How much do you tip?

[HSNY]

:)

If you prepaid gratuities, how much would you tip (if at all) for services?

 

What’s the typical $$ bracket that you would tip for dinner, spa services, tour guides, excursions, etc.?

 

Ty xx

[evandbob]

:)

If you prepaid gratuities, how much would you tip (if at all) for services?

 

What’s the typical $$ bracket that you would tip for dinner, spa services, tour guides, excursions, etc.?

 

Ty xx

 

I always prepay gratuities. On board the ship, I rarely tip extra for normal service, but I do for any special requests like room service $2 to 5. I don't drink, but if I did, I can easily see tipping a bartender. Spa services have a built in tip. If service is exceptional in the MDR $20 extra at the end of the cruise.

 

Off the ship, an all day tour guide gets $5/person and the driver $1/person.

 

YMMV, lots of different comfort zones for this topic.

[Badfinger]

:)

If you prepaid gratuities, how much would you tip (if at all) for services?

 

What’s the typical $$ bracket that you would tip for dinner, spa services, tour guides, excursions, etc.?

 

Ty xx

 

We have been on 5 cruises. Only twice have I felt the need to tip beyond the prepaid gratuities. Once to the wait staff for our dinner table in the MDR. We gave each of the three $20. And then once for our cabin steward...we gave him $20. They were all spot on the entire week.

[Palmetto Pilot]

If I prepay I don’t generally tip extra until I have exceptional service from someone. If I order room service I tip $1 a plate.

[teknoge3k]

I typically give the porters $5, regardless if we have 4 bags or 2 bags. I give the room steward a $20 typically. We always do YTD but if we have a great wait staff and request them each night, we give them $20. In ports we usually hire a local person to drive us around for the day and we will give them $30-$40. We don't use room service. For skycap at the airport, Uber rides, shuttles to the airport we usually give $5.

[Purvis1231]

On our last cruise we tip in addition to auto-tips: $5 to porter, $2 to parking shuttle driver, occasionally tip for soda with Bubbles card, room service $2-5, dining staff $20, room steward nothing extra since service was minimal, and excursion tour guide $5.00.

[klfrodo]

:)

If you prepaid gratuities, how much would you tip (if at all) for services?

 

What’s the typical $$ bracket that you would tip for dinner, spa services, tour guides, excursions, etc.?

 

Ty xx

 

This is a world economy so the answers depend on regions of the world.

 

Assuming you are from the US and sailing from the US.

 

Hotel housekeeping - $2 to $5 a night depending on your messiness

Parking valet - $2 each transaction

Luggage valet - $1 to $2 a bag

Dining - 20% of meal NOT total bill (ensure to look for any service charge that may have been added)

 

Cruise

Luggage porters - $5 total

Excursion tour guide - $5 for each person

Excursion bus driver - $2 total

Bartender - $1 every other drink

Casino dealer - the occasional $5 play on the side

Cabin steward - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50

MTD waiter and asst waiter - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50 each

Concierge - 7 day cruise, $50 - $100 depending on services provided

[HSNY]

This is a world economy so the answers depend on regions of the world.

 

Assuming you are from the US and sailing from the US.

 

Hotel housekeeping - $2 to $5 a night depending on your messiness

Parking valet - $2 each transaction

Luggage valet - $1 to $2 a bag

Dining - 20% of meal NOT total bill (ensure to look for any service charge that may have been added)

 

Cruise

Luggage porters - $5 total

Excursion tour guide - $5 for each person

Excursion bus driver - $2 total

Bartender - $1 every other drink

Casino dealer - the occasional $5 play on the side

Cabin steward - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50

MTD waiter and asst waiter - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50 each

Concierge - 7 day cruise, $50 - $100 depending on services provided

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your response gave me some great insight on how to tip during our upcoming trip. Now, do you tip everyday in the MDR and for cleaning services? Or would you do an envelope at the end of the cruise? I’m just so conditioned to tip after a meal, and was curious if people leave cash on their dinner table after each meal or do they just tip at the end of the cruise. I’m so new to cruising etiquette.

[Alaskan Joe]

We always auto tip, but sometimes extra tip. We do drink and there are perks that go with tipping extra to the bar staff. For example; I drink beer, however my DW does mix drinks. So with tipping extra her drinks become better (stronger) she even says sometimes too strong:o. On our last cruise in the MDR we had, shall we say an older lady that was way, way, way better then everyone else in the room. She was very nice and polite to her table mates, however to the wait staff I felt sorry for them. The waiter's name was Dennis (nice Indonesian name...LoL) , and he and the other two were "Amazing". They handled Ms stuck up very well, even after her tea water was not hot enough and she showed Dennis and his team the reason why you need HOT water for your tea bag (about 10 min demo...LoL). On the last night my DW and I talked to Dennis about her, and he was just like I have at least one person like that every cruise. I was like I do not know how you put up with that you are a better man then me. So in the MDR if the service is great we will tip $20 extra so in this case that would be $60 one for each of the wait staff for our table. This cruise we gave the assistant waiters the $20 however, we gave Dennis $50. He was like this is the reason I put up with people like her because there more people like you two that make me love my job. So in the end, if someone makes your cruise extra special by going an extra mile or two then by all means tip them.

[HSNY]

We always auto tip, but sometimes extra tip. We do drink and there are perks that go with tipping extra to the bar staff. For example; I drink beer, however my DW does mix drinks. So with tipping extra her drinks become better (stronger) she even says sometimes too strong:o. On our last cruise in the MDR we had, shall we say an older lady that was way, way, way better then everyone else in the room. She was very nice and polite to her table mates, however to the wait staff I felt sorry for them. The waiter's name was Dennis (nice Indonesian name...LoL) , and he and the other two were "Amazing". They handled Ms stuck up very well, even after her tea water was not hot enough and she showed Dennis and his team the reason why you need HOT water for your tea bag (about 10 min demo...LoL). On the last night my DW and I talked to Dennis about her, and he was just like I have at least one person like that every cruise. I was like I do not know how you put up with that you are a better man then me. So in the MDR if the service is great we will tip $20 extra so in this case that would be $60 one for each of the wait staff for our table. This cruise we gave the assistant waiters the $20 however, we gave Dennis $50. He was like this is the reason I put up with people like her because there more people like you two that make me love my job. So in the end, if someone makes your cruise extra special by going an extra mile or two then by all means tip them.

 

Good to know! Thanks for sharing that experience. I’ll definitely be more like you and less like Ms. Stuck up :).

[mdin]

I prepay gratuities and then tip about the same amount that other people have mentioned here.

 

One thing, I normally tip an extra $1 or $2 when I order drinks to my sail & sign receipt. Should I be tipping that in cash also? I normally don't carry cash on me while on the ship.

[maryred]

I just want to add my 2 cents to this list specific for Northern American carnival cruises (though some of this applies to other cruise lines too)...

This is a world economy so the answers depend on regions of the world.

 

Assuming you are from the US and sailing from the US.

 

Hotel housekeeping - $2 to $5 a night depending on your messiness

Parking valet - $2 each transaction

Luggage valet - $1 to $2 a bag

Dining - 20% of meal NOT total bill (ensure to look for any service charge that may have been added)

 

Cruise

Luggage porters - $5 total

(The curbside porters are not employees of the cruise line but contractual workers for the port. So we base what is tipped to them by how far they need to carry or wheel our luggage. In some ports, for embarkation, like at the airlines they simply pick-up your bags and put them on a conveyor belt or in a luggage train, for this simple middleman service all they get is maybe a $1/bag. On the other hand we have been to ports where these porters need to load a hand pushed handcart or U-cart that they personally take to the security scanner and unload there, generally we tip them $2-$5/bag depending on how heavy a particular bag is.

Disembarkation is a different story, we generally use the full porter service from collecting our bags to getting them through to whatever vehicle we are next needing. In some cases for the work that needs be done the $2-5/bag covers things nicely. While at some ports having a porter gets you through customs faster or the car waiting area is further than the curb so we will add as much as $20 on top of the per bag tip, base on time and our effort saved.

Most passengers will never see the on board porters so the a portion of the $2.50/passenger/day alternative services daily auto-grat does go to them already.)

Excursion tour guide - $5 for each person

(This really depends on the services given, we've been on tours where all the guide did was show us the check-in or ticket collect at an attraction to ones that gave running commentaries and side notes on anything. So in the past we have tip as little as nothing to over $20/person in our family. This like most off ship personnel, even when visiting a cruise line's "private island", are not employees of the cruise line.)

Excursion bus driver - $2 total

(Another area that really depends, as these are not people covered by the onboard auto-tips even when the tour is scheduled through the cruise line. Mostly depends on the length of the drive to the attraction and if they act as a guide or comedian during the road trip. Minimally we tip a $1/person in our party, but if the driver is a real character or informative person we've dome as much as $5/person.)

Bartender - $1 every other drink

(This is subjective we usually round up the 15% auto-tip to a 20% tip, which is the same as we would normally tip at a bar to the bartender or cocktail server.)

Casino dealer - the occasional $5 play on the side

(Customary only while having a good run.)

Cabin steward - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50

(Cabin cleaning/refreshing/turn down should be done twice daily and Carnival stewards now often does this just once a day. The auto-grat charged is $4.05/passenger/day which I feel is more than enough for just the basic service given, just like you would get at a hotel. On the other hand if our steward does do the twice a day or brings extras like more pillows or fresh towels promptly upon request that will garner additional tipping.)

MTD waiter and asst waiter - 7 day cruise, an additional $20 - $50 each

(This is very subjective, a lion's share of the $6.40/passenger/day dining team auto-grats already goes to your dinner time team. If you feel they went above and beyond by all means do tip more. We really exceed $5/person/night for the entire team. The remainder of that auto amount goes to wait staff at your other meals or to the tip-pool for the Lido bussing and drink cart waiters.)

Concierge - 7 day cruise, $50 - $100 depending on services provided

(There are none and personnel at the Guest Service or Excursion desk will be insulted if a tip is offered)

 

I also want to add depending on the port and your pre-cruise plans there could be other instances where tipping is expected or appropriate. Example a few ports have a shuttle to "bus" you from the parking area to your terminal, tipping here depends on if we drop our luggage off first or if the shuttle driver needs to load the luggage on the vehicle, typically we give $1/seat taken plus if luggage is involved a few dollars more.

[schazzy]

I prepay gratuities and then tip about the same amount that other people have mentioned here.

 

One thing, I normally tip an extra $1 or $2 when I order drinks to my sail & sign receipt. Should I be tipping that in cash also? I normally don't carry cash on me while on the ship.

 

With Cheers we tipped a dollar per drink on the sail & sign receipt and the servers and bartenders were more than happy with that.

[Florings]

We prepay the tips when booking our cruises. Give the cabin steward a tip when we arrive and ask for robes and ice. Then we give extra tips at the end of the cruise to the cabin steward, his assistant, and the MDR waitstaff.

 

During the cruise, we tip $2 or $3 for room service, $1 per cocktail when ordering bar service.

[Saint Greg]

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

We always do the standard Carnival tip amount. We we receive exceptional service from our room steward, we will typically give an extra $20 per person in the cabin, The same if we have a set dining time that provides exceptional service.

 

Then you have room service, taxi/bus driver, tour guides, etc. if you do excursions.