Room Service tipping

[Ready to Sail!]

Our first Viking cruise is approaching. Would like to know if tipping for room service is the same as other lines. On our earlier cruises we used to have ones available and give 2 or 3 dollars cash when delivered. As time has passed, it seems we have had to sign for delivery and line for tip was available.  Most of our cruises have  been NCL or Princess. What is the procedure on VO?  

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[suspaul]

We returned a few weeks ago from our 3rd Viking Oceans cruise and usually had room service deliver coffee and tea, hate those little coffee makers in the cabins.  We gave $2-3 when it was delivered each morning.

 

Enjoy your travels.

[Peregrina651]

Since there is no charge for room service, there is nothing to sign. If you are going to tip for delivery, then it will have to be in cash.

[Ready to Sail!]

We weren’t charged when we had to sign for delivery. Can’t remember now which line it was. Well, doesn’t matter. We just want to know what to expect..will have our $$s ready. 

[Parsley Cruises]

If something is delivered to our suite, we don't tip, end of story.  

 

Just like the OP, soon we will be taking our first cruise with VO.  I have currently just two (really minor) winges: (a) we've got the Silver Drink Package - and we wish we had been offered the choice between obc and the drink package as we simply don't drink alcohol, and should be sufficient supplied in our suite to cope with our requirements.  (We are seasoned cruisers, so we know what we are going to drink etc), obc would have been much more use and far more enjoyable; and (b) we wish that there would be a normal ordinary kettle on a tray in the suite and not a fancy coffee machine - I can well and truly enjoy a kettle, and have no use for a fancy gussied-up yuppit coffee machine!  

 

However, looking on the bright side, if we want our customary hot drinks the exercise gained by going to the relevant point to obtain said hot drinks will be handy (not sure if we want to order hot drinks in at this stage).

 

It will be what it will be - it's going to be interesting to work out if VO is going to become our habitual  'away home'.

[H2Otstr]

There was a man on our cruise who demanded that his coffee machine be removed and replaced with a kettle. You can always ask to see if that is possible. 

[TruJeffie]

I am also curious how many people tip for room service specifically on Viking. There is a $15.00 per person per day auto tip added to your account. The last time I cruised on Viking we did not tip for food service such as breakfast being delivered to the room but we did tip when ordering drinks from the bar to be delivered to the room since this seemed to me as going out of their way in providing a service not listed on the room service menu.

 

So lets hear from posters on past Viking only ocean cruises. Did you tip for room service?

 

Happy Sailing!!

[MarkTapley]

We did not tip for room service on our recent cruise.  At the end of our cruise, the only individual tips we left were for our two room stewards.  

[Heidi13]

We have no preconceived ideas on tips and certainly don't provide tips based on what others suggest or recommend.

 

If we order room service and they deliver a tray to the door, they will receive a very polite, "Thank you" In instances where they want to set up within the cabin, we invite them in and will provide a tip based on the quality of the service provided and their attention to detail. We consider, who we tip and how much to be a private matter.

 

On the cruise we will also be asking our cabin steward to remove the coffee machine and inquiring if a kettle is available, as an alternative. Would be interested to know from Parsley Cruises, if they are successful.

[moatenote]

We rarely used room service but did not tip when we did.

[Parsley Cruises]

15 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

We have no preconceived ideas on tips and certainly don't provide tips based on what others suggest or recommend.

 

If we order room service and they deliver a tray to the door, they will receive a very polite, "Thank you" In instances where they want to set up within the cabin, we invite them in and will provide a tip based on the quality of the service provided and their attention to detail. We consider, who we tip and how much to be a private matter.

 

On the cruise we will also be asking our cabin steward to remove the coffee machine and inquiring if a kettle is available, as an alternative. Would be interested to know from Parsley Cruises, if they are successful.

 

We have asked during a phone conversation with VO, and we were told that we were being provided with the coffee machine and that we couldn't have a kettle.  I won't bother with bringing my own, simply because I understand that it is not allowed.  However, we will definitely request a kettle once we are on board, and more than likely I'll put up the result in my post cruise report on here.

Part of the problem is that for me a hot drink usually means tea, and it's not simply a cup/mug of tea - it's quite a ritual; it has to be so incredibly pale and weak that it almost needs an ambulance!

[orchestrapal]

We recently left a  VO Cruise and never felt that any staff member was awaiting a tip after any service provided. The entire staff was extremely friendly and helpful and very surprised when we tipped some of them at the end of our cruise.

[Ready to Sail!]

Just a question here-hope I don't get tomatoes thrown at me by true tea drinkers-but those coffee machines will give you a hot cup of water if you don't put the coffee pod in.  If you need you could run one cup through to wash out any coffee sediments and then your cup of hot water for the tea.  Just a thought, but keep in mind I'm an american so probably not the best judge on proper preparation of a good cup of tea!  My husband likes tea in the morning and I drink coffee so this is what we will do. 

 

Back to the topic of tipping for room service.  I see both sides of the discussion.  After traveling to Europe independently many times, we know tipping, and on a larger scale, is custom in the US but not so much elsewhere.  When in "Rome" we do as the "Romans" do and just round up.  On a cruise, even though the auto gratuity may sound like a lot, it probably gets stretched pretty thin as it goes down the chain of workers.   We don't get room service much, usually a few breakfasts, so I am happy to give a few $$ to the person delivering our food, as long as it arrives on time and is still hot.  Obviously this is an individual choice, as it should be.  No right or wrong.

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, Parsley Cruises said:

 

We have asked during a phone conversation with VO, and we were told that we were being provided with the coffee machine and that we couldn't have a kettle.  I won't bother with bringing my own, simply because I understand that it is not allowed.  However, we will definitely request a kettle once we are on board, and more than likely I'll put up the result in my post cruise report on here.

Part of the problem is that for me a hot drink usually means tea, and it's not simply a cup/mug of tea - it's quite a ritual; it has to be so incredibly pale and weak that it almost needs an ambulance!

HaHa we don't drink coffee are also very particular on how the tea is made. DW also prefers her tea "peely wally", with a healthy serving of milk. However, I am the opposite - very strong with just a wee splash of milk.

 

Most importantly the water must be on a rolling boil, for a proper cup of tea.

[vnb2003]

We tipped for our room service delivery. The breakfast was delivered on time or a2-5 min earlier. Everything that supposed to be hot was hot. It was served nicely on our coffee table (our preference). Yes, we could see that out tip wasn’t expected BUT greatly appreciated. 

[RJ2002]

On our Viking cruise earlier this year, we used room service several times to replenish the ice.   We tipped a dollar, except for the time that I had to call a second time because no one ever brought the ice.

 

At the end of the cruise, we also gave a small extra tip to the dining room server whose section we sat in most nights.

Edited October 28, 2018 by RJ2002

[SM77]

We only used room service for dinner once on our Baltic cruise and did not tip.  On Viking Ocean we just tip our stewards in addition to the daily gratuity that is added on.  On the river cruises where we may have a consistent dining room server (since it is a much smaller ship), we would also tip the servers.  I don't think tipping room service is expected but as others have said it is much appreciated.  I'll have to remember to have $$ available on our upcoming New Zealand Australia Indonesia Viking cruise.

[wabamun]

$30 US a day is enough for us to tip.

 

No extra tip is needed or expected. 

 

IMHO

[eylarson]

On 10/27/2018 at 6:46 AM, H2Otstr said:

There was a man on our cruise who demanded that his coffee machine be removed and replaced with a kettle. You can always ask to see if that is possible. 

On our Viking cruise, they room steward regularly placed a thermos carafe with very hot water and replenished tea bags so that I could have hot tea morning, noon or night.  While it wasn't boiling, I was always able to brew tea ( I like mine very strong) no matter the time of day.  BTW-  The carafe was apparently used for hot water only.  No coffee after taste as is often the case.