Who gets a tip?

[prthead6]

I am so confused by the posts about tipping! We are on Emerald Princess in November and there is a "discretionary hotel and dining charge" which I asume is the automatic tip? But who else do we tip? Porter, Room Service? If we go to a specialty dining room do we tip the wait staff? We have "anytime dining", so probably do not have the same waiter every night - does that mean we should leave something each night for the waiter if the service is especially good? If we want to add something extra to the auto tip perhaps for the room steward, when do we do that - at the beginning of the cruise or at the end? Sorry there are so many questions here, but this whole thing sounds confusing! :confused:

[cb at sea]

Aside from the folks you're "supposed" to tip on the ship (cabin attendant, waiter, ass't waiter, head waiter) you will need to tip the porter who takes your bags at the ship--$1-2 per bag is standard.

You should tip the room service delivery folks, if you use that. $1-2 for coffee, danish, $5 or so for a full meal.

Your "discretionary" charge is the tip for the folks I mentioned above. You won't need to tip any more than that, even with anytime dining....the tips will go to the correct waiters.

If someone DOES do something "above and beyond", then you are certainly welcome to give them a little something--the last night of the cruise is the customary time to tip.

Your bar tabs will already have a tip applied.

[5521544]

Tipping can be very confusing as it has been for me too but here are some basics I have learned. In addition to your pre-paid gratuties (or end of cruise envelope's if you did not pre-pay) you will want to tip room service, you base this on how much you order rather than on price since there are no prices, (i.e coffee 1-2 dollars, full meal (or 2) 4-6 dollars) Porters, you will find this highly debated since there are signs posted not to at some ports. However, porters can be very demanding. This is up to you but it is recommended 1 to 2 dollars a bag if you tip a porter. You will not need to tip at bars when you order a drink such as beer or even a soda they add in 15% automatically. You do not need to tip at Speciality Dining Establishments as the per person cover charge includes the tip. However, if you are going on excursions some tour guides will say I accept tips then you may want to tip a few bucks then, the amount is up to you and they will let you know that tips are welcomed. Of course if you will be taking a taxi on any islands you will want to tip them. The main thing to remember is that tipping is personal if someone has went above and beyond to help you or make your trip better feel free to tip them. Other than these that is about it for tipping. I hope this has helped you!

[prthead6]

Thanks for the help - sounds as if I might want a pocketfull of small bills!

[paul929207]

Also, guide and driver on excursions, spa personnel and casino dealers.

[prthead6]

Thanks for the help - it sounds as if I might need to bring a pocket full of small bills!

[paul929207]

You will also want small bill for purchases in the Islands. They take US money, but give change in their local currency.

[jsibelius]

Shuttle drivers on airport transfers or the ride from the parking lot to the cruise terminal.

[Scott_F]

Carnival just put $10 per person per night automatically on my ship account when i arrived. Their FAQ states where it goes, but primarily to your Waiter in the formal dining spot and your cabin attendant. A very small part of that $10 goes to ancillary service personnel (not sure who they are).

 

Maitre 'D is not included in that. They provided an envelope in my room for that. If your dining experience is excellent, a tip to the MD is the right thing to do.

 

Room service gets a $2 tip (always carry a lot of $2 bills) no matter how much food I order. I don't think very many folks tip for room service. Amazing how great my room service was after that first tip or two.

 

When it comes to my luggage, I tip my porters quite generously. Galveston has been my embarkation port for all four of my cruises. It's hotter than Hades and these guys are working it. I was traveling with a total of 6 this trip and pretty much about 8 bags total. $30 was the tip. I also travel with a few bottles of my own booze and I want my bags treated as kindly as possible. I've never had anything removed from my bags (liquor, leatherman tool, etc). Porters can also be an infinite source of help when dealing with customs upon debarkation.

 

My dinner service and my room attendant service was extraordinary and so I added to that $10/day auto charge.

 

 

My father in law always had a saying... "be sure to take care of the little guy". This has served me very well over the years.

[Solo Cruiser]

I'm glad to see that the excursion guides were mentioned. If the guide was informative and entertaining, I tip $5 for up to a half day tour and $10 for a day long tour. If the driver of the bus is also the tour guide he or she gets that tip.

[cajunchick]

on my last cruise for my change I insisted on it being in american currency and I found it necessary to let the vendors know how much change you were due back or give them money as close to the purchase price as possible. They will bargain more with you if you are paying with cash as opposed to travelers checks. Tip make sure you know what the currency rate exchange is because they will cheat you if they can. I also found that if they said they had to go in the back to get change they would purposely take forever to come back hoping you would get tired and leave so I learned to ger smaller denominations of money for port days, fives and tens atc.

[Harry and Lucille]

Everywhere you go, somebody will have their hand out. Most stores have a tip jar at the register, etc., etc. You just need to use common sense when tipping. On the ship, tips are automatically taken out of your cruise card. Amazing how many crew members get a share of that. Room service tips and other ship board tips have been listed above. Tour drivers look for tips. Use your discretion on this one. I have been on tours where the driver was also the guide and based on their knowledge and personality I will give them a nice tip. Others just pull up to an attraction and either just let you get out to look or guide you directly into the gift shop and stand around watching. They wonder why I don't give them a tip. Got burned one time at the cruise port. Tipped the driver, got off the bus. He pulled the bags off of the bus. Another person picked them up and appeared to be going to load them aboard the carriage for transport to the ship. Asked which bags were ours and held out his hand for the tip. Nope. He moved them about 10' to the luggage rack and set them down. A guy pulled up on a fork lift, loaded the luggage then went thru the crowd picking up tips. Go figure. With Princess, we got off the bus, tipped the driver and were immediately escorted to the check-in line. No more tips. Harry:cool:

[uppitycats]

I am so confused by the posts about tipping! We are on Emerald Princess in November and there is a "discretionary hotel and dining charge" which I asume is the automatic tip? Yes. Generally that is put on your on-board account and payable at the end of the cruise.

 

But who else do we tip? Porter, The pporters are not employees of the cruise line. Generally you do need to tip them. $1-$1 is the usual, but if you have a lot of luggage, or need special assistance (like, I use a wheelchair and I'll have them unload that from the car) then you may need to tip a bit more. Do watch, though -- the last time we cruised our cab pulled up right in front of a luggage cart that had our ship's name and cruise information on it. It was empty -- we unloaded our luggage onto the cart, bypassing any porters.

 

Room Service? Usually the folks who bring you your room service order are not part of the general tip pool, that "discretionary charge" thing, so a small tip is appropriate. I have noticed, though, that they'll often whisk in and out so quickly that you're left standing there with tip in hand. $1 - $2 is about what I tip -- but then I generally only place a small order, usually something like a pot of coffe. If I ordered a full meal I'd probably tip more, up to $5 or so.

 

If we go to a specialty dining room do we tip the wait staff? You don't have to tip in the specialty dining rooms -- but many people feel like they get "exceptional service" and so do leave a tip. We didn't feel like the service we received was any more "exceptional" than what we got in the main dining rooms, so didn't.

 

We have "anytime dining", so probably do not have the same waiter every night - does that mean we should leave something each night for the waiter if the service is especially good? You can, but it really is not necessary. These are the very folks that are supposed to be the recipients of the "discretionary charge", along with your room stewards. I never saw anyone leave anything on the table. I supposed folks could have given their waiters something, but we never saw it..and didn't do it.

 

If we want to add something extra to the auto tip perhaps for the room steward, when do we do that - at the beginning of the cruise or at the end? Generally the best thing to do here is to personally hand your room steward(s) money (in an envelope, sometimes with a small thank you note is nice) at the end of the cruise, rather than trying to adjust the auto-tip. Some folks believe that giving them money at the beginning of the cruise ensures good service -- but we've always had excellent service from our room stewards. We do give them something at the end of the cruise as we have the most face-to-face encounters with them, and ask more of them than what we might ask of the restaurant servers.

 

Sorry there are so many questions here, but this whole thing sounds confusing! :confused:

 

I think it used to be more confusing when there wasn't the auto-tip feature! I remember our first cruise, and the hours I spent before ever leaving home, trying to figure out how much to give each person, preparing envelopes with cash in them, having to carry those envelopes with me, putting them in the room safe, then spending most of the last day of the cruise -- when I'd MUCH rather be enjoying the last seconds on the ship! -- running around trying to find everyone! This is SO much easier! :)

[cruiserbryce]

your tips that you can post to your account cover your waiter, asst waiter, maitre d and cabin steward...everyone else is at your discretion