We travel on Princess 99% of the time. Since their change to automatic tipping on your shipboard account, we have seen very little change. We often give our stateroom steward an extra tip at the end. That is given to him/her in our stateroom, in cash, so they can keep it for themselves.
We will be sailing on the Star Princess this January, being our 22 on the line.
Happy sailing,
sea angel