Tipping

[DMacD335]

I read comments on the board with intereest and surprised not anything...at least recently...re: HAL tipping policy and just exactly how many HAL repeat cruisers make tipping decisions. For discussion: On an 11 day trip, $10 per day is added per person,,,for a cuple that is $220. Policy indicates thatis for stewards, waiters, etc. But, I believe your steward and waiters, perhaps Captains, all expect a tip at the conclusion of your trip. Bartenders get 15% added to each ticket so they are covered lunless you have someone you use a lot...then I have always tipped in that case as well.

 

I have not uised HAL the last couple of years so I am interested in comments from experienced HAL cruisers. On other lines, as you can do I know on HAL, I have had the tipping charges taken off my bill and tipped those individuals in the dining room appropriately. Stewards as well. But assuming you accept the $10 per day HAL charge for tips, how much extra do you feel is right for those who serve you during the cruise.

 

Any one interested in posting? Thanks.

[TedC]

We always leave the $10 auto-tip in place and give extra to those we feel deserve it - such as the cabin steward, wait staff, wine steward. etc.

 

If you do have the auto-tip taken off whatever you give to individuals must be put into a pool - they can not keep it.

 

I also understand that bartenders do not get the entire 15 percent.

[RevNeal]

DMacD335,

 

I always leave the auto-gratuity on my account. I then, usually, tip my cabin steward, my waiters and Captain, a little extra. As for how much I will give them, in person, that depends on the quality of the service. Each person, and each cruise, will be different. And, of course, I cruised solo ... so that will also make figures a little different than when I cruise with someone else.

 

Before the auto-gratuity went into effect I generally found myself tipping at a level roughly twice the amount HAL now puts on the account; I haven't seen a reason to change that practice simply because HAL stipulates less. Hence, on a recent 11 day cruise aboard the Noordam I tipped my cabin steward and my waiters an additional $35 each, over and above the amount on my account. I also tipped extra to three specific bar staffers who had been wonderful, and another small amount for my Sommelier ... who did a very good job all things considered.

 

I also tip the staffers in the Pinnacle Grill, though there I do it when I'm leaving the table and the quality (and speed) of the service determines how much I leave. Sadly, on this last cruise of the Noordam the service speed was horribly slow, so my tip declined somewhat as a result.

 

This is just what I do. Some people will tip more, some will tip less, and some won't tip anything additional at all (and SOME will take the tip off their account and NOT tip anything AT ALL). I've given the figures I use simply because you asked, not to set a standard, an expectation, or anything else. Some people may look at my figures and laugh at how small they are; others may look at those same figures and be shocked at how much I gave. People will differ on this ... and that's OK.

[hammybee]

I do not feel anyone expects anything other than that we leave our shipboard tips intact. To remove them sets off potential shipboard concern that the service was lacking when in reality, what maybe lacking is the pax responsibility to leave them intact. Officers of the ship do not accept gratuities.

 

HAL was one of the last mass marketed cruise lines to adopt automatic tipping. This was done as much for pax convenience as it was to address those that chose to not tip. The number of empty seats on the final evening caused many cruise lines to close alternative dining venues.

 

We tip for Room Service and in the PG because we want to. We also tip room stewards and wait staff beyond the automatic tip when we want to. I go out of my way to distinguish between those that have perfected the art of pax scmoozing and those who work harder. Like most, I have wittnessed so many acts of genuine kindness and compassion, while onboard, that I often will tip someone it even though I was not the receipient of the kindness.

 

Again, I do not think anyone expects it, but it sure does acknowledge the crew for going beyond the basic function, when pax tip, beyond the minimum.

 

I do like how many countries and service induistries incorporate the service wage into the cost of the product and thereby make it non-discretionary and a non-issue. But this is not how it's done in the U.S. or on most cruise lines and how I feel, is not going to change this long standing practice.

[jtl513]

But, I believe your steward and waiters, perhaps Captains, all expect a tip at the conclusion of your trip.

 

On other lines, as you can do I know on HAL, I have had the tipping charges taken off my bill and tipped those individuals in the dining room appropriately. Stewards as well. But assuming you accept the $10 per day HAL charge for tips, how much extra do you feel is right for those who serve you during the cruise.

We leave the $10/p/day in place and give cash as well. On our last (7 day) cruise we gave $15+10 Euros to our cabin steward (Veendam is going to Europe soon), $25 to our d.r. waiter, $20 to asst waiter, and $15 to our head waiter.

 

I made it a point to watch in the dining room on the last night and saw very few envelopes being passed, but of course I could only see a small part of the room. It seemed to me that the waiter and assistant were surprised and very pleased when we handed them envelopes.

 

According to our CD, what HAL would prefer you to do is increase your Auto-tip rather than give cash, but I feel that the right people wouldn't get the benefit of that.

 

hammybee: I interpreted the OP's use of the word Captain to mean the dining room Head Waiter.

 

BTW, on our final bill the $10/p/day was listed as a service charge, not a gratuity.

[dakrewser]

I then, usually, tip my cabin steward, my waiters and Captain

 

Oh now that's going too far, Greg. I can't imagine tipping the Captain - do you base it on how smooth the ship sailed, or the amount of rocking he gave you each night? And when do you actually pass the envelope? I don't usually see the captain at disembarkation - nor is he usually in the DR on the last night. Do you slip it to him in the receiving line at the Captain's reception???

 

And just how much do you usually tip him?

 

 

 

 

 

;) (<-note winking sarcasm icon!)

[hammybee]

[quote name=hammybee: I interpreted the OP's use of the word Captain to mean the dining room Head Waiter.

 

BTW' date=' on our final bill the $10/p/day was listed as a service charge, not a gratuity.

 

I think you are right about "captain". And you are also right about "service charge" versus gratuity to imply that it is non-discretionary. One mass- marketed cruise line cannot decide to roll it into their price because then it would appear they were not competitive, so we play this silly game.

 

I think the exception is NCL, in Hawaii, with its U.S. service crew. It is no longer possible to exclude the service charge. I suspect others will follow at some point down the road.

[DixieCaribe]

The $10/pp/day policy works well as long as the amount is gratuity and not construed to be a "service charge." However, a tip is given for extraordinary service, not just because its the default option.

Generally, we leave 25-50 for the Cabin Steward depending on level of service and length of cruise. The DR Waiter usually receives $25, the ADR Waiter $20, and the Head Waiter, depending on whether or not he can accomodate a DW request (and they're always gracious about it, either way) between 10-20.

I figured that the bar staff didn't recieve the entire 15% service charge, so I add up my total bar bill at the end of the cruise, and then tip each bartender that really was of assistance between 3-5% of the total bill.

The DW always includes a handwritten note to each DR staff member that she tips as well as our Cabin Steward, and you would not believe how many seek you out later that night to thank you - also, we got the same DR Waiter and ADR Waiter on a repeat cruise, and the DW swears by her notes!

[DMacD335]

Thank you folks...thoughtful comments.

 

My reference to "captains" of course was to dining room head waiters and such. Kind of funny that anyone would think I was referring to THE Captain.

 

I intend to leave the HAL $10 per day on my bill and tip additionally to those who provide personal service as I usually have in the past. When your tip number starts at $220 seems to me some of the discretion I like is taken away but the system is the system.

 

In any case, everyone should find this thread very helpful...thanks to all.

[noblepa]

We've had this discussion before. Some people don't seem to believe this, but it is my understanding that, if you remove the auto-tips from your shipboard account, then any cash you give to your dining room or cabin stewards must be turned it to the pool.

 

Some people don't believe this, thinking that, while that may be the rule, no one in their right mind would actually turn the money in. The usual answer to that is that they wouldn't risk what, to them, is a very well-paid job.

 

Secondly, if you remove the auto-tips, their supervisor calls them in and they have to explain what they did to anger the passenger. If the steward says that you gave them a cash tip, the jig is up and they must then turn it in.

 

Thirdly, the cabin and dining stewards all share cabins with at least one other staffer. They have little room to hide anything, let alone money. They can deposit cash with the employees purser, but then they may have to explain where they got it. Again, the jig is up.

 

I've also heard some reports that, when they do turn cash in, it takes two or three weeks before it shows up in their account. Auto-tips appear the day after the cruise ends.

 

My take is that it is better for the staffers to leave the auto-tips in place and give them a little extra cash. You can't beat the system.

[dolls4sell]

Am I correct in saysing that the $10.00 per day per is for your room steward, waiter and asst waiter or busboy. To me tipping the head waiter is like tipping the maitred' only if they do something special for you. We always give more if we get good service. The auto is fine but do they really get the whole amount?

[DixieCaribe]

We tried this 4 years ago after getting told any cash gets put into one big pot - we tipped at the end of the cruise with Cashier's checks - the Head Waiter told us that they are usually allowed to keep the whole sum that you give them so long as the mandatory gratuity is kept in place - so I no longer feel bad!

[jtl513]

Some people don't seem to believe this, but it is my understanding that, if you remove the auto-tips from your shipboard account, then any cash you give to your dining room or cabin stewards must be turned it to the pool.

And some people say that even if you leave the Auto-tip on and give extra cash, that has to be turned in to a pool too. I don't know if that's true, and I don't really care as long as the individuals know that I'm giving extra.

Am I correct in saysing that the $10.00 per day per is for your room steward, waiter and asst waiter or busboy. The auto is fine but do they really get the whole amount?

One of our CDs said that the cabin steward (and assistant) gets $3.50, the d.r. steward (and assistant) get $3.50, and the remaining $3 goes into a pool to be shared among all service staff, include many people who have done nothing for you personally. So every passenger is helping to tip the Pinnacle Grill waiters whether or not they go there, and every bartender, whether or not they ever drink, etc.

[vince b]

Interesting thread as our docs just arrived for out 4/11 Noordam sailing and I took special interest in the automatic tip language. We're travelling with out two kids (5 y.o. and 8 y.o.) in a connecting cabin. That brings our tip total to $440 for the trip, which seems like a lot. We also plan on having room service b'fast just about each day, for which we will tip $3 - $5 per meal. If the waitstaff and cabin steward go above and beyond, I'm sure we'll tip them nicely as well. Then there's the bar service charge, which for me will be high :D!!!

 

When you look at the total, it all adds up.

 

I compared this total to the amount we tipped the staff at the villa we rented (for 8 nights) in Jamaica two years ago (chef, butler, housekeepers, other household staff). The amounts are just about equal. Only difference is, at the villa you are the only guests and you get full time attention and cooked to order meals.

 

Just an observation ...

[Royalpair]

Just off the Veendam, and on the last night I didn't notice many people handing anything to their waitstaff. We were going to, but found it awkward to give just the cash, and had no extra envelopes. We did give extra to the cabin steward when I found him in the hall.

On Royal Caribbean for the last day they give you vouchers for your autotip and envelopes. I found this nice, since if you wanted to give more, you could, and we could still give the head waiter an envelope, but with nothing extra (he didn't do anything for us).

[TedC]

When asked, a well-known HAL hotel manager told me recently that only about two and a half percent of passengers have the auto-tip removed.

 

We were on one of the first HAL cruises where the auto-tip plan was introduced a few years ago. It was a Med cruise with a large percentage of Europeans and other foreigners.

 

While there was a plurality of US passport holders, they were not a majority. The Cruise Director indicated that many Europeans had removed the auto-tip. He explained that all the money went to crew - including "behind-the-scene" crew - and none to HAL.

 

(Of course, it sure seems that if the auto-tip wasn't spread to the "behind-the-scene" workers, HAL would have to pay them more.)

 

But despite the "semantic games," cruising is still a good value - or many of us might not be cruising.

[Boohbah]

I bring along a packet of nice 'Thank You' cards and hand out a thank you note with maybe $20.00 on top of the automatic gratuties for our room steward, dining room waiter and assistant dining room waiter.

 

 

I also bring lots of ones to tip for porters and room service.

[jtl513]

... and had no extra envelopes.

For future reference: if there aren't enough in the folder on the desk you can ask for more at the front desk. Or, ask your room steward a day or two ahead.

[hammybee]

At the risk of sounding harsh, I think in most cases when a pax removes the service charge, they do so with the intent of stiffing the crew, regardless of the words used to rationalize their behavior.

[blazerbob]

While we are on the subject of discussing tipping 'ad infinitum', I was wondering about those who have stayed in suites that included the benefit of having a concierge available. Did you tip him/her? Did you make use of this service other than going into the lounge and getting some self service coffee or treats? If you really used the service, how much would one tip the concierge?

 

Blazerbob

[DixieCaribe]

Oh good Lordy yes!

The Concierges in the Neptune Lounge have been very helpful when we sailed in full suites! The DW is fond of throwing bon voyage parties for friends that we've met through cruising, and we always arrange it through the concierge. I found in my experiences at least, that we usually tip $50 for the concierges that help to arrange the DW's special requests - such as Spa treatments and bon voyage parties. But it is typically confined to one person that we normally deal with each cruise.

[O2B@C]

... On Royal Caribbean for the last day they give you vouchers for your autotip and envelopes. I found this nice, since if you wanted to give more, you could, and we could still give the head waiter an envelope, but with nothing extra (he didn't do anything for us).

 

They do the same thing on Celebrity (at least as of my sole experience there in July 2005). The "recommended" tip amounts are put on your shipboard account, they give you a little card reflecting the charged tip, and an envelope, for each person (steward, assistant steward, waiter, assistant waiter, etc.), and you can stick extra cash in the envelope along with the card if you like. I liked that system, because it gave pax an easy way to (1) thank the staff people in person, while confirming that the charged part of the tip had in fact been given; (2) add cash discreetly if desired, and (3) put in a thank-you note if desired.

 

I don't remember how much the "recommended" tips were, but I think the info is on X's website, or can be ascertained from the X forum on these boards. I think it's more or less comparable to HAL's. As for the extras, if I remember right, I put in about $10 for each staff person, for a 7-day cruise during which I received perfectly acceptable and professional service, but nothing extraordinary or above-and-beyond (if that had been the case I would have given more). I also gave $2 cash to room service waiters when they brought breakfast, and sometimes wrote in a little extra on individual bar tabs, above the automatic 15%, when I felt the server had been particularly helpful.

[hammybee]

Tips above and beyond the recommended minimum can also be added to your shipboard account. There is no need to communicate via an envelope that you did so unless you prefer to do this. The front line service people and their management know who did so and, as sometimes happens, who removed so.

[newmexicoNita]

And some people say that even if you leave the Auto-tip on and give extra cash, that has to be turned in to a pool too. I don't know if that's true, and I don't really care as long as the individuals know that I'm giving extra.

 

One of our CDs said that the cabin steward (and assistant) gets $3.50, the d.r. steward (and assistant) get $3.50, and the remaining $3 goes into a pool to be shared among all service staff, include many people who have done nothing for you personally. So every passenger is helping to tip the Pinnacle Grill waiters whether or not they go there, and every bartender, whether or not they ever drink, etc.

any cash you give above and beyond can be kept by those who recieve it: the exception would be, what we did, not knowing, adding extra onto the bar bill when you get it or the specialty restaurant tab. We usually give an extra $20 to our room steward and a few others get a little above the basic $10.00. NMnita

[seaisme]

In addition to the automatic tip, we always tip our room Steward and depending on service, it can be quite generous. We usually tip money plus an international calling card, along with a personal note indicating the good service.

As others have stated, while money is nice, the notes are what really count! So if the staff have earned an additional tip, please do include a kind note.