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okay, last couple cruise questions, I swear!
DH's mom told us to bring "a bunch of cash in $1s and $5s for tips." Our trip is four nights. How much is appropriate to bring? $50 in singles and fives? What do you tip these people? Whenever we've stayed at hotels, we always tip at the end of the stay, and it varies on what they did and the price of the hotel/location. Is there a standard? Do you tip before or after?
The info booklet that his mom FINALLY sent us gave us a range of gratuity amounts, and I can't remember everyone we tip, but there were like, 6 or 7 different staff positions. Do we really tip them all? One position suggested $16 for the trip. or was that per day? It didn't specify.
For god's sake, you would think I'm going to another country (which I would have preferred, but I didn't pick the venue/type of vacation). I think I prefer it when DH and I vacation and plan it ourselves versus letting someone else do all the legwork for us!
Re: okay, last couple cruise questions, I swear!
I think that with cruises I've been they automatically bill you for around $16/per day (per person in room) and that covers all of the staff. I think you can go to the info desk to change the amount, but we never did. Then you are free to tip others more if you want and we usually gave a little more to the servers from the main restaurant, the housekeeping staff, and anyone who made the cruise a little more special for us.
The $1s and $5s - maybe that's for when you order drinks at the pool? I haven't done that too frequently, so I don't remember what we did for those folks and we didn't use too many other services (spa, salon, tours) that might have been places people tip.
Does the line do automatic billed gratuities?
I'll give you a "what I do" and hopefully that helps!
I have the following tips billed to thel room: Room Steward, Assitant Steward, Butler, Waiter, Assistant Waiter, Maitre 'D. Total cost about $15 per person per day. Generally this is "suggested" but they usually automatically bill it, and it's really not appropriate to tip less than the lines suggested amount. Basically you are paying these guys their weekly salary through tips.
Then on top of that I give the first 5 people listed above an extra $40 to $50 each. This is just for going above and beyond and we like to tip this extra amount, it is completely discretionary. These would be the amounts I give for a 7 night cruise.
I tip for room service, all bartenders, all bag porters etc. So I will go through about $50 - $60 in 1's leaving a few dollars for each tip.
DO NOT tip the servers who bring you drinks. They automatically charge you a gratuity. I didn't realize that the first time I went on a cruise and was tipping for every.single.drink I bought.
Also, if you booked through a travel agency, you may be able to pre-pay your gratuities.
Completely agree with the above point - gratuity is already included when you order drinks on the ship. It's not required or standard to tip on top of that.
You can pre-pay your gratuities, but I like to pay it myself for two reasons. 1) Can change the suggested amount up or down depending on the service. 2) The staff prefers to get their tips in cash. At least that's what they've told me.
I used the $1 bills to tip for room service and unlike above posters, for my cocktail waiter/waitress. Yes gratuity is included but if you go to the same bar every night and you give a few extra dollars the waiter will take great care of you. I always add a few dollars over the gratuity if I've sat and had a few drinks. $50 is more than enough IMO. If you are taking any tours with the cruise company, you can use the $$ to tip the guides and drivers as well.
Even though the gratuity is included when you order a drink, there is no harm (and as another posted said) great common sense in tipping these servers a little extra. You are going to get great service during your next few visits to the bar if you tip a little more, and again, the bartenders are working for next to nothing, so taking care of someone who took care of you is appropriate.
As for the staff preferring cash tips at the end of the cruise, it depends on the line.
We cruise with Celebrity, if you take off the automatic tip the staff gets questioned and repremanded as to why you are unhappy with their service. Then on top of it, the cash has to be turned over to the "pot" when you do finally pay up so that it can be split. When you leave on the automatic gratuity, then tip ADDITIONAL at the end of the cruise, those staffers are allowed to keep your extra cash tip for themselves.
I agree with you and the other poster - if you feel like you're getting great service from the staff, find a favorite bartender/server, or just want to give more for a little better service, giving additional money on top of the automatic tips is great. I was just saying that it's not necessary or required.
I've never been questioned as to why I didn't have my gratuities added automatically. I never "took them off" - just opted not to go that route when I booked the cruises. I guess it does vary by line what the staff would prefer (cash or automatic gratuity). To the OP - I'd suggest looking on CruiseCritic to see if anyone has any insight for your cruise line.
Room Service was the only situation we needed cash for tips. Since its free, you are not brought an invoice so we would give a couple dollars when we ordered stuff. You can get cookies and milk or the mickey bars from room service - my 5 yr old LOVED that!
If the line you are sailing has auto tipping, an amount will be added to your on board bill every day to cover tips for the cabin steward, the dining room staff etc. You can pre-pay these. It's usually $12 - $16 per person per day depending on the line. Your cruise docs will tell you how much. You can remove them & pay in cash. You can stiff these poor folks but that's not right.
18.5% will be added to every drink order as tip for the bar staff. At the begining of the cruise we stake out our favorite bar & tip a little extra in cash up front. Service on cruise ships is amazing but a few extras go a long way.
We also usually give the cabin stewad a bit extra to make sure there is always ice, wine glasses, a corkscrew & towel animals.
You will need the small bills to tip the following people who are not covered by auto tipping: