Is it wise to pay gratuities before a cruise?

[JeriNP]

Thank you so much for this comment! Every time I read about people who expect "special" treatment from their stewards or their waiters (regardless of whether or not they tip well), all I can think about is how that impacts those who simply want the staff to do an excellent job providing basic, regular service. So many people seem to only be happy if they think they are being treated BETTER than those around them. I don't like that mindset...

 

Showing my appreciation upfront for the backbreaking work of the stewards and the pace that's expected of them in the performance of that work is my sole intention. I also pay my regular tips, either charged to my onboard account or in an envelope on the last night of the cruise. What is the difference between tipping my steward extra on the first evening or last evening? As I said in my original post, I am simply extending goodwill to people who literally live off our tips. I don't need anything extra, I am not expecting anything extra, I don't ask for anything special and I don't think I'm treated better than anyone else on the cruise...where I come from we respect people who do physical work, and we often have no other way of showing that appreciation except for tips. Being called elitist, Un-American or anything else sounds like a smokescreen thrown up to obscure what I actually said.

[FinelyCruising]

I don't necessarily think the option is there for any other reason but than to eliminate the 'paperwork' while on board and streamline 'bill paying'.

 

I don't mind the option or find it offensive and although I have not utilized it, we do voucher tips for all and cash amend others we find special or attentive. And that doe take time to administer while on board and I could streamline if I wanted since they give me the option. Thankful;y we are early birds and can get to the desk when no one else is on line.;)

 

The option is there for those who want to avoid thinking about it while on board ot taking the walk to the desk to drop off the paperwork, just like an auto-pay for things we are used to at home. It's an option for those who it works for, not a requirement for those who cruise.

 

I wouldn't make too big a deal of it, I find it positive overall and I don't begrudge the guys the few dollars everyone hates to pay for shadow work.:eek:

[Drew B]

Showing my appreciation upfront for the backbreaking work of the stewards and the pace that's expected of them in the performance of that work is my sole intention. I also pay my regular tips, either charged to my onboard account or in an envelope on the last night of the cruise. What is the difference between tipping my steward extra on the first evening or last evening? As I said in my original post, I am simply extending goodwill to people who literally live off our tips. I don't need anything extra, I am not expecting anything extra, I don't ask for anything special and I don't think I'm treated better than anyone else on the cruise...where I come from we respect people who do physical work, and we often have no other way of showing that appreciation except for tips. Being called elitist, Un-American or anything else sounds like a smokescreen thrown up to obscure what I actually said.

 

If that is the case, then my comment was not directed at you. I was specifically making a comment about people who want MORE than the standard service. People who feel that way are not shy about saying so. Their excuse, if anybody has a problem with their expectation, tends to be that they tip well in exchange for extra special treatment...

 

I have NO PROBLEM with generous tipping, and I don't care whether it's done early, middle, late or all of the above. As long as it is given in appreciation for doing the job that is expected rather than as compensation for doing MORE than should be expected. The staff and crew work their tushies off and are stretched pretty near the limit of what they can do. I think it is unfair to expect them to do MORE, regardless of how much one tips. Moreover, if they decide to do more because one person bribes them in advance, and the service that others receive suffers as a result, that is totally unfair...

[FinelyCruising]

I don't necessarily think the option is there for any other reason but than to eliminate the 'paperwork' while on board and streamline 'bill paying'.

 

I don't mind the option or find it offensive and although I have not utilized it, we do voucher tips for all and cash amend others we find special or attentive. And that doe take time to administer while on board and I could streamline if I wanted since they give me the option. Thankful;y we are early birds and can get to the desk when no one else is on line.;)

 

The option is there for those who want to avoid thinking about it while on board ot taking the walk to the desk to drop off the paperwork, just like an auto-pay for things we are used to at home. It's an option for those who it works for, not a requirement for those who cruise.

 

I wouldn't make too big a deal of it, I find it positive overall and I don't begrudge the guys the few dollars everyone hates to pay for shadow work.:eek:

 

I am one crappy typer. Sorry.:cool:

[donaldsc]

If you go to a restaurant, do you tip before the meal is served? Do you tip after each course if served?

 

If not, why would you treat a cruise any differently and tip before or during the cruise?

 

DON

[FinelyCruising]

If you go to a restaurant, do you tip before the meal is served? Do you tip after each course if served?

 

If not, why would you treat a cruise any differently and tip before or during the cruise?

 

DON

 

Sometimes we take limos and prepay the associated recommended gratuity just to get it out of the way when we pay the limo fare...

 

Does that make sense for an analogy for paperwork?:o

[mdmourges]

Don,

 

I tip on a cruise before the cruise because I see that person everyday, maybe even a few times a day. When I go to a restaurant, I probably won't see my server ever again. So, that's my logic to tipping before and after on a cruise.

 

I think it is funny how people get worked up cuz some of us chose to tip in advance and then again at the end. So what? It makes me happy and that is why I take vacations. I want to be happy. I don't care if people do differently than me. If they only want to tip at the end, that's ok with me. Now I do care if people don't tip at all. Those folks should be allowed to leave the ship early... by being thrown over the railings. lololo

 

Mark

[woodofpine]

Compensate the crew adequately. It doesn't matter when.

 

They aren't going to alter their service based on before or after. They're professionals. They generally don't alter their service even when they know you're going to stiff them (and the lines track persistent repeat non-tippers [yh - they do - so the line doesn't view it as an individual crewman performance issue]).

 

All the major lines pool all tips up until a pre-set level. Your tip will be pooled until that number is met...

 

Cruisers tend to get very obsessed that their individual $100 per week goes here or there, and has this or that effect on this or that respective crewman. That's nonesense - self-absorbtion. There is a much bigger service delivery machine working than we know.

 

BUT - they do their part of the plan, we should do ours and compensate as per the plan.

[Verity]

We have never had anything but wonderful service on our Celebrity cruises. We always tip well. We also don't feel the need to hand our tips directly to the people that take care of us on our cruise. It really does not matter whether you tip before or after. I really feel that if you get bad service it has nothing to do with a tip or an expectation of a tip.

[Napi's Mom]

Many thanks for your comments. The reason I mentioned it is that when you book in Australia pre paid gratuities are added to your deposit and port expenses etc. unless you inform your travel agent that you want to tip after the cruise. I think it is because Aussies are not used to tipping and are notoriously bad tippers that they try to get the money up front.

We think the crew should be paid properly and not have to rely on tips! Also the pre paids are considerably more than the tipping advised in the brochures.

Having also commented on the subject with another Aussie on the Azamara forum, on this subject...he explained that the "prepaid tip" that he would have to pay was like 375$Aus. (only a few cents diff. from our value) PER PERSON for the prepaid tips...so perhaps the others on this thread don't realize when you said it would cost "more", they didn't realize how much more. Now Azamara does suggest slightly more than Celebrity per day for tips, BUT NOT THAT MUCH, which was as I told him almost double what we paid for the same length cruise pp.:eek:

[Dowunder]

Thanks for that posting Napi's Mom. I couldn't believe the gratuities asked even with the Aussie dollar close to parity with the US. I certainly don't mind tipping, in fact it is expected at most good restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. But before I tip in the vicinity of $A375 (or $A750 for a couple) I need to know that I am going to get good service. From your comments that seems to be assured. In fact all your postings have been most helpful. I guess my question now is how much is a reasonable tip?

[tonyd285]

We are booked on a cruise where the TA, as an incentive, is prepaying our gratuities. How do we ensure that this is, in fact done? I suppose we could ask at the Guest services desk but sometimes getting a straight answer out of those folks is difficult.

[Napi's Mom]

Thanks for that posting Napi's Mom. I couldn't believe the gratuities asked even with the Aussie dollar close to parity with the US. I certainly don't mind tipping, in fact it is expected at most good restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. But before I tip in the vicinity of $A375 (or $A750 for a couple) I need to know that I am going to get good service. From your comments that seems to be assured. In fact all your postings have been most helpful. I guess my question now is how much is a reasonable tip?

Now we are going to enjoy the wonderful country you come from on our next cruise, From Auckland to Sydney...Jan 09, I know we'll enjoy the people in both countries, have met several on other cruise...One reason we liked the open seating on the small ships is we met so many interesting people...from a sheep rancher from NZ to someone from one of your bigger cities. Also had 2 exchange students we had cause to speak with... One from the west coast... Perth I believe, gave a speech about Vegemite and "OIPULS" (took us a min. to realize she was speaking about the gems) and my son had a student for a year from Cairn I believe, was on the "Gold Coast" near the "reef" ...we loved talking with her...she was very different. We live in "Farm County" and have rather old fashioned values in some peoples opinion, but that's Middle class, Middle America, very similar to your ideals I think.:)

Don't pay those awful prepaid tips...makes NO SENSE!

[Sweet Sadie Sue]

A question probably asked before, but as I am new to this cruise caper and from a country where tipping is not obligatory, I wondered if any experienced cruisers have paid gratuities before and after the cruise and noticed any difference in the service. I usually only tip if the service has been great and I can't help thinking that the ship's staff would have some way of finding out if the tips had been paid in advance.

 

We do, but we also tip housekeeping when staying in hotels on the day of arrival.

[StLucia]

Tipping is always such an emotive subject! We are booked on our first Celebrity cruise and were given the option of prepaying tips. We decided not to as we would have been required to pay this with our final balance 12 weeks before the cruise! One of the problems, as highlighted before, is the very different attitude to tipping between Europe and the US. In Europe we would normally only tip at the end of the service and only if it was over and above what would normally be expected. But, we also have fair wage legislation and would not expect the staff to be reliant on tips to supplement poor pay. We have just come back from Cuba and tipping both before and after service was common, but the service we got just as good service when we did not tip. I would hate to think service on Celebrity will be reliant in greasing the palm in advance!

[zotzer]

It's purely a matter of convenience.

 

Having been on many cruises, the service would have to be pretty darned bad for me to not tip the very small amount the cruiseline requests. Knowing that I have always tipped at least the minimum, and then some, I will often prepay the base-level tips, just so that it's out of the way come cruise-time.

 

The service level has been no different, one way or the other (and by that, I mean it has always met my expectations). Solstice will be my first cruise on Celebrity, but this has held true on RCI ships.

 

T

[Napi's Mom]

Tipping is always such an emotive subject! We are booked on our first Celebrity cruise and were given the option of prepaying tips. We decided not to as we would have been required to pay this with our final balance 12 weeks before the cruise! One of the problems, as highlighted before, is the very different attitude to tipping between Europe and the US. In Europe we would normally only tip at the end of the service and only if it was over and above what would normally be expected. But, we also have fair wage legislation and would not expect the staff to be reliant on tips to supplement poor pay. We have just come back from Cuba and tipping both before and after service was common, but the service we got just as good service when we did not tip. I would hate to think service on Celebrity will be reliant in greasing the palm in advance!

I agree with this statement 100%. On our cruises (no not in the 30-50 cruise range, but several, including Azamara & Oceania) we got excellent service, at least to our level of demands, just paying the tips suggested. Since we've never had truly BAD service we've never deducted any either. It has become clear to me on this thread that some of us live in a totally different world. I was asked previously "Don't tell me you've never tipped to get a better table...etc" We have maybe 1-2 restaurants within 50 miles of here that actually have a Maitre'D...(hostesses don't count I believe.) Limo Service is for kids going to prom or weddings...so mostly are Tuxes, cocktail dresses and formals. No we're not backwoods, (At least not to our way of thinking) just live in a smaller city that has a less formal way of life. (Gee when Tiger Woods was in town to Play in a golf tournament at Whistling Straits..HE went to a little Italian Bistro we all go to and love the food...NOT the 1 rest. in Kohler that HAS 5 diamond service that locals rarely go to) We live pretty well and eat well too...as waistlines here show, just don't do the fancy, frantic life. Yes I wish they were all paid a living wage so not to need tips, just like most folk not in service industries work without tips, not always at a living wage either.

[FinelyCruising]

Hey.... Limos might be for prom kid's in your town, but they are not for prom's in our town! They are for me when we need car service to take us to the airport!:D

 

(If its just two of us, we can 'get by' with just a town car:o )

[Lsimon]

...I would hate to think service on Celebrity will be reliant in greasing the palm in advance!

 

I've never tipped in advance on Celebrity. On our second Celebrity cruise we gave our room steward a relatively long list of requests, some of which we'd asked him to do daily. Along with the list I offered a nice "advance" tip. He refused and told us to wait and see how his service was during the cruise and that at the end of the cruise he'd appreciate anything we thought was appropriate. I've also had occasion to make some requests of the Asst. maitre d' in charge of table assignments to get our table changed on a few cruises. I've found these people very helpful and never felt I had to grease the palm before I'd get results. I do find we get best results when we approach them with a good attitude and explain in a nice friendly way why the change is needed and how much we'd appreciate it.

 

This hasn't been the case on on all lines: years ago we had occasions on a different line with seating issues and the maitre d' explained how difficult it would be to make any changes and that the changes might not be possible. In those cases we "greased" things a bit and all seemed to suddenly fall into place. But never happened to us on Celebrity.

[diboja]

=Napi's Mom;14990176][/color]

Since we've never had truly BAD service we've never deducted any either. It has become clear to me on this thread that some of us live in a totally different world. Limo Service is for kids going to prom or weddings...so mostly are Tuxes, cocktail dresses and formals. No we're not backwoods, (At least not to our way of thinking) just live in a smaller city that has a less formal way of life.

 

Your comments would apply to most North Americans except for those that reside in a few larger cities. It seems that in some of the larger cities, everyone has their hand out for services even before they are rendered.

When we go to the airport we take a cab not a limo....

 

We have never paid the Tip in advance or offered a portion of the gratuity upfront as in my world this is looked upon as a "bribe"....

[StLucia]

I've never tipped in advance on Celebrity. ..... I do find we get best results when we approach them with a good attitude and explain in a nice friendly way why the change is needed and how much we'd appreciate it.

 

 

Thank you for your reponse, I would agree 100% that treating the crew with respect and good manners are always the best way of securing good service. I am more than happy to pay gratuities to show my thanks but was becoming concerned from comments on this site that this was in risk of getting out of hand.

[Moeve]

We often pre pay the regular amount since the crew should get that regardless - those ARE their wages. The true tips is what we give them as an over and above at the end of the cruise.

[shabal57]

Just got back from Med. Cruise on Galaxy. Our TA pre-paid for our gratuities, so we did not have a choice since they were paying the recommended amount. I don't think the staff has any way of knowing this until the final day of the cruise.

 

We gave our room steward, waiter, asst. waiter, etc. additional tips because the service they provided were incredible.

[zotzer]

I don't think the staff has any way of knowing this until the final day of the cruise.

 

Actually, this isn't accurate.

 

I did a solo cruise in December '06. My parents were on the same ship with a group of their friends. My TA had accidentally linked our reservations, and I didn't want to join them at the early seating. After I switched to the late seating, I then thought "uh oh, I prepaid the tips, and they are probably linked to the original wait staff", so I asked our table's head waitress that first evening how to get it fixed.

 

She looked at a paper and said, "they switched it, Miss Tracy, do not worry. Thank you so very much!".

 

So, yes, they know who has pre-paid. I've never seen this change service level, either for me, or for my table mates. We've all gotten the same great service, no matter what method of tipping people had chosen.

 

T

[Moeve]

You know some of you people amaze me and I hope none of your bosses read here because the way some of you think (or at least suggest around here) is if people know they are getting there wages they won't do a proper job!!! What is with you people - you know you are going to get your wages and salaries - do you not do agood job because of it??? In that case maybe your bosses should only give you a 50,-USD/ month basic wage/salary too and tell you too you have to earn the rest!