Tips on Princess cruise
 

Approx. how much would I need to tip a 7day Princess Cruise? Shoud I carry lotsa small bills for tips to give out every day for room service/dinner? or I should be able to tip at the end of the trip? I understand i'd have to tip drinks every time. Thx

The recommended amount for your room steward, waiter, and asst. waiter is $70 for the week pp.

Princess does "auto tipping" and pools the tips. Each day, the daily tips are put on your shipboard account (you put your credit card down to cover shipboard account). You can adjust your tip if you want. This works best for Princess since about 2/3 or passengers use their Personal Choice dining and may have a different waiter/asst. waiter each night.

Some people are upset when they hear about the auto tipping but to my surprise it works well. I have never had bad service that I have felt the need to adjust my tips. I normally bring a few extra $20s and give my room steward a little extra and also if we have the same waiter, I normally tip above the recommended amount.

As far as drinks - the tip is added to the cost and is put on your shipboard account when you purchase the drink. For example - if your coke/sprite (or other drink) costs $1.50, you sign for $1.70 (estimate).

So there really is no reason to carry lots of cash or small bills. The purser's desk can break large bills to smaller bills if you need them to.

The only time you'll need small bills for tipping on Pricess is if you order room service. We always give the person delivering the food a couple of dollars.

Be sure to give the room service person a couple of dollars. The word gets around, and you will get faster room service. ((b))

I agree with the above posts. With auto tipping (which I also like), there's no need carry around lots of small bills. That said, I find that there are some instances where I have given direct extra cash tips - room service delivery, room steward at the end of the cruise if they've done a good job, head waiter if I have special requests, and one time we found a waiter/assistant waiter that we really liked so we sat in their area each night and gave them an additional gratuity at the end of the cruise. Hope this helps.