Additional Gratuities

[George C]

We always tip extra will go to bank this week and get about a hundred in singles and another hundred in fives for drinks and waiters , if we will have the same waiter then we will tip at end of the cruise, will tip extra also for room steward and butler and possibly concierge. 

[ducklite]

41 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Wouldn't that depend upon the length/cost of the cruise?

 

Plus some give a lot because they enjoy giving.

It was a two week cruise, and the employee went way, WAY over and above to assist with a special request.

[ed01106]

My rule of thumb is “Was the service so extraordinary that if we were at a restaurant back home would I leave a tip that was more than 20%”?

 

For example, there is one waitress at a restaurant we frequent that know us, greets us by name, knows my mom is on a low sodium diet and informs my mom what specials are low sodium or can be prepared without salt without us prompting her.  Her tips are in the 35-40% range.  If we were on a cruise and each trip to the MDR was a new discussion  about my mom’s diet  than no additional tip.  But if one discussion meant each subsequent visit was met with a personal greeting and recommendations for my mom, there would be an extra tip.  

[ducklite]

On 11/17/2019 at 3:57 PM, navybankerteacher said:

It seems to me that cruise lines apply a daily service charge to compensate staff for providing the level of service a reasonable passenger would reasonably expect.

 

When you compare the total of tips you might leave for three meals out plus what you might leave for a hotel chambe maid/attendant  who provides unusually frequent service, with a lines daily charge - it seems pretty much in line.

 

If the service were actually unsatisfactory, the lines genuinely want to hear - and accommodate your request to appropriately reduce the charge.   On the other hand, if an individual seems to go out of his/her way to make your stay on board really enjoyable, leaving a bit extra would seem appropriate.

Looking at it that way, it's not even close to enough.  We typically leave $5 per night for a hotel housekeeper.

 

Breakfast at a place like First Watch or Another Broken Egg for two is about $25, so a $5 tip for that meal.

 

Lunch at a moderate place like BJ's, Earls, or 99 would run about $35 for two, so another $7.

 

Dinner at a place like Seasons 52, Charlestons, Ocean Prime, etc. would easily run $75 for two.  So that's $15.  

 

The way I see it, $12.50 pp is quite a deal.

[lenquixote66]

8 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

My rule of thumb is “Was the service so extraordinary that if we were at a restaurant back home would I leave a tip that was more than 20%”?

 

For example, there is one waitress at a restaurant we frequent that know us, greets us by name, knows my mom is on a low sodium diet and informs my mom what specials are low sodium or can be prepared without salt without us prompting her.  Her tips are in the 35-40% range.  If we were on a cruise and each trip to the MDR was a new discussion  about my mom’s diet  than no additional tip.  But if one discussion meant each subsequent visit was met with a personal greeting and recommendations for my mom, there would be an extra tip.  

 

8 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

My rule of thumb is “Was the service so extraordinary that if we were at a restaurant back home would I leave a tip that was more than 20%”?

 

For example, there is one waitress at a restaurant we frequent that know us, greets us by name, knows my mom is on a low sodium diet and informs my mom what specials are low sodium or can be prepared without salt without us prompting her.  Her tips are in the 35-40% range.  If we were on a cruise and each trip to the MDR was a new discussion  about my mom’s diet  than no additional tip.  But if one discussion meant each subsequent visit was met with a personal greeting and recommendations for my mom, there would be an extra tip.  

The most we have ever tipped in a restaurant in NY is 30 percent.We generally tip 20 percent.

[ed01106]

1 minute ago, lenquixote66 said:

 

The most we have ever tipped in a restaurant in NY is 30 percent.We generally tip 20 percent.

My point is the level of service that warrants 20% at home doesn’t warrant an extra tip at sea. (99% of the time) The level of service that prompts you to give 30% at home warrants an extra tip at sea.

[ducklite]

15 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

 

The most we have ever tipped in a restaurant in NY is 30 percent.We generally tip 20 percent.

We often tip 30%, but we also seem to often receive exceptional service.  I have a special situation at a local restaurant where I tip $10 even if my bill is only $15 (it's seldom over $20).  Sometimes it comes down to "taking care of staff."  If you've worked in service, you'd understand.  

 

I remember my first restaurant job and to this day still remember both the really cheap and the really generous customers. 

[ducklite]

26 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

My point is the level of service that warrants 20% at home doesn’t warrant an extra tip at sea. (99% of the time) The level of service that prompts you to give 30% at home warrants an extra tip at sea.

 

I would agree with this.  

[ed01106]

5 minutes ago, ducklite said:

We often tip 30%, but we also seem to often receive exceptional service.  I have a special situation at a local restaurant where I tip $10 even if my bill is only $15 (it's seldom over $20).  Sometimes it comes down to "taking care of staff."  If you've worked in service, you'd understand.  

 

I remember my first restaurant job and to this day still remember both the really cheap and the really generous customers. 

I am more likely to go over 20% at a breakfast restaurant when the bill for 6 including 4 messy and indecisive kids who are a lot of work for the wait staff and the bill is only $40, than I am when two relatively easy adults ring up a $150 bill for dinner.  Cause even if the breakfast waitress gets 50%  she is working 10x harder for $20 than the other did for $30.

[ducklite]

10 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

I am more likely to go over 20% at a breakfast restaurant when the bill for 6 including 4 messy and indecisive kids who are a lot of work for the wait staff and the bill is only $40, than I am when two relatively easy adults ring up a $150 bill for dinner.  Cause even if the breakfast waitress gets 50%  she is working 10x harder for $20 than the other did for $30.

I can see leaving extra with messy kids.  It's typically just my husband and I, or maybe with another couple, so very different situation.  Plus with breakfast we're in and out in 30-45 minutes, with dinner we could be in that table for 2-3 hours.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

It was a two week cruise, and the employee went way, WAY over and above to assist with a special request.

Sounds like you thought the amount was commensurate with the value you received.

Plus, the memories of the fulfilled special request will last a very long time.

[ducklite]

5 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Sounds like you thought the amount was commensurate with the value you received.

Plus, the memories of the fulfilled special request will last a very long time.

 

Exactly!

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

Looking at it that way, it's not even close to enough.  We typically leave $5 per night for a hotel housekeeper.

 

Breakfast at a place like First Watch or Another Broken Egg for two is about $25, so a $5 tip for that meal.

 

Lunch at a moderate place like BJ's, Earls, or 99 would run about $35 for two, so another $7.

 

Dinner at a place like Seasons 52, Charlestons, Ocean Prime, etc. would easily run $75 for two.  So that's $15.  

 

The way I see it, $12.50 pp is quite a deal.

Exactly - but the problem is that too many cruise passengers get sticker shock when they think of spending $25 a day for a couple - especially when they can multiply by 7 - and think about “saving” $175 (on a cruise they could barely afford in the first place) so, not only wont they leave an extra tip - they will reduce/eliminate the service charge.

 

Of course, kharma being what it is, their grandchildren will be stiffed by the grandchildren of today’s cabin stewards and dining room waiters, when they discover that working on Indonesia Philippines Lines cruise ships is better for them  than working in Chinese owned factories in the North America Industrial Zone.

Edited November 18, 2019 by navybankerteacher

[ed01106]

3 hours ago, ducklite said:

I can see leaving extra with messy kids.  It's typically just my husband and I, or maybe with another couple, so very different situation.  Plus with breakfast we're in and out in 30-45 minutes, with dinner we could be in that table for 2-3 hours.

If it takes 3 hours, they ain’t much of a tip.  If total time from parking to exiting is more than 90 minutes we probably aren’t going back.  

[ldubs]

On 11/17/2019 at 12:26 PM, DirtyDawg said:

Cruise Critic is a small subset of the cruising demographic and I suspect that the percentage of cruisers giving additional gratuities is lower in the general cruiser population than on Cruise Critic. Many cruisers on this board have cruise many, many times and will receive service that warrants additional gratuities.  The other reason might be that this is the internet and everything is bigger and better on the internet vs. the real world.  😉

 

Yeah, I think you are right on here.  At the start of this thread I was fairly sure everyone did as we do.  Don't think so any longer.   CC has a big membership, but I don't think the number of active posters is a big number. 

[Bonnie J.]

WE have been on more than 100 cruises since 1984. We don't always tip more but usually tip our waiter and his assistant if they do anything more than they have to. We also tip a bar waiter when he recognizes us and what we want. they always ask if we want what we had ordered yesterday or any day, But, we give these these tips on the last day. Same with room stewards. WE extra to tip crew who have earned them.

Read some tip first day to get better service but what more do they get? 

[eric4395]

My wife and I been on over 20 cruises and we refuse to tip more than the total  automatic charges. On most of cruises we tend to  to keep one of our automatic gratuities added and take the other one off, ie if its 14$ a day on a 10 day cruise= $140 we split it up amongst our cabin attendant waiter staff and our favourite barman. This our preferred way off doing it, however on our most recent cruise we decided to keep both our suggested amounts on and not give any additional tips. Can't say we will do that again though you can sense the disappointment if you don't hand over anything personally. One thing I am not quite sure about is this over and above service I can't say I have ever been disappointed in my waiters or cabin staff but fail to see other than keeping our room nice and serving our meals as expected what they would do to make it extra special. 

[Host Kat]

The OP has seen the opinions and given their thanks. And now that this thread has had numerous hijacking and off-topic posts removed, this thread is closed.

 

Happy sails to all,

 

Host Kat