Tipping

[SheilaB]

Gary brought up a good point that I would like more input and opinions on - basically the question is do you use the prepay tipping or hand the money out to those who waited on you.

Gary's comment was:

the problem with just handing the money out to those who serve you, is you miss the support staff. The tip money goes into a pool and gets handed out to all the Dining staff, or other departments. If you are enjoying the meal, are you handing the cook, and or food prep staff money also? How about the people doing all the cleaning behind the scenes? We leave the tips in place, plus give out a little extra to those that really stand out to us. Just my thoughts on it.

I had never thought about that. I assumed ( shame on me) that like a resturant only the wait staff worked for tips - I may compliment the cook in a resturant, but I don't usually tip the cook in a resturant - only the waiter or waitress. What about cruise directors and pool staff? Do they also get part of the tip money? I would think that if the money goes into a pool - then those who waited on you would get a much smaller share.

I would love to hear people's opinions on this, so I could make an informed decision. Thank you.

[Jim C.]

Gary is not completely accurate in that statement. From the Carnival website-

"For your convenience, we automatically charge the gratuities for dining and stateroom staff to your onboard Sail & Sign account. The total amount is $10.00 per guest, per day (our recommended guideline) as follows:

$ 3.50 Per Day Stateroom Services

$ 5.50 Per Day Dining Room Services

$ 1.00 Per Day Alternative Services: distributed to other kitchen and hotel service staff "

So only $1 per day goes into the so called "pool" for the rest of the crew. Most of those are not counting on tips for their income. Your stewards and your waiters get MOST of their income from tips, so they get the lion's share.

As for giving extra tips, we do that when the service warrants it. (We always leave the automatic tips in place and reward extra when it is deserved.) Note that the bar service has a 15% tip added to the amount so you do not have to tip the bar waiters extra unless they have done something super special for you.

Hope that clears it up.

[Joeinmo]

Now if you leave the levels where they are and tip extra based on service, why not pre-pay the tips?

[Dave]

why not pre-pay the tips?

The default option on Carnival is tips are automatically charged to your account the moment you board the ship, so whether you pre-pay them as part of the booking is irrelevant. In both cases you have already paid them. The only difference is when you paid them.

Some cruise lines (Royal Caribbean being the most notable one) do not automatically charge tips to your account. They still have the old system of the guest stuffing cash in envelopes and handing it out. However you can pre-pay tips when you make a booking with Royal Caribbean, and you can have them charged to your account on the ship but you have to initiate it.

[Cruise Fanatic]

One thing to note with Pre-paid tips is some cruise lines won't adjust them once on board the ship. The automatically charged tips can be adjusted.