Prepaid gratuities

[cusyl]

You should give the person that delivers your room service food a dollar or two, depending on how big the order is.

[DGP1111]

Cabin steward doesn't transport your luggage - there is a completely separate team of crew members who handle that.

Room service is available complimentary to you, meaning there would not be an immediate charge to you (via the S&S card), but most everyone will give a gratuity to the food and beverage crew member who delivers it to the cabin. Some may feel that this is included in your normally charged gratuities, but I definitly do not feel that way. I keep several single US dollars handy in the desk drawer, and generally hand two to anyone who is delivering something to me that I've requested.

Best wishes for a great upcoming voyage!!

[Cotton]

Tell us more about your CTN! They've always intrigued me.

 

I wouldn't do it again.:D There's just too little time on the ship. By the time you embark' date=' it's actually only 1.5 days until you disembark! Even though I'm only just over an hour's drive from two ports, it's too much hassle for such a short time. [/b']

 

However, they do have both big production shows, and use the best menus out of the seven. One night, it's the lobster/prime rib.

[Cotton]

Okay, I getting confused. So people are saying room service IS included and others are saying it's NOT.

 

I don't know who said room service isn't included in the cost of your cruise, but they are very wrong. Everything on the room service menu (with the exception of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages) is included already...no extra charge. However, yes you should tip the delivery person $1-2, depending on the size of your order, as he is definitely NOT included in the tipping equation:

 

Room service is a separate dept. and is not included in your tips of $10 per passenger per day. The breakdown for your tips is:

 

$3.50 per passenger per day to cabin steward.

$5.50 per passenger per day to waiter & asst.

$1.00 per passenger per day to Lido buffet personnel.

 

The cabin steward does a lot for that little $3.50 a day. He cleans your cabin twice a day, replenishing your ice bucket both times. He's on call anytime you need him - except from around noon-5pm.

 

Hope this makes you less confused.....?:)

[addicted2cruizin]

If you prepay the tips, does the purser's office deliver vouchers to your stateroom on the last day for you to distribute to the folks you tip? On RCCL, they do this. It's been five years since I was on Carnival.

 

Thanks,

 

Susan

[VentureMan_2000]

If you prepay the tips, does the purser's office deliver vouchers to your stateroom on the last day for you to distribute to the folks you tip?

 

 

No... they don't.

 

I have read on these boards that they have access to know who has taken off their TIPs from the sail & sign card... but I;m sure mostly because Carnival is interested in why someone would take off the TIPs.

 

Just leave it on... and enjoy the cruise... and don't give it another thought. :)

[travmagic]

This is a little off topic but this is the thread I haven gotten the most answers to so I figured you guys could help me out.

Anyway, is there always something to drink for dinner that is not extra, such as juice or iced tea? There would not be a charge for water, correct?

Thanks guys.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

You know as I was reading this, it says waiter & asst but does not mention cabin steward asst. I sure do hope they get their piece of the pie.:rolleyes:

I've been a member here for about 5 years now and have never seen anything posted about cabin steward assistants before up until about 2 weeks ago.

 

Now I'm reading them every day. Where did this pop up from? If the cabin steward has an assistant then they are responsible for paying them not you.

 

Unless it's something new these assistants have other jobs on the ship and help out the cabin stewards to make extra $$$.

 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.:)

 

Bill

[bamrak]

One thing we learned on our cruise, was that typically the tippable staff only are paid if we tip ( I was told 75 a month from CCL in wages). The rest of them are from us.

 

You are tipping your cabin steward, who doles it out to those under him, and your head waiter who does the same to the assistant. On the previous cruise before us, our dining room team had 6 people remove all their tips, which was at least $360 that they lost.

 

The same people in the dining room also spend their mornings and afternoons on the lido deck and serving you through room service. Our waitresses served us room service, cleared our tables for lunch on lido, and served us coffee from the coffee bar. I'm sure that's not all they're doing from 5 am until 11pm. I know that the stewards and servers work as hard as anyone I have ever seen. I'm not sure I could have a free conscious

if I didn't tip them and then some.

 

Remember, the tips placed on your S & S is the MINIMUM recommended by Amex.

[PINEVIEW01]

This is a little off topic but this is the thread I haven gotten the most answers to so I figured you guys could help me out.

Anyway, is there always something to drink for dinner that is not extra, such as juice or iced tea? There would not be a charge for water, correct?

Thanks guys.

Yes, it is! You might have wanted to search it or started a new thread;) .

But, yes you can get water and ice tea free at dinner. You can get coffee once you make them understand you want it

WITH dinner and not after:)

[Cotton]

oops, see next post...

[Cotton]

Anyway, is there always something to drink for dinner that is not extra, such as juice or iced tea? There would not be a charge for water, correct?

Thanks guys.

 

Here ya go. Something I posted awhile back:

 

 

[/b]Beverages included in the cost of your cruise:

 

Lido buffet area - Iced tea, hot water & tea bags, coffee, decaf, hot chocolate, juice varieties, water, lemonade, fruitpunch. On buffet, milk, skim milk, chocolate milk.

 

Dining room - Iced tea, hot tea, coffee, water, decaf, milk, chocolate milk, juices, espresso and cappuccino.

 

Room service - MOST of the beverages that are available on Lido, but not lemonade or fruitpunch.

[travmagic]

Thanks so much. It's good to have that info. Not only am I going on my first cruise my brother is cruising before me with 4 young kids and they don't want to be killed with a beverage bill.