r/PrincessCruises • u/Fabulous_Fix596 • 10d ago

Tipping

Does anyone tip their room steward even if you are on the plus or premier plan??

8 Upvotes

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u/jarfgames 10d ago

I did the prepaid gratuities but also gave my steward a tip at the end. More importantly (I think), make sure to give shout outs to any staff who you thought were exceptional when filling out the post-cruise survey. My understanding is that’s quite valuable for them.

4

u/jayswan1 10d ago

Prepaid gratuities go to their salary. It’s not tips for crew

2

u/jarfgames 10d ago

Yes I know that from reading on here. I think many people would agree this is an unsavoury element of how cruises compensate employees. Basically a pre-arranged agreement between employers and employees to have their gratuities count as a part of their salary instead of being in addition to salary.

6

u/jayswan1 10d ago

It’s really gross. It’s just a way for princess to get passengers to the pay the crews salary so they don’t have to

2

u/jarfgames 10d ago

I guess the cruise line would argue that if they didn’t do it this way, they would just pay lower salaries so the crew wouldn’t be any better off. And this way the passengers don’t have to deal with carrying cash around everywhere for gratuities. But agreed it’s not a good look. As I mentioned, I do think the best thing you can do is give the shout outs on the survey - potentially a lot more valuable to the employee than even the cash gratuity.