Are you required to tip for room service?

[Rebecca Pocahontas]

I ordered room service many times on Princess Cruises and I have never tipped. They don't even seem to expect a tip. Always they just dropped off the items and left without saying anything.

I've been reading about the different types of tips that previous cruises have left per item. It makes it seem like you are sort of required to tip.

Has anyone ever not tipped?

 

[Vijoge]

I have always tipped for room service on all cruise lines.

 

[st0nehedge]

Haven't cruise yet, but what I have gathered from the boards is it is bad etiquette to NOT tip for room service, even though it isn't required.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We tip for room service on all cruises. We sail primarily RCCL, DCL and Princess. Do not think we have ever ordered room service on Carnival.

 

[karl_nj]

I ordered room service many times on Princess Cruises and I have never tipped. They don't even seem to expect a tip. Always they just dropped off the items and left without saying anything.

I've been reading about the different types of tips that previous cruises have left per item. It makes it seem like you are sort of required to tip.

Has anyone ever not tipped?

It's not required, but it's nice to do.

I try to have my tip money ready, since they don't hang around waiting for a tip like they might do at a hotel on land in the US. I once wasn't ready and had to chase them down the hall to give them their tip.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Yes, tipping for room service is absolutely customary, just like in a hotel. No question. Most good servers never act like they expect one.

 

[MUN]

I ordered room service many times on Princess Cruises and I have never tipped. They don't even seem to expect a tip. Always they just dropped off the items and left without saying anything.

I've been reading about the different types of tips that previous cruises have left per item. It makes it seem like you are sort of required to tip.

Has anyone ever not tipped?

I will answer your question. No, you are not required to tip for room service. It is completely voluntary and yes it is common for people to not tip.

MUN

 

[MunFam]

We do tip...and always have. I also tip valet at drop off and pick up...and bellmen. I never tipped a hotel housekeeper until the company I was working for gave us a $3 a day allowance for housekeeping. Now I always tip on multi-night stays. I also tip bartenders.

 

[MunFam]

I've been reading about the different types of tips that previous cruises have left per item. It makes it seem like you are sort of required to tip.

Has anyone ever not tipped?

I will add, that because it is VERY customary to tip, I would be uncomfortable not tipping...as word travels as to who is a good tipper, not good tipper and no tip at all...and "service" can often be altered because of it. I work in the hospitality industry and saw this first hand at a AAA 5 diamond resort that I was managing...its hard to control/prove its happening, but it certainly happens.

 

[Rabb it]

Yes, tipping for room service is absolutely customary, just like in a hotel. No question. Most good servers never act like they expect one.

^Exactly

 

[mmouse37]

Not required but as mentioned it is customary. I keep a stack of singles in the night table drawer to use for room service tips.


MJ

 

[dreadpiraterose]

We tip room service, but we definitely have to be proactive about it. They are so quickly in and out, that the first time we used it the waiter was totally gone in a flash before we could. Now we tell them to hold on a moment so we can add the tip properly.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

You're not required to tip, but I myself am happy to tip someone who brings delicious things to my door when I'm too tired/lazy/sunburned to go get it myself.

 

[Shanti]

I ordered room service many times on Princess Cruises and I have never tipped. They don't even seem to expect a tip. Always they just dropped off the items and left without saying anything.

I've been reading about the different types of tips that previous cruises have left per item. It makes it seem like you are sort of required to tip.

Has anyone ever not tipped?

You are required to tip for room service as much as you are required to tip in a restaurant shoreside. If you don't tip, the cops won't be called, but you will have just stiffed someone.

 

[dclpluto]

Room service personal makes peanuts from DCL just like your stateroom host and servers. Their main income is the guests tips. So it's only common courtesy that you tip.

 

[Shanti]

Room service personal makes peanuts from DCL just like your stateroom host and servers. Their main income is the guests tips. So it's only common courtesy that you tip.

It always amazes me how some people who will pay thousands for a Disney cruise will then be reluctant to pay a few dollars to the servers who hand-deliver food right to their stateroom on demand.

I just don't get it. Part of the price of cruising is paying the people who serve you, and in food service, the servers are mostly paid directly by the guests in the form of tips. Just like at restaurants shoreside.

This is a basic part of etiquette that some people seem to have not yet learned.

 

[mevelandry]

It may not be required but it's common courtesy and they work so hard that, in my opinion, they deserve a good tip.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is a basic part of etiquette that some people seem to have not yet learned.

True for Americans.

But there are plenty of cultures where tipping is NOT the norm, and can actually be insulting.

Being devil's advocate...it's not really our place to know how the cruiselines pay their people. So to be guilted into tipping because they are paid very little feels wrong in a way.

And it can be confusing because the ships are flagged in the Bahamas, they officially aren't American ships, the employees are generally not from the US, etc etc...how would a normal person know that American tipping standards are in place?


I tip because if someone is willing to bring me my coffee in the morning they deserve something for it (please don't tell my son I said that!).

 

[Shanti]

True for Americans.


But there are plenty of cultures where tipping is NOT the norm, and can actually be insulting...

And it can be confusing because the ships are flagged in the Bahamas, they officially aren't American ships, the employees are generally not from the US, etc etc...how would a normal person know that American tipping standards are in place?

These tipping standards are the same throughout North and South America, which includes the Bahamas. And most of the people asking about whether they "have to tip" or complaining about tipping are adult Americans, who should know better. That's where my comment about some people not knowing etiquette came in.

And even for those guests who don't know prior to cruising for whatever reason, DCL makes it so obvious that servers need & expect tips, by giving guests tip envelopes & billing guests directly for the service everyone receives, that it should be obvious to even the uninitiated that the servers on the ships are NOT insulted by tips.

 

[Lynzer4]

Is Room Service not a tip included in the tipping fees you pay?

I am only asking because I thought when I did Carnival it was on there and we tipped when we tipped our host and steward?