Tips - cash or credit?
 

When you give additional tips (room service, anything extra you might give your room steward or servers), do you give ask or do you put it on your sign & sail?

Personal tips are cash I think...

No. Now that tips are automatically charged, I go to the pursers desk and ask for envelopes for additional cash gratuities. I tend to always want to tip my waiters and cabin stewards more.

Beth

I always give cash for extra tips. I want it to be personel so I can thank them for a good job and I want them to know its from me

Sorry but I don't see why anyone would want to give extra tips, tips yes, but more?? Cabin guy tidies cabin, waiters bring dinner that's it.

Only a few get extra money from me. Those who go above and beyond the call of duty. Thats the problem with tips automatical put on your account. I believe it reduces the incentive to do a great job. With the tips on your account they are really a "service charge" by another name. It makes the total price of a cruise look lower. A marketing ploy I would say. Its a game which the cruise lines plays, but it is fooling no one.

It is a service charge after all though. In the UK we tip but not with the generosity or enthusiasm of the Americans. We have all been here before many times but these tips are just a way of getting US to pay the wages for the cruise line. If we tipped along the American lines, our tips for our last cruise would have been almost $700.

The majority of these people work so very hard for so very little by US standards. I love to bring a smile to those who have contributed to my cruise experience with this acknowledgement of appreciation . I give to missions, homeless and other charities, who I don't even know, why would I not want to give more to someone positively impacted my cruise.?

My question is: how much?

We love to tip our waiter and his/her help. Split the tip?
Matredi...not so much really since we don't really have any interaction with him.
Room staff?

Not really sure how much (or little) is appropriate.

Always cash