Of course -- If you've read anything about the industry (this article, in particular), it's very clear this is part of training and "a requirement" of the job.

Of course -- If you've read anything about the industry (this article, in particular), it's very clear this is part of training and "a requirement" of the job. It's also a very strict requirement -- they fire people for failing to do the tiniest of things and I've heard stories (I'm not sure if they're true) that entire categories of staff were fired due to a small number of reviews that didn't land in the highest review category -- anything other than perfect is failure. Fill those things out, mark 'em high if you care about the staff, and write in the names of people who made things pleasant for you. The point I was making there is that it's really impressive and a testament to the work ethic of the staff that it's done so well. You'd expect someone working under the condition of fear to do this "just well enough to not get fired" but I've never detected even the slightest hint that the attitudes of staff are not genuine (I'm not saying they are genuine, just that they're quite good at hiding that fact). The work ethic is, in a word, impressive. As for tipping - I suggest catching them in the hallway on their way between shifts/responsibilities. Palm a sizeable bill and give it to them in a hand-shake. Do this on the day before debarkation, otherwise you risk obligating that person to feel like they need to "work it off" for you[0]. As for me, I cruise because it's inexpensive, but I plan for a big budget vacation[1]. I'm frugal by nature (4 kids, one income), so we end up way under budget without trying. After we had a long chat with a member of maintenance staff, we were touched by his kindness and circumstances, so we decided from that cruise forward to come home with the budget surplus spent this way and found it had a great effect of adding to the joy of our vacation. [0] A gratuity is for something that was done, not something that is expected, later. The latter is a bribe. :o) [1] Vacations are to fill a "need" to relax and it's hard to relax if you're spending your time worrying about how much you're spending, so we don't vacation until we have enough money to exceed what we expect to spend.