As most of you know all cruise lines have a certain amount they suggest you tip.  Usually, the suggested tipping amount is just fine.  In fact, most cruise lines make it easy for you to follow those guidelines by allowing you to have the tips automatically added to your account.  If you want to go a step further you could pre-pay the gratuities before you even board, this is what I like to do as it reduces how much I spend onboard.  The question then becomes, should I ever tip more than what is recommended?

While I have only experienced bad service once on a cruise I also rarely experience what I would call “exceptional service”, most seem to fall somewhere in the middle.  First let me talk about the time I did experience “bad” service.  I won’t say which cruise ship it was on or what the cabin stewards’ name was but I will say he made a terrible first impression and things never really got any better.  In short, I will tolerate a lot of things but a rude cabin steward that gives zero effort isn’t one of them.  The end result was a weekly tip that cut got cut in half and a bad review.

As I said before, most service you receive will be pretty good but nothing that makes your head spin and for those you will just want to stick to the recommended amounts.  Those auto-tips take care of your cabin steward and dining room staff.  Along the way there will be people who serve you that don’t fall under those categories mainly bartenders and room service.

Bartenders are easy since there is automatically a 15% gratuity added to the price of your drink, I never add any more to that amount.  On the rare occasion where I actually sit at the bar I have been known to slip the bartender a little extra.  In my experience this is only useful if you frequent the same bar as it will get you special service and most likely a stiffer drink if you make it know that is how you like it.

On the other hand I always without fail take care of room service.  Imagine having to get hundreds of breakfasts up to cabins on different decks within specified time slots.   These guys get up in the wee hours of the morning to race up several decks over and over again in an effort to deliver your food in a timely manner for literally nothing, unless you tip them.  They are also responsible for getting that drunk guy on deck twelve his 5 trays of food at 3 a.m. fast enough that he won’t call down to yell at anyone, even though they know he won’t eat most of it or appreciate any of it.

As far as tipping extra for exceptional service is concerned, we all have different levels of standards.  What constitutes exceptional service for me may not be the same when viewed through someone else’s eyes.  However I will say that if in the past you have received treatment from someone that you still talk about 3 cruises later, anytime you come across someone who approaches that level they probably deserve an extra little something.

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• They probably will speak their native language, but they are on vacation with family and friends and have far better things to talk about than you. Get some self-esteem and stop being so paranoid
• There will be a lot Puerto Ricans on board the ship, but I have never heard of people complaining about the number of Floridians on a cruise out of Port Canaveral. I don’t see what the big deal is about this.
• At times they will cut in line. I have been on cruises out of many different ports and have yet to survive one without being “line jumped”. Additionally I have noticed that the Puerto Rican technique for line jumping is no different than the one used by most people from middle-America. Mom stands in front, dad stands in back. Mom keeps moving while dad stops as fifteen kids fill in the space in between.
• Any time a cruise director says Puerto Rico they will cheer so loud you will think you are the only non-Puerto Rican people on board the ship, until the cruise director says either Canada or New Jersey.
• The last thing you need to realize is that if we all spent more time enjoying what it is we like to do on vacation instead of worrying about what others are doing to enjoy theirs, we would all probably enjoy our vacations so much more.

Edit:  This post was written in response to a couple of emails I received from people telling me about their nightmares of cruising out of Puerto Rico.

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The letter quoted from “The Consumerist”

We would like to make you aware of an experience we had with Carnival Cruise Lines. In June 2009, we took our very first cruise in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. The very first evening, we visited the gift shop and made two separate purchases of alcohol, we were advised that the goods would be held and delivered to our cabin the very last evening prior to debarkation.

That last evening, when we returned to our cabin, we noticed a box had been left inside the cabin. We proceeded to open it and found that only one of the purchases had been delivered so we immediately called the service desk to inquire about the second purchase; we were then told that the gift shop was closed for the evening and to contact them again the next morning prior to debarking.

Early next morning first thing we did was to visit the service desk, after a very long wait and many phone calls conducted by their representative; we received our two bottles of Amarula. We then hurried back to our cabin to get our belongings so that we could proceed to debark. As we approached our cabin, we found one of the cruise employees inside our cabin going through our belongings — when asked why she was there, she proceeded to say that it was procedure and that she needed to find the two bottles of Amarula claimed to have never been received.

Being extremely upset a letter was sent to Mr. Cahill, Carnival’s CEO, a very short reply to our letter was received a few weeks later from one of their Guest Care representatives. We do not feel our concerns were addressed; we have tried contacting Carnival through e-mails and have been completely ignored. As we mention in our letter, we understand they cater to people from all walks of life; however, we are not accustomed to having our honesty questioned and feel our privacy was totally violated.

The situation could have been handled professionally by communicating with us, we would have had no problem agreeing to the cabin search had an explanation been provided. We also wonder if this practice is legal – what was to be a wonderful experience left us feeling totally violated. Thank you.

While I am in no way opposed to Carnival making a search for the missing bottles (people do try to scam them), in no way is it appropriate for any member of the crew to conduct a search of a passengers personal belongings without the passenger being present.  The problem is we are unsure of the extent of the search from the contents of the letter. Even so, I have a hard time believing there was not a more professional way to go about attempting to locate the missing hooch.  I only wish the author of the letter had posted more details such as: if the crew member was actually searching their packed belongings, the title of the investigator, whether or not there was any indication of an effort to contact the passengers so they may be present for the search.

My mother used to say there are three sides to every story and I am sure this one also has two more sides.  The problem is we probably won’t ever hear those sides.  However, I thought the letter was worth posting in case any one out there has ever experienced a similar situation.

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Saving Money While Cruising

Here are three posts that focus on saving money while on a cruise vacation. The first post tells you about the best way that I have found to sneak alcohol on board a cruise ship. The next post that I have chosen details the results of an experiment I conducted on sneaking alcohol on board a cruise ship. The last post of chosen shoes you 10 no effort ways to save money while on board a cruise ship.  I chose these ones because I thought they would prove helpful for those vacationing on budget and also because they reflect the spirit of what this blog is supposed to be.

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/foolproof-way-to-sneak-alcohol-onboard-a-cruise-ship/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/my-little-booze-smuggling-experiment/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/ten-no-effort-ways-to-save-money-onboard-a-cruise-ship/

Cruise Safety and Health

Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows that I’m obsessive about safety while in unfamiliar places. Two of the posts that I’ve chosen for this next section focus strictly on safety while one focuses on health. Because identity theft is one of the worst nightmares anyone could ever have to deal with, I have chosen a post about protecting your identity while cruising as the first entry in this section.  The next article focuses on protecting yourself from pickpockets while you are In a port. Anyone who has ever been in a crowded tourist area must have an idea of how easy it would be for someone to steal from you, without being noticed.  The last article I’ve chosen for this section doesn’t deal with crew safety but instead focuses on health by offering suggestions on how to avoid weight gain while on board a cruise ship.  With the numerous dining options and virtually unlimited supply of food is easy to get carried away but I have every confidence that these tips will help you avoid acting on any extra pounds.

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/protecting-your-identity-while-cruising/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/protecting-yourself-from-pickpockets-while-in-port/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/how-i-avoid-weight-gain-while-on-a-cruise/

Cruise Planning

The next two posts that I’ve chosen fit into the category of planning a cruise. The first is a list of 25 tips that a first-time cruiser is sure to find useful. In fact, I would be willing to bet that even experienced cruisers will be able to find a few of the tips useful.  The next blog posts in this section is a simple list of 10 things that I personally will not cruise without. Some of the items are luxury items while some are incredibly helpful in making my life on board the cruise ship easier. While not all of them will fit everyone’s cruising style, coming up with your own list of 10 things you cannot cruise without is a very useful exercise.

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/25-tips-for-a-first-time-cruiser/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/10-things-i-cant-cruise-without/

Cruise etiquette

This last section deals with how someone should act while on board a cruise ship. One of the most forgotten rules of cruise etiquette is that even though it is your vacation what you do can and will affect how much other people enjoy their cruise. The first post that I have chosen talks about a few simple rules of cruiseship etiquette.   The second post that I have chosen deals with the specific subject of people who all poolside chairs.  While most of what is written is common sense judging by the number of people who broke these rules, last cruise we all have reason to believe that since it is not all that common these days.

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/a-few-rules-of-cruise-etiquette/

http://theintelligentcruiser.com/dealing-with-chair-hogs/

I hope you all enjoy these posts. If you are a long-time reader you probably have seen most of them but even if that is the case it may be useful to reread them. If you are relatively new to this blog bookmark this page and read those entries when convenient.

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We have a group of 6 going on a cruise this summer, but one of us now isn’t sure if she will be able to make it.  The cruise contract is structured in a way that if she cancels she will forfeit a significant portion of her payment.  Is there any way she can sell her spot to someone else so that she will not be out of her money?

Honestly, it all depends on the cruise line.  The first step is for your friend to actually decide if she is going to go.  If the answer is no, you need to find a replacement ASAP. Once that is done contact the cruise line and ask them to do a name change.  Please be mindful that there is a fee associated with this that will need to be paid.  Assuming that the cruise line allows name changes the new passenger will need to provide all of their information to the line.  Of course, any transferring of funds to your friend will need to be worked out between her and the new passenger.  Just make sure you get this sorted out right now since the longer you wait the more rigid the cruise line is likely to become.

A Hold On My Sail and Sign Card

I am going to be sailing with my two daughters on the Carnival Glory and have a question about sail and sign accounts.  How much of  a hold will the Carnival place on my credit card?

The amount placed on hold depends upon the length of your cruise.  Since you stated you are sailing on the Glory I am going to assume you are going on a seven day cruise.  Here is the section that answers your question taken directly from the Carnival website

Important Note: A hold will be placed on the credit card or checking account debit card at the beginning of the cruise as a deposit for an onboard purchases. This will reduce the amount of available credit on the credit card or restrict the availability of cash in the checking account. The hold will be released and actual charges will be billed at the end of the cruise.

The following dollar amounts, per guest, are used as a deposit when the Sail & Sign Account is opened:
2-4 day cruises: $100 deposit pp
5-8 day cruises: $200 deposit pp
9 + day cruises: $350 deposit pp

So as you can see the amount that will be frozen on your credit card is 200.00 per person. You can have it so the kids don’t have charging privileges if you are not sure if they can behave responsibly but the hold will still be placed on the card. While I am not if this will effect the amount that will be put on hold it will definitely ensure that you don’t have any surprise charges.

All-Inclusive Cruises

Are there any Cruise lines that are all-inclusive.  Normally we vacation at Sandals but we have friends that have convinced us to try a cruise.  I don’t want to be hassled with a pay as you go vacation but would most likely cruise if I can find an all-inclusive.

While most cruise lines typically only charge you for certain beverages and upgraded options there are some that are all-inclusive.  Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas and Silver Seas are some of the cruise lines that fit into the all-inclusive category.  However, I must tell you that the prices for these cruises are a lot more expensive than main stream cruise lines.  Now, I will admit that these ships are much more luxurious than anything the main stream cruise lines offer.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that if luxury is not your priority you could probably save a lot of money by prepaying a hefty deposit on an account with a main stream cruise line.  They would still have to swipe your boarding pass every time you ordered a drink but the financial aspects would already be covered (any money not used would be refunded to you).

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