Do you tip baggage handlers who pick up your luggage in the room?

[DIS_MIKE]

So yeah...for those staying at WDW before the cruise, do you leave a few bucks for the luggage people? I'm usually not in the room in the morning of the cruise, so I'll leave the luggage near the door for them to quickly grab.

A lot of hands will be handling your luggage that day:
-multiple people gather the bags at each resort
-loading it onto a DCL van
-driver who drives the bags to the port
-bags get unloaded from the van
-bags are organized by a certain zone and then loaded onto a forklift and placed onto the ship
-bags are delivered by DCL staff over the next few hours

I know i'm thinking too deep into this I feel it's unfair to the others if the first guy gets the tip and nobody else which is why I'll always tip a valet as I arrive and depart because you may get a different guy on the way out. I hope the luggage handlers are compensated well and maybe Disney factors this all into the final cost of the cruise.

I just figure if you are arriving at the port on your own, it's customary to tip the porters so I'm just wondering if the same rules/etiquette apply here? Most of us don't even come in contact with these people so it's different than arriving right up to the port.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Anytime I'm around when a CM or porter touches my bag, I tip a few bucks. Better safe than sorry.

 

[shoes99]

I put $2 cash under the handle of the luggage if we are not in the room when they pick it up.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I leave a tip with a thank you note on top of one of the bags. If I were dropping the bag at the port myself, I would tip the porter there, so to me it’s a similar situation. Obviously, others also handle the bags before they arrive at our stateroom, but I must assume those are not tipped positions. The bell services folks who pick up the bags from the room and the porters who collect and transfer the bags at the port are tipped positions. As far as I know, they are not even DCL employees. Once the bags are handed off to the DCL baggage system at the port for transfer to the stateroom, they are under control of DCL employees. Of course, the last step is the transfer to just outside your stateroom by your room host, but that’s a tipped position covered in the daily gratuities.

Similarly, when debarking after the cruise, the stateroom host and DCL handlers move your checked luggage off the ship, but if you want assistance moving it through customs and out to your transportation from the port, the porters available are not DCL employees and certainly deserve gratuities.

 

[Shsmith341]

I have always been in the room when my bags get delivered and picked up. I give about $10 each time because we are a family of four with several suitcases and bags. We always have great cm's. One even gave us a tour of the G F on his golf cart when he dropped our bags off. It was a great welcome.

 

[lorimay]

We usually leave $5 on top of the luggage.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Nevermind

 

[dvcdisney]

We've always been around when they pick it up, so we hand them the tip. Since they are handling my luggage, I feel it's appropriate to tip them.

I'm sure it goes through several hands...I would think at least 4 - bell services, the one that transports it, the porter at the port and our stateroom host. With luggage, we tip the one who picks it up and the one who delivers it to our stateroom. The additional tip for stateroom host takes this into account, as well as when they pick it up at the end of the cruise.

 

[clten]

If I'm not in my room, I leave a tip on top of the bags that bell services will pick up. They are the ones providing a personalized service to me (saving me from carrying it to a drop off point). As for the others that handle it until it appears at my cabin door, my feeling is that this is the system of luggage handling DCL set up so it should be included in the price I am already paying.

 

[cruiser21]

Anytime I'm around when a CM or porter touches my bag, I tip a few bucks. Better safe than sorry.

This is my thought.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Yes, a couple of bucks goes a long way to say 'thank you'.

 

[aboveH20]

Had to respond because I like the fourth option so much.

Include me in the 'leave five bucks under the handle category' (one person, one suitcase). Without trying to sound holier than thou, I remind myself of how fortunate I am in current circumstances and compare it with what I suspect may be the baggage handlers' circumstances. I'm pretty sure they need the money more than I do, and I appreciate that they are willing to work so hard for the money they do make.

Did that should too self righteous? I don't mean it to be, I'll rewrite if it sounds offensive.

 

[serenitynow]

We left a $5.00 bill on top of one of our two suitcases in the room when we stayed at the Airport Hyatt for our last DCL Cruise. We had made the arrangements to have our luggage picked up from our room.

The luggage arrived in our stateroom just fine, but the $5.00 bill had been tucked into the small zipper pocket on the front of the bag the money had been left on. We didn’t know if we had offended someone or what. The suitcase was new and I packed it so I know it had to be the same bill we had left.

Edited to add: I am not using this as a reason not to tip baggage people. We always do and will do the same thing for our next Airport Hyatt to DCL stay. Just thought it was strange and hoped someone on the board might know why it happened.

 

[dvcdisney]

We left a $5.00 bill on top of one of our two suitcases in the room when we stayed at the Airport Hyatt for our last DCL Cruise. We had made the arrangements to have our luggage picked up from our room.

The luggage arrived in our stateroom just fine, but the $5.00 bill had been tucked into the small zipper pocket on the front of the bag the money had been left on. We didn’t know if we had offended someone or what. The suitcase was new and I packed it so I know it had to be the same bill we had left.

Edited to add: I am not using this as a reason not to tip baggage people. We always do and will do the same thing for our next Airport Hyatt to DCL stay. Just thought it was strange and hoped someone on the board might know why it happened.

This reminds me of the time we left a tip envelope for bell services. I know it's not exactly the same thing...but we generally like to be there when they deliver or pick up luggage and most of the time we are. But this one time, we had to go to our dining reservations and our luggage from ME still hadn't arrived. So I put an envelope on the shelf in the vestibule with "For Bell Services" on it...when we arrived, the luggage was there, but so was the envelope. My husband went down to take some photos of the lobby and went to Bell services to find out why they didn't pick it up....Before my husband can say anything, he said, "you're in room xxx" and my husband said yes, somewhat surprised. He said that some CMs won't take the envelope because they're afraid someone would complain...even if it specifies it on the envelope...so my husband left it with him. Anyway, perhaps someone complained once about it and they were told never to take tips unless they are handed to them....which reminds me of our experience with our stateroom hosts...but that's another story.

 

[AnnaS]

I put $2 cash under the handle of the luggage if we are not in the room when they pick it up.

This is a great idea when we leave our luggage outside of our cabin (cruises) since we don't see who is handling them.

We tip anyone that handles our bags.

 

[Tinked]

I never thought to put a tip under the handle. What a great idea! Thanks. I always like to tip anyone who touches my luggage too.

 

[MomOTwins]

This reminds me of the time we left a tip envelope for bell services. I know it's not exactly the same thing...but we generally like to be there when they deliver or pick up luggage and most of the time we are. But this one time, we had to go to our dining reservations and our luggage from ME still hadn't arrived. So I put an envelope on the shelf in the vestibule with "For Bell Services" on it...when we arrived, the luggage was there, but so was the envelope. My husband went down to take some photos of the lobby and went to Bell services to find out why they didn't pick it up....Before my husband can say anything, he said, "you're in room xxx" and my husband said yes, somewhat surprised. He said that some CMs won't take the envelope because they're afraid someone would complain...even if it specifies it on the envelope...so my husband left it with him. Anyway, perhaps someone complained once about it and they were told never to take tips unless they are handed to them....which reminds me of our experience with our stateroom hosts...but that's another story.

We did the under-the-handle tip and they took it, both at the WDW hotel going to port, and on the ship for debarkation. I am guessing maybe bell services just did not look on the shelf.

 

[dvcdisney]

We did the under-the-handle tip and they took it, both at the WDW hotel going to port, and on the ship for debarkation. I am guessing maybe bell services just did not look on the shelf.

That is possible, but when my husband went down to inquire, they knew our villa number and that we left a tip. They said that some CMs are afraid to take it in case the guest complains. So they did see it and they knew about it, but they were afraid to take it. So, my husband did leave it for the CM at Bell services.