The tipping quandary

Tampa, Florida. We just got off Carnival Inspiration and continuing our fun here in the vacation home of Dr. & Mrs. Prospero Gogo (Tito Pros & Tita Sylvia to most of us). We had 5 days of luxury and unending good times on board, made more fun in the company of relatives and close friends who joined the cruise in celebration of the Golden Wedding anniversary of the Gogos.

What made our cruise more “homey” was the presence of a lot of Filipinos in the crew. They came from all over the country: our service staff in the Carnivale Dining Room was composed of “kababayans” from Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao. One of them was even from Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental (the hometown of the Angbetics). Our cabin attendant hails from Quezon Prov. We heard Cebuano spoken by a number of the service staff. We really felt right at home while sailing the Caribbean seas.

Built in the cruise cost is a percentage for tips to all the service crew onboard — front & back of the house. Then $10.00/day is added to the bill at the end of the trip as gratuity for the frontline service people. It is of course optional. One can deduct it from the statement. Yet, if one gets to befriend all those “kababayans” during the trip, one can’t just not only agree to the additional gratuities, but also give some more to those smiling faces who greeted you each day and served you with such warm hospitality. Who even dance for you and with you, after your dinner.

How can we not give something to “Piolo Pascual” or Sam, our head waiter? Or to ever accommodating Grace, our cabin attendant? Service of the Carnival Lines is outstanding, from officers to dining and cabin attendants to shop sales people. They go out of their way to help you out, with a smile!

Rule of thumb is to give from your heart. This means that only you can determine how much you can spare in appreciation of the excellent service of an attendant. This also means that it is dependent on your budget. You cannot give to all of them, no matter how much you wish you could do so. But giving $10.00 up to $50.00 is a safe range. Below that is a bit miserly; above that can be a dent to the budget. However, if you are earning in dollars, like most of the people in our group of 57 Gogo cruisers, $100.00 tip can be considered.

What is important to note is the fact that these OFWs are dependent on the tips they get from each cruise, rather than on their basic salary from the cruise line. They work in 12-hour shifts and hardly have time for a day off even when the ship sets anchor somewhere along the way. They save for their families back home. Some are even onboard as a couple — like one Ilonggo server I talked to — and leave their babies with the grandparents. Others — like the talkative Latina dining attendant who stopped to converse with us — pray for more cruise travelers so their contracts would be renewed after their layover of about a month.

So we gave tips to our dining room waiters and to the cabin attendants who afforded us with a memorable cruise. In doing so, we shared our happiness with our “kababayans.”