Cruises & tipping

[Chief Sapulpa]

I wrote down the names of crew members who gave exemplary service and recognized them when sent us the satisfaction survey.

 

[Engineman1960]

My wife and I went on our first cruise in January, 17 days from San Diego to Hawaii and back to San Diego.

The cruise line changed $16.50 a day for gratuities payable before the cruise or before you leave the ship ( I paid before).

I also tipped the people who kept our room clean; dining staff and the bartenders who helped us. This is optional, it is up to you .

The dining rooms even when casual clothing meals required long pants, ( clean, no hole Levi’s) shorts and sandals were strictly for the buffet lines and sandwich, pizza and hamburger kiosks. I brought a suit coat for formal dining, wore a dark grey t-shirt no tie.

The cruise line we went on has an app I downloaded on my IPhone, it came with a ships diagram, schedule, FAQ it also had an account page, to see what my ship account balance was ( some of the ships finer dining was extra.

I did not think I was going to have a good time, ( the invitation to go was from my cousin, my wife and I and 6 other family members went) we had a room with a veranda — excellent view — I had an excellent time !!!!!!

 

[John6185]

There are a couple of websites where a lto of your questions are answered, one is cruisecritic.com.
Thr wife and I made a huge error when we took our first cruise by bringing too much baggage. That depends on the ship, NCL doesn't require one to "dress up" therefore you need no evening gowns or suits. You can obtain more reasonable tours if you wait until the ship reaches a port but that question and more is on cruisecritic. Even on a formal night, you can forego all the dress codes by eating at the buffet and usually, they same food is served as in the main dining room.

 

[foghorn918]

adding from my earlier post,
We tipped our waiter at the end of the cruise because we chose the evening dining option where we ate at the same time every day, in the same dining room, at the same table, and had the same waiter every day. So the waiter and the cabin steward were the only two consistent staff we interacted with, that's why we tipped them above what was built into the cruise price, and both provided exceptional service.

 

[harley128]

Most cruise lines add the tip automaticaly. However, you can go to guest services and have them removed if you prefer to pay tips in cash.

 

[TerryMiller]

Didn't want to hijack the motel staff tipping thread.

We are planning our 1st cruise. What are guidelines, expectations, rules on tipping?

I am not a fan of tipping, but cruises and quality of services and overall experience can be enhanced by tipping.

Those of you that have cruised, what did you experience, where did you cruise, what would you change? Cabin location? Dining? Formal dress? Nightlife aboard ship?

Yes, I am soliciting tips. TIA

When we went on an Alaskan cruise and land tour in 2005, there were three of us couples. Wife and I was assigned a room mid-ship and an outside cabin. The other two couples had rooms up near the bow and outside cabins. They kidded us about being stuck in the middle of the boat. However, when we visited their cabins, they only had porthole windows to look out of, not that we spent very much time in the cabin. Our cabin had a nice large window instead of a small one.

I also seem to think that being mid-ship made for a smoother ride, although we never encountered any rough seas.

Not sure how things are now, but at the time, it was advisable to book shore-side excursions in advance. We were advised that if one went on an excursion that was "booked on the fly" and the excursion didn't end before the ship left port, then one was responsible for their own transportation to get to the next port-of-call. If one booked through the cruise line, they covered getting one to the next port.

We cruised on Royal Caribbean and really enjoyed our time. Each of the couples (and individuals) of our group just did our own thing on the ship, so I was usually taking pictures somewhere. We also had a favorite table to gather at during the afternoon and evening that was very close to the self-serve ice cream machine. The first night at about 6:00 pm, one of the crew came by to clean and "close up" the machine. We jokingly stated that they machine should be available to a later hour. The next night, that crew member came by and stated that he had talked to his supervisor and was told to leave the machine open until 9:00 pm.

 

[crapsguy]

My wife and I just came off of our 27th cruise. In the early days, we had 7 different envelopes for all of the staff we had to tip. You put your money in the envelope and hand it to the person the night before you left the ship.
Nowdays, the tip is automatically included in the price of the cruise. We still tend to tip our cabin person and and bartender if he/she goes over and beyond for us.

pretty much same story - we are in Roatan Honduras this am on our 24th cruise - we only tip the cabin person and specialty dining restaurant people