How much cash do you bring?

[MJSailors]

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The amount of cash you take with you depends on your tipping habits,spending for extras and a consideration of having emergency funds. 
YMMV

MJ🙎🏻‍♀️

[Jam0610]

Just got off the Voyager today. Took $ 500.00 for me, wife had $ 250.00. Mine is down to $ 87.00. She somehow still has her entire amount. How does that work???

 

 

[George C]

We bring a hundred in singles and a hundred in fives for tipping, then a thousand or so for gambling and some of that for tipping also.

[cruiseguy1016]

1 hour ago, Jam0610 said:

Just got off the Voyager today. Took $ 500.00 for me, wife had $ 250.00. Mine is down to $ 87.00. She somehow still has her entire amount. How does that work???

 

"Honey, I don't have my purse, will you please leave a tip for me?"

 

[BallFour4]

2 hours ago, Jam0610 said:

Just got off the Voyager today. Took $ 500.00 for me, wife had $ 250.00. Mine is down to $ 87.00. She somehow still has her entire amount. How does that work???

 

 

From a total stranger, you two have been married at least twenty years. That's how it works.
 We celebrate 41 on the Icon in a few weeks along with a remission diagnosis for me. I carry around a grand and my wife probably has $7 bucks...

 

.

[SoloAlaska]

3 cruises so far and have seen a porter only once really. Never have a need for a porter so that can save me a chunk of change. Next year I will see normal porters in action and looking forward to it. It’s odd being on CC and not being able to picture what seems so normal for so many.

[aubreyc1988]

Now that I am Prime, usually 500-600 for excursion tip money and for emergencies, and then I just room charge for my gambling. It is a relief to not have to have large amounts of cash on me when traveling but I hate seeing that room bill lol. 

[jean87510]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:23 PM, sunlover2 said:

Been awhile since we cruised. I know the gratuities are included but wondering how much cash you bring for additional tips...drinks, porters. extra $ for steward or whomever you feel deserves an extra tip, excursion tips and souvenirs....

 

Thinking at least 100 in singles plus other smaller bills....

 

Thoughts?  Thank you

Is this just a question for how much to tip or for port days?  

 

For port days, if we are on our own, we usually do $100 per island plus the credit card as you never know.  If we do a non ship excursion, 50% of the time it's cash only so we also include a 20% tip of whatever the excursion was since the gratuities are not included.  Those days I also bring $100 on top of the budgeted tour.

[Beer Belly]

I've got a question on tipping, figure I'd drop it here. We book Balcony cabins, usually tip the steward $150 - $200 for a 7 day cruise, Boss Lady sez I over tip everywhere we go.....is she correct ?.....am I overdoing it ?......I also tip at specialty dining even though gratuities are included when purchasing the package.

[Wineaux007]

15 minutes ago, Beer Belly said:

I've got a question on tipping, figure I'd drop it here. We book Balcony cabins, usually tip the steward $150 - $200 for a 7 day cruise, Boss Lady sez I over tip everywhere we go.....is she correct ?.....am I overdoing it ?......I also tip at specialty dining even though gratuities are included when purchasing the package.

The wife is correct.  😁  

[cruiseguy1016]

54 minutes ago, Beer Belly said:

I've got a question on tipping, figure I'd drop it here. We book Balcony cabins, usually tip the steward $150 - $200 for a 7 day cruise, Boss Lady sez I over tip everywhere we go.....is she correct ?.....am I overdoing it ?......I also tip at specialty dining even though gratuities are included when purchasing the package.

 

Is that $150 - $200 on top of the auto gratuities that are charged to your account? Some basic math, I know the numbers aren't exact. The room steward receives about $50 - $ 60 from the auto gratuities. If you aren't paying auto gratuities, your $150 - $200 is tripling their usual compensation. If your $150 - $200 is on top off auto gratuities, you are quadrupling it.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

0 for me to spend as tips are already included i am not tipping extra for somone to get me a drink or serv me quicker. Its their job and plenty of Graturites already added. 

 

I do take cash but its just emergency cash if needed. 👍

[cruiseboy89130]

17 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

And we know who to blame for "tipping is getting out of hand".  😄

We have stopped tipping to balance the equation!👌

[Cruise a holic]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:12 PM, time4u2go said:

How long is your cruise? It matters.

We typically give the luggage handlers.  If we get a porter, we also give the same to take us to a cab.  

$5 per bag.  Then sometimes we give tips to people bringing us drinks- and of course if we use room service.  We give our cabin attendants extra tip   Between $5-10 per day. When off the ship, you might need cab fare or tip money- or money for small gifts-  Also airport or hotel tipping and purchases.  We bring about $400-500 per cruise.

[SoloAlaska]

1 hour ago, Beer Belly said:

I've got a question on tipping, figure I'd drop it here. We book Balcony cabins, usually tip the steward $150 - $200 for a 7 day cruise, Boss Lady sez I over tip everywhere we go.....is she correct ?.....am I overdoing it ?......I also tip at specialty dining even though gratuities are included when purchasing the package.

Yes boss lady is right. It’s ok to tip at specialty dinning even though tips are included but it should be a nominal amount not a percentage.

[Beer Belly]

1 hour ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

Is that $150 - $200 on top of the auto gratuities that are charged to your account? Some basic math, I know the numbers aren't exact. The room steward receives about $50 - $ 60 from the auto gratuities. If you aren't paying auto gratuities, your $150 - $200 is tripling their usual compensation. If your $150 - $200 is on top off auto gratuities, you are quadrupling it.

Yes, this is above pre-paid gratuities.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 2/15/2024 at 5:30 AM, cruiseguy1016 said:

We are Diamond so we get 4 free drinks that we tip for.

When we hit Diamond, we will tip on drinks. 

Right now we're already paying 18%, and that feels adequate unless someone really goes above and beyond.  

16 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The amount of cash you take with you depends on your tipping habits,spending for extras and a consideration of having emergency funds. 
YMMV

MJ🙎🏻‍♀️

Good points, but when we were new to cruising we used to bring more -- and then carried it right back home.  We have a good feel now for what we'll actually spend.  And we have two separate credit cards for emergencies.  

15 hours ago, George C said:

We bring a hundred in singles and a hundred in fives for tipping, then a thousand or so for gambling and some of that for tipping also.

A thousand or so for gambling -- wow!  

I'd be interested to hear what denominations of cash people bring for the casino.   

12 hours ago, SoloAlaska said:

3 cruises so far and have seen a porter only once really. Never have a need for a porter so that can save me a chunk of change. 

We give $3 for each small suitcase.  On a short cruise, we share one; on a week or longer, we bring two.  So we're not really spending a chunk of change tipping the porters:  $3-6.  

[BND]

3 hours ago, Beer Belly said:

I've got a question on tipping, figure I'd drop it here. We book Balcony cabins, usually tip the steward $150 - $200 for a 7 day cruise, Boss Lady sez I over tip everywhere we go.....is she correct ?.....am I overdoing it ?......I also tip at specialty dining even though gratuities are included when purchasing the package.

Yeah, that is way more than the average and a lot more than the stewards expect.  We stay in JS.  We do auto gratuities plus an additional $5-$7/day unless they go above and beyond and then we might tip an additional $20 for that.  We also tip a $1 for each of our D+ drinks and then an additional amount at the end of the cruise to a waiter who we used regularly.  For MDR waiter/asst waiter we also tip an additional $20-$30 at the end of the cruise.  We also tip  $7-10 when we drop off our 3 large bags.  There is no need to tip huge amounts but it is of course, your choice.

Edited February 16 by BND

[MommaBear55]

We found that it was very difficult to change even $20 bills on our most recent cruise, so we plan on bringing $15 a day in ones (we get 5 d+ drinks a day, so that's at least $10 right there), we tip a bit more in the specialty restaurants and we tip our tour guides. One thing I don't do any more is tip the cabin attendant much extra, Royal raised the tips per day then promptly halved the service we were getting. 

[BND]

4 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

We found that it was very difficult to change even $20 bills on our most recent cruise, so we plan on bringing $15 a day in ones (we get 5 d+ drinks a day, so that's at least $10 right there), we tip a bit more in the specialty restaurants and we tip our tour guides. One thing I don't do any more is tip the cabin attendant much extra, Royal raised the tips per day then promptly halved the service we were getting. 

It can be difficult which is why we bring as many ones as we do.  Our ATM gives $50 bills so either I break those in the Credit Union or use one in the slot machine and play a little and then cash it out and ask for a few extra ones, although they will only give you a few.    GS doesn't even like to break bills and will limit you to a small amount.  Staying in a JS, we still get twice a day service.

Edited February 16 by BND

[juhuri]

For a 7-night Mediterranean cruise. About 0€ cash. 

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, MommaBear55 said:

One thing I don't do any more is tip the cabin attendant much extra, Royal raised the tips per day then promptly halved the service we were getting. 

We all need to remember that Royal did that.  I'm not advocating hurting the individual cabin stewards, but we all need to let Royal know we don't like those two moves coupled together.  

 

 

Edited February 16 by Mum2Mercury

[TravisP]

On 2/15/2024 at 6:12 PM, Jam0610 said:

Just got off the Voyager today. Took $ 500.00 for me, wife had $ 250.00. Mine is down to $ 87.00. She somehow still has her entire amount. How does that work???

 

 

That sounds like how it works with my wife and I also. lol

[jbrinkm]

On 2/15/2024 at 5:27 PM, MJSailors said:

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

 

We brought $500 on our last trip, $100 in singles and various denominations for the rest - it WAS a lot of singles so we split it up between us. We came home with quite a bit left, but we didn't want to run short on cash like we did the year before.

 

Two years ago, we ran into several "broken" credit card machines during different excursions and got so low on cash while on Cozumel that we weren't sure we were going to be able to pay the taxi to get back. My husband used his cash for one thing and I used my cash for a different thing (we split up with the kids and then met back up later that day) and we each hoped that the other would have more cash on hand than we did. My 12 year old son ended up saving the day - hearing us talk about it (i.e. panic and freak out), he said "I have cash" and proceeded to open the back of his phone to around $70 in cash that neither of us knew he had with him 🤣 (from his little piggy bank from various birthday and other gifts). We did have more on the ship but still ended up running lower than we felt comfortable that whole trip. 

[DandDM]

After a couple experiences of going to GS and only being able to get five or ten ones, now bring all the change I think I’ll need. Feel like the fat cat in a Below Decks episode when I get on board with my thick envelope of tip money 😎 

 

Also, after I get to know the bar staff, will usually wait until I’m done for the evening and tip $5 or $10 instead of dollars with each drink.