Have You Ever Tipped Extra? Have You Ever Removed A Gratuity?

Sarge6870 · August 21, 2013

When we first started cruising back in the early 90's, tipping onboard cruise ships were an option. Now, gratuities are automatically charged to your cabin account. This can be a plus or a minus. It seemed before auto-gratuities were started, crew seemed to work a little harder hoping for a gratuity at the end of your cruise and we loved the personal interaction with those crew members on the last night of the cruise. Now it seems that although you do experience crew that seem to go above and beyond, there may still be those crew that have assumed that your gratuity is commonplace so for them, it's just a job. You always have the option of removing the gratuity for a certain crew member by visiting the pursers or concierges desk, but who wants to stand in line on a cruise just to make a point. We have only had a gratuity removed once when we sailed on the Carnival Pride with our then 12 year old niece and the cabin steward (even though asked numerous times) refused to provide us with a childs life vest. On the other hand, we also have tipped extra, above the auto-gratuities, to some of the staff such as our cabin steward and dining room staff. My questions to you is have you ever tipped extra? Have you ever removed an auto-gratuity? Please take the poll above and tell us your story.

jacketwatch · August 21, 2013

Let me clarify one of my answers. On one cruise we thought to leave the auto tip on as its convenient. However we had a big problem with the maitre'd and when we found out some of the auto tip goes to him we had it removed, got the envelopes and gave accordingly. The hotel manager came to the rescue and solved the issue the maitre'd tried to ignore so he got what was intended for the maitre'd.

On top of that we usually tip above the auto if the service has been good, especially for our cabin attendants and waiters in the MDR.

Jan115 · August 21, 2013

We occasionally tip extra to those who go above and beyond and leave the auto tipping in place. We've never decreased or removed the auto tip.

DebbieandJerry · August 21, 2013

We tend to tip extra to those who go above and beyond. We also make it clear when we give the tip to that person that it is for them and not meant to share with his/her helper (especially if we gave the helper something as well.)

Do all ships include the maitr'd in the automatic tip pool? Need to know before we leave town on the 5th.

Mach · August 21, 2013

I answered 'Yes, we have and still do on every cruise.' to the first and 'No, never thought about it.' to the second. Lemme do a little bit of 'splanin here...

With the exception of one cruise we have tipped our cabin steward and wait staff extra. I have never seen people work so hard to make sure that our vacation is going to be everything we expected and more. They deserve a bit of an extra show of appreciation. However... on one cruise the cabin steward didn't get anything extra and I'll tell you why. On the first day of the cruise, embarkation day, we got our suitcases unpacked, met our cabin steward (a nice enough Indonesian chap) and headed off to dinner. The food and service were very good and we were off to a great start. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show, as we always do, and were greeted by the cruise director right after the show. As we were chatting with him we were approached by a little guy in a security uniform who interrupted our conversation with the CD. He asked if we could confirm who we were and we did so gladly. He said, rather abruptly, 'My Chief needs to speak to you, follow me.' He headed off, little legs scurrying leaving us in his wake. I called to him and asked him to slow down, which he did, and where we were going. His response... 'To my Chief.' OK... I could see that Stitch was a bit distressed and I was just a bit concerned myself. Did the previous guests leave drugs in our cabin or some such? We were headed toward our cabin so I assumed that would be our eventual destination. In the distance I could see three more people wearing the same uniform as the little security guy was. Yep... they were outside our cabin door.

Upon arriving at our cabin the Chief of Security introduced himself to my wife and I and quite politely asked if we had any weapons on board. HUH? WEAPONS? Now, I'm a gun owner and have a concealed carry permit and occasionally travel with a weapon but never on a cruise!!! I told him 'No... no weapons' as my mind swirled about trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The he asked if I had any ammunition in the cabin and it struck me... my cigar cutter! At first glance it looks like a .44 caliber cartridge but, it breaks apart to play Transformer and become a cutter to slice a plug out of the top of my cigars. Here's a picture...

As I figured out what was going on I told the Chief of Security that I knew what he was referring to and invited him into our cabin. EVERYONE followed me in. There, on the counter, was my cigar cutter which had been nicely tucked away in my travel humidor... a rather solid little device with no windows in it but, none the less, there was my cutter. I picked it up, explained what it was and demonstrated it to the Chief who immediately cracked up laughing and apologized for the error and inconvenience. I told him not to worry and it wouldn't affect our cruise. They wandered off and I heard the Chief offering some advice to a few of the folks who were with him as they headed down the hallway.

Now... the bottom line. Someone, and it had to be our cabin steward, opened that humidor, found the cutter and alerted security. He never appeared at our cabin again. He never said a word... never left a note... nada. I got a rather nice bottle of champagne and a tray of chocolates for my bride from the Cruise Director with a nice note but never heard from the cabin steward. He didn't get tipped extra.

So, as you can see, someone really has to do something untoward to fall into that category of not deserving a bit extra tip from us...

Sarge6870 · August 21, 2013

You see Mach, THAT'S when the review letters come in handy post cruise. I would have nailed that clown to the wall. How dare he rummage through your personal items! It's not his job to look through your stuff even "IF" he suspects something not right. His job would be to report it to security and let them deal with it. If he had done that, I feel he would have been present during the questioning of the item. The fact that he became a ghost for the rest of the cruise implicates him entirely. And how did security know where to find you? You have more patience than I do bud. Like I said, by the time I got done complaining, onboard and post cruise, the only future job he could have gotten on any sea vessel would have been on a sanpan in Vietnam!!!!!!!!

Mach · August 21, 2013

You see Mach, THAT'S when the review letters come in handy post cruise. I would have nailed that clown to the wall. How dare he rummage through your personal items! It's not his job to look through your stuff even "IF" he suspects something not right. His job would be to report it to security and let them deal with it. If he had done that, I feel he would have been present during the questioning of the item. The fact that he became a ghost for the rest of the cruise implicates him entirely. And how did security know where to find you? You have more patience than I do bud. Like I said, by the time I got done complaining, onboard and post cruise, the only future job he could have gotten on any sea vessel would have been on a sanpan in Vietnam!!!!!!!!

Sarge, the folks on the ship knew what had happened and that's likely the reason I never saw the little cigar sniffer again. Also, friends of mine in Miami who work for Carnival had been reading my daily installments about the cruise and emailed me to get the details. I'd be quite surprised if he continued with the cruise line after we returned to port...

jacketwatch · August 21, 2013

We tend to tip extra to those who go above and beyond. We also make it clear when we give the tip to that person that it is for them and not meant to share with his/her helper (especially if we gave the helper something as well.)
Do all ships include the maitr'd in the automatic tip pool? Need to know before we leave town on the 5th.

This was on the Adventure of the Seas, RCI. I got this info from the pursers desk. I am not sure about other lines or even if RCI still does this.

Sarge6870 · August 21, 2013

You see Mach, THAT'S when the review letters come in handy post cruise. I would have nailed that clown to the wall. How dare he rummage through your personal items! It's not his job to look through your stuff even "IF" he suspects something not right. His job would be to report it to security and let them deal with it. If he had done that, I feel he would have been present during the questioning of the item. The fact that he became a ghost for the rest of the cruise implicates him entirely. And how did security know where to find you? You have more patience than I do bud. Like I said, by the time I got done complaining, onboard and post cruise, the only future job he could have gotten on any sea vessel would have been on a sanpan in Vietnam!!!!!!!!

Sarge, the folks on the ship knew what had happened and that's likely the reason I never saw the little cigar sniffer again. Also, friends of mine in Miami who work for Carnival had been reading my daily installments about the cruise and emailed me to get the details. I'd be quite surprised if he continued with the cruise line after we returned to port...

Just wondering Mach, what ship was that??

Mach · August 21, 2013

You see Mach, THAT'S when the review letters come in handy post cruise. I would have nailed that clown to the wall. How dare he rummage through your personal items! It's not his job to look through your stuff even "IF" he suspects something not right. His job would be to report it to security and let them deal with it. If he had done that, I feel he would have been present during the questioning of the item. The fact that he became a ghost for the rest of the cruise implicates him entirely. And how did security know where to find you? You have more patience than I do bud. Like I said, by the time I got done complaining, onboard and post cruise, the only future job he could have gotten on any sea vessel would have been on a sanpan in Vietnam!!!!!!!!

Sarge, the folks on the ship knew what had happened and that's likely the reason I never saw the little cigar sniffer again. Also, friends of mine in Miami who work for Carnival had been reading my daily installments about the cruise and emailed me to get the details. I'd be quite surprised if he continued with the cruise line after we returned to port...

Just wondering Mach, what ship was that??

The Carnival Ecstasy, Sarge...