Tipping cabin steward upfront?

[MarcJ55]

On my last cruise, i had the auto-tips taken off and I tipped the equivalent (or more) in cash.  Prefer to tip cash so I can see the money is making it into the pockets of those who earned it rather than the cruise line taking their cut.

[ray98]

I tipped in advance my first few cruises because I read that was how you had to do it to get good service.  I eventually decided that was stupid and tipped at the end like is traditional.  I noticed no difference in the level of services provided.

[SandiLynn]

I do not know what happens to prepaid gratuities,  I just pay them as part of my cruise price. I do know that if you charge Tips on SS card it is collected and given to everyone that shift. That is why we tip in cash to those help make our cruise wonderful. We give the cash tips per night to bartenders and everyone else on the last night. 

[Bob NC]

11 minutes ago, SandiLynn said:

I do not know what happens to prepaid gratuities,  I just pay them as part of my cruise price. I do know that if you charge Tips on SS card it is collected and given to everyone that shift. That is why we tip in cash to those help make our cruise wonderful. We give the cash tips per night to bartenders and everyone else on the last night. 

We have been told by many bartenders/servers, if you leave an extra tip on the SS card, (on the receipt), it all goes to the employee named on the receipt.  If you tip cash they are supposed to put it in the pool for splitting.

 

I had thought it was the other way around.

[SandiLynn]

I guess we have been told different things by different bartenders and waiters. I wonder if it has to do with the 18% gratuity that is precharged for the Cheers package. I would like to find out for sure. They don't seem to care about the credit to SS card but are very happy to get cash. We had a waiter/bartender that would check on us and bring us drinks anywhere on lido or higher decks.

[cruisingal1981]

We give $20 when we first me also. It’s working out so far.

[MarcJ55]

On my last cruise, i had the auto-tips taken off and I tipped the equivalent (or more) in cash.  Prefer to tip cash so I can see the money is making it into the pockets of those who earned it rather than the cruise line taking their cut.

[Cls241]

We usually go to the pursers (sp) deck and remove the auto-tipping and tip ahead and each person we interact with.  

[newcruiser1956]

On 3/9/2019 at 3:36 PM, Bob NC said:

We have been told by many bartenders/servers, if you leave an extra tip on the SS card, (on the receipt), it all goes to the employee named on the receipt.  If you tip cash they are supposed to put it in the pool for splitting.

 

I had thought it was the other way around.

I had one of the bar servers tell me they receive no pay, it is tips only.  I have no clue if that is true or not,  He has been working on the ships for 10 years.  I tipped him an extra $1. cash each time he brought me a drink.  He took good care of me :)

[coevan]

7 minutes ago, newcruiser1956 said:

I had one of the bar servers tell me they receive no pay, it is tips only.  I have no clue if that is true or not,  He has been working on the ships for 10 years.  I tipped him an extra $1. cash each time he brought me a drink.  He took good care of me 🙂

 

 

not true at all, all employees are paid

[Cls241]

Totally agree with the post above, all staff are paid, no one is tip only.  That being said, I used to cancel the auto-tips and hand tip, $20 here, $10 there, $1-$5 for drinks and odd service, but was told now that the staff can't keep the tips, as mentioned above the must pool it.  So I guess now I will just leave auto-tipping on ($30 a day = two in the room) plus the default 15% on all other direct purchases (beer / wine / soda etc) 

[tracyd1014]

Last cruise we left a $5 each night but folded origami. The a larger time at the end of the cruise. Our room steward love it! We had the best service ever. 

[vicky3vicky]

I spent most of my working life as a tipped employee. Probably because of this, we do the auto tip pre-pay [so we do not have a bill at the end of the cruise] In addition, tip our room steward $20 on the first day, $20 in the middle of the cruise, and  at least another $20 on the last day. I still have wonderful memories of being a single mom 45 years ago, working my butt off, just praying that I would bring in enough money to feed my kids, pay the babysitter and pay rent. Often, out of the blue, I would receive an overly generous tip, and yeah, nearly half a century later, I feel such gratitude when I think about it. 

[xDisconnections]

1 hour ago, vicky3vicky said:

I spent most of my working life as a tipped employee. Probably because of this, we do the auto tip pre-pay [so we do not have a bill at the end of the cruise] In addition, tip our room steward $20 on the first day, $20 in the middle of the cruise, and  at least another $20 on the last day. I still have wonderful memories of being a single mom 45 years ago, working my butt off, just praying that I would bring in enough money to feed my kids, pay the babysitter and pay rent. Often, out of the blue, I would receive an overly generous tip, and yeah, nearly half a century later, I feel such gratitude when I think about it. 

You seem like you would be a very sweet person outside of Cruise Critic. I’ll never forget the excitement and happiness my bartender had when he showed me that someone tipped him $1,000 after learning it was his birthday. He still talks about it a year later... guess that stuff stays with you.

Edited March 24, 2019 by xDisconnections

[chefchick]

To be fair, if you WANT to tip up front and assume you get better service for it, then do so...I have occasional tipped stewards extra on the last day who went above and beyond (but I don’t  make a mess or expect too much). Although I do regularly tip bartenders an extra buck or two every cocktail and that seems to work out well for me....hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t be so stingy with the stewards?

[wardamnweagle]

Tipped extra to room steward up front this trip for a bucket of ice on Day 1, anticipating that my ice bucket would stay full thru the trip. Will go into detail in my review (still debarking) but it had no positive impact, and would say I had some of the worst service I’ve ever had in the hospitality industry. Won’t be trying that again. 

[xDisconnections]

1 hour ago, wardamnweagle said:

Tipped extra to room steward up front this trip for a bucket of ice on Day 1, anticipating that my ice bucket would stay full thru the trip. Will go into detail in my review (still debarking) but it had no positive impact, and would say I had some of the worst service I’ve ever had in the hospitality industry. Won’t be trying that again. 

Sorry that your bribe didn’t work.

[Bases5]

I’m a ice junkey. I bring a soft side cooler with me and ask the rm steward to please keep it full the entire cruise.  I give them a little tip in the beginning since I feel this is a extra service. Then if they compete the requests I give another extra tip at the end.  It has never failed me yet.

We have always left the auto tip. Fortunately we have never felt the need to reduce it

Edited March 24, 2019 by Bases5

[declansdad]

On 3/1/2019 at 5:14 PM, fuzzychop1 said:

Wow... I should have known better. I guess us old people just stick to what works. The point is we always get better service when we tip ahead of time and never wait for someone to prove their "worthiness"  of an extra 5, 10 or 20 bucks for their family that we would normally spend on a supersized happy meal (yes, I know you can't get a supersized happy meal) while at home. Choose your battles. 

Happy Sailing!!

 

Funny we never tip ahead of time and always get great service as well.

[declansdad]

On 3/2/2019 at 2:07 AM, CA_Cruzing said:

So you never juice a hostess in a nice restaurant to get “your” preferred table or server? If you want excellent service, just tell someone the expectations and pay them for it. Why play guess games with your vacation? That seems ridiculous and petty. 

 

No If we want a different table we just ask for it and they take us there.

[Cls241]

I like to tip up front but have a question...  Going on the HAL Eurodam with a Neptune Suite. Since I normally tip the Room Steward $10 or $20 (depending on the room/cruise), should we do the same for the Concierge? 

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 3/9/2019 at 2:03 PM, MarcJ55 said:

On my last cruise, i had the auto-tips taken off and I tipped the equivalent (or more) in cash.  Prefer to tip cash so I can see the money is making it into the pockets of those who earned it rather than the cruise line taking their cut.

 

How much is Carnivals cut and how do you know that they take a cut?

 

I found this while poking around the CCL website. Are you saying they are being disingenuous?

 

Pre-pay your gratuities before you sail

It is customary for our guests to extend gratuities to the shipboard staff in appreciation for their hard work and exceptional service. 100% of your gratuities are distributed to the crew who you interact with, such as your stateroom attendants, dining, bar and culinary services staff, as well as others who work behind the scenes to enhance your overall cruise experience. Applying this charge before you cruise streamlines the process for you and ensures the crew shares in your generosity.

[Cls241]

6 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

How much is Carnivals cut and how do you know that they take a cut?

 

I found this while poking around the CCL website. Are you saying they are being disingenuous?

 

Pre-pay your gratuities before you sail

It is customary for our guests to extend gratuities to the shipboard staff in appreciation for their hard work and exceptional service. 100% of your gratuities are distributed to the crew who you interact with, such as your stateroom attendants, dining, bar and culinary services staff, as well as others who work behind the scenes to enhance your overall cruise experience. Applying this charge before you cruise streamlines the process for you and ensures the crew shares in your generosity.

 

Everyone I have ever talked to said no matter what you tip, it goes back into a pool to share.  Been told (can't verify if true) that if they keep the tips and don't share, they could lose their job. 

 

Also, consider by tipping ONLY those you see, and by chance, they're keeping those tips, what about all those you don't see, that wash the towels, clean the dishes, keep the ship clean while you sleep, and perform dozens of other services that make your stay enjoyable.  Do they deserve less, because they're not visible?

[momof3cruisers]

5 hours ago, wardamnweagle said:

Tipped extra to room steward up front this trip for a bucket of ice on Day 1, anticipating that my ice bucket would stay full thru the trip. Will go into detail in my review (still debarking) but it had no positive impact, and would say I had some of the worst service I’ve ever had in the hospitality industry. Won’t be trying that again. 

I am curious what ship you just got off of. We had the worst room steward I've ever had on the Victory last month. We checked twice a day service and he was CLEARLY not happy about it. Also asked for ice. Never got twice a day, never got ice. He didn't give us his card like they usually do either. We never saw him after that day in the halls or anything. We wanted to remind him that we had requested both services and about ice. On the third night of a four night cruise, we went to guest services and removed half of the tip for our steward. (They can break it up for you accordingly.) Finally, the next afternoon we saw him in the hall and he asked if everything was okay. So we told him we never got the service we asked for. He didn't really say anything back.

 

This was a weird experience as I have never had a room steward that wasn't really good. Some of them have been truly excellent. Just about all of them have gotten extra tips, never before have I reduced them.

[wardamnweagle]

23 hours ago, Cls241 said:

 

Everyone I have ever talked to said no matter what you tip, it goes back into a pool to share.  Been told (can't verify if true) that if they keep the tips and don't share, they could lose their job. 

 

Also, consider by tipping ONLY those you see, and by chance, they're keeping those tips, what about all those you don't see, that wash the towels, clean the dishes, keep the ship clean while you sleep, and perform dozens of other services that make your stay enjoyable.  Do they deserve less, because they're not visible?

 

Just curious, at a restaurant do you go into the kitchen and tip the chef, or just the person who served you? Do you tip the bus boy or the dishwasher who make your meal possible, despite the fact that you never see them?

 

IMO the people doing the job should be paid an agreed upon wage (whether or not you think it is fair, it is agreed upon up front). Tipping people you interact with personally is for service above and beyond. 

 

On our last last night I gave our head waiter a cash tip (despite the fact that we only had service from them for four nights since we switched tables after the first three meals had issues) and told him he could distribute to his team as he sees fit. Could he keep it all for himself? I suppose, but I saw him lead his team, coach them on performance issues, and follow up on the service verifying that it was up to his expected standards (which were above ship standards). I would love to have a team leader like that working for me.