What are the standard tip(s) that should be left for the ship crew, etc. Do you leave $ or local currency?

Never fear Bruce you will get a printed list of acceptable tip amounts from the cruise line. If someone does something extra special for you it's fine to give them more than the specified amount.

We sailed Holland America Line, which has a "tipping not required" policy. <BR>They would not offer suggestions as to what amount is appropriate to tip. I heard another line suggests $3.50 per day per person for the cabin steward. We thought this amount to be a bit on the low side considering this person kept our room cleaner than my house is!

Always tip in US dollars - they have a lot more value than local currencies. <BR> <BR>I have been on a lot of different lines and here is my standard. I leave $25 PER PERSON for both the waiter and the cabin steward and $15 for the busboy for a 7 day cruise. In fact, I set this cash aside before I even leave home, so that I know I have it when the time comes. I generally do not tip the maitre d' unless I have asked for something special. The drink waiters will automatically add their tips to your bill, so you don't have to worry about them. You never tip the officers. <BR> <BR>You will get envelopes in your cabin before the last day, and it is traditional to put the tips in the envelopes and give them to your waiter and busboy at the final dinner, and leave the one for your cabin steward while you are at dinner. <BR> <BR>Remember the tips are per person traveling, so if you are a couple, you should double the above amounts. Obviously for exceptional service, feel free to increase these, but I wouldn't leave a lot less. Most of the service crew get NO salary, just room and board, and so the only money they make is tips.

Tip only those you WANT to tip. You will know by the end of your cruise. We tipped our cabin steward extra because he always did something extra for us. We tipped our Wine stuard extra-even tho he was paid with each bottle-automatically added on-because after we went to a wine event, we wanted another couples bottle every other night and ours every other night and we had not signed up that way. We just told him what we wanted and it happend as if it were on paper. We did not tip the head waiter since he came to our table only once and that was to take the lobster out of the shell for us at dinner. Your two servers for dinner and wine steward are your 2nd bet and the cabin steward is your first if he does his job. I swear, if I got up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, he was there to re-make my bed----just joking, but it could have happened! RCCL was GREAT