Is tipping in cash still preferred by cruise staff ?

[Bill Miller]

Hope this Tip pays off for you. At the Saratoga track in New York today, pick the 3 horse, Diamond Hands, in the fifth race.

[MamaFej]

A few months ago, on another thread, I joked that the crew could have their Venmo QR codes printed on their name tags.

 

After reading this thread, it seems like less of a joke, and more of a possibility.

[TeeRick]

56 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Does anyone else tip the captain? I think the standard is 20% of the cruise fare, but don't include the port fees and taxes.

Yes I tip the captain and he/she pools the tips for the entire Bridge crew!😀  Also I give the Captain $20 on the first night to keep us out of rough weather.

[Pinboy]

12 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Hey, I'm popular with everyone baby.

Is that You ??? Now I know who you are ---

You're that " popular " ( ?? )  guy at our golf course that Nobody will play with.

LOL-- I played 9 holes with him once and said I had to leave because I was only 8 under par .

[zitsky]

49 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

Is that You ??? Now I know who you are ---

You're that " popular " ( ?? )  guy at our golf course that Nobody will play with.

LOL-- I played 9 holes with him once and said I had to leave because I was only 8 under par .

 

No way man.  Golf is not my bag.

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, zitsky said:

No problem!  Tipping *is* my bag.

 

Cool, that it's your bad, man. 

[Bill Miller]

The bookie lied to me. Imagine that!  Diamond Hands choked at Saratoga.  On tipping cruise staff, absolutely. Always a good bet.

[NMTraveller]

9 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Yes I tip the captain and he/she pools the tips for the entire Bridge crew!😀  Also I give the Captain $20 on the first night to keep us out of rough weather.

I tip the captain $20 to put us into the rougher weather. 🙂  With a little rock and roll I sleep like a baby at night.

[DaKahuna]

33 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I tip the captain $20 to put us into the rougher weather. 🙂  With a little rock and roll I sleep like a baby at night.

This ^^^^ is one of the things I miss most about cruising. 

[zitsky]

You comedians should have your own show on board.

[Redtravel]

On previous trips, we were told by a waiter that tips must be pooled.  If they are seen accepting a tip, it must be handed over to supervisor for the pool.  Now that tips are included, just enjoy the cruise.  If we have excess OBC, we donate it to tips.  I prefer cruise lines that included tips in fares and don’t accept tips.  you pay more up front, but the service is usually very good.  
 

[zitsky]

8 hours ago, Redtravel said:

On previous trips, we were told by a waiter that tips must be pooled.  If they are seen accepting a tip, it must be handed over to supervisor for the pool.  Now that tips are included, just enjoy the cruise.  If we have excess OBC, we donate it to tips.  I prefer cruise lines that included tips in fares and don’t accept tips.  you pay more up front, but the service is usually very good.  
 

 

Which cruise lines do not accept tips?  I've only been on Viking, Norwegian and Celebrity.  They all accepted tips.

[Eglesbrech]

35 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Which cruise lines do not accept tips?  I've only been on Viking, Norwegian and Celebrity.  They all accepted tips.

Seabourne and Silverseas don’t encourage extra tipping as it is all fully included in the price (they don’t stop it though if you really, really want to but there is not need). I think a lot of the high end ships have the same type of policy.

 

Celebrity marketing implies that it is “always included” now as well (well it does here in the U.K. anyway). They are silent on extra tipping.

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I tip the captain $20 to put us into the rougher weather. 🙂  With a little rock and roll I sleep like a baby at night.

Yes totally agree.  The gentle rocking helps me get a good sleep too!

[GottaKnowWhen]

17 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

… Celebrity marketing implies that it is “always included” now as well (well it does here in the U.K. anyway). They are silent on extra tipping.

Every since I’ve been on Celebrity (2015) we have had to pay for gratuities up front. Sometimes it was called out as an extra charge, like taxes or port fees, sometimes it was included as part of a package deal like now with the “always included” promotion. But it has always been there. Which is good, because there are many who would tip nothing if they could get away with it. And making it part of the total cost allows the staff director to allocate portions of the gratuity overall pool to the “invisible “ crew members who would otherwise get nothing extra.

Stan

[Eglesbrech]

2 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Every since I’ve been on Celebrity (2015) we have had to pay for gratuities up front. Sometimes it was called out as an extra charge, like taxes or port fees, sometimes it was included as part of a package deal like now with the “always included” promotion. But it has always been there. Which is good, because there are many who would tip nothing if they could get away with it. And making it part of the total cost allows the staff director to allocate portions of the gratuity overall pool to the “invisible “ crew members who would otherwise get nothing extra.

Stan

Yes indeed. It’s only fair to all staff, particularly the “invisible” ones as you rightly point out.

 

We always pre-paid the standard gratuities anyway but previously it was a choice and many decided to not pay it. Now it is included they will actually have to make an effort to have it removed once onboard if that is what they plan to do (and many do, that’s why other U.K. lines have also now included it in the price as so many were removing the tips at reception).

[Pinboy]

1 minute ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Which is good, because there are many who would tip nothing if they could get away with it.

There are many who do get away without tipping.

They go to the GR desk and ask for the Auto Gratuities to be removed early on in the cruise. 

Because the Staff are made aware of it, the " brave sleezebags " wait until the last night of the cruise to " stiff " the Staff that provided great service throughout the cruise. 

 

 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes indeed. It’s only fair to all staff, particularly the “invisible” ones as you rightly point out.

 

We always pre-paid the standard gratuities anyway but previously it was a choice and many decided to not pay it. Now it is included they will actually have to make an effort to have it removed once onboard if that is what they plan to do (and many do, that’s why other U.K. lines have also now included it in the price as so many were removing the tips at reception).

They should have separate line with a very large sign that reads "GRATUITY REMOVERS LINE UP HERE"

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, LGW59 said:

They should have separate line with a very large sign that reads "GRATUITY REMOVERS LINE UP HERE"

That might work but some have a neck of pure brass and would queue anyway!

[davekathy]

15 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

Every since I’ve been on Celebrity (2015) we have had to pay for gratuities up front. Sometimes it was called out as an extra charge, like taxes or port fees, sometimes it was included as part of a package deal like now with the “always included” promotion. But it has always been there. Which is good, because there are many who would tip nothing if they could get away with it. And making it part of the total cost allows the staff director to allocate portions of the gratuity overall pool to the “invisible “ crew members who would otherwise get nothing extra.

Stan

We've been cruising since 1991 and with Celebrity since 1994 and we've never "had" to pay gratuities upfront. Including our latest cruise that was in 2019 and our cancelled cruises in 2020 we never elected to pay our gratuities upfront. I remember when we use to put our gratuities in envelopes on the last night of the cruise and handed the staff their gratuities that way. Then the Celebrity started charging our onboard account directly. With refundable OBC and nonrefundable OBC Celebrity removes gratuities from our OBCs (nonrefundable first) per day per person. 2022 with AI will be first time we will have gratuities charged to the booking before even stepping foot on the ship. No biggie. Either pre cruise or during the cruise is fine with us. Never had a reason to even remotely consider not paying the staff their gratuities. 

[GottaKnowWhen]

19 minutes ago, davekathy said:

... with Celebrity since 1994 and we've never "had" to pay gratuities upfront. Including our latest cruise that was in 2019 and our cancelled cruises in 2020 we never elected to pay our gratuities upfront. ...

I may be slightly misremembering. I know I have always paid ahead, but it is entirely possible that I never "had" to pay upfront. If it were an option, I would always choose to have it prepaid and so one less cost item to worry about along the way. And so, for me, we have always had the gratuities included, whether as part of a package or as a separate item called out and paid upfront.

 

Stan

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

I may be slightly misremembering. I know I have always paid ahead, but it is entirely possible that I never "had" to pay upfront. If it were an option, I would always choose to have it prepaid and so one less cost item to worry about along the way. And so, for me, we have always had the gratuities included, whether as part of a package or as a separate item called out and paid upfront.

 

Stan

Agree. There was an option to prepay gratuities before AI. I'm sure the option is still there for non AI cruises. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by davekathy

[davekathy]

15 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I tip the captain $20 to put us into the rougher weather. 🙂  With a little rock and roll I sleep like a baby at night.

Thank you for doing that. I owe you a drink. 🍻😁

Edited August 19, 2021 by davekathy

[zitsky]

Another tipping thread on the front page.

 

 

[steveweese]

On 8/17/2021 at 1:00 PM, davekathy said:

Thanks anyway, but I only was asking @zitsky as she/he was asking. I don't tip according to what others do or don't do. 

Sorry