John Heald discusses new Carnival policy on gifts to crew from passengers

[LandlockedCruiser01]

I agree with most people on here: CASH, CASH, and again, CASH.  That's what the crew works for.  Not for a baseball cap from a city they couldn't care less about or for a box of Oreos they can easily buy in any port.  (And most non-US cookies are far better than Oreos to begin with.)

 

But if you're dead-set on giving something non-cash, give a thank-you card.  Write a sincere, succinct message on it, thanking them for their work.  If you know their native language, write it in that.  A card takes up almost no space until thrown out, and it'll give the worker a brief warm feeling.  But even then, give the card IN ADDITION to cash, not INSTEAD OF cash.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by LandlockedCruiser01

[Pika8347]

12 hours ago, resetjet said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175360252207?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=FUIX8w0gSLa&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=jT9UNmbZQNa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

These make great gifts for anyone…..

Actually, you're right. 

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

I agree with most people on here: CASH, CASH, and again, CASH.  That's what the crew works for.  Not for a baseball cap from a city they couldn't care less about or for a box of Oreos they can easily buy in any port.  (And most non-US cookies are far better than Oreos to begin with.)

 

But if you're dead-set on giving something non-cash, give a thank-you card.  Write a sincere, succinct message on it, thanking them for their work.  If you know their native language, write it in that.  A card takes up almost no space until thrown out, and it'll give the worker a brief warm feeling.  But even then, give the card IN ADDITION to cash, not INSTEAD OF cash.

 

 

Instead of or maybe in addition to a thank you card, fill in a cruise line card letting the cruise line know why the employee was someone who made your cruise special

[LandlockedCruiser01]

13 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Instead of or maybe in addition to a thank you card, fill in a cruise line card letting the cruise line know why the employee was someone who made your cruise special

 

Of course!  I've done that too.  But that's not a gift in a conventional sense, and this is a gift thread.

[RD64]

1 minute ago, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

 

Of course!  I've done that too.  But that's not a gift in a conventional sense, and this is a gift thread.

The only gift anyone wants is cash - plain and simple - not your hats, not your key chains, not your bottle openers.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

 

Of course!  I've done that too.  But that's not a gift in a conventional sense, and this is a gift thread.

Yes, but it is more valuable to them than any trinket, cookies, hat, etc.

[LandlockedCruiser01]

19 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, but it is more valuable to them than any trinket, cookies, hat, etc.

 

Who said I was insisting this wasn't true?  The only gift I said was OK was a thank-you card.

[mom2tcdx2]

We tend to take candy that we have put outside our cabin. On prior cruises it has always been taken and also by a lot of crew members that would stop by as well.  I wonder if this would be frowned upon now as well, I mean I am sure some people thought it odd, but we started one year during a Halloween cruise it went over so well we just take bags of candy on each cruise we go on.  We set out a little metal basket by our cabin door and it gets emptied out rather regularly.  

 

I guess if they ask us to take it down we will, but I already had several bags to take on the ship with us.  

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, mom2tcdx2 said:

We tend to take candy that we have put outside our cabin. On prior cruises it has always been taken and also by a lot of crew members that would stop by as well.  I wonder if this would be frowned upon now as well, I mean I am sure some people thought it odd, but we started one year during a Halloween cruise it went over so well we just take bags of candy on each cruise we go on.  We set out a little metal basket by our cabin door and it gets emptied out rather regularly.  

 

I guess if they ask us to take it down we will, but I already had several bags to take on the ship with us.  

 

I'd say as long as the candy is individually sealed it should be fine. But candies that are just wrapped, like peppermints or mini reese's pieces, should be avoided. But that's just my personal opinion. I doubt Carnival gets that specific.

[mom2tcdx2]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

I'd say as long as the candy is individually sealed it should be fine. But candies that are just wrapped, like peppermints or mini reese's pieces, should be avoided. But that's just my personal opinion. I doubt Carnival gets that specific.

We would put out like the Hershey miniatures, reeses peanut butter cups, kit kats, hershey kisses, snickers. Kind of like the smaller sizes you see at Halloween or in Christmas stockings.  We bought some Valentines candy and I have also taken Easter candy when we sailed near Easter.  We have always found all of the candy taken, so kind of thought it seemed like an OK thing.  Even got thank you letters left from crew in our little basket.  

[sanger727]

On 2/9/2023 at 4:12 PM, Eli_6 said:

I think this may be a southern thing.  My husband has gotten many edible gifts from patients before.  Sometimes they are cookies from Tiff's Treats or that Bundt Cake store, but we have gotten homemade stuff before, too. He has also gotten liquor, cigars, plants, homemade jellies, fresh fruit/vegis grown from yards, etc.  One patient even knitted him a blanket when we had our youngest son.  I also recall my neighbors bringing over casseroles, etc. when we had our children...and people definitely do this in the south when someone dies.  Casseroles and pies galore.  Another patient once bought him two bags of pecans from her yard.  In fact, when I was growing up in the 90s, many Sundays after lunch everyone would bring a dish and the whole church would eat.  And growing up my grandmother would always have "sweets" in her freezer to dethaw just in case someone stopped by her house she could quickly dethaw them.  And she did have people just drop by on a regular basis. 

 

In my job we also get a good number of homemade treats - cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. So, I've never taken an issue with that. And I don't think you are suggesting people bring those on board as tips, but like me, it doesn't sound like an outrageous gift. Our situation is quite a bit different than tipped crew. I'm in an occupation where it's not appropriate to give a cash tip and accepting "tips and gifts" is prohibited by policy. Frankly, food like homemade cookies or someone sending us pizza is about all we are allowed to accept.