom

[time4u2go]

I totally agree we do the same. Tipping is out of control! not just on cruise ships but everywhere, except American restaurants and now they kinda expect 20%

 

I agree as well. I don't understand how/why the "normal" tip rate ever went up from 15%. It's a percentage of the cost of the product/service, which itself goes up in price.

[tserface]

I think of tipping as kind of like commission for sales people. The ones working on commission take jobs for less hoping that they can do so well that they are compensated by the commission. It gives them a kind of "the sky's the limit" hope.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but when I worked in jobs where I could get tipped, I tended to try to make the experience really special for people so they would want to add extra. Most of the time people respond in kind for a great experience. Sometimes people don't.

 

I think if you take away this concept of tipping then you take away some of the incentive for people to work extra hard to try to get extra. I know the argument of "they should do their job", but I think basic human nature causes people to work harder if they think there's more in it for them. That's one of the reasons people go into sales rather than just taking salaried positions and one of the reasons companies add the commission incentive as part of the compensation package.

 

Traditional tipping gives the customer a way to feel good about rewarding someone for good service and the server a way to try to up their take.

 

The whole system falls apart when the tips are just expected or automatically charged.

 

Tom

 

I totally agree we do the same. Tipping is out of control! not just on cruise ships but everywhere, except American restaurants and now they kinda expect 20%

[mjkacmom]

Which is just plain wrong of the bar staff if they give you better service. I have paid my 18% and expect to get exactly the same service as anyone else who has paid. If it starts getting into "I tip more than you so I get better service" then I will be complaining to management.

 

It works the same on land, at any busy bar. Tip well, get better service. If it's really busy, hand over a $20 in the beginning.

[grapau27]

He thanked us when we gave him the envelope.Don't know why he blanked us as this was a one off by a cabin Stewart maybe when he saw us very well dressed every day he thought we were loaded and expected more.

 

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[njm5378]

Which is just plain wrong of the bar staff if they give you better service. I have paid my 18% and expect to get exactly the same service as anyone else who has paid. If it starts getting into "I tip more than you so I get better service" then I will be complaining to management.

 

You may want to have pre-written letters prepared, because this is how it works. Same as any busy land based bar. They have already got your money. If they know that there is an additional way to get more money, they will work for it.

[Psycho and Barb]

We returned from a cruise one time to Port Everglades and one of our suitcases had the luggage tag ripped off during removal from our room and the terminal. When this happens, your luggage is moved to a certain area with other luggage without tags. This area just happened to be a in an area that I or you, as a passenger cant access...Couldn't look for my bag[emoji35]

 

We always use the service of a porters...Not only to get through Customs easily but In this case, our porter saved our bag. The RCCL people were no help and refused to escort us to the lost bag area and just insisted we fill out lost luggage paperwork. After two hours of arguing with RCCL personal, our porter who was still with us...Ask for a description of out bag and if it had another ID tag on it. Our porter went to the area we couldn't and located our bag.

 

Now we tried to release this porter a few times during the two hours because we knew he was just working for tips and was losing money waiting on our lost bag. Fortunately for us, he would not leave us until we had our bags.

 

I think I made his day with my tip. There is no telling how long we would have waited on RCCL to find our bag. He went above and beyond and we were happy tip him extra.

 

 

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[trippintex]

every night in the DL 10 dollars on our first dink and they never go empty then in a regular lounge if we are there for two hours or so we have drink package 10 dollars same thing no waiting will not even ask for card keep them comeing

[grapau27]

What a great porter he deserved a good tip.

 

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