Tipping Cabin Attendant

[gatlinburg]

We will be sailing to Cuba/costa Maya on 04/19th, and when we booked our cruise we did the "pre-paid" gratuities. Question for all of you seasoned Cruisers-----"How much do you tip, and is this done daily, at the beginning, or end of your cruise?" My Partner and I seem to disagree a little on this. What is the norm money wise? All suggestions appreciated.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Mellowjourney]

We did prepaid gratuities on our cruise in February and still tipped our cabin attendant an additional $25 on the last night of the cruise because he really deserved it. We also paid an additional tip to our wait staff on the last night.

[Clarea]

We will be sailing to Cuba/costa Maya on 04/19th, and when we booked our cruise we did the "pre-paid" gratuities. Question for all of you seasoned Cruisers-----"How much do you tip, and is this done daily, at the beginning, or end of your cruise?" My Partner and I seem to disagree a little on this. What is the norm money wise? All suggestions appreciated.

If you prepaid tips, you've covered your stateroom attendent and helpers, and your dining staff. Not sure I understand the question.:confused:

[LilBlackDress]

We tip extra at the end of the cruise....the amount depends on the length of the cruise and how much the attendant does or how much interaction we have with him/her.

[SuzD123]

We always do prepaid gratuities, so technically you are covered and any additional is not necessary. If you choose to tip extra though, there really is no science or "norm" to it. That said, we do typically provide extra

...for our waiter in the dining room the last night (depending on the experience), $10-20

...for our server in the concierge or diamond lounge, $5 nightly (since we usually enjoy a couple beverages each before dinner)

...for the concierge (depending on the level of assistance provided), maybe an extra $20 the last night

...for general bar service through the ship (even though gratuities are included in the beverage packages) we usually leave an extra $1 per drink

...for our stateroom attendant, we usually leave an extra $5 each morning as we head out for our days activities

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[cb at sea]

Your cabin attendant is covered by the tips that you pay in advance or are charged daily. They get somewhere around $3.75 per person, per day. If you want to give them more, you tip on the last evening....and an extra $20-40 would be generous.

[DonnaK]

We don't usually give an additional tip. The gratuities that are automatically added to our onboard account are generous enough. We are not high maintenance, and providing extra towels, ice, pillows, is what the autotips are meant to cover.

 

If someone does something outside the normal realm of their duties for us, then we will give $10 or $20. This rarely happens, though. An example: on Allure, we had an AC issue that the steward went above and beyond to resolve for us. On Explorer, we had an issue with hard beds, and the steward found a foam topper, and then additional padding, and worked on it over the course of a couple of days until the bed no longer hurt my back.

[setsail]

The norm is whatever you want it to be

[theredwoodguy]

I always give our stateroom attendant $20 on the first day when we meet and thank them for taking care of us for the next however many days. I have never wished I had held out until the end of the cruise so I could have withheld. And depending how the week has gone, I may give some extra at the end.

[Mim Lloyd]

We don't usually give an additional tip. The gratuities that are automatically added to our onboard account are generous enough. We are not high maintenance, and providing extra towels, ice, pillows, is what the autotips are meant to cover.

 

If someone does something outside the normal realm of their duties for us, then we will give $10 or $20. This rarely happens, though. An example: on Allure, we had an AC issue that the steward went above and beyond to resolve for us. On Explorer, we had an issue with hard beds, and the steward found a foam topper, and then additional padding, and worked on it over the course of a couple of days until the bed no longer hurt my back.

 

Same here. Why tip again if you've already paid? We're not high maintenance either and are very neat and tidy so our stateroom attendants don't have much to do for us. It seems that people feel awkward about not tipping directly themselves and still do it despite already paying them. If I've prepaid my tips and the people they're going to just do their jobs as they should I don't feel the slightest bit guilty or obligated to pay any more.

[Havingfun2010]

"Above and Beyond" what is expected. Magic words. When I wake up in the morning, and leave my room and I return to it being cleaned, is not above and beyond, but status quo. They did their job. I'm not a slob. My clothes are put away, and the floor is clean. My towels are hanging.

 

My waiter at dinner, is efficient, does not leave me waiting. It is what is expected, and status quo.

 

Bartender, pours me a drink, that takes 1 minute to make, he gets my 18% tip. It is what is expected.

 

So all these cases, each person did exactly what I paid them to do, with my cruise fare, and prepaid tips. Saying good morning in the hall way, sharing a smile, etc. are all part of customer service, and part of the job.

 

Extra tips for people to go "above and beyond" are given out, but it has to fit the statement. Example, on my last cruise, I visited a bar nightly. The first night, I ordered a simple beer. It was out of stock. The bartender, told me, and said, he will run and get some from the next bar for me in which case he ran to get it. Every night after, when he saw me enter, he asked me if I wanted it. But I noticed that he did this for many of the other "regulars" so it wasn't just me, but a person that really took care of each guest. Most bartenders, will just smile, say I'm sorry but I'm out of it, and move on.

 

Maybe you kid, pukes all over the floor, and your poor room attendant needs to steam clean the floor.

 

Your waiter takes extra time, with you kids, to make sure they like everything, and helps them out with extra patience.

 

I think everyone knows what "above and beyond" means, and giving extra tips are good for those services. Getting extra towels, ice etc., are just basic request that they do and is expected that they do it.

 

There is no set price, but I will gladly reward someone that works extra hard, or makes extra effort to make my vacation enjoyable.

[Wine-O]

Personally, I would never tip up front or on a daily basis. If you've pre-paid your gratuities or have them automatically deducted on a daily basis, and if the service was exceptional, I would tip at the end of the cruise.

[TigerCruzin]

".

 

 

 

Your waiter takes extra time, with you kids, to make sure they like everything, and helps them out with extra patience.

 

 

The waiter on our 1st cruise cut my daughters steak at dinner. She ordered steak every night [emoji23]

 

He earned his extra tip

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[bigque]

We do pre paid also. If our attendant was exceptional we will usually give him a $20 at the end of the cruise along with a Wow Card. We have only had one that wasn't that great but was ok and we gave him a $10 at the end. :cool:

[gerif]

We always do prepaid gratuities, so technically you are covered and any additional is not necessary. If you choose to tip extra though, there really is no science or "norm" to it. That said, we do typically provide extra

...for our waiter in the dining room the last night (depending on the experience), $10-20

...for our server in the concierge or diamond lounge, $5 nightly (since we usually enjoy a couple beverages each before dinner)

...for the concierge (depending on the level of assistance provided), maybe an extra $20 the last night

...for general bar service through the ship (even though gratuities are included in the beverage packages) we usually leave an extra $1 per drink

...for our stateroom attendant, we usually leave an extra $5 each morning as we head out for our days activities

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You should realize that the servers and concierge in the Diamond Lounge are NOT covered by prepaid or automatic gratuities so whatever you give them is not "extra" at all.

[datolim]

This last cruise I did the room attendant put an envelop on the table on the last night which suggest it is for tipping. I forgot the actual wording on the envelop. Is this not the standard practice with RC.

[Clarea]

This last cruise I did the room attendant put an envelop on the table on the last night which suggest it is for tipping. I forgot the actual wording on the envelop. Is this not the standard practice with RC.

The room attendant leaves one or more envelopes in case you want to give more than the standard gratuity.

[Cruisegirl6]

We prepay our tips so we don't have to worry about having cash and putting it in the envelops its convenient for us to do the prepay and we also purchase the drink packages before our cruise, its nice to know when we are on the ship its pretty much all paid for already. Normally we do give 18-20% tip at home whether we go out for drinks or to a restaurant, as these people count on their trips to make a living, but on cruises I am a bit different.

 

I generally don't tip the cabin steward anything extra because I keep a very tidy clean stateroom myself. The cabin steward will not find anything in his way, he doesn't have to pick up a thing for me or place things neatly on shelves and all. Our shoes are in the closet and clothes always in the closets, my blowdryer is in a drawer and our toiletries are placed neatly on the bathroom shelves....I fold old towels and place them near the sink to get fresh ones and pretty much the only thing the cabin steward has to do is make up our bed, tidy clean the bathroom and give new towels...if I didn't keep a tidy cabin, I would probably hand him a $20 extra, but I don't see any need for this.

 

Bartenders are another story, we always tip an extra dollar per drink even having the drink package.

 

We always dine in specialty restaurants and always give an extra $10 per person each night because quite honestly our waiters/waitresses are wonderful, we really never have received any not so good service, but should that happen, the tip go down to $5 a person, we still tip extra.

[datolim]

The room attendant leaves one or more envelopes in case you want to give more than the standard gratuity.

 

I am not sure if I understand you.

What standard gratuity.

In my case only 1 envelop as I am cruising solo.

[Alter Ego]

What do people do with My Time Dining, where you may have a different waiter each night? I assume you leave something nightly? (I know it's not necessary.)

[Clarea]

What do people do with My Time Dining, where you may have a different waiter each night? I assume you leave something nightly? (I know it's not necessary.)

We just let the automatic tipping handle it. If you want to give more, find the waiter on the last night.

[Grandma Dazzles]

I am not sure if I understand you.

What standard gratuity.

In my case only 1 envelop as I am cruising solo.

 

You can prepay your standard gratuities, or they are billed to your Seapass account on a daily basis. The envelope is left in case you wish to tip extra.

[Cruisegirl6]

Alter Ego- We don't care for the service or the food in the MDR. We find eating dinner in the MDR we just wasting food as its just the standard banquet quality food, although some things are very good but overall its not.... we prefer to pay the additional up charge for our meal (which we feel is so cheap for what you get) and getting better quality, a better selection of foods, a personalized service experience opposed to a waiter/waitresses in the MDR who are overworked and have too many people to take care of at once, and we don't want to be rushed.

 

On previous cruises, if we dine at the same restaurant more than once we do request the same waiter generally but we don't mind making new and different friends with different servers. Yes, we tip each evening as we feel dining in specialty restaurants your getting much better service overall than the MDR. To each their own right?

[gatlinburg]

thanks so much for the quick and helpful reply everyone!!!!

We did prepaid gratuities on our cruise in February and still tipped our cabin attendant an additional $25 on the last night of the cruise because he really deserved it. We also paid an additional tip to our wait staff on the last night.

[gatlinburg]

thanks so much for the quick and helpful reply. We prepaid everything, but always feel like they deserve a little cash at the end if they go above and beyond what's expected. Thanks~

If you prepaid tips, you've covered your stateroom attendent and helpers, and your dining staff. Not sure I understand the question.:confused: