Tips and Gratuities

[Louis De Sousa]

Did you tip for good service ? If yes ,for what good service ? If no , then why not ?

Louis

[Malcolm]

Did you tip for good service ?

I'm assuming that you mean in excess of the daily charge made to your account? Before that charge was imposed then I did tip for good service. Once it was imposed I thought I was paying for service and only tipped in the latter days if the service was exceptional.

Exceptional was when crew went out of their way to do something that you would not expect. For example we tipped our stewards in the Britannia Grill because they remembered our likes, dislikes, etc and ensured that what we wanted was always there; we didn't tip the  stewards in the Queens Grill because they only brought our food (admittedly quickly but they did nothing that I felt I wasn't already paying for).

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Did you tip for good service ? If yes ,for what good service ? If no , then why not ?

Yes, Louis. Cabin steward/esses and restaurant staff above all, because, as Malcolm says, these are the people who get to know your likes and dislikes and have every chance of looking after you -- sometimes in good times and in bad!

As to the "if not, then why not?" question, there are perhaps several answers :

I found it difficult at times to find the bar stewards when I was looking for them with tips -- most difficult were the Lido crew serving soft drinks and tea / coffee, who looked after me extremely well! They were on rotas that I did not always manage to work out too well... If I had my chance again now I would start distributing the tips much earlier on in a cruise and not wait until the last day...  

The staff in the Purser's office were sometimes extremely helpful too -- I wondered whether it was the done thing to tip them and out of some sort of embarrassment did not do so.

I was always glad that the general gratuity system existed, as there were uncountable staff who provided excellent service, but whom I did not meet to talk to -- the laundry, the deck crew, the engine room crew, and many more. I hope that there was a decent distribution system to include all of them in the general gratuity.

[Malcolm]

The staff in the Purser's office were sometimes extremely helpful too

Did we go on the same ship? I always found the people behind the desk the most useless and ineffective lot imaginable! This wasn't just towards the end but goes back to the early 90s (Although, having said that, I'm still in touch with one of the purser's officers from then and he never was useless or ineffective although I suspect he'd agree about the office in general)

[Andy F]

I never had any problems either and my enquiries were always met with a courteous response. 

[Twynkle]

One of the best ideas was the White Star cards!
(Wasn't that what they were called?)
I used to ask for plenty from the helpful people in the Purser's Office
then distribute them to anyone I came across - the Tender Helpers, the early morning deck-hosing teams, the ladies who cleaned the public areas' Ladies loos, the guys who I occasionally saw in white or blue overalls - and last but not least, the people from China in the Laundry!  This was a port of call, and the only one 'below decks' that I was fortunate enough to be able to visit, thanking the 'Team-in-steam' for myself!
The cards gave an opportunity to write something, as well as enclosing a small token representing a Big Thank You! 

[Beardy Rich]

During my time onboard, I heard rumours that some of the waiters (known as 'wingers' onboard) and stewards received fabulous tips from certain passengers for the exemplary service they received.
Can anyone confirm the rumours and if so, how large were the tips?

[Louis De Sousa]

During my time onboard, I heard rumours that some of the waiters (known as 'wingers' onboard) and stewards received fabulous tips from certain passengers for the exemplary service they received.
Can anyone confirm the rumours and if so, how large were the tips?

Rich, yes it is true some front staff did get big tips ( myself too ),  sadly that went all down the drain when the pre-paid gratuities were introduced.After that only a handfull of staff got big tips and they were mostlly the waiters in the QG and PG Grills.

Louis

[cunardqueen]

What were the staffs view of the tips? l know its a very prickly subject but how exactly did the pre paid tips work did you get a fair share? was it an unfair system what were the pros and cons with it?
 Did you manage better when the passengers tipped you direct, did you have any favourite passengers. Not that lm asking about figures, that would be rude, But did the waiting staff in turn tip any body? such as the chefs. you often read in the old Queens days that a voyage after a refit was bad for the staff as the tips were not in the system yet for the waiters to tip those who needed to be.
 I always gave the bedroom stewart a small something at the start of the voyage and then evey few days a small gift, ie miniture of whisky, sweets,phonecards, stamps and so it went on, they always seemed appreciative of this and then the last night handed over the rest of the dosh and those white star cards, heaped full of praise. some of the other staff who were just that bit more pleasing always got a white star card and a note. But the waiters l always had a soft spot for.. and used to enjoy the banter with them.
Working in that enviroment l can appreciate how hard they work and that what might appear a simple request to the passenger can be a nightmare for the waiter at that time and while it was nice to move around the tables for open seating l did tend to seek out my regular waiters. Those on the hosted tables simply were something else. In Mauretania you really were waited on hand and foot and while l never felt the need to dine elsewhere. Columbia/Caronia and the Britannia l never liked the open seating and much preferred to arrive at the table and work through the menu with everyone there.
 When the prepaid tips were introduced was it possible for the staff to find out who had removed theirs and one question that keeps poping up if the waiter was given cash was it theirs to keep or did they have to hand it into the pool to be shared out?
As passengers we were always told the tips were shared out to those behind the scenes, so l naturally asked one of the bell boys on the QV on her preview tour what he did and he was a pot washer, and assured me he never had any tips!!!
 

[Louis De Sousa]

Wow thats a lot of questions, i have no time now but ill get back to you on that.But ill say one thing to you the Tips and Gratuities on the QE2 was not as bad as on some other ships.

Louis

[bswan]

I preferred to pay the staff that looked after me the most whether it was cabin stewards and bar staff, i looked after them

[RmsAquitania]

Have to admit we opted out of the daily charges thing and only tipped well the crew members that we really wanted to like our waiter, cabin steward, bar waiter etc, think in the long run our way cost more but again i prefer to choose who gets my money.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

In Rosie's "live from QM2" stories, she tells us of the incredibly hard work on the part of the deck crew to make an anchor port a success and all the tendering operations run smoothly.

This has made me think of the excellent work done by many crew members whom we see (and of course plenty more whom we do not see) but never really get a proper chance to tip. Another thing about the deck crew is that they work as a team, and tipping one of them would leave out all the others who work equally hard and well in the same team.

Which makes me think :

• Were those who were less likely to receive tips, paid a higher wage on QE2 to make up for this?
• Did the general gratuity system extend also to those crew members who were quite likely to receive individual tips?
• Should we always keep a bit of spare cash handy to give immediately to a crew member who has provided excellent service?

[cunardqueen]

  This has made me think of the excellent work done by many crew members whom we see (and of course plenty more whom we do not see) but never really get a proper chance to tip. Another thing about the deck crew is that they work as a team, and tipping one of them would leave out all the others who work equally hard and well in the same team.

Which makes me think :


•Were those who were less likely to receive tips, paid a higher wage on QE2 to make up for this?
•Did the general gratuity system extend also to those crew members who were quite likely to receive individual tips?
•Should we always keep a bit of spare cash handy to give immediately to a crew member who has provided excellent service?   

It reminds me of the tour of the QV l took. I spoke with one of the staff dressed up as a bus boy and asked him what his job was on the ship. You can imagine the surprise l had when he told me he was a dish washer in the kitchens, having got over the initial shock l seized the chance and asked him about the tips, mentioning that with the auto tip we as guests/ passengers were always told this was given to the backroom staff as well, and was this the case. Well the answer back l was given was NO !!! he hadn't received any tips. Now lm sure he wasn't expecting me to open the wallet and thrust something into his hands there and then Butl was somewhat surprised by his answer.
It just confirms what l thought, and always did. Leave the autotip on and assume its distributed as Cunard tells us so.(which seemingly it is not) and then l tipped the staff that l came into contact with.   

[cunardqueen]

Wow thats a lot of questions, i have no time now but ill get back to you on that.But ill say one thing to you the Tips and Gratuities on the QE2 was not as bad as on some other ships.

Louis       

And what did you conclude Louis....

Now what about if the tips had been included in the fare, would people still tip something anyway.

Having spent a month in America,by the end of it its still a thing l didnt really like doing because its expected and not for the service given. What did surprise me was in Hollywood all those lookalikes when you stop for a photo and they whisper in your ear that immortal words "We DO accepts tips!"  l was in two minds to whisper back "So do l, but we get sod all"
 Its something l moaned about discussed a few times with various friends in the USA and that as a UK visitor to America we are told oh tip there and tip there, But when the ball is on the other foot and Americans visit over here, they do in my experience tend to have short arms and deep pockets .