Tipping the cabin steward on first meeting

[NevilleT]

Hi all,

Somebody mentioned to me that it’s a good idea to tip the cabin steward when you first get on board to ensure good service for the cruise.

Do you have any thoughts on this strategy and what sort of amount would seem appropriate?

BTW: We are due to go on a 12 day cruise on a Cunard ship.

Many thanks.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Cunard tips are automatically charged to your on board account so unless you remove them your steward knows they're getting something anyway. So they're not likely to give poor service and risk you doing so. So I'd say no point. I'd also say given the not inconsiderable level of the automatic gratuity don't pay twice!

[david63]

Tipping is for services rendered so it is not possible to tip beforehand. The tipping when you first encounter somebody is an American habit which is more akin to a bribe.

I cannot envisage any scenario where I would tip somebody before they did anything for me.

[Onelife]

Hi Neville, it’s been some 10 years since we last cruised but I do remember asking our cabin steward whether he would like me to pay his tip in cash (at the end of the cruise) or leave it to be automatically deducted…his reply was that he couldn’t discuss tipping as it was against P&O rules. I agree with David in that it would be seen as a bribe and not something that would get you much, if anything extra.
I don’t know if this is the case but I can imagine most cabin stewards would be thinking … “tips now, nothing later”.

[Meg 50]

Hi Neville, ........
I don’t know if this is the case but I can imagine most cabin stewards would be thinking … “tips now, nothing later”.

also if they didn't think much of the amount you gave them it might turn out to be counter-productive

[Onelife]

Hi Neville, ........
I don’t know if this is the case but I can imagine most cabin stewards would be thinking … “tips now, nothing later”.

also if they didn't think much of the amount you gave them it might turn out to be counter-productive

Absolutely Meg, anything less than £100 then I would be swilling my tea cup "before" every use.

[barney]

P&O are actually tips included in the fare, however, we always tip our steward, assuming they have done a decent job.
Always the day before the end of the cruise.
We also tipped the waiters in the Epicurian for exceptional service.

On Ambassador, they have a daily charge, as do Cunard and most lines, but we still tipped a small amount at the end. £20 I think.

The American lines, including Princess try to rinse very single penny out of their customers with a daily charge PLUS an individual item charge.
I'd never tip anything on top of that, even if the service level was off the scale.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We have three principles on tipping/gratuities.

If no tips are included we will tip a reasonable amount for decent service.

If a daily gratuity is automatically added we won't remove it unless service is universally poor. We wouldn't want to to penalise all the staff if one individual wasn't up to scratch. But we don't add to it. We're not going to double tip.

Likewise if tips are included in the fare, such as Saga and P&O, we don't pay again for the same reason.

To add we adopt the same principles in restaurants ashore. If a service charge is added to the bill we don't add to it and wouldn't ask for its removal unless service and the food were universally poor.

[Ray B]

Hi Neville, ........
I don’t know if this is the case but I can imagine most cabin stewards would be thinking … “tips now, nothing later”.

also if they didn't think much of the amount you gave them it might turn out to be counter-productive

Absolutely Meg, anything less than £100 then I would be swilling my tea cup "before" every use.

You would need to after giving him Dobin in the two thirty.

[CaroleF]

Reminds me of years ago, to do with tipping but not on a cruise, one of my daughters and I were at a Cafe Rouge in Chichester. Cafe Rouge was part of a chain, not sure if it's still going. It was one of those which didn't include a tip but when you got the bill you could add a tip if you wished while paying with a card. I had some change I thought I'd get rid of so I didn't add anything to the bill. I was getting my purse out to get the tip when the manager came up to our table and ask me in quite an abrupt way why I hadn't left a tip. Was anything wrong with the meal - I told him that I had intended leaving a tip in change but as he was so rude I wouldn't be leaving anything. We left!

[Stephen]

Well done Carole. What a damn cheek.

[Onelife]

While I appreciate tips in some establishments make up a large part of staff wages, I personally don’t like service charges added to bills. I’m more than a bit sceptical about how much the company deducts for themselves before any tips are distributed to staff. Further more I don’t need to be told how much I should pay as opposed to giving what I want to pay.

[Mervyn and Trish]

In the UK it is now illegal for any business to siphon anything off the service charge. It must go 100% to the staff. Whether it always does is another question of course.