What kind of service to expect?

[kingclick]

Ok. I'm not sure if this is gonna get me blasted or praised. But on my first cruise I think I may have stiffed some people in the tips.

 

So this next cruise I want to do it RIGHT.

 

What kind of service should I expect from my Steward for me to KEEP his autotip in place? What is basic service? What is "above and beyond?"

 

I think that my first cruise I didn't really get that great of service from my steward from what I see other people saying happened to them.

 

However I DO think that I got GREAT service from our waiter. He was a little dorky but he really did TRY hard.

 

So lay it out there for me. Let me know what I should expect for my HAL auto tip? And let me know what kinds of things I should boost my tip for?

 

OR...if this has already been hashed out somewhere before give me the link.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Had only one problem with a wine steward on HAL not so long ago. Other than that we have always had excellent service on HAL - even before the auto tips were put in place. And we always tip extra to those who have served us well and who have made our cruise an enjoyable one.

[Keith1010]

As you cruise more you will be able to determine for yourself the level of service you received as you will be able to compare the level of service received from the room steward/stewardess, waiter, assistant waiter from cruise to cruise.

 

Keith

[Arwenmark]

Unless your room steward does not show up at all, never cleans your room, fails to make the beds or bring towels etc. then there is No reason to ever remove the miniscule auto tip. Whether you tip more would depend on if he gave you better than most service .

 

That goes for the others on the auto tip plan unless you have a real problem and if you do it is up to you to see the supervisor to fix it in a timely fashion.

 

We have always had better than average service and tipped more on top of the auto tips. and always tip seperately for room service as this is not part of the tip pooling.

[serene56]

A cabin stewards cleans the room twice a day-- and gives you ice twice a day.

 

What is it that you feel you didnt get?

 

If I dont have to cookit or cleanup afterwards--thats all I need.

 

Some peoples expectations of what a cabin steward does goes above and beyond the reality of the situation. Remember the steward has like 20 cabins to do-- and is off from noon til 5 every day.

 

I have sailed with people who thought they should be on call 24 hours.. and that is really unrealistic- they are people too.

[Michael Kays]

We have become friends with a few ship staff and they provided some very eye-opening facts about salaries paid by the cruise lines.. Auto tip provides for more than 90% of their wage for each cruise! And if you are an officer, you get no tips at all. This particular friend is an officer, not an Admimral, but not at the bottom of the rung either..matter of fact they just got a promotion for their upcoming contract..and makes $1,800 a month!! Even with room and board included that's not alot considering they work 7 days a week for up to 6 months at a time.

When I am first introduced to my room steward I always offer them "incentive" in the way of $$$ to let them know I appreciate their service yet to come. It seems to work!! The majority of them work so hard for so little.

Have you ever wondered why the majority of the service workers are NOT U.S.A. residents? Think taxes~. If you made meager wages and then were taxed on top of that how would you survive?

So when your room steward accomodates your late night or early morning whim..and provides you a smile as he/she greets you BY NAME, or when your waiter has your preferred drink ready before you even ask, $how them your appreciation.

[TheDMan]

I agree that you should never "stiff" any staff member unless your service is absolutly horrible. They do make most of their money from tips and as long as they do their job, I think they deserve the small auto-tip.

[VentureMan_2000]

Here you answer without too much fluff...

 

Expectations of the room steward:

1. Make your bed in the morning.
   
2. Clean and dry your sink, toilet, and shower.
   
3. Replenish your towels.
   
4. Maybe provide an extra towel or pillow on request.
   
5. Keep your ice stocked (if desired).
   
6. Usually wipes down counter/table tops.
   
7. Is NOT their job to wash your glasses/cups, but may.
   
8. May neatly fold unkept clothing left out.
   
9. Make your bed (fold-down service) and replenish ice in evening.
   
10. They are not there to take orders from you.

Expectations of the Dining room staff:

• Just good dining service, manors, etc.
  
• They are serving many tables. Don't expect 5-star dining service as if they only had your table to serve. I will say, many do a grand job of trying to give you 5-star dining service, but really, that's not a realistic expectation.
  
• Not their fault:
  • Improperly cooked food.
    
  • Running out of food.

The dining room staff or room steward would have to screw up pretty bad before I would ever decrease their tip.

[vjblk]

I'd like to add that in my experience our great room stewards always seemed to attend to our room like a ghost. On some cruises we would meet them and then hardly ever see them unless we needed to find them. But our room was always fastidously cleaned and ready for us. They always seemd to get our schedule down. It's like they knew when we left for breakfast and about how long we would be gone. Our room was always cleaned by the time we go back from breakfast. And they always knew when we left for dinner as our room would turned down when we would stop by there after dinner before the show. And this is even on NCL where we had no set dinner times.

No matter what line we have sailed on (HAL, RCL, NCL or Celebrity) our room stewards have always been worth the tip and more.

 

The same can be said for dining room staff. On lines where you sat at the same table every night, our waiters and assistant waiters always seemed to know what we liked. I liked to drink coke with dinner and it was always ready for me when I needed it. They always knew I liked tea after the meal.

They learned exactly how much salad dressing to give me. How they remember all this is amazing. We have never had poor service that would make us not tip them.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[brandylaw]

Ok, I can see the advantages of tipping the room steward beforehand.

Since I am clueless, how much $$ would be a good incentive from 2 people in one room? And if you do that, do you tip the standard amount at the end.

I think I have read that some have tipped thier standard or a little more amount in the beginning to ensure good service.

I know all of this is subjective, but I really do appreciate all tips too.

Thanks guys!!!

[Arwenmark]

I have done the before tip thing, really no difference in the service. We do tip more for any special requests and usually more at end in addition to the auto tips.

[kingclick]

Thanks everyone! I have even more information as I go ahead.

 

It doesn't seem I stiffed our steward afterall. He did nothing "above and beyond" but he did clean the room very well. I gave the recommended amount of tip albeit grudgingly. But now I will happily give the auto-tip unless my service is ATROCIOUS. Then if he does go above and beyond I will just tip more. I had been thinking of tipping some extra ahead of time but that seems almost like I am trying to get a monkey to jump through hoops. I just don't have the right intentions when I would be doing that.

 

Again thank you everyone so far for answering. Especially Ventureman I think in lists so yours spoke to me well. I'm still interested in hearing more from other points of view though!

[serene56]

I have not tipped before hand to any cabin steward, I also believe the majority of people do not tip until the end. I have not had bad service because of it. (except on the LEgend where I never seen the cabin steward and not had my cabin cleaned either..but it was a weekend cruise and not a big deal to us.)

 

To add to Michaels post...these people chose the jobs. THey are not forced to do so. They are also told before they take the job what it entails. Majority of workers make more on a ship then they could in their hometowns.. what you quoted as that officer making== Not even room and board is way more then I make in a month. Their purchases are not even what we would pay . The only bad thing I can see in all that is that they are away from their families for long stretches of time.

[LV2COOK]

My DH always starts the cruise by tipping the cabin person around $20. If we request any extra's towels etc. during the cruise we flip them a couple $$. Holiday cruises I bring a small Christmas card and put in a phone card so if they can get off the ship they can wish their own families Happy Holiday's, we do this for all staff who are taking care of us. We were sailing when the tsunami hit in 2004.... and the ship sort of passed the hat for it's employee's from the area. At the end we don't use auto tip, preferring to give them cash in a card with special thanks for special service. Also, always fill out the little review card mentioning those who have gone above and beyond. I have had lacking service a few times but never stiffed anyone.

[Shirley and Les]

Have you ever wondered why the majority of the service workers are NOT U.S.A. residents? Think taxes~. If you made meager wages and then were taxed on top of that how would you survive?

Taxes????

I think service personnel cruise ship wages would be beneath the minimum tax level for a single personm. Most of the shipboard staff have family at home which definitely would place them below the minimum taxable wage level here in the USA.

[BobBeaSea]

Here you answer without too much fluff...

 

Expectations of the room steward:

1. Make your bed in the morning.
   
2. Clean and dry your sink, toilet, and shower.
   
3. Replenish your towels.
   
4. Maybe provide an extra towel or pillow on request.
   
5. Keep your ice stocked (if desired).
   
6. Usually wipes down counter/table tops.
   
7. Is NOT their job to wash your glasses/cups, but may.
   
8. May neatly fold unkept clothing left out.
   
9. Make your bed (fold-down service) and replenish ice in evening.
   
10. They are not there to take orders from you.

Expectations of the Dining room staff:

• Just good dining service, manors, etc.
  
• They are serving many tables. Don't expect 5-star dining service as if they only had your table to serve. I will say, many do a grand job of trying to give you 5-star dining service, but really, that's not a realistic expectation.
  
• Not their fault:
  • Improperly cooked food.
    
  • Running out of food.

The dining room staff or room steward would have to screw up pretty bad before I would ever decrease their tip.

 

Great post, I fully agree. I might get some negative feedback here but it seems some passengers are NOT happy if they don't see their steward all week, until the last day. If the steward has DONE the job as posted above and you don't see him or her except for the first and last day, congratulations...you just had the services of one of the finest stewards on the ship! That is the way it used to be, hell, we were told by captains in the early 90s' that this scenario is the perfect job done. My first 2 cruises (90 & 93) I never saw our steward except for the first and last day On last years cruise, saw him everyday...didn't bother me in the least, nice guy who had been working ships for years. We had quite a chat about cruising today vs. even as little as 15 years ago...you would be amazed at what he had to say.

[VentureMan_2000]

Taxes????

I think service personnel cruise ship wages would be beneath the minimum tax level for a single personm. Most of the shipboard staff have family at home which definitely would place them below the minimum taxable wage level here in the USA.

 

The employees on these ships are not US citizens. There is no minimum wage. Minimum wage reflects only living in the US... not living abroad. Other countries set their standards.

 

You all should go out to the cruise ship recruiting sites. The are very up front about the hours they will be required to put in... and that fact that they will be working VERY hard. This is the first thing a potential employee reads. It is not hidden in fine print. It's right out there... you have to read that first before reading anything else.

 

That said... you should only be tipping because of service... not because you think they aren't making US minimum wage. The suggested tip rate of the cruiseline is perfectly fine. You do not need to tip a penny more. Some may want to, however.

[Keith1010]

I have cruised on a variety of different cruise lines and do not believe that tipping in advance will make a difference in the level of service. I know some do it but we have had wonderful service and not tipped in advance. I do believe that one should treat the staff from the cruise line nicely and that helps. We always say please and thank you and I think that goes a long way.

 

In terms of tipping, just like in a restaurant we use the recommended tips as guidelines. If the service is just what was expected no better or no worse we will likely tip what is recommended but if it is above what is expected we will tip more. Thank goodness we've never had to tip below the recommended level as we've alway have had good to outstanding service, and not below average service.

 

Keith

[Shirley and Les]

...The employees on these ships are not US citizens...

I think you missed the point of my post.

An earlier poster suggested US citizens did not work on cruise ships because of the tax liability they would incur. My post suggested that US citizens would

1. not work for these wages because of the low pay and the huge time committment.

2. not worry about income taxes because there would be minimum or no tax liability based on our (USA) tax laws.

3. not be willing to exert the time and energy necessary to be successful as a cruise ship employee. Compare the condition of an average USA hotel room to that of a cruise ship cabin. I am talking about dust on tabletops, cleaniness of mirrors and glass surfaces, dirt under the bed, promptness of service and similar things. Which is better; a cruise ship cabin or a hotel room?

 

I concur wholeheartedly that tips are based on services received and not living or work conditions of those performing the services. That being said, there is an extra consideration for individuals that are willing to make a 24/7 committment to their job, learn to communicate in acceptable English to serve their customers and see cruise work as an opportunity to improve their lot in life.

[hajekfam]

We were speaking with one maitre'd on one of early cruises and were asking why there were never any Americans as waiters. He told us they hired one once, but he left at the first port. The working conditions (hours and amount of work) were more than he was willing to do.

We have only cruised Celebrity and do expect 5* service because that is what we are accustomed to receiving onboard. On one of our cruises, our waiter did not come close to even 4* service so we did not even tip the minimum and wrote about him on our comment cards. (The cruiseline does read the comment cards - your comments can cause a waiter to get better tables, etc.) Sure enough, next cruise, he was there as an asst. waiter. But just as we will tip lower than minimum when a waiter doesn't do his minimum job, when he goes above and beyond, we tip extra.