Tipping room steward after prepaying gratuities

[forests_lover]

I have prepaid for gratuities for my upcoming 7-night cruise, now am I supposed to put a tip in the room steward's envelope at the last day ? or is that considered an unnecessary double tip ?

if I'm supposed to do that, then what's the good average range for a tip in a trip like this to the Caribbean ?

[soremekun]

9 minutes ago, forests_lover said:

I have prepaid for gratuities for my upcoming 7-night cruise, now am I supposed to put a tip in the room steward's envelope at the last day ? or is that considered an unnecessary double tip ?

if I'm supposed to do that, then what's the good average range for a tip in a trip like this to the Caribbean ?

A tip for your room attendant for a 7-night cruise to the Caribbean? Hmmm.  The gratuity imposed by cruise line is sufficient.  Even an extra $20 cash tip is going above and beyond. If you're feeling really generous, you can offer him/her the deed to your house, include him in your will, or start a college fund for his kids.

Edited October 9, 2022 by soremekun

[smokeybandit]

You're under no obligation to tip anything above the daily gratuities. But if you feel that room steward deserves more, you put in that envelope whatever you think they deserve.

There's really no right or wrong amount.

[Spif Barwunkel]

Tipping should not be a stressful part of the cruising experience. If you are concerned about extra-tipping, don't be. Consider your pre-paid tips sufficient and go about your cruising activities free of that bother. Don't worry, you won't have to look for reasons to tip extra, and you should not have to. At cruise's end it will all come together and whatever you decide is correct and what works for you.

[DirtyDawg]

46 minutes ago, soremekun said:

A tip for your room attendant for a 7-night cruise to the Caribbean? Hmmm.  The gratuity imposed by cruise line is sufficient.  Even an extra $20 cash tip is going above and beyond. If you're feeling really generous, you can offer him/her the deed to your house, include him in your will, or start a college fund for his kids.

And for the really bad room stewards in addition to giving him the deed to my house, including them in my will, and starting a college fund for his kids,  I offer him the stock tips I get from the internet. 😁

[pcur]

If I ask for anything extra in addition to the usual cabin clean-up, then I tip some extra in cash.

[Thesandman12]

I think the prepaid or recommended paid are enough. If you do not add additional, that is OK as well,

should not feel stressed about it. Having said that, we sometimes ask for additional things, and we have sometimes required assistance/help.  We may ask for extra set of towels, extra pillows, spilling something in the room, etc. When our room attendant goes above and beyond, for whatever reason, I do tip more. I know when that happens and I think others do too. It is a personal thing. I can tell you I have always felt right when tipping more, and right when tipping required. I have seen people cancel the prepaid tips on the last day day cruising. We had our kids in one cabin, separate, from us, and I guarantee we tipped more.

[pattak619]

We always tip our Room Steward the day we meet him/her on boarding day. We always ask for ice 2xday,and extra towels,so a 10 spot on day 1 ,seems fair to us after all the upfront requests. 

[CanHardlyWait4NextYear]

The answers given so far are spot on. No need to go beyond unless maybe you ask something special of someone. So basically with your pre paid you are good. Happy to see it's all coming together for you.

Edited October 9, 2022 by CanHardlyWait4NextYear
Typo

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, pattak619 said:

We always tip our Room Steward the day we meet him/her on boarding day. We always ask for ice 2xday,and extra towels,so a 10 spot on day 1 ,seems fair to us after all the upfront requests. 

Ice that used to be standard operating procedure and carrying in extra towels as if the steward had to wash them..... whatever floats your boat.

[pattak619]

On  our last few cruises we were told ice was only filled upon request.

[Ret MP]

Just a point of clarification:  The paying of tips, pre-cruise is an option. If you opt to not pay for the tips pre-cruise, the ship will automatically add the daily amount to your Set Sail Account.  But, once again, that is ultimately optional.  If you don't think you received the service you expected, you can remove all or part of the tip/gratuity by going to the Guest Services desk.  Now, I don't know if, for example, you can tell them that you don't want any or part of your tip to go to your Steward or whomever.  I believe you can only adjust the daily amount, the amount is totally up to you.

[Ret MP]

1 minute ago, pattak619 said:

On  our last few cruises we were told ice was only filled upon request.

I've heard the same

[TBurr]

If they give me good service, I always give them an extra tip, and also to the dining room waiters/staff. Their salaries are so low and even with the pooled tip their income is low. If I can spend that amount of money on the cruise, drinks, internet, etc, I can and will always give them extra for good service. 

[Ret MP]

I, almost always over tip, even if I don't get great service.  I have a lot of compassion for MOST of the crew. 

 

 

[George C]

We tip 40 to 60 extra at the end of the week.

[not-enough-cruising]

12 minutes ago, pattak619 said:

On  our last few cruises we were told ice was only filled upon request.

That doesn’t make it an extra, or above standard practice. 

[not-enough-cruising]

11 minutes ago, TBurr said:

If they give me good service, I always give them an extra tip, and also to the dining room waiters/staff. Their salaries are so low and even with the pooled tip their income is low. If I can spend that amount of money on the cruise, drinks, internet, etc, I can and will always give them extra for good service. 

Low is subjective 

 

Some would say the salary, viewed in the appropriate economic context, is quite generous. 

[BND]

We usually tip extra, but not a huge amount.  I also don't buy the posters who say they tip $100 extra.  There are a few who virtue signal on this site so don't believe everything you read.  It costs them nothing to say they do.  🙂

 

[Ocean Boy]

23 minutes ago, pattak619 said:

On  our last few cruises we were told ice was only filled upon request.

Correct. I said it used to be standard operating prcedure then it was changed to upon request. Of course, they didn't decrease the gratuities when they made the change.

[ARandomTraveler]

33 minutes ago, BND said:

We usually tip extra, but not a huge amount.  I also don't buy the posters who say they tip $100 extra.  There are a few who virtue signal on this site so don't believe everything you read.  It costs them nothing to say they do.  🙂

 

I've tipped $100 before, when I've had a room steward who was really personable and who looked after us when we were sea sick, and opened our door for us a bunch throughout the week etc. I've also tipped $100 if I've played blackjack in the casino and won money, I felt like passing on a little more tip money was good juju (share the wealth and all that).

 

I usually tip $50 though. I feel like $50 is a good compromise between tipping $5/day ($35) and $10/day ($70) without feeling like I've tipped too little or too much.

 

There was 1 time that I tipped $0 because I never saw my room steward at all, and just never felt that I got anything extra from them. 

 

I don't think that tipping $100 is an outrageous amount of money, nor do I think it's "virtue signaling" to say one tips $100. I think there's lots of circumstances where $100 would feel totally appropriate (think of all those people putting 4 in a room, or people who have little children who leave lots of food crumbs and dirty smelly diapers etc).
 

That being said, I can also see where tipping nothing is totally appropriate. I've done that before too. It's up to each person, their comfort level, and their interaction with the room steward. 

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[shipgeeks]

1 hour ago, pattak619 said:

On  our last few cruises we were told ice was only filled upon request.

And previously we had to ask to have it removed.  It's just not something we want in the cabin; maybe many others feel the same.

[NJoynCruisin]

We usually tip when we meet.  We ask for feather pillows and extra towels, etc.  Depending on how things go we tip again at the end in addition to our tips per day.  We take care of our specialty dining staff, esp if we get wine.  If the concierge service is great, they get a tip too.  The last concierge was just so/so.  Smaller tip.  The last dining room servers were not very good so just got the daily recommendations.  We also left ur room steward a bottle of Rose that the casino have us on the last day.  He was pretty grateful for that the day We were leaving.  I hear they share them with the other crew.  Living on a ship for months needs some positive reinforcement.  ☺☺

[RJ257]

Ive always had good room stewards so I leave something extra. I never tip in advance.

Edited October 9, 2022 by RJ257

[Ferry_Watcher]

2 hours ago, BND said:

We usually tip extra, but not a huge amount.  I also don't buy the posters who say they tip $100 extra.  There are a few who virtue signal on this site so don't believe everything you read.  It costs them nothing to say they do.  🙂

 

In addition to our pre-paid tips, we DO tip an additional $110-$120 to our stateroom steward. We also tip the dining room waitstaff.   I work seasonally shoreside for the cruise lines and I know how hard the crew works.  We can afford it, I know that the crew work long and hard days, away from their families, and tipping extra it makes me feel happy.