Tipping
 

Going on the Jade this Friday out of Barcelona and visiting Morocco and the Canary Islands. I know that $10 per day is added to your seapass account, but what about tipping for room service? Do you think the stewards would prefer $US ( Ship Currency ) or Euros?

Andy

I really don't think it matters. I think they will be delighted with any tips. With the Jade in Europe year round they get both. The ships currency is USD and many of the ports if they get off the ship take Euros.

When I was on in July many of the crew were not happy to be in Europe. They were looking forward to spending half the year in NYC were tips are common. That as we know is not happening. Different cultures different tipping practices. I will leave at that and say one more time they will be delighted with any tip.

I gave my steward $100 at the end of a 14 day cruise (for the 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids).

I thought he would have been delighted with that as I understood that people don't normally tip after paying the recommended amounts; or if they did, $50 seemed to be sum usually mentioned.

He seemed disappointed when i saw him later that day so I asked if he was happy with his tip. He was most reluctant to comment and said we should give him whatever pleases us. After some grilling on my part, he said that this was a bit on the low side and I gave him another 100 Euros (having run out of USD by then).

He mentioned that he services the cabins on his own while other cabins are allocated 2 stewards. So when new passengers come onboard, he has to pay another crew member to help him get the rooms ready in good time.

I am really surprised that the room steward was like this, and I find the 100$ USA, and 100 Euro's excessive on top of the 10$ a day per person per cabin. If our cabin steward is exceptional we will give some extra cash, as well as to any one who just was especially helpful or kind. The only time we ever removed a tip was from a carnival cruise, we removed the room steward portion. Simply, the room was never kept clean, things were not done as they should be, we never got clean towels ( had to ask daily) and on the final day, all the cabins where we were didnt even get our bills and we all had to stay in line in the morning to get it. ( better to solve billing issues while still on board). They were not surpised when I did this, given ten other people before me did the same thing because of the same steward. The day we arrived, some ones balck push up bra still remained on the TV. It was never cleaned to begin with, and it was dismal through out. It is the one and only time we ever had that. The dinning crew was beyond exceptional on this cruise and we tipped extra there.

If he really did react that way and I have no reason to doubt what you say, screw him!!! Sorry but you were more than generous...

Nita

I thought I was being generous but it doesn't worry us. These guys are from poor countries and I'm happy to do my bit to spread the money round.

Perhaps he was disappointed because we overtipped the butler who wasn't much good and whose English left a lot to be desired. We hardly used him but left him $500 anyway. My husband said we ought to pay a bit more because I told him that quite a number of the English passengers have refused to pay even the suggested gratuities and he said a few hundred dollars meant nothing to us but means a great deal to the crew.

I am so lucky to have such a nice guy for my hubby.

New Year, I think it is great you and your husband are so generous... It is very nice.

Can you adopt me?

rofl

Ha ha ha! You wouldn't want me for a mum. My girls (15 and 10) get no presents from me for Christmas and birthdays on the grounds they have enough stuff and don't need any more. They don't go to the shops with me as they have learnt from an early age that other than essentials, I only allow window shopping. Nope, this family doesn't do 'stuff'. For example, we have only CRT TVs at home as they work perfectly well and I'm too tight to shell out hard cash for the fancy ones.

Kidding aside, we are all fellow travellers on our journey to the grave and there's no harm in helping others from the Third World. Heck, we might even accrue some credits on our karma.

This is the first time I am cruising, so is tipping included or not? When do you tip? We are not rich people and spent a lot to treat ourself to this cruise for our 30th anniversary, so wondering what is required?

The $10 a day pp covers all the "normal" cruise tips. People generally tip a buck or 2 to the person delivering room service. You can also tip your steward or any other server an additional amount if you feel the service was extra special and you're so inclined.

If you're in a suite, the butler and concierge are not included in the auto tipping, so that's extra.

Thank you. No I am not in a suite, just an inside room. I am nervous this trip will have a lot of hidden costs. Any suggestions on what to do? (like the free water and pop package, etc.)

Included :?: You will have $12 per person per day added to your onboard account that covers all of the basic tips. With few exceptions no additional tips are required. 15% will be added to your bar checks. Tips will be added to spa services.

The $12 covers your room stewards, wait staff, and those that help to make your trip special. If someone goes above and beyond your expectations a extra cash tip is appreciated but not expected or required.

I am getting a stomache ache with all the hidden charges that no one told me about. How much more will this trip cost me do you think?

you can bring your own soda onboard. The drinking water on the ship is free and as good as any bottled water. Like any vacation it is up to you how much extra you spend. Drinks, spa, tours, specialty restuarants, are all options that you can decide to enjoy or still have a great cruise without.

The $10 or $12 collected by NCL and charged to you account is POOLED, most members of the service staff are allotted a share of this LARGE POOL OF MONEY! Bar people and Spa staff add 15% to your bill. This is a sufficient amount of gratuity for good service. Butlers and Coinserge must be tipped by the passengers for whom they are providing services, yes this is extra,
In the Specilaty restaurents if you leave cash on the table or hand it to any service person (which I think you should) this money is pooled among the staff in that restaurent that night. Individuals CAN NOT keep these tips for themselves.
On MOST main stream cruise lines, If any passenger gives a cash tip to a regular waiter, asst waiter, or steward asst steward etc. this cash MUST be pooled among the team in which they work. If you want to provide an extra gratuity for any waiter who went "above and beyound" good service they can keep gifts of a "personal" nature. Pre paid phone cards are much appreciated as is a positive remark on the comment cards.
Many people feel that this "new" system of charging a flat rate for gratuites has caused service to suffer on NCL in particular. I have NOT found this to be the case. Most cruiseline employees are hard working and polite. If they are otherwise thier contracts are not renewed. Cruise line employees work long and hard hours and are satisfied with the compensation they receive. They are doing much better then they might back home.

Why are some of you sayiny the daily charge for tips is $12 while others are saying $10. which is it ?

Effective yesterday tipping is added to your cabin account at $12 per day per person. On top of that all drinks in the bars will automatically have a 15% gratuity added so there is no reason to tip on top of that. If you order room service (which we rarely do as we are too busy on board and have so many other dining options) it is a good idea to give the delivery person a $1.00 min, up to $5.00 depending on what you order. We do, on occassion order cont breakfast.

There is no reason to feel obligated to tip anyone else on the cruise, many of us do find some servers who do a great job deserving of a few extra bucks. Normally this includes our cabin steward, on our Spirti cruise we did not tip extra, he was really from from deserving we thought. Sometimes you will find a great cocktail server you want to reward or someone in the casino.

If you eat in the specialty dining rooms you may want to add an additional $5.00 to $10.00 as a tip, this, again, is up to you..

I read your response about added charges, yes, like any vacation there will be charges above and beyond the cost you have paid, but how much is totally up to you. Other than the gratuities, you concieveble not own another penny. This is unlikely but possible. As mentioned it is up to you how much you want to drink alcoholic beverages, no one will force anything on you. You can bring your own bottled water and soda on board. Many people choose not to eat any meals in the speicalty dining rooms and some even do no tours. these are choices only you can make.

Nita :wink:

It's a good idea to bring on a supply of small bottles of water. They do sell these to people getting off to visit the various ports but boy, are they expensive.

Just buy a box, label it just like regular baggage and it'll be delivered to your cabin.

actually, because they can be a pain to transport if you are flying I would do it a little different. We bring, on board, about 2 bottles each (of course we always fly in a day prior to sailing) we just re-fill the bottles as the week goes by or, you can buy them in port, usually they are not that pricey....The water from the tap on ships is very good I may add.

I do agree, I would not buy them through the cruise line (any cruise line) they are way out of line. Watch out at meals as well, the wait staff may ask you if you want bottled water? they are not doing this to be nice, they are trying to add a few bucks to your charges. :roll:

Yes, I agree Nita. We never fly/cruise so I forgot that point.

We hope you can appreciate just what this steward may have been thinking when you gave him the $100. "Did this family cancel the daily service charge/tip ($10 day X 2 adults+two children) and are giving me instead $100. cash?" How would he have known at that moment?

When we offer gratuities over and above the daily service charge/tip, we know the recipient will not know whether or not it is "over and above" until all accounts are closed. We anticipate a cautious appreciation in these cases and give you this example. Our dinning room waiter was finished his contract and was flying home at the end of our cruise. While he was appreciative of the extra when it was presented, when we ran into him at the airport he was all over us with exuberant thanks, for it was only then he knew for sure it was in fact extra.

Oh I knew that. When I asked if he was happy, I did reassure him that we had paid the recommended gratuities.

He told me that he only gets a fraction of what we pay to the desk. I can't remember exactly but I think he said he only gets about 10% of the fixed fees and the crew does not regard that as tips but rather salary. He does not blame people who do not tip the stewards because he considers it to be NCL's fault. The literature describes the add-on as a gratuity for services rendered while it clearly states that the butlers depend on their tips for compensation.

$500 for the butler?
 

You gotta be joking.

AMEN IRISH! $500 tip is WAY out of line.

I knew we were overtipping but 'twas about $2 to £1, 4 persons for 14 days - it was OK. I told my husband, $300 would be more than sufficient but he insisted. Look upon it as a charitable gift. He wasn't a terribly good butler. I think he was rather inexperienced so he probably can't have accumulated much by way of tips and that was his penultimate cruise.

We also gave him my daughter's allergy syrup because he told us that his son is allergic to fish (bit tough when his family are fishermen) and while he had made many enquiries, nobody out where he lived knew what to do about it.

Hope he's OK. I hear there's been some bank failures in the Phillipines and many people's lives have been ruined.

While we agree with your excellent presentation of the "tipping" system we feel the above statement should be clarified. According to our on ship sources, the "extra" gratuity is handed in to the pool system until such time as it is ascertained that the individual who presented it did in fact maintain the daily service charge/tipping on his shipboard account. Once verified, the extra is then returned to the employee who originally received it. If however said passenger did cancel some or all of the daily charges, the "extra" is retained in the pool.

To those who question the reasoning behind the daily service charge/tipping debits to your account, we have been told many times over the years preceding this system that we would all be shocked to realize just how many EMPTY sealed envelopes were being presented by passengers as found when turned into the pool system .

In our estimation this daily debit system is but a service charge and we then handle our real and personal gratuities as we see fit.

One or two dollars is normal for room service. It would be more $5-$10 if you had a full meal delivered by room service. If you are in a suite remember to tip your butler more if you have an in-suite dinner.

You were more than generous and the steward was just giving you a sob story to get more of your money. If the Head Housekeeper knew he was doing this he'd be cleaning the washrooms or stuck on the lower decks. It is completely unacceptable. You basically tipped him $744 for a two week cruise. (4X$140)+50+134)=$744. $134 is based on current exchange rates.

People need to remember: You are not "cheap" if you don't tip more than the automatic amount!

You may tip extra if you wish. I have tipped extra,on many occasions, but the myth that you must tip extra is a myth that needs to be squashed.

If someone removes themselves from the automatic tipping for any reason other than poor service (if they do then they need to make a formal complaint) then they are just cheap and they can justify it however they want but in the end they are still cheapskates.

BTW: Phone cards aren't the best gifts. Cash is the best and they can keep it as long as you remain in the automatic tipping program. If you do give phone cards, PLEASE include the access numbers and codes. Also, make sure they are international cards. I have spoke with a number of crew who have thrown many cards away because there was no way to use them.

Take care and don't feel cheap if you don't tip extra.
Mike

Mike I agree the sob story is like the days of old before the service charge to make sure they were not stiffed.

Your math however I have a concern with. The Room steward does in fact gets a percentage of the $10 pp. Best case $2-$3. Normally thee are two stewards and that is split but they have more cabins. At $2 and ten cabins he would make $280 for two weeks work. That represents almost all of his income. You want the job ?

New Year you were very generous and that is a good thing. But I also think he worked you a little bit and that is not a good thing.

Shoreguy, good comments, I wish we actually knew who get what, regardless we do, normally tip above and beyond but did not on our recent Spirit cruise. I know our cabin stewards had approximately 29 cabins to clean so were rushed, but there were so many little things, we just could not justify another $1.00. I did let NCL know, I thought the cabin stewards had too many cabins. That being said we had friends in our group who had stewards with the same number or cabins that did get good service.

Nita :roll:

It's good to get everyone's feedback here. Thanks.