Other than tipping...what are some things to do for cruise employees??

[praisefor3]

Obviously tipping is probably the most appreciated gesture; however...are there other things (in addition to tipping, not in lieu of) that you can do for cruise employees that they would appreciate? I read somewhere about ordering a dessert for them...but when I mentioned it to our waiter, it didn't seem like this was done. Any suggestions???

[cb at sea]

Just give cash---they aren't allowed to have the "passenger" food, and they have no room in their teeny-tiny cabins (that they share with another employee) for your trinkets. They can buy their own calling cards cheaper than can you....just give them money.

You know, tho...seldom do I see this kind of attention being paid to hotel employees...I just wonder why on a cruise, folks tend to go waaay overboard (excurse the pun) with the employee/passenger thing?

[MoYerclan]

Obviously tipping is probably the most appreciated gesture; however...are there other things (in addition to tipping, not in lieu of) that you can do for cruise employees that they would appreciate? I read somewhere about ordering a dessert for them...but when I mentioned it to our waiter, it didn't seem like this was done. Any suggestions???

 

How could they eat it? They probably get a few desserts with their own meals now and then I bet?

I think the tips and your gracious manners and thanks are all they really want.

[LHT28]

Treat them with respect

Mention them in the comment card if they go out of their way for you...a favourable review goes a long way.

 

Cash of course is always appreciated ;)

 

Lyn

[paul929207]

We were on a b2b with Acapulco as the turnaround port. Our cabin stewrd was from there so this was his one chance during months on the ship to see his family. We got neighbors in 5 other cabin to join us in banning our cabin steward from our cabins that day. This got him thru earlier and off the ship to see his family & friends.

[Capt_BJ]

in my behind the scenes tour (accompny the Master on his daily walk around... professional perk you can call it) I saw that the crew service included what the pas' didn't eat last night.

 

CASH is what they work there for .... maybe one of the last hold outs that want our green green dollars in the form of folding green paper ... give green paper and get a smile

[missy27]

Greencard! :D

[Andrew Bowden]

Give CASH and take the time to fill out the comment card to recognize excellent service! The comment card is most important for an employee who wants to move to another ship or be promoted.

[geojobes]

Respect & cash. That's all they want & need. We try to be especially nice to them to kinda make up for the people that treat them with disrespect. We also tend to give them a little extra cash for the excellent service they give us.

[lovesublime]

Just give cash---they aren't allowed to have the "passenger" food, and they have no room in their teeny-tiny cabins (that they share with another employee) for your trinkets. They can buy their own calling cards cheaper than can you....just give them money.

You know, tho...seldom do I see this kind of attention being paid to hotel employees...I just wonder why on a cruise, folks tend to go waaay overboard (excurse the pun) with the employee/passenger thing?

 

 

 

I agree that I don't get why people feel the need to do something 'special' for cruise ship crew. They're employees doing their job like anyone else. Tip them. I'm a recovery room nurse and no one treats me 'special' even after they've puked all over me. Trust me, I work like a dog just like the rest of you and no one feels sorry for me or feels like throwing cash and gifts at me.

[tokyo]

but treat them with respect. On meeting my cabin steward for the first time I always offer a handshake. I never demand, but request whatever it is I want. Never talk down to him/her.

[6rugrats]

I agree that I don't get why people feel the need to do something 'special' for cruise ship crew. They're employees doing their job like anyone else. Tip them. I'm a recovery room nurse and no one treats me 'special' even after they've puked all over me. Trust me, I work like a dog just like the rest of you and no one feels sorry for me or feels like throwing cash and gifts at me.

 

I totally agree with you. I am constantly puzzled by these threads and those where people are upset because they didn't make "best friends" with their cabin steward.

 

Treat with with respect and tip them. Nothing else expected or needed.

[pms4104]

Greencard! :D

Huh? What you mean?

[sail7seas]

I agree that I don't get why people feel the need to do something 'special' for cruise ship crew. They're employees doing their job like anyone else. Tip them. I'm a recovery room nurse and no one treats me 'special' even after they've puked all over me. Trust me, I work like a dog just like the rest of you and no one feels sorry for me or feels like throwing cash and gifts at me.

 

Thanks for what you do. :)

IMO, you hospital nurses NEVER get enough thanks.

 

 

Stewards/bar staff etc on ships want cash. They don't want a mug, a keychain, a t-shirt or cap from your hometown. They don't want food you will select for them. With cash, they can buy whatever they want or need.

 

A good word on the comment sheets will always mean more to them than another cap or mug.... as will your courtesy and respect.

[Grandpaul]

I agree that I don't get why people feel the need to do something 'special' for cruise ship crew. They're employees doing their job like anyone else. Tip them. I'm a recovery room nurse and no one treats me 'special' even after they've puked all over me. Trust me, I work like a dog just like the rest of you and no one feels sorry for me or feels like throwing cash and gifts at me.

 

I would suspect you make a lot more money than a room steward. Plus they work 7 days a week several months in a row, from early in the morning till night time. They are away from their family all that time which makes it even harder. I've been on dozens of cruises and I can't think of a bad one we've had. That's a pretty good performance.

[MMDown Under]

We were on a b2b with Acapulco as the turnaround port. Our cabin stewrd was from there so this was his one chance during months on the ship to see his family. We got neighbors in 5 other cabin to join us in banning our cabin steward from our cabins that day. This got him thru earlier and off the ship to see his family & friends.

 

What a lovely kind thoughtful gesture.

[Atomica]

Smile. Thank them. Get to know them.

 

And if someone goes out of their way for you, write a little note detailing how they made your trip special for you and drop it off at the Purser's desk so management knows. That can put them in line for promotions, and that means a lot more than a few extra bucks.

[ldubs]

My brother-in-law lives in San Francisco. During a cruise, after hearing the ship was moving to the west coast, he gave his contact info to the steward. When the ship docked in SF something like 6 months or a year later, my brother-in-law actually gave the steward and his buddies a personal tour of SF. Pretty nice gesture and more than I can honestly say I would do.

[Philip217]

Greencard! :D

 

A green card would make us taxable in the USA for all our wages and tips - regardless of where we earn the money.

 

NO THANK YOU !!

[lovesublime]

I would suspect you make a lot more money than a room steward. Plus they work 7 days a week several months in a row, from early in the morning till night time. They are away from their family all that time which makes it even harder. I've been on dozens of cruises and I can't think of a bad one we've had. That's a pretty good performance.

 

 

Sure, I agree they do a great job. However, their job choice is just that-a choice. They're not slaves. I do not feel sorry for them.

[DanJ]

You know, tho...seldom do I see this kind of attention being paid to hotel employees...I just wonder why on a cruise, folks tend to go waaay overboard (excurse the pun) with the employee/passenger thing?

 

Yep, I wonder how many people even leave a couple bucks on the desk in the hotel they stayed at the night before their cruise but look for all sorts of ways to put the ship staff on a pedestal.

[Bonnie J.]

Definitly mention them by name on your comment card. But, when we get really good service I write a note about the service and address it to their boss- the maitre'd, hotel manager, bar manager. Once our steward's assistant was so good I wrote he should become a steward not just his steward's assistant. I have also told them that I was writing their boss about them at the end of the cruise. You should see their smiles then!

[RetireeWannabee]

Sure, I agree they do a great job. However, their job choice is just that-a choice. They're not slaves. I do not feel sorry for them.

Right. They voluntarily do the jobs for whatever reasons apply to their situations. I appreciate their hard work and reward it with kindness, respect and TIPS.

[nadalina]

Just give cash---they aren't allowed to have the "passenger" food, and they have no room in their teeny-tiny cabins (that they share with another employee) for your trinkets. They can buy their own calling cards cheaper than can you....just give them money.

You know, tho...seldom do I see this kind of attention being paid to hotel employees...I just wonder why on a cruise, folks tend to go waaay overboard (excurse the pun) with the employee/passenger thing?

 

You know, CB, you are absolutely right about hotel employees, especially the housekeeping service. I admit that I do go overboard for the crew on whichever cruise I am on at the time, yet rarely in the past (before the last year at least) have I ever tipped the hotel housekeeping staff. I do, of course, tip the bellmen and room service delivery people well but never the housekeepers. I do now though. I read an article in a travel magazine about a year ago about this very subject and it really made me stop and think about it. Why did I really WANT to tip my cabin steward(ess) generously on a cruise but never even give a thought to leaving a tip for my hotel room housekeeper??!!! I suppose it's because I generally have so much contact with my cabin steward (and waiters and asst. waiters) and I enjoy that connection and want to reward their excellent service. But I rarely even see my hotel room housekeepers, so I guess, somewhat embarrassingly, "out of sight, out of mind". However, since reading that travel article, I now leave at least $5 per day for my hotel room housekeeper, and I find that I actually enjoy doing that.

[nadalina]

My SO has been a crew member for over 15 years, first with Celebrity and now with Crystal for the past 9+ years. I can tell you without hesitation that money, #1, and mentioning their name on the comment cards, #2, are the gifts they much prefer. It isn't that they don't appreciate other gifts, they just appreciate (and need) the money, appreciation and recognition more. Celebrity and Crystal, and probably the other lines as well, really pay close attention to what guests write on their comment cards and it is almost like a competition among the crew in their respective departments to see whose name is mentioned most often.

 

However, if you still would like to do something extra, I will give you a couple of ideas. Every night on most every cruise ship, all of the assistant maitre d's/dining captains/head waiters have dinner together in the dining room after all of the guests have finished eating. They usually take turns buying a bottle of wine for the table. So a nice bottle of wine for the entire group would be a lovely gesture..... not the private label kind you get in your cabin (they can purchase that for next to nothing), but something decent. The same.... a nice bottle of wine or champagne..... would be a nice gift for the Restaurant Manager/Maitre d', your waiter, assistant waiter or steward(ess). That is something they can enjoy either alone or with their SO or friends. The only problem with that is that anything you might purchase onboard, they can buy at a significant discount from what you would have to pay. Of course this does somewhat depend on their nationality. Almost all Europeans and South Americans really enjoy wine and champagne but some other nationalities do not drink at all, so this should also be taken into consideration.

 

A few other things my SO has received that he has really used, enjoyed and appreciated have been a small travel alarm clock, some really nice leather luggage tags, and a small handsome pocket knife that has his initials engraved on it. He received these gifts years ago and still uses all of them.

 

There are two things that are EXTREMELY important to every crew member I know while they are onboard: phone cards and internet service. They can purchase phone cards cheaper than you can because the cruise lines make deals to buy them in bulk so they can provide them to their crew at very reasonable rates, so, again, money will help them accomplish this. Internet service is not cheap for crew members, so, again, money.

 

My SO gets gifts all the time..... everything from small souvenirs when guests go on excursions in various cities, to neckties, dress shirts, Christmas socks, pens, tee shirts from the guests' home towns, chocolates, specialty teas..... you name it! And while the gestures and the thoughts are genuinely appreciated, so much of it ends up either being given or thrown away for various reasons.

 

Twice I have purchased items for him myself that I thought he could use onboard that were fairly expensive gifts, but he quickly lost both of them. One was a Mont Blanc ballpoint pen because he constantly uses a pen in his work and I wanted him to have a nice one when he received a well-deserved promotion, and the other was a lovely lighter (instead of the 99-cent Bic) to use when he lights the candles on the MANY guests' birthday and anniversary cakes each cruise. What a waste of money those gifts were!

 

There is one couple from Hawaii who are frequent and favorite guests onboard who always do something fun for all of the head waiters and the specific pair of waiters they request each time they cruise. They always bring colorful tee shirts from Hawaii for each of them, and then one day at lunch, they all put them on over their uniform and the couple puts on similar tee shirts and they all pose for a photo together. This fun celebration has been going on for years and they all love it...... and we end up with lots of great Hawaiian tee shirts!

 

I hope this information will help you. Your question and intentions are extremely thoughtful and considerate.

 

Peggy