Another question asked as we sail comes from Polly & Tim from Denver who will be sailing with Viking Cruises later this year.

Should I pre-tip on my Viking cruise like I do on any other cruise? If so, how much?

That’s a wonderful question on a topic that comes up a lot, just not the way you asked it. Let me explain…because this question indirectly opens the door to something I want to tell you about.

Let’s back this up to the concept of pre-tipping and define what it means in the first place. Frankly, pre-tipping is not a term all cruise travelers know about. That’s actually one of the reasons why it has worked in the past.

The idea is rather simple actually.  The scene is a familiar one: Embarkation day on any big ship cruise line  Arriving at the port, boarding the ship, unpacking just one time but seeing multiple places and more are all usual and customary elements of the experience. At some point, stateroom stewards introduce themselves to passengers, one-on-one and in person. They will show us around the stateroom, explain how to use the knobs and switches and more. That’s all on the heels of resetting the ship to accommodate a new batch of passengers on the same day they said good bye to the last batch, some of whom they will be sorry to see go, others not so much. We’re all human.

A decade or so ago, the topic of pretipping came up, probably on CruiseCritic.  I don’t recall this being a ‘why nobody ever thought of this before’ kind of thing. The goal was breaking the ice and getting right down todefining our business relationship with cabin stewards.  That’s really not a bad idea when they will be in and out of your living space/life for the duration of the sailing.

After the stateroom steward has completed the introduction but before they leave, shake their hand with some denomination of currency neatly folded in your hand and utter these words:

“Take good care of us and we will take good care of you”. This is all that need be said. Pre-tippng. That’s all there is to it. You have their attention. Not many travelers do this.  They are there to make money.  We are there to spend it.  I liked that idea at the time because it opened the door to one of the very best parts of travel: learning more about our world.  That was our long term goal for this space then and still is today.

95% of all cruise travelers have never heard of pre-tipping. The 5% that have are probably already doing this or in the very least taking a moment to consider the lives of crew on ships for months at a time. True: these are cruise ships, not prison ships. Crew chose their lives. It is not punishment for anything …although at times some travelers may make it seem so to everyone within hearing distance. We can tallk about them. They don’t read things like this.

Polly, I first answered this question in a text but need to update that here. For all practical purposes, this topic of pre-tipping is irrelevant on Viking cruises, river or ocean. We have sailed with Viking quite a bit and have to say…we have never felt more like tipping well on any other cruise line than we do on Viking. In fact, the notion of prepaid gratuities offered by many cruise lines had come to the point of many travelers wondering “Why don’t they just add it into the fare?”.  Call me old fashioned but I really want to consider gratuities something associated with a job well done, not simply something that satisifes some suggested tipping amount.

I have a dozen real time examples of Viking crew blowing away the expectations of passengers, just because they can. It delights them. But it’s not really about the specific things crew does or the included features of a Viking travel experience.

It’s more about the overall ‘We actually do care and have the ability to show you we do’ attitude that is refreshingly wonderful.  See CruiseFever.net for more on this timely topic.  We rarely get to go on and on like this.

The part about big ship pre-tipping that made it work began with the notion that ‘money talks’. It surely is a universal language spoken by many.  But what really worked was the actually caring and friendly hand offering it as opposed to slipping someone a bribe. It also capitalizes on the fact that not all passengers on cruise ships are pleasant. Getting right to the point: On a big ship, nice people stand out. There are plenty of jerks to go around.

I urge travelers to treat people they meet along the way with respect and courtesy, regardless of the cruise line or destination. Its kind of a universal language really. Like so many things, that effort will not always reap immediate results nor should we expect them to. But you never know, you may just make a friend and walk away knowing a bit more about our world than you did before sailing. That’s the gold.  That’s why we’re here.  Specific faces will change over time, but algning with a cruise line focused on things that matter to you will bring more.

That’s what we see happening with Viking Cruises right now.  Comparatively new in the ocean cruising business, Viking has smartly designed some commonality between rivers and oceans. Many Viking ocean travelers began their cruise history with Viking river cruises.  I have yet to meet one of those on oceans who would not return to rivers.  Whatever the magic sauce is that makes Viking work is settling in quite nicely on first-ship Viking Star which we have now sailied multiple times over the life of the ship thus far. Frankly, Viking Star looks and feels as good or better than it did during the ship’s first season.. which was also the first season for the all-new ocean cruise fleet.

You might think that’s way more than Polly and Tim need to know about this toic.
You would be absolutely wrong.
Polly and Tim, you see, are quite a good example of curious travelers finding a very nice home from which to continue their exploration of the world. The are hungry for information and passionate about history, culture and/or something else. The are not here specifically for the ride.  Still, they want to dive into whatever they enjoy about travel in comfort. Viking delivers that.

The many friendly faces you see here?  Typical of all we have come in contact with on Viking, rivers and oceans.  No, really.