QE2 VIEWS: INSIDER #3 PETERNB (Part 2: Butler & Tipping)

Peter from the QE2 Yahoo Group, sent another great email with tips and advice following the earlier one.

This is what he sent later in August based on a posting I left asking what does a butler do, and about tipping. I posted this to the group after we got the change up to a Q2 that has a butler service:

"Essentially, the butler will attend to anything you need doing. (e.g. If you want to arrange for canapés - just ask him. If you want drinks just ask him. If you want laundry done, shore excursion tickets. Basically - it saves you ringing up different people and asking for things. You have one point of contact for all your needs.

Tipping. Here we go.........

This is such a minefield. Cunard and a couple of other lines suggest a daily amount to tip. This can be paid in advance (with your booking) or you can pay it onboard as part of your final onboard bill. (We always select to pay at the end. Why give your cash to Cunard to hold on to?). This daily amount is shared out between your room steward and serving staff. Rumour has it that some goes to the ship itself. You can choose NOT to have the onboard gratuity added to your bill, and instead 'deal with it yourself'.

When you purchase anything onboard - from drinks to health spa treatments to wine at dinner - you're given a slip to sign which has a 15% gratuity added to it. ie. If your drink is $8.00, an extra $1.20 is added making a total of $9.20. Underneath that you can enter an added gratuity. (Tempting you to round it up to $10.00).

The original gratuity gets shared out between the bar staff working in that bar AT THAT TIME. Anything you add on is a tip for the name of the person who served you (as printed on the slip of paper). Be careful here. If Jane the waitress serves you at your table in the Yacht Club lounge and Eric behind the bar makes the drink for Jane and HE prints the slip - he would get the added gratuity rather than Jane who served you!!!!

Self Service.

If you are out on the pool deck and you go inside to the pool deck bar and order a drink which you then carry outside to your deck chair on the pool deck - you still pay the gratuity even though you have not been 'served'. This annoys me a great deal and therefore I do not drink there.

If you order a brandy that costs $50.00 a glass then you pay a compulsory gratuity of $7.50. But if you order a pot of tea in your stateroom - you might get it free - or they might charge you $3.00 - plus gratuity of $0.45. Therefore the barman who spent 10 seconds pouring a measure of Brandy scoops $7.50 whereas the room service steward who had to get a pot, tea bags, sugar, milk, tray, spoons doilies, hot water etc - load it all up and go up 5 decks - along through the Queens Grill Lounge and up two flights of stairs, gets...... 45 cents!!!

You *may* find that waiters get a bit upset if you order small things that take a long time to make/serve!!!!!

If that wasn't enough. As it comes to the end of the voyage - you'll notice that the crew put on an extra spurt of 'niceness'. During the day they'll really lord you. That's because the last evening is the time they hope that you leave an envelope on your table at dinner. (NEVER skip dinner on the last night. It suggests to people that
you're trying to avoid the tipping night!!!).

I'm not going to say anything about whether you should or shouldn't tip extra on top. You've already paid the suggested gratuity. You've paid the gratuity on the drinks and spa treatments. And now it's your choice to decide whether to tip:-

Your main waiter. Your second waiter. The Maitre D'. The Wine waiter. Your room steward. Your favourite bar steward. Or just lump the whole lot together. Or not tip extra at all. The choice is yours.

Even if you decide to tip $20.00 each (not a lot really - £11.76) - when you multiply it up by the above people - that's over £70.00 - or $120). And $20 is a pretty small amount in the scale of things. It depends also on how many days you've been onboard. It's all a nightmare. If you are going to tip cash at the end of the voyage - start out (from home) with plenty of useful $ notes. ie. Have a selection of $5,$10,$20,$50 and not a stack of $100 bills. This saves you having to go to the Pursers desk and getting change - or worst of all - changing money at the Purser's desk - which has one of the worst rates in the world. Having said that - you can tip in any
currency you like. Preferably not Turkish Lire though!!!.

Tip: (I mean a piece of advice!!!) - Crew really do not like being given phone cards as some people do. Some people instead of tipping cash give them phone cards. The crew - a lot of them Filipino - need to send their money back home.

I'll rule a line under this tipping business now. It's your choice. But, forget about tipping until you feel like thinking about it. ie. If you find a crew member really good - then think about it in a positive way. Try not to think about it in a 'oh god - I'll have to tip at the end of this all..........'