Tipping

[Peregrina651]

 

I sail on Viking because I have finally found a cruise line that meets my needs.

 

My idea of a vacation is boarding a ship with less than 1000 guests that will take me from port to port so I can explore a new destinations, where someone else is driving, someone else is doing the food shopping, the laundry, the housekeeping, the cooking and the dishes -- and where I am treated like an adult, not a problem about to happen. 

 

I don't care what labels you slap on Viking, they meet my needs. That's all that matters.

 

 

[jc522]

The amount of the gratuity in the bill seemed appropriate so I had them reduce that by 25%, and I gave the difference directly to our stewards.

[Vagabond51]

10% for Europe. Pretty simple for us.

 

Luxury??? My lifelong best friend and mentor of many years told me many years ago that most everyone in this world goes through life it with a sign on their back that reads: "Please pay attention to me.". For us, luxury worth paying for is those service providers who read and understand the sign.

 

He would be in a room full of governors, senators, heads of corporations and various other "very important people". Fred would be in the corner talking to the bus boy and learning; a lot. Fred never had to worry about luxury service if he frequented a place twice. People would go out of their way to provide Fred luxury. Funny how that works.

[donaldsc]

We took our 1st Viking Ocean recently and we are going back.  Our cabin attendant was one of the best we have ever had.  We tipped her.

 

DON

[Vagabond51]

32 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

We took our 1st Viking Ocean recently and we are going back.  Our cabin attendant was one of the best we have ever had.  We tipped her.

 

DON

 

That is great to hear. We (the wife actually) got to know our main dining attendant on a Disney Panama Canal trip a few years back. She has a food allergy and it just goes from there. The wife can end up knowing a persons life story crossing Time Square, just who she is. The attendant was telling DW Disney keeps very close watch on who gets what and pressures the crew to divy up what they get over and above what Disney dings passengers. Of that mandatory tip, Disney took a hefty slice off the top for "handling fee's". I NEVER use the provided envelopes. Always hand to hand along with a personal thank you. I have gotten in the habit of bringing a tube of American Silver Eagles with me on trips. For truly exceptional service I will hand deliver one or a few for service above and beyond. The joy in some of the eye's of receipients is priceless. They get it.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Vagabond51

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, Vagabond51 said:

 

That is great to hear. We (the wife actually) got to know our main dining attendant on a Disney Panama Canal trip a few years back. She has a food allergy and it just goes from there. The wife can end up knowing a persons life story crossing Time Square, just who she is. The attendant was telling DW Disney keeps very close watch on who gets what and pressures the crew to divy up what they get over and above what Disney dings passengers. Of that mandatory tip, Disney took a hefty slice off the top for "handling fee's". I NEVER use the provided envelopes. Always hand to hand along with a personal thank you. I have gotten in the habit of bringing a tube of American Silver Eagles with me on trips. For truly exceptional service I will hand deliver one or a few for service above and beyond. The joy in some of the eye's of receipients is priceless. They get it.

 

For those of us not from the U.S. what is a tube of American Silver Eagles?

[OneSixtyToOne]

12 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

For those of us not from the U.S. what is a tube of American Silver Eagles?

They are collectible/investment 1oz silver bullion coins from the US Mint. Never heard of anyone actually using them. 
https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/american-eagle/silver-bullion

Edited March 25, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Vagabond51]

An American Silver Eagle is 1oz of 99.99 silver minted with an Eagle on the coin. They are legal tender of the United States for all debts, public and private. They are in effect, a silver dollar, but no one would use a $22 coin for a single dollar tranaction, which is their face minted value. They come in plasic tubes, as silver tarnishes and this slows the process down considerably. I have had them pulled from my pack many times at security as you could imagine. Never an issue, but often some interesting grins and smiles. In effect, you are giving a tip of "about" 22 US dollars each. Most crew member whom I give them to know exactly what they are, as silver and gold are much more prevelant in their cultures than what they are in our own.

[KBs mum]

Have just been looking at a couple of coin dealer's websites, the silver eagles are for sale from £10 up to £70 depending on age and rarity, disappointing that silver isn't really worth much seems like copper often costs more for equivilent coins. 2023 silver uncirculated are £27.

Still, £10 with a possibility of £70 isn't a bad tip, and as you said, silver is silver

[aungrl]

18 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

For those of us not from the U.S. what is a tube of American Silver Eagles?

I'm from the US and I had the same question! 😊

[OneSixtyToOne]

27 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

Have just been looking at a couple of coin dealer's websites, the silver eagles are for sale from £10 up to £70 depending on age and rarity, disappointing that silver isn't really worth much seems like copper often costs more for equivilent coins. 2023 silver uncirculated are £27.

Still, £10 with a possibility of £70 isn't a bad tip, and as you said, silver is silver

 

The coins being referred to aren't collectables like the original circulated coins. They are bullion and only worth the current melt value. You will never get anything above that value. The US Mint has used past designs of famous coins (eg. Walking Liberty) to give them the allure of being collectable when they are really just precious metal in an attractive package. If you actually had a silver dollar from the period when they were in circulation and used as tender, then, yes they are worth much more. These are not.

 

Also it seems very inconvenient to find a gold and silver seller to exchange for actual notes. If I was a service worker, I would prefer cash to something I needed to barter with. A former boss of mine once gave these to his staff for Christmas one year. I have it in a drawer somewhere because I never wanted to do the legwork to cash it in.

Edited March 26, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[KBs mum]

31 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

The coins being referred to aren't collectables like the original circulated coins. They are bullion and only worth the current melt value. You will never get anything above that value. The US Mint has used past designs of famous coins (eg. Walking Liberty) to give them the allure of being collectable when they are really just precious metal in an attractive package. If you actually had a silver dollar from the period when they were in circulation and used as tender, then, yes they are worth much more. These are not.

 

All coins and banknotes are potentially worth above face and bullion to collectors, particularly silver as it's cheap. So many are melted as scrap that a rare one is worth more to collectors who might want to complete a year set, or have one from a birth or anniversary year. Same applies to silver Brittanias.

In the UK collectors market pre decimal and new maundy set silver coins are worth a lot more than bullion, particularly the mediaeval cross ones, or silver threppenny bits.

Gold tends to be bullion unless a circulated coin, as it is so expensive. 

For anyone interested have a look at 'Spink' for guide prices. 

 

Most pawn shops and jewellers will buy gold and silver by weight in any format, I think for about current bullion less 20%

Edited March 26, 2023 by KBs mum