Tipping cabana stewards, daily or weekly?

[kntrygrl]

I have a retreat cabana reserved for the duration of my 7-day cruise. I choose to pay extra gratuities to thank those that make my vacation extra special and budget for that. I usually wait until the last couple days to say “thank you” but I am wondering what others do in the cabanas. I understand that they will bring food/drinks and pamper daily, so is it better to tip every day, every time they bring something, or just at the end?

[CruiserBruce]

We tip at the the end of the cruise,  unless it's a B2B, when we tip at the end of each segment,  in case one of the stewards leaves or gets moved to another assignment. 

[Ryten]

We have tipped at the end of the cruise as well. however. We have also discovered that a bag or two of Doritos from any port, makes the stewards extremely happy. particularly when they can't go ashore.

[Real NHDOC]

We typically do what the others have said.  Tip on the last day of the cruise or the last day of a leg of a B2B.  If someone really goes out of their way for a particular request, then giving them a little extra for that is also a nice gesture. 

 

But, if you want to do something especially nice mention the cabana attendants by name in your survey response after the cruise.  Those are seen by their supervisor (the beverage manager) and are used for future promotions too.  While the cash is surely appreciated a merit promotion will last a lot longer.

[JeffElizabeth]

41 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

We typically do what the others have said.  Tip on the last day of the cruise or the last day of a leg of a B2B.  If someone really goes out of their way for a particular request, then giving them a little extra for that is also a nice gesture. 

 

But, if you want to do something especially nice mention the cabana attendants by name in your survey response after the cruise.  Those are seen by their supervisor (the beverage manager) and are used for future promotions too.  While the cash is surely appreciated a merit promotion will last a lot longer.

Great advice. Amazing how fast your comments get to their supervisors. (Also works for bad service or slip-ups.)

[Tampa Girl]

But if you want to tip room steward, dining stewards, etc., what  is the reasonable range of such tips, for instance, per week/  It doesn't help to say it depends on the service.  We always get good service on HAL.

[horseymike]

21 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

But if you want to tip room steward, dining stewards, etc., what  is the reasonable range of such tips, for instance, per week/  It doesn't help to say it depends on the service.  We always get good service on HAL.

I usually tip $10. Per day to our cabin steward above and beyond the prepaid tips that we have already paid. The service has been excellent 95% of the time. 
There was one time when the service was hardly passable, in that case I reduced the cash tip considerably. It’s only fair to mention, that was not on an HAL cruise.

Edited August 26, 2023 by horseymike
Correction