What is a "typical" extra tip for a good cabin steward?

[jagsfan]

I think $20 above what you've already tipped is ample. I think $100 (even for 2 cabins) is a bit of overkill!

 

 

As a card carrying human, I have a large curiosity bump. Walking through a ship, I look around at everything.

Some of the cabins I've noticed through open doors look like a tornado hit them. It's amazing what people will throw on the floor instead of disposing of properly. Some stewards deserve an extra large gratuity for facing a mess every day for 7 to 10 days.

 

 

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[Lordnlkon]

We usually tip $20-$50 depending on the service.

[AnnaDarel]

Tip the steward $20 on the first day and $40 on the next-to-last day. She'd been to the ports many times and had a regular vacation schedule, so I'm not sure what fishtaco is on about.

 

EDIT: Her eyes lit up when she saw that $20. Money definitely meant something.

 

Tipped the waiter and assistant waiter $40/each mainly because the assistant waiter was the best we've ever had. Bread and drinks all night long!

[Optifire]

We have taken many cruises and one of the most interesting things that we enjoy is really getting to know our cabin stewards and their assistants as well as the waiters and the assistant waiters. When speaking to them you will learn so much about their lives and the dreams they hold as well as the struggles they face. We have learned from them that they do not care how much extra that you give them, because the amount does not matter to them as much as by giving, they realize that you know how hard they do work and you appreciated it by giving them a little something extra. They do work so hard. Everyone of them that we talked to could not emphasize enough to us, if we were happy with their work, to please fill out a form at Guest Relations for them for a job well done. At the end of the day, they do the extra work indeed for "Gold Stars" as by getting enough of them, that is what gets them promoted to a higher ranking position which in turn means higher wages on an everyday basis. That is what they strive for. So many times, people go out of their way to tell GS when something does not meet their expectations but they never seem to find the time to tell GS when someone really was great. When we find that our wait staff was great, we usually give them all $20.00 each extra, but we make sure we go to the GS Manager, tell him their names and what a great job they did and ask to fill out a form for them. Then we go back to the Stewards and Waiters and tell them what we did so they know how truly appreciative we were and how their extra hard work made our cruise so special.

[boscobeans]

My wife and I are very low maintenance and aside from fresh towels and a light cleaning each day don't ask for much.

 

We can tell after a day or so if our steward is doing a decent job and ask if they will be getting off at any of the ports of call and usually tip them a $20 for a little pocket money. An added 20-30 dollar tip at the end of the cruise is normal for decent service.

 

bosco

[proggieus]

Something better than money is praise. Go to supervisor or guest services and praise him. That is a lot more memorable than cash.

 

that might be true but it doesnt put food on the family table 1500 miles away,

 

 

 

you can certainly do both.

 

 

Will you come work for me? I promise to praise you everyday however there will be no paycheck, sound like a deal?

[proggieus]

Cruieline staff are not desperate for money they are just saving it so your extra cash tip will just be "bean counted" into a savings balance.

 

I would love to know where you got your information for this little factoid.

 

Because i would bet that the precentage of room stewards working on cruise lines that have any sort of long term "savings" account is way less then 1%, t

 

the vast majority of the money they earn is sent home to family.

[dreadpirate3]

We tip $20 minimum for good and courteous service from the stateroom attendant. We give them a mention in our cruise line review.

 

Our poor steward had some trashed rooms, and I did not envy her the long hours. She also complemented the magnetic light up Christmas decorations we had, and I gave one to her when she mentioned it. She told me later that all her neighbors were complimenting it and asking where to get it. I gave her the other four at the end of the week.

[ROXIETHEHORSE]

We have always tipped $100. They work extremely long and hard hours. We can afford it. It is a nice thing to do. I am sure many people with much messier rooms and more demanding nature leave nothing extra, and hopefully our extra makes up for that.

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

50-100 for a week; at the end.

 

Never have, never will give anything up front before services though.

[TNcruising02]

My husband and I have never asked for any extra services or made any requests. We are neat people and don't leave huge messes or travel with small children. We always leave a $20 cash tip in addition to leaving the auto gratuities.

[soremekun]

On my last cruise, I did not remove gratuities (of course), but I only had my room cleaned twice during the 8-day cruise. I was a big boy and kept my room clean.

I did not give the cabin attendant an extra tip but a small "break" instead.

Just something I thought I'd give a try.

Would it make a difference if 5 or so rooms under his care didn't require the room attendant's services each day?

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

[molsonschooner]

When we are pleased with our room steward we leave a thank you note with an extra $20 for a 7-night cruise. We are pretty neat and don't have any special requests.

That is what we do. We were on Indy a couple years ago. Our cabin steward was not very good so we were only going to tip an extra 10 bucks. He did not even bother cleaning the room the last night so he got nothing, just the empty envelope

[happymanitee]

I usually leave $20 per room. I also take their card with me or write their name down so I can mention them by name in the post-cruise review.

[safcftm]

Yes go to GS and get your entire family fill out appreciation forms,these forms go back to the supervisor and are displayed in staff quarters,after achieving a certain amount they are given reward time off in ports. many staff members have never stepped foot on some of the ports the ship docks at weekly.

 

 

 

Money is just money and its hardly ever fully appreciated unless its desperately needed. Cruieline staff are not desperate for money they are just saving it so your extra cash tip will just be "bean counted" into a savings balance.

 

 

 

Is this a wind up.

The line ...... “ Cruise line staff are not desperate for money” is possibly one of the most ridiculous statements ever made on this forum.

Well done you.

 

For what its worth to the OP. We try and give as much as we can so they can send back to their families who are often living below the poverty line.

I dont think I have met a group of people who are so desperate for cash but stay very reserved about their families financial situation.

 

Last cruise we handed over $20 to our cabin attendant, $20 to waiter and assistant waiter. This year we handed over a rare $10 to the head waiter who came and spent time with us every night.

 

 

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[tml1230]

Is this a wind up.

The line ...... “ Cruise line staff are not desperate for money” is possibly one of the most ridiculous statements ever made on this forum.

Well done you.

 

For what its worth to the OP. We try and give as much as we can so they can send back to their families who are often living below the poverty line.

I dont think I have met a group of people who are so desperate for cash but stay very reserved about their families financial situation.

 

Last cruise we handed over $20 to our cabin attendant, $20 to waiter and assistant waiter. This year we handed over a rare $10 to the head waiter who came and spent time with us every night.

 

 

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Thank you for saying exactly what i was thinking! very well said.....i think you were being kind describing the statement as "ridiculous"....for me it was absurd and sadly ignorant.

[safcftm]

On my last cruise, I did not remove gratuities (of course), but I only had my room cleaned twice during the 8-day cruise. I was a big boy and kept my room clean.

I did not give the cabin attendant an extra tip but a small "break" instead.

Just something I thought I'd give a try.

Would it make a difference if 5 or so rooms under his care didn't require the room attendant's services each day?

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

 

 

 

I quite like this idea.

 

 

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[Terre]

I usually give my steward $20 if he did an exceptional job.

[cmmarch]

I want to make sure I leave an additional tip for our cabin Steward. He was excellent. We had two cabins. One cabin was two adults, and the second was a cabin with kids. I want to make sure he knows we appreciated his great service, however, I don't have a ton of extra money. Whats typical? Or what do you leave? And yes we have autograt already...this will be additional.

 

 

 

I think it depends on service, room size and condition you leave the room but generally for a job well done $40 to $50 seems good for a 5/7 day cruise. I do think the gesture of an additional "add on" to the auto gratuity is nice to recognize hard work so whatever you can afford.

 

 

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[TeeRick]

Why so?

 

I feel it my right as an experienced cruiser and cc member to give my honest opinion on tipping as I have experienced it!

 

I believe many newer cruisers need educating on the entire cruise extra tipping fiasco that is always totally blown out of proportions on cc.

 

The op is asking for advise on how much extra cash tip to leave for the cabin steward, so now ask yourself why the op is asking?

 

Maybe they cant really afford to tip extra? maybe they dont want to feel cheap by not leaving enough? maybe they dont want to leave too much? If every post said $50 pp or $50 per cabin then many people may feel cheap for considering leaving only $10 or $20 or nothing per cabin!

 

The simple fact is if you feel an extra tip over grats is necessary then just go ahead and tip there is no set amount norm or rule so no amount is too small or too big because what you give is "your extra appreciation" "for your experience" not somebody else,s idea of a monetary appreciation for their experience!

 

Nobody need leave any extra tip as the tips have already been taken care of with the charged to account or pre paid gratuities. a hand shake and genuine thankyou have no price tag attached.

 

Americans tend to be a lot more culturally conditioned to tip or extra tip- no right or wrong. From my understanding, tipping it is more optional in Australia where you live by culture. Do you agree? We are sailing early this year from Perth so I truly want to understand the tipping custom. In any case, we use pre-paid gratuities and leave extra for exceptional service. Also having names to add to the post-cruise surveys helps those crew members quite a bit. All crew members are relatively low paid and certainly appreciate the money.

[Lady Chew]

We tip between $50-$100 per week (we rarely take cruises less than two weeks long) ... if there is more than one attendant, and there usually is, we split the amount equally between them. We are not very high maintenance, but do require the twice-daily service, sometimes we don't always see the attendants for days, but as long as the work is done, they get their tips.

We always leave the auto-tips in place, and trust The System to make sure they get to whomever they should.

[MrsPete]

Multiple thoughts:

 

- You've already paid your auto-tips, so you've actually done what you needed to do. An extra $20 per room sounds "just right". I'd wrap it around a candy bar as I handed it to them, and on the last day I'd sincerely thank the steward for making our cruise extra-special.

 

- In addition, fill out the praise card. No, it won't put more money in his pocket this week, but it will show his employers that he's a good worker, and that can lead to bonuses or promotions. Do people actually NOT want their supervisors to hear that they've pleased the customer?

 

- Are the crew desperate for money? I'm certain that some of them are quite comfortable and are tucking money away for their future, while others are in financial trouble. Regardless, it's not our concern -- we should tip fairly and mind our own business.

[A2Mich]

Multiple thoughts:

 

- You've already paid your auto-tips, so you've actually done what you needed to do. An extra $20 per room sounds "just right". I'd wrap it around a candy bar as I handed it to them, and on the last day I'd sincerely thank the steward for making our cruise extra-special.

 

- In addition, fill out the praise card. No, it won't put more money in his pocket this week, but it will show his employers that he's a good worker, and that can lead to bonuses or promotions. Do people actually NOT want their supervisors to hear that they've pleased the customer?

 

- Are the crew desperate for money? I'm certain that some of them are quite comfortable and are tucking money away for their future, while others are in financial trouble. Regardless, it's not our concern -- we should tip fairly and mind our own business.

 

 

I agree with all of this, with the exception of the candy bar, but otherwise, nailed it.

[GUT2407]

On my last cruise, I did not remove gratuities (of course), but I only had my room cleaned twice during the 8-day cruise. I was a big boy and kept my room clean.

I did not give the cabin attendant an extra tip but a small "break" instead.

Just something I thought I'd give a try.

Would it make a difference if 5 or so rooms under his care didn't require the room attendant's services each day?

 

 

I tried that once, not sure I’ll bother again.

 

33 night cruise, half way nearly half the passéngers were changing.

 

I told out steward to skip our cabin (gave him a few days notice) as I knew he would be busy. He thought he had done something wrong, next came a visit from the supervisor then head of housekeeping and finally the head of hotel, who finally understood.

 

Sometimes with language issues it is easier to just let them follow the script.

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

[Margy23]

Multiple thoughts:

 

- You've already paid your auto-tips, so you've actually done what you needed to do. An extra $20 per room sounds "just right". I'd wrap it around a candy bar as I handed it to them, and on the last day I'd sincerely thank the steward for making our cruise extra-special.

 

- In addition, fill out the praise card. No, it won't put more money in his pocket this week, but it will show his employers that he's a good worker, and that can lead to bonuses or promotions. Do people actually NOT want their supervisors to hear that they've pleased the customer?

 

- Are the crew desperate for money? I'm certain that some of them are quite comfortable and are tucking money away for their future, while others are in financial trouble. Regardless, it's not our concern -- we should tip fairly and mind our own business.

 

I think MrsPete is right on. I don't think the candy bar is necessary, but it's not offensive, as I feel some silly "gifts" are.

 

We're pretty low maintenance, but having the ice bucket filled twice a day is important to us, and we want to recognize the steward who is conscientious about this as well as regular room maintenance.

 

The big three "thank-you's" are the extra cash tip, praise that goes to the steward's supervisor, and mention of specific examples of excellence on the email survey.

 

I agree that the steward's financial situation is not our concern - we should tip fairly. I don't mean we can't feel empathy, but if we get involved in the steward's individual situation, we risk coming across as condescending (we've all heard of the ugly American, and I believe condescension is a part of that).

 

Margy