When to tip your steward.

[getting older slowly]

Have always tipped on the last day... sometime morning or evening.... but generally morning....

 

A question on B2B do you tip on each leg or only at the end   ( 2 X 13 nights cruises )

 

Cheers Don

[George C]

Agree we always tip last day , amount depends on service that week. Also agree if back to back tip at end of both cruises. 

[mom says]

5 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

Have always tipped on the last day... sometime morning or evening.... but generally morning....

 

A question on B2B do you tip on each leg or only at the end   ( 2 X 13 nights cruises )

 

Cheers Don

On our B2Bs we tip at the end of each leg. Sometimes we've had to change cabins. Sometimes our steward has left the ship at the end of the first leg. For us it's just easier to treat each leg separately, since that's how our preferred cruise line treats them.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

if we tip extra, we do it at the end of the cruise, leaving an envelope with a name on it.

 

I still regret not leaving an extra tip for a particular MDR waitress on the Caribbean Princess back in 2016. She was exceptional, and we got her a couple of times (any time dining). I did leave a glowing review on a praise-a-staff-member card, or whatever you call it.

[VennDiagram]

29 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I did leave a glowing review on a praise-a-staff-member card, or whatever you call it.

 

I expect that your glowing review helped her much more than an extra tip might have.  Those comments of praise mean a lot, both short and long term.
 

[VennDiagram]

We tip cabin, wine, and dining stewards on the last night of the cruise.  We tip bar stewards during the last full day on board, when we see them on duty.  If we have concierges we tip them during the last full day on board.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

 

I expect that your glowing review helped her much more than an extra tip might have.  Those comments of praise mean a lot, both short and long term.
 

I really hope so, but I still wish I gave her $20 on top of that. She totally deserved it and more. So far, she was the only one that truly went above and beyond. If I ever see her on Princess again, I will do the right thing. :)

Edited June 27, 2019 by Itchy&Scratchy

[DirtyDawg]

We mostly tip the room steward at the end of the cruise. We did tip the steward at the beginning when our three teenage boys occupied the cabin nest to ours. You can consider that a bribe if you want, but I considered it DANGER PAY!!! 

 

I have also tipped bartenders early,. When we found one or two that we would use for the week I'd tip up front. Some people use their height to get a bartender's attention, Some use their good looks or winning smile. As I'm not blessed with any of those, I use  a few George Washington's. 

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[George C]

I tip bartenders with each drink , that goes for suite lounge or regular bar , tend to tip waiters that way also. 

[navybankerteacher]

17 hours ago, LoriPhil said:

We tip first day, acknowledging our appreciation for their hard work to give us a great cruise, and reassure them that we also leave autotip in place.  Have never been disappointed.

Handing out a few dollars the first day is simply a bribe. How can you “acknowledge ... appreciation for ... hard work” before that work has been done?

 

Also, in what way would giving them $10, or $20, or even $50 the first day reassure them of anything?  Would you really leave the autotip in place if, throughout your cruise, the service, by everyone you encountered, was surly, ineffective, careless and frankly unacceptable - and every time you spoke with the service desk you received no satisfaction - but was simply advised that you had the option to remove the auto tip?

[navybankerteacher]

30 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

...

 

I have also tipped bartenders early,. When we found one or two that we would use for the week I'd tip up front. Some people use their height to get a bartender's attention, Some use their good looks or winning smile. As I'm not blessed with any of those, I use  a few George Washington's. 

 

Andrew Jackson’s are much more attention-grabbing —- especially if one is short, ugly and unsmiling.

[DirtyDawg]

4 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Andrew Jackson’s are much more attention-grabbing —- especially if one is short, ugly and unsmiling.

 

🤯 I guess I'd better start tipping with Ben Franklin's!

[navybankerteacher]

Just now, DirtyDawg said:

 

🤯 I guess I'd better start tipping with Ben Franklin's!

Are you really THAT short, ugly and surly?

[DirtyDawg]

9 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Are you really THAT short, ugly and surly?

 

😀 You're equating unsmiling with surly. As for the others, I've been slowing graduating from Washington, to Jackson and soon to be a Franklin. Aren't we all? 😉

 

But, at least, we're all getting wiser!!!

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[navybankerteacher]

1 minute ago, DirtyDawg said:

 

😀 You're equating unsmiling with surly.

... 

 

How else would you describe a regular who cannot crack a smile as he steps up to the bar?

[Zach1213]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

How can you “acknowledge ... appreciation for ... hard work” before that work has been done?

 

 

Yeah that makes zero sense. The last cruise I took, the cabin attendant was only "okay"...I sure as heck wasn't going to give him any extra money after the fact, let alone before. If I had assumed he would do a great job (as previous ones have, and were tipped extra at the end because of it) i would have been sorely disappointed.

[DarrenM]

We gave our two waiters an envelope each at the end with a note thanking them

[Toofarfromthesea]

16 hours ago, clo said:

I'm pretty sure that what's being talked about is putting cash in the hand of the person.

 

Which on most cruiselines needs to be handed in until the line knows whether the passenger left the autograts on.  And cash tips given to employees who make up the gratuity pool, from pax who removed their autograts don't go to the person in whose hand the cash was placed in, they get added to the overall gratuity pool.  Mainly this would be stewards and waiters, since those are the up front members of the gratuity pool - people generally don't go wandering into the laundry room or the kitchens to put cashmin the hands of the behind the scenes folks.

Personally I have an approach that works for me in all situations.

1) when someone is paid a lower wage in the expectation that tips will make up the difference, then except in the very very rare case that the service is horrible I regard reasonable tipping as morally mandatory.

2) anything beyond that only gets a tip if TRULY above and beyond reasonable standards and expectations.

Translated to shipboard, point 1 is why I would never remove the autograts.  Point 2 is why I rarely tip extra, because doing their job is not above and beyond.  I expect routine services to be performed well.  That is not above and beyond, IMO.  

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

That is not above and beyond, IMO.  

Our last cruise (only 100 pax) I was laid up due to hurting my back.  My husband said he would bring me a bowl of their wonderful soup from the MDR.  He arrived with a young woman who we'd interacted with and she had soup, bread, butter, silverware and napkin on a tray.  We thought that was "above and beyond."  But yes, generally speaking, I agree with you.

[Toofarfromthesea]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Our last cruise (only 100 pax) I was laid up due to hurting my back.  My husband said he would bring me a bowl of their wonderful soup from the MDR.  He arrived with a young woman who we'd interacted with and she had soup, bread, butter, silverware and napkin on a tray.  We thought that was "above and beyond."  But yes, generally speaking, I agree with you.

 

Exactly.  That was an additional non-routine  service so I would also have viewed that as above and beyond and possibly deserving of an additional tip.

[donaldsc]

7 hours ago, George C said:

I tip bartenders with each drink , that goes for suite lounge or regular bar , tend to tip waiters that way also. 

 

In addition to the obligatory 15% tip?  Unless you regularly have very complex drinks, 15% is more than enough to me.  However, whatever floats your boat.

 

DON

[K32682]

Half up front as an incentive to provide premium service.  Half at the conclusion in appreciation of having received it. 

 

The upfront payment is more accurately described as a facilitating payment not a bribe. The purpose of the payment is to have your requests receive priority treatment and in my experience it works more often than not.   

[George C]

27 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

In addition to the obligatory 15% tip?  Unless you regularly have very complex drinks, 15% is more than enough to me.  However, whatever floats your boat.

 

DON

Tip is 18% not 15% and yes I tip extra , I know most don’t. But as said many of our drinks are in suite lounge so that had no tip added. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 6/26/2019 at 5:39 PM, wowzz said:

First of all, this is not a thread about should you tip, how much do you tip, why should I tip etc.

After an exchange on another forum,  I would be interested to hear the opinions of experienced cruisers as to when is the appropriate time to tip your steward, assuming you may wish to leave a tip.

Do you tip at the start, during, or at the  end of the cruise ?

I obviously have my own thoughts,  but would welcome the opinions of others. 

 

We tip at the end of the cruise.  And the amount depends on how well the cabin stewards did their jobs.

[DarrenM]

Surely every guest gets treated exactly the same by the crew, regardless of their role.

 

I tipped my waiters at the end of the cruise, not because they did anything different for us, but just because they were friendly and looked after us, and quickly knew what our alcohol preferences were, and kept us topped up, and had great rapport.

 

Cruises wouldnt be much fun if no one wanted to do their jobs.

 

I have absolute respect for them.